Cichlidiot
June 26th 03, 11:31 AM
No matter how easy you might think you're making it for your non-fish
keeper roommate to look after your tank while you're gone, it won't work.
This is the lesson I learned tonight as I returned home after only 4 days
gone to a tank with completely green water, dead and dying fish
everywhere, ammonia through the roof and the stench of a dead tank.
Roommate claims the fish were fine that morning, perhaps they were,
perhaps not. By the time I started water changes, all but one Neolamp.
similis were dead. The similis did not survive the stress of the water
changes combined with all the other crap. Now I have lost all my F0 and F1
fish and fry (over $150 worth of livestock). I am left with just a tank of
snails and plants. Talk about discouraging.
As for causes of this, again, hard to say. There are many possible causes,
any of which an experienced fish keeper could have prevented. The filter
seized up sometime while I was gone and the roommate failed to notice the
lack of water motion. Said roommate also failed to notice the AC had
turned off and it was 90F in the room the fish were in when I came home
(which was after dark, who knows how high it was during the day or on
prior days). So, oxygen deprivation is a likely factor, especially
considering a few fry and the similis (smallest of my fish) were the only
ones still alive when I got home.
Also, ammonia poisoning probably did in any fish that survived oxygen
deprivation (assuming that it was oxygen deprivation that did in the
rest). There was of course the ammonia from the decaying fish. There was
also an excess of food on the tank floor, which suggests to me perhaps the
fish died earlier than today, since I gave her premeasured amounts of food
to feed them so she shouldn't have been able to overfeed them, unless of
course the fish were dead and not eating the food. I should have just
forgone with the feeding altogether. I would have lost the fry in the tank
due to lack of food, but perhaps without the excess food contributing to
the ammonia levels, I'd still have at least the similis.
As I said at the beginning, my roommate claims they were all fine this
morning, but I have a hard time believing the tank could have gotten to
such a state in the space of 10-12 hours. The algae bloom was so thick the
back of the tank couldn't be seen until two 50% water changes had been
performed. Then again, I have never had a tank with such a catastrophic
loss before. I'm literally sick to my stomach right now, and it's not all
from the stench of the dead fish. I blame myself for this loss because I
should have gotten one of the neighbors who also has a fish tank to watch
the tank. On the other hand, I feel my roommate has at least some of the
blame for letting the temps get so extreme (I have other furry pets who
shouldn't be that hot either) and not noticing the dead fish, but I also
feel guilty about blaming her because she's clueless about fish and I
never should have trusted the tank to her in the first place.
Gah, this is just so frustrating. I've had this tank going well with only
that one aggression incident last month (which was resolved by putting
stronger filter flow into the tank actually) and some green hair algae
"blooms" (clumps would be more apt a term). All the fish were displaying
and breeding. I had a handful of fry of various ages (some 4 months, some
1 month). The plants were growing and the green hair algae had finally
been brought under control. It's just aggrievating that all this work
could be ruined in the space of 4 days. So much so that I wonder if it's
even worth it to start over while I am living with my current set of
roommates. I am moving in the near future, so I suppose I could just leave
the plants and snails (would the snails produce enough waste to keep the
filter colonies going?) until after I move. But of course, as bad luck
would have it, the local aquarium society's big annual fish show/auction
(Findig 2003) is the weekend I'm slated to move, so my best opportunity to
restock for less than I payed for my now dead fish is shot because the
tank will be in mid-move and not ready for fish then.
Also, what does one have to do to get a tank ready for new fish after such
a loss? As I said, I've never had a whole tank of fish go belly up. One or
two deaths on occasion of course, but nothing this catastrophic. Does
there need to be any disinfecting? I'm leaning towards no since this
wasn't caused by illness. Logic tells me that water changes to bring the
ammonia and algae bloom under control should be sufficient. Of course, if
I do wait until after I move to restart the tank, I might just redo the
whole thing with new substrate and rock placement. There was several parts
of the current substrate that irked me such as the crushed coral migrating
into the similis' sand-based shell bed. I'd also plan for two shell beds
if I were to keep similis again since they do seem to get into really bad
territorial arguments (at least my 5 fought over who had control of the
shell bed) compared to say the multifasciatus. And I am babbling in my
post right now because I am upset over this, so I will stop here.
keeper roommate to look after your tank while you're gone, it won't work.
