I fear I've made a terrible mistake

[Hailey]

I'm afraid my reef tank is at risk of a crash and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I had three BTAs in a quarantine tank for a little over a week while I was waiting to arrange pick up with a buyer, and sometime last night or today one of them died. It totally polluted the little 10g tank in no time, and I was so worried that the other BTAs would die too that I put them straight back in the main tank, with no acclimation! I didn't think at the time about the terrible risk I was taking with my reef. Now I'm afraid that one or more will die at some point soon (tonight, or tomorrow maybe) and cause a crash.

How worried should I be, and are there any precautions I can take to make that less likely? I am happy to see that they almost instantly attached firmly to the rock when they were added to the main tank, and they look pretty good all considered, but I'm still worried. Obviously I have my test kits and water change water ready and will keep a close eye on the tank, but is there anything else I can do?

 

[reeferpj]

have a good amount of water for a good size WC

 

[JayM]

if they were healthy in your QT, and they immediately attached...you might be OK....

 

[Aquadiva]

^+1

I agree with all of the above... you might also have a supply of carbon handy.

 

[Hailey]

Thanks guys. Upon closer inspection two had obvious signs of damage from the ammonia in the quarantine tank (one had a pretty loose mouth, and one was starting to split and looked very ragged on the edge of the foot and mouth), so I decided to part with them. As hard as it is, I figure that it is better for me to lose those two than the whole tank overnight, though I sincerely hope I didn't give up on them too easily. The other one is firmly attached and looks pretty good for now, so I'm giving it a chance.

Man, I just hate it when I do something that gets innocent creatures killed. I hate even more the tough decisions while doing damage control later. It doesn't happen that much any more, but when it does it bothers me just as much as when I first started out with fish many years ago.

 

[Hailey]

Well, the final anemone made it through the night and day today, though it is hunkered down in a cave. It still seems firmly attached and though it isn't in the light, part of it appears to be reaching for the light. I'm hoping these are both good signs. How long do you think I should worry about suddenly losing that one? I know that with fish shock/poisoning usually shows symptoms within a few hours to a few days, but what about invertebrates? If it made it through the night and day does it have a pretty good chance?