My first tank crash

vanreefer · #1 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 · #2 11-01-2011, 02:53 AM

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

The Grizz · #3 11-01-2011, 04:21 AM

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

Oilers · #4 11-01-2011, 04:51 AM

I lost my sailfin tang, regal tang, flame angel, copperband butterfly and coral beauty. The naso tang is doing extremely well. He and the foxface are the only fishes that were able to swim through the whole ordeal, just hyperventilating. I was surprised to see how hardy both of them were.
Of all the fishes, the sailfin tang was my favorite because somebody gave it to me as a gift. Steve at Red Coral is a very kind person. He offers me one of his tanks at the store to use as a quarantine tank if I need one. He will also try to find me a replacement for the sailfin tang as soon as he can. Maybe he can offer it to me as a gift too

Thanks Steve.

Oilers · #5 11-01-2011, 04:53 AM

vanreefer,
lol, that was funny. Thanks for the laugh

The Grizz · #6 11-01-2011, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oilers

I lost my sailfin tang, regal tang, flame angel, copperband butterfly and coral beauty.

That is truly sad and devastating loss for sure. I will keep my eyes & ears open for some replacements for what you lost as well. I have a couple sailfins but my small one, which I rescued is slowly recovering from HLLE & the large one is huge waiting for my 300. Same with my Regals both almost 6" body only. I don't know if I could keep going if I lost all my livestock especially all my tangs.

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #7 11-01-2011, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Grizz

I don't know if I could keep going if I lost all my livestock especially all my tangs.

Yes, losing a lot of fish all of a sudden, especially ones you had for years, can make you want to quit this addiction.

chevyjaxon · #8 11-01-2011, 11:47 AM

I have a 2 year old son, I also have my 200g seaworld locked in the basement. its not the crash that concerns me most of all, its him jumping in and trying to get "nemo" as he calls it so until I know for sure he understands me i keep him away from the basement. he can shampoo the dog instead. I certainly hope you can get all the soap out before you get an algae problem. have you got a green cheato in there? they tend to gobble up phospates. I really hope you dont have to do a dark cycle on your tank to keep algae blooms from appearing. good luck

HaZRaTTy · #9 11-01-2011, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanreefer

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

haha I totally was going to insert a no more tears joke

(I thought it was supposed to stop tears not create them)

Sorry to hear about the tank, I like the teaching the Do's and Don'ts of a fish tank.

I hope everything turns out well. Good Luck.