This is the lesson I learned tonight as I returned home after only 4 days
gone to a tank with completely green water, dead and dying fish
everywhere, ammonia through the roof and the stench of a dead tank.
Roommate claims the fish were fine that morning, perhaps they were,
perhaps not. By the time I started water changes, all but one Neolamp.
similis were dead. The similis did not survive the stress of the water
changes combined with all the other crap. Now I have lost all my F0 and F1
fish and fry (over $150 worth of livestock). I am left with just a tank of
snails and plants. Talk about discouraging.
As for causes of this, again, hard to say. There are many possible causes,
any of which an experienced fish keeper could have prevented. The filter
seized up sometime while I was gone and the roommate failed to notice the
lack of water motion. Said roommate also failed to notice the AC had
turned off and it was 90F in the room the fish were in when I came home
(which was after dark, who knows how high it was during the day or on
prior days). So, oxygen deprivation is a likely factor, especially
considering a few fry and the similis (smallest of my fish) were the only
ones still alive when I got home.
Also, ammonia poisoning probably did in any fish that survived oxygen
deprivation (assuming that it was oxygen deprivation that did in the
rest). There was of course the ammonia from the decaying fish. There was
also an excess of food on the tank floor, which suggests to me perhaps the
fish died earlier than today, since I gave her premeasured amounts of food
to feed them so she shouldn't have been able to overfeed them, unless of
course the fish were dead and not eating the food. I should have just
forgone with the feeding altogether. I would have lost the fry in the tank
due to lack of food, but perhaps without the excess food contributing to
the ammonia levels, I'd still have at least the similis.
As I said at the beginning, my roommate claims they were all fine this
morning, but I have a hard time believing the tank could have gotten to
such a state in the space of 10-12 hours. The algae bloom was so thick the
back of the tank couldn't be seen until two 50% water changes had been
performed. Then again, I have never had a tank with such a catastrophic
loss before. I'm literally sick to my stomach right now, and it's not all
from the stench of the dead fish. I blame myself for this loss because I
should have gotten one of the neighbors who also has a fish tank to watch
the tank. On the other hand, I feel my roommate has at least some of the
blame for letting the temps get so extreme (I have other furry pets who
shouldn't be that hot either) and not noticing the dead fish, but I also
feel guilty about blaming her because she's clueless about fish and I
never should have trusted the tank to her in the first place.
Gah, this is just so frustrating. I've had this tank going well with only
that one aggression incident last month (which was resolved by putting
stronger filter flow into the tank actually) and some green hair algae
"blooms" (clumps would be more apt a term). All the fish were displaying
and breeding. I had a handful of fry of various ages (some 4 months, some
1 month). The plants were growing and the green hair algae had finally
been brought under control. It's just aggrievating that all this work
could be ruined in the space of 4 days. So much so that I wonder if it's
even worth it to start over while I am living with my current set of
roommates. I am moving in the near future, so I suppose I could just leave
the plants and snails (would the snails produce enough waste to keep the
filter colonies going?) until after I move. But of course, as bad luck
would have it, the local aquarium society's big annual fish show/auction
(Findig 2003) is the weekend I'm slated to move, so my best opportunity to
restock for less than I payed for my now dead fish is shot because the
tank will be in mid-move and not ready for fish then.
Also, what does one have to do to get a tank ready for new fish after such
a loss? As I said, I've never had a whole tank of fish go belly up. One or
two deaths on occasion of course, but nothing this catastrophic. Does
there need to be any disinfecting? I'm leaning towards no since this
wasn't caused by illness. Logic tells me that water changes to bring the
ammonia and algae bloom under control should be sufficient. Of course, if
I do wait until after I move to restart the tank, I might just redo the
whole thing with new substrate and rock placement. There was several parts
of the current substrate that irked me such as the crushed coral migrating
into the similis' sand-based shell bed. I'd also plan for two shell beds
if I were to keep similis again since they do seem to get into really bad
territorial arguments (at least my 5 fought over who had control of the
shell bed) compared to say the multifasciatus. And I am babbling in my
post right now because I am upset over this, so I will stop here.