Tank Journal Archive

[MichelleShocked]

Well, the amphipod problem is solved.
Here's what happened:
On Friday, I had to drive to a town a couple of hours away. It was my day off & i spent it cleaning my house then had a sleep before my trip.
I had been checking on my wrasse every hour or so to see if he was ok. He seemed to be alright, though still hiding. Had my sleep, woke up an hour later and -bang- he's dead!
I fished him out, told him i was very sorry & disposed of his remains. I'd had him less than 24 hrs & hadnt even named him *sigh*
Anyway, the rest of the tank inhabitants were fine and dandy so i set off on my 4 hr round trip.
When i got back, my tank looked like a thick fog had settled in :(
Galloped up to the shops - literally: the kids & i ran over & carried the 5L water bottles home - & made up 20L of ASW
After a change of 10L, my tank looked like this:

This morning, it looks like this:

Some of the morphs are looking a bit droopy but i think they'll be ok.
The amphipods?
Wiped out the lot.
Along with my crabs, bristle worms, micro brittle stars, a chiton i didn't know i had and every other critter large or small. I think my Nass snail might have survived.
So my wrasse did, ultimately, do what I'd bought him for......just not in manner I expected *sigh*

 

[Brekel]

Hey that really sucks. :(
Hope the tank clears up and remainingn inhabitants pull through.

 

[MichelleShocked]

Well, i did a full water change, added a 2nd bag of anti-phos & a 2nd bag of purigen, cleaned the glass & reduced the DSB by half & every1 has survived, except 1 morph.
No more fish for me :(

 

[holly]

:( Sorry you had a bad turn of events. Hopefully things turn around now,

 

[Agent M]

You can join my 'fish cause too much work' club with me Michelle. Its amazing how cloudy the water went. I know wrasses form a mucous cocoon around themselves at night, but thats it really - just wondering what it was about it that made the water so cloudy. Do they release toxins when they die do you know?

 

[MichelleShocked]

I don't know @Agent M - i was very surprised & dismayed when i saw it because the wrasse hadn't been dead THAT long and i had thought i'd avoided the whole melt down deal.
I would have expected it from the Mandarin Goby because they DO produce toxins that can kill tank mates. All i can guess is that the wrasse being quite a lot bigger than the Goby and my tank being a nano added up to a much faster deterioration. When i drained the water out, it smelt VILE :( like rotten fish.
i have concluded that the downside to nanos is that when something goes bang, the crash is even faster than a normal size reef tank, with even less time to fix it. I am thinking i should put together a "nano rescue" kit for myself so i'm not caught short and i can act as soon as i see something isnt right.
when i do, i'll post a thread for other nano keepers so they can do the same and add ideas.
nothing worse than seeing your tank crash and nothing you can do :(

 

[firebird]

So sorry to read this Michelle.
Don't give up on fish just yet though- I think everyone has their losses through no fault of their own

 

[MichelleShocked]

So sorry to read this Michelle.
Don't give up on fish just yet though- I think everyone has their losses through no fault of their own

I will wait for my tank to settle out - my zoas havnt forgiven me yet :( - then i may get a clownfish. My partner & kids WANTWANTWANT a "Nemo" (goddam movie)
*sigh*
I am hoping to get some tanks & stands from a guy at work so if that happens, i'll set up a FOWLR.
Fresh water fish are easy as! Marines dont seem to agree with me :(

 

[Fragalicious]

Oh, honey :( So sorry to hear about this, you poor thing! Please don't beat up on yourself - you've been doing amazing things in always trying to rescue fish and give them a better chance than they would have had at the shops. It's just unfortunate that sometimes they're just too far gone and no amount of heart and good intentions can change their fate.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with a coral and invert tank. They can be beautiful in their own right!

*hugs*

 

[Sam Parker]

My pico went cloudy like this on the weekend. Seems to have been caused from an acan I put in there that died, or let go, or whatever? Made the water cloudy - did a 100% water change, was still cloudy - pulled this acan out and threw it (that stank to high hell) did another 100% water change and everything is happy again.

Damn pico's, all happens quickly!!! Your tank will bounce back, sorry to hear of the loss - but keep your chin up!
Sam

 

[Sarg]

No good michelle :-(. Hopefully it all goes back to normal quickly.

How is it looking today? Zoas are weird lol I have a frag that was just 4 polyps now it 20 odd but they have been closed for the last two days. No idea what the problem is the others are all fine! I'm sure they will open back up.

Have you got the water surface churning much? If its possible maybe get it as rippled as you can to get some more oxygen in there.