Catastrophy Strikes

R

reefer2b

Reefing newb
Mods - I'm not sure if this in the right place or not. Couldn't figure out were to put it in the new set up

My daughter had some friends over today. She was showing them the fish when one decided to feed the fish. He dumped the whole container of fish nugget food in the tank. Auughh!. I cleaned up as much as I could, went to the fish store and got some new water. Came home added cleaned up a little more, I wound up adding a total of 6 gallons of new water. A few hours later and all my flippin fish are DEAD and the cleaner shrimp. I checked the water and the ph was 7.4 and the ammonia is about 1.0 (I know this is what did the shrimp in) The crabs, snails and anenome seem to be ok. At least they are still alive.
My questions are, is the ammonia because of the food or from me messing with the substrate and did the low ph kill the fish or possibly something else? Also what could I have done differently, maybe taken the fish out and put them in a bucket. Oh, and the water is still very cloudy. I am just sick about this and my husbands is calling me every name he can think for screwing it up, (even though I paid for everything in the tank including the tank):pooh:
 
reefer2b said:
Also what could I have done differently, maybe taken the fish out and put them in a bucket.
Click to expand...
You should have kicked that boys ass...
I'm truly sorry to hear about that...how long did the food sit in the tank before you removed it and then did your water change, cause it's strange that it spiked that quickly. Even though the very low ph mixed with ammonia could have caused the deaths, double check the anemone, it could be dying which could have been the sudden cause of toxins in the tank...causing the deaths.
 
I started cleaning it with about 10-15 min. As soon as they told me. I got what could out then went and got the water. I've been watching the anemome and it is acting normal, waiving around and not looking funny in the middle. All my crabs look frozen in place but move if I move something in front of them. I'm wondering if I should take them out and put them in what clean water I have.
 
reefer2b said:
I started cleaning it with about 10-15 min. As soon as they told me. I got what could out then went and got the water.
Click to expand...
Ok, so that's not the issue then, it wasn't in there long enough to cause any major problems.


reefer2b said:
I've been watching the anemome and it is acting normal, waiving around and not looking funny in the middle.
Click to expand...
Anemones are really, really delicate...honestly, your tank isn't old enough to keep one yet, they need perfect water conditions, which take about a year or so, and very bright lighting...it may look fine to us, but at the same time might be sickly or dieing, causing the ammonia spike.
 
My tank is a year and half, (probably should add the year in my siggy) never had any problems with water conditions, anemone has been with me since last Aug. (I bought it before I should've, but have had it for almost a year now)
I didn't get all the food out, maybe that's it. The water is also very cloudy like it was when I first set up the tank.
Would you leave the crabs and snails in the tank now or move them to a bucket, I know they are cheap stuff but for now they are just frozen
 
Thank for your help too, any other thoughts are appreciated. Hubby thinks I should've known better, honestly I don't know what else I could do. He thinks I should have taken out the fish. Would you have?
 
First off,Go a head kick that boys tail.Then kick your husbands tail.
Not to the more pressing problem.
If the tanks got a DSB,then you could have released some of the built up gas that accumulates in the sand.It only takes that stuff a minute or 2 to crash the system.
So you've got 2 choices.
#1 Start mixing water and doing enough water changes to keep the ammonia as low as possible.You'll still have to remove the anemone and any corals though.They wont be able to survive the ammonia and other toxins.
#2 Remove the livestock to a seperate tank and let it finish the cycle thats been kicked off.
Which ever way you go.Keeps us updated,and good luck.
 
I dont think theres anything you could have done to save the fish.Once those gas pockets hit open water,it pretty much fries the fishes gills instantly.
 
DSB?? So remove what's in there, I have a bucket I use for water changes I could put them in and about 2gal of water, I don't have any more r/o water though. So I guess it's remove them and fix it tomorrow
 
DSB= Deep sand bed.
For now,I'd mix up enough water using tap and dechlornate it.Then remove what animals are still alive to the bucket.You'll need to put a power head in with them to keep the water moving.
That'll be safer on them than whats going on in the tank right now.
 
Thank Yote, on my way, I'll use what I've got from the store, It should fill my bucket and still have room room for the water mover and heater. Not that much stuff in the tank. Good to know about the fish (sort of) that even if I had removed them they'd probably still be gonners. I thought they looked a little stressed after I cleaned the tank.
 
Ok it's done other than the nassarius snails. I had to move all my rock to get the anemone out he was/is stuck to the underside of a rock that was on the bottom. I think I just made a bigger mess. But I did find my starfish in the process and he's still alive. So for now they are all in a 3 Gal bucket with a few rocks. How long can they live in the bucket since there are no fish? I'd like to wait until the water starts to clear.
Oh, and the sand bed is pretty nasty I've cleaned it before and have half a dozen or so nassarius snails but it tends to grow hair algae and whatever else pretty good.
 
Gosh reefer2b sorry to hear of your losses. Tell your Husband that sometimes there's unknown reasons that things happen in our tanks. Have him read some of the posts on here and then maybe he would realize just how hard this hobby is. I don't think I'd have done anything different than you have done. May be it was the gas but who knows for sure. Sorry for all you pains. :frustrat:
 
i think i would have done the same thing you did. That just blows and to make matters worse you get bitched at while having to deal with it.:grumble: Just out of curiosity your sand bed you said is 2 inches do you ever stir it or was it always static? (with exception on snails and such) I know that wouldnt help you now was just wondering for future reference. From the time frame of what happened it seems yote has the best opinion. The food couldnt have impacted that fast. One other question ,and I hate to ask it, is it possible the kids added something other then fish food into the tank. Like a soda, chips some type of cleaner? :shock:
 
Ted - no they only put in the fish food. It was a larger full can too and it went everywhere. I haven't stirred the sand bed in a while. I do know that the 2x I had a diamond goby my ammonia went up for the first few days. (not much for the second one as he jumped on day 2) I didn't really stir up much more than the surface of the sand but it was probably a combo of stuff. Oh and for hubby, I actually hung up on him last night (he's on his way to CA for a few weeks) said I was tired of hearing him go on and on and on... (besides our 4 year old could hear and she was getting more upset about that then the fish dying). I haven't done that in years.
My tank still looks like a cloud - can't see more than a few inches into it. I'm going to get some r/o water today and mix up some salt water and start doing water changes to see if I can lower the ammonia and hopefully it will clear the water up. I stilll haven't found one fish

The critters in the bucket are doing fine. Even the anemone who didn't like the move at all. He got all puffed up and almost looked like a balloon, but this morning he is waving around and looking good.
 
Wow that sucks to hear. Like dcantucson said, stuff randomly happens. I had I think 4 or 5 fish die randomly when I didnt do a thing to the tank.
Hope everything works out for ya.
 

Similar threads

F
New to marine.
Replies
2
Views
1K
kbuser92
kbuser92
Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
654
Mike
Mike
J
PULLING-OUT MY HAIR!
Replies
0
Views
2K
Jeff P.
J
J
Help With Dying Fish!
Replies
0
Views
1K
Jeff P.
J
J
Help with Nitrates!
Replies
0
Views
1K
Jeff P.
J
Back
Top