My first tank crash

Oilers · #1 10-31-2011, 03:02 PM

My wife ran into the bedroom last night and yelled, "Come and look at the fish tank, the fishes are dropping off to the bottom like airplanes being shot out of the sky!". I raced to the tank and saw most of my fishes are lying on the sand bed, breathing heavily. The water looked a bit cloudy but not too much to be concerned about. I looked around the tank to see if one of my anenomes has committed suicide like one of the threads I've read on here. I finally found the problem in my sump tank. The water was cloudy and full of white foam. I was like, what the heck... foam?? Then I saw an empty Johnson baby shampoo bottle and knew what just happened. My three year old son has decided to give daddy little fishes a bath like the one he gets daily.

I did a water change (70%), changed the filter and carbon. I plan to do another water change maybe tomorrow. I performed some tests on the water this morning and all the parameters are back to the level they were pre-crash. Half of my fishes died but the corals seem to be doing fine.
Has anybody had a similar experience before? What else do I need to do? Should I remove my corals and the rest of the fishes and wait a week or two before putting them back into the tank? The fishes that survive are eating and breathing normal (except for the yellow tang but I think he's recovering). The corals are opening up and showing their colors well.

Proteus · #2 10-31-2011, 03:27 PM

Soap residue can be hard to get rid of. Thankfully it was johnsons which rinses ok. I would scrub glass and equip to pull residue off before water change. Haha. Kids are awesome. Good luck

I guess you have room for that purple tang now.

Myka · #3 10-31-2011, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oilers

I did a water change (70%), changed the filter and carbon. I plan to do another water change maybe tomorrow.

Sounds like your bases are covered. That's exactly what I would do.

Oilers · #4 10-31-2011, 03:59 PM

Titus,
Yeah, good thing he's my kid. I can still have a little bit of laugh thinking about it. I almost bursted out laughing seeing his face expression when I asked him about the shampoo bottle. I had to pretend being mad, otherwise he would do it again.
And yes, I now do have the room for the purple tang. It's in transit last time I checked. Unfortunately, my favorite fish didn't make it either so I would need to get a replacement in the near future. The Naso tang did survive, along with the clown fishes and fire fishes.

PS Anybody has a red sea sailfin tang or flame angel for sale?

Proteus · #5 10-31-2011, 04:08 PM

My daughter decided to feed our cichlid tank one day. A hole can of flake and a can of pellets. Lol couldn't figure out for the life of me why the water was so gross. Then I found m t containers in the recycle. Haha. Now she's aloud to feed as long as I'm there.

Lampshade · #6 10-31-2011, 04:37 PM

That's rough. My son has done a few things as well, hotwheels in the sump, helping to clean out cheato, pulled a reactor hose out and drained 25 gallons onto the floor..... One of the best investments for my tank has been childproofing it.

Gripenfelter · #7 10-31-2011, 04:53 PM

If you have a quarantine tank I would move the fish to that tank and do a complete scrub down and start over. Soap is hard to get rid of. Some of the fish could still die in the days that follow.

vanreefer · #8 11-01-2011, 12:34 AM

so much for no more tears!!... sorry couldnt help myself
Hope it turns out OK
VR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oilers

My wife ran into the bedroom last night and yelled, "Come and look at the fish tank, the fishes are dropping off to the bottom like airplanes being shot out of the sky!". I raced to the tank and saw most of my fishes are lying on the sand bed, breathing heavily. The water looked a bit cloudy but not too much to be concerned about. I looked around the tank to see if one of my anenomes has committed suicide like one of the threads I've read on here. I finally found the problem in my sump tank. The water was cloudy and full of white foam. I was like, what the heck... foam?? Then I saw an empty Johnson baby shampoo bottle and knew what just happened. My three year old son has decided to give daddy little fishes a bath like the one he gets daily.

I did a water change (70%), changed the filter and carbon. I plan to do another water change maybe tomorrow. I performed some tests on the water this morning and all the parameters are back to the level they were pre-crash. Half of my fishes died but the corals seem to be doing fine.
Has anybody had a similar experience before? What else do I need to do? Should I remove my corals and the rest of the fishes and wait a week or two before putting them back into the tank? The fishes that survive are eating and breathing normal (except for the yellow tang but I think he's recovering). The corals are opening up and showing their colors well.

fishytime · #9 11-01-2011, 02:53 AM

eeeek!.....sorry to hear David......what all did you loose?

The Grizz · #10 11-01-2011, 04:21 AM

OMG David!!! How is the tank doing now. Hate to ask this but is the Naso ok?