help!! hammer coral and yellow tang sudden death!!

[new2scrub]

this morning I woke up to a retracted dying hammer coral ,later this morning my yellow tang who was fine this morning just became paralised and is lying on the bottom twiching,,,well he was twitching,,,looks dead now,,,,but not stiff and eyes still clear. the water has a slight haze to it also. this happened last week as well when the pump for my ats stopped working for several days. the screen was cleaned to "new" on sunday and everything WAS looking great,now this morining back to square one:( my ATS is growing,,not much,,but growing.....please help!!!

[kerry]

Sounds as if you had an ammonia spike. Your Scrubber will clear up the nutrient levels soon. Just check the water conditions often, once you are clear of ammonia and nitrite you are safe to add live stock again. Its just a waiting game now. Once the levels are clear get live stock in it soon so you are producing nutrients again for the screen to grow. I am sorry for your loss.

[new2scrub]

my tank is fully stocked and about 6 years old. My soft corals and other inverts all look ok for now,this seams to only affect sps lps and fish..(first)...?

damsels ok
clowns sluggish
shrimp fine

yellow tang is dead

hammer coral getting worse by the second

snails sluggish and falling to bottom and staying closed

[kerry]

Check your nutrients!!!! You may need an emergency water change if the ammonia or nitrite is high. Check your nutrients fast!!!! And water change as needed.

[new2scrub]

Think I found the cause,,,,deep remote sand bed,,,smelled like rotten eggs NOTHING BUT ATS FROM NOW ON!!!!

[kerry]

I am glad I discovered the ATS way. Its made this SW side of my hobby so wonderful!!! Good to hear you figured it out.

[new2scrub]

Yea I used the ATS solely for 2 years,and everything was great, then 2 months ago I had the bright idea of adding a remote deep sand bed. No more tinkering for this kid :)

[SantaMonica]

Something stirred us the sand and released the hydrogen sulfide gas that builds up in DSB's. That's why I don't want a DSB either. SSB maybe.

[kerry]

My salt tanks have a 1 to 2 inch substrate, This is not to deep is it? Never had any issues yet?

[dtyharry]

No I do not think that would be considered deep, probably twice that I would imagine. Depends on the grain size of your bed as well, the finer it is the less 'deep' it has to be.
Wonder why new2scrub decided to do that. A scrubber will provide all the pods you need and nutrient reduction too.

[new2scrub]

santa: I just spent hours reading about hydrogen sulfide,It seems that intense light,iron,and flow will break it down. will the algae consume it as well? even if algae does not consume it ,it looks like the ATS is the go-to equipment for hydrogen sulfide because it already has intense light,iron,and flow! :) thanks again santa!!!!

[SantaMonica]

A scrubber won't help because as soon as the stuff is let out of of the sand, it will do its damage before it ever makes it to the scrubber or other filter.

[iggy]

You may want to review Coral Magazine next month.

They are doing a poll of Deep Sand Bed with number of crashes. To me it is an unnecessary detritus sink. I do like remote refugiums still as they can thrive with live food.

[new2scrub]

i will check that out thanks!