Urgent Help

[Janice]

Yes, we replaced the Coraline standard filter cartridge twice since last night. I will also go and buy some activated carbon and put it in a media filter bag in the middle chamber as suggested. So far most of the corals, except the Leather Coral, seem to be doing fairly well. We have done a 100% water change, wiped the inside walls of the tank down with a microfibre cloth, etc. Thanks to all for the advice.

 

[Winks]

I am so sorry for the problems you are having. How much live rock would you need to start over? I have a fair bit of live rock that I have been seeding for about 4 months now. It is definately ready. I would be willing to let you have some so that you can start over. I would even go as far as to bring it to you tomorrow, Sunday if that is what it would take to help you out of this situation. Please let me know if you are interested.

 

[Janice]

Wow Winks. What a kind offer. I will post message you.

 

[Janice]

Tried to pm you but could not for some reason. Can I call you?

 

[LiLWinks]

Tried to pm you but could not for some reason. Can I call you?

Hi Janice Im winks son, would you like me to get ahold of him?

 

[TORX]

I will look into it, but in the mean time you can click HERE to start a conversation with Winks

 

[Winks]

PM sent

 

[Janice]

THANKS. We connected. Winks is a fantastic guy!

 

[SamB]

THANKS. We connected. Winks is a fantastic guy!

You can say that again !

 

[Joshbrookkate]

This is an awesome group!
I would definitely sieze the opportunity to start over. Too risky, IMO, to reuse the rock and sand that was in the contaminated tank.
What a generous offer, Winks!
Good luck with the restart....

 

[Janice]

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FOLLOWING THIS THREAD-AND MAY HAVE ISSUES WITH THIS KIND OF STUFF IN THE FUTURE, I JUST RECEIVED THE MESSAGE BELOW FROM THE MANUFACTURERS OF CORAL RX:

Hello Janice. I am very sorry to hear about the accident with coral RX into your tank. From the sounds of it it sounds like you're doing everything that can be done to remove it from your aquarium. Continue to do water changes and replace your carbon and clean your skimmer container. Unfortunately this has happened with other people. And as far as your live rock is concerned I don't think you'll need to replace it you may just need to do a separate salt water rinse and put it back into your system. If things do not improve in the next 48 to 72 hours you may need to do a complete redo of your aquarium. We can not guarantee that you will remove all of our product out of your system without doing this.

Please keep me informed as to your progress and condition of your aquarium. If there's anything else I can do for you please feel free to reach out.

 

[Winks]

Offer stands as long as need be Janice.

 

[Janice]

Thanks Winks!!!!

 

[Joshbrookkate]

Offer stands as long as need be Janice.

I'd start a reset, especially with this generous offer. No sand to start. Just the donated live rock.
At the same time, I'd put the contaminated live rock in a bucket or bin with a powerhead and keep changing out the water as often as possible. I would dispose of the sand.
As per the info you got from the manufacturer, the live rock may be salvageable. But in the meantime, you are getting a healthy system started.
Again, good luck.....

 

[Kman]

I myself would keep doing small water changes every few days and run a lot of carbon. Add it to a media bag and plop it into your tank if needed and run it passive. Try and place it in higher water flow area. Worst case if I don't see much improvement in the tank I would take out the live rock and put it into buckets with water movement and add a bag of carbon. Do half bucket water changes every few days for a week. I would not worry about it cycling again as this is better then letting the coral rx stay in the system. It is easy to manage a cycle vs chemicals in the system as a new cycle is the lesser of two evils in this situation. Keep running carbon and doing small water changes for the next month or so till you see improvement. Small water changes will be less stressful then keeping up with the large ones. Just use 24 hr aged saltwater and add the water slowly back into the system each time to allow time for the tank to adjust. Keep changes slow and resist large changes as the tank is already under duress and you can make things worse. It is a hard thing to resist but is well worth it. Keep in mind stressed coral don't adjust as well to changes as healthy corals do so making large changes will cause damage to a coral that could of healed.

 

[ColbytheClown]

I myself would keep doing small water changes every few days and run a lot of carbon. Add it to a media bag and plop it into your tank if needed and run it passive. Try and place it in higher water flow area. Worst case if I don't see much improvement in the tank I would take out the live rock and put it into buckets with water movement and add a bag of carbon. Do half bucket water changes every few days for a week. I would not worry about it cycling again as this is better then letting the coral rx stay in the system. It is easy to manage a cycle vs chemicals in the system as a new cycle is the lesser of two evils in this situation. Keep running carbon and doing small water changes for the next month or so till you see improvement. Small water changes will be less stressful then keeping up with the large ones. Just use 24 hr aged saltwater and add the water slowly back into the system each time to allow time for the tank to adjust. Keep changes slow and resist large changes as the tank is already under duress and you can make things worse. It is a hard thing to resist but is well worth it. Keep in mind stressed coral don't adjust as well to changes as healthy corals do so making large changes will cause damage to a coral that could of healed.

I think since we acted so quickly, the damage was minimal. All the corals are fine, just the fish and a few snails and hermits. I have been doing 5 gal water changes everyday. Should I cut down that to around 2.5 gals like you suggusted. Fortunately, I don't think we will be needing to restart...

 

[Josh]

Yeah corals react a bit less to bacteria level changes than fish do. Glad you seemed to have saved the corals at least. you may want to make sure you tank is cycled again after this is all said and done. Can use the ol frozen shrimp to check ammonia->nitrate. There are some bacteria additives you can add to help boost your bacteria load back (assuming the RX decimated this). I use micro bacter7. There is also BioS by aquaforest.

If you go this route shut down your skimmer before you add it and premix with some saltwater and some people even go as far as to shut all flow down and to turkey baster it to the rocks so the bacteria hits all the right spots from the get go (i just pour mine in though lol)

 

[Janice]

What do you mean re using frozen shrimp to check ammonia please?

 

[Janice]

Also, what is the difference in what they do for the tank between the products Josh mentions and Colony and Seachem Prime please?

 

[Josh]

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/how-to-start

its called dead shrimp cycling.

Seachem to my understanding is more a detox/chemical type reaction where as the ones i list are just specifically cultured bacteria