Mike, sorry to hear about the loss (es)! That blows! No idea on insurance/liability claims, but I would bitch until you get some retribution, it will at least help your ego/pride.
You say $150 lost in livestock, don’t forget time is $$ and if your tank recycles and/or you are starting from square 1, that’s time and you can chalk up 6-12 months of running a salt tank to a decent chunk of change. It might take a while re-establish your pod and biodiversity of your tank that the exterminator single handedly wiped out. Bring that up.
+1 on getting some LR from someone else to help re-establish your pod/bio diversity population. Keep an eye out for the losses and remove them from the tank ASAP so they don’t cause the remainder of the tank to crash.
I’d put the corals under the T5s and the tank under PCs if you are going to separate, but is it necessary to move the corals out of the tank? Do large water changes to cut the poison down dramatically. Run carbon to absorb the chemicals. The closer your water change water is to the current water conditions (less the poison), the less negative effect it will have on your tank. Temp, salinity, ca, alk, mag, ect.
Good luck and remember I have no idea what I’m talking about so take it with 2 grains of salt.
that last line was good in a time in need of a laugh…but there is good news…i made and earlier phone call and i had to leave a message…i figured since it was friday, i would get shafted, and not hear back until monday…
well i got a call at 5:30…and the expenses will be covered after explaining the situation and what it will take to reverse the situation…but like you said Ian, time is the biggest factor…and I wonder what rate i should be charging…j/k…
i dont want to be the guy to put names to the masses, but if anyones getting anything sprayed or bombed, call me first and ill name drop…
BETTER YET…cover that tank up really really nice and tight…! and dont let them get even close…
Looking back, I couldve took better measures…look i learned something!
[quote=“longballz84, post:23, topic:641”]
Can the live rock be cleaned? the sand? or would it just be 100 times safer to just start replacing?[/quote]
I don’t think you need to replace the rock and sand yet. I would ask the exterminator what is in the chemicals they use and then we can try to determine if they will recover or if they need to be replaced.
Yeah, it depends on the chemicals used. If it has copper in it, then unfortunatley yes, it probably should be replaced. Copper can exist a LONG time in the marine environment and kills inverts quite well.
Get a WHOLE LOTTA carbon in that badboy ASAP. I’d change it out a couple of times after a week or so of running it. Unless they’re gonna pay for new rock, in which case I would buy the Tonga stuff from Dr. Mac and send the “bad” rock to Jocephus. YahoO
Don’t have time to read the whole thing now, but start running lots of carbon, air out the room very well, stop using skimmer(as it pulls air through), and do small frequent water changes. IF you haven’t done any water changes yet start with a 30% water chance with well mixed water that matches salinity and temp. Then do 10% water changes daily till things are better. NEVER throw away a coral as the smallest little bit of the animal can often re-grow the whole thing. Sometimes none of the old animal is visible and it is covered in algae and a little piece can reappear out of no where. REAlly gtg, but best of luck. PMing my cell phone in case of an emergency.
“would it be ok to run carbon in the fuge and keep cleaning it, or should i run it externally? i really don’t have anything external to put it into…”
I have often hung a bag of carbon right in the tank right in front of a power head. No problem with that at all. Actually even if you have carbon running already buy some stockings(save a dollar) or cheap filter bags(a dollar more) at your LFS and a LARGE tub of carbon. Put some in your tank and your sump. Change them out every other day. Do the water changes like I said before. Give me a call if needed tomorrow.
Personally I wouldn’t move the animals to a smaller tank. Just improve there current conditions.
We’ll get you up and running with corals. Just take things slow.
save what you can. the damage will unravel over time. till then lots of water changes, lots of carbon and poly pads to remove the stuff and die off residue. some will survive to start again.
[quote=“kaptken, post:29, topic:641”]
save what you can. the damage will unravel over time. till then lots of water changes, lots of carbon and poly pads to remove the stuff and die off residue. some will survive to start again. [/quote]
I am not sure if it has been said yet, but after things are looking better and at least two three weeks have passed and you have tried out some crustaceans… (buy blue leg hermits as a test as they are pretty hardy and dirt cheap) Then you can start to seed your micro fauna with pods and stuff from other reefers.
Ask people to shake off their macro algae, trade/sell/donate small pieces of rock with lots of life on it and get your pods growing again.
Nothing else has really died…corals or fish…but the tank looks like crap still…crappier than it was i guess.
I still spot little dead things here and there that i fish out, so i know all the levels are in outerspace…
The xenia are pulsing, and the some of the zoas are open. The atrea snails are still going hard. I dont think things are going to turn out as bad as i thought. I really never found out exactly what chemicals i was dealing with (i will be) but i have been doing daily water changes.
The two clowns are very hardy…and the pygmy angel is acting right. Everything is eating now, that was an issue i totally forgot to mention at first. I think they were like “i think i might die you can save that for the next guys”. But now they are all back eating.
Sounds like some positive news. Make sure to keep up with running carbon as well. Carbon can remove an awful lot out of the water and may help in addition to the water changes. Every time you do a water change you will be diluting it, but what ever it is may still be there to a certain extent and may not break down too quickly. If your microfauna and bacteria were messed up you may have a problem with wastes not being broken down like normal, so the carbon will help with that as well.
I would still recommend adding a tiny bit more LR just to help recover some of the biodiversity which may have been weakened.
Yea read most the posts here and was wondering did u have the tank still running during the process?
I had my house bombed (darn cat) multiple times and all i did was throw a heavy heavy blanket over my whole display and kill the power. Came out fine besides my corals a lil shy for a day w/o light.
Sorry for your loss but hey we can always hook you up with frags and livestock for cheap!
i have that bacteria…so ill be adding that…carbon is also in…
I covered my tank with a blanket like u said, but I did leave the return and powerheads on.