Tank-O-Death

[xarumitzu]

I have had a terrible accident. I went on vacation over the long weekend for the 4th of July. I had spoken with my roommate and he agreed to take care of my fish. I had just gotten the tank back to normal after an overheating accident that killed four of my Neon Tetras so I figured everything would be fine. Apparently over the weekend my last Tetra died and my roommate didn't take it out of the tank. Instead, it sat in the tank for four days stuck to the filter intake. I came home to find the dead fish and immediately removed it and cleaned the tank and did a water change. However, the damage had already been done. I woke up this morning to find every one of my fish dead. I decided to throw away my gravel and plants and cleaned all my decorations and equipment. I guess I'm going to have to start over from square one. I feel terrible though, I think I should have gotten someone a bit more responsible to take care of it.

Although, my optimistic side makes me find the silver lining: I have been meaning to plant the tank more, I'm going to Chicago in a few days and now I won't have to worry about the tank, I did want to get a bigger tank, so why not now?

 

[ValRasbora]

Neons are very sensitive because of bad breeding usually. Don't feel it's your fault or your roommate's. Good luck with your new tank! I just got one out of my neighbors garbage lol and I'm really excited, it's in perfect condition . Good luck and sorry about your losses

 

[MissFishy]

Actually, that probably wasn't a horrible thing unless it really raised the ammonia levels. Did you check them before you wiped the tank? Unfortunately this means you'll have to start over again with cycling.

 

[xarumitzu]

Actually, that probably wasn't a horrible thing unless it really raised the ammonia levels. Did you check them before you wiped the tank? Unfortunately this means you'll have to start over again with cycling.

I did check the ammonia levels actually, I don't remember what the exact values were, but it was considerably higher than my base amounts were. Update though, I reset the tank and have been letting it run fish less for about 72 hours now. I'm going to go get fish I think tomorrow.

 

[jo3olous]

I did check the ammonia levels actually, I don't remember what the exact values were, but it was considerably higher than my base amounts were. Update though, I reset the tank and have been letting it run fish less for about 72 hours now. I'm going to go get fish I think tomorrow.

Why don't you do a fishless cycle and save yourself money, better yet save the fish!

 

[RexyTexel]

Yeah 3 days isn't enough for a tank to fully cycle. And I don't think you want anymore dead fish. I woudln't feel bad about the fish dieing though. It wasn't your fault. Some people think it's okay to leave a dead fish in a tank because the others will eat it.

 

[MissFishy]

Letting the tank run for a few days isn't going to do anything as said above. Please read up on how a tank actually cycles. There's a link in my signature, or lots of information on the net.

 

[xarumitzu]

Yeah, thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to wait some more and keep testing my water before I go and get fish. That's a really nice website you have set up. It's very helpful. I don't want to lose any more fish, nor do I want to lose any more money either.

 

[MissFishy]

Well, it's good that you've read the website. However, saying you'll "wait some more and keep testing" doesn't give me confidence you really understand how a tank cycles. Sure, if you let it sit there, the ammonia levels will go down, but that's because the ammonia source will just get eaten up, not because it's cycling. To cycle you need a constant source of ammonia to "feed" your growing bacteria, this good bacteria is what will eat the poo your eventual fish produce.

 

[Matt Nace]

Xarumitzu you either need to keep fish in there to allow it to cycle or refer to MissFishy's page for a fishless cycle. Letting the water sit there fishless w/o adding an ammonia source is not going to cycle the tank.

 

[ValRasbora]

Hm, come to think of it, I did that too once... left the fish in for a few days by accident, didn't realise it was dead... didn't hurt my tank hmm...

 

[xarumitzu]

Well, it's good that you've read the website. However, saying you'll "wait some more and keep testing" doesn't give me confidence you really understand how a tank cycles. Sure, if you let it sit there, the ammonia levels will go down, but that's because the ammonia source will just get eaten up, not because it's cycling. To cycle you need a constant source of ammonia to "feed" your growing bacteria, this good bacteria is what will eat the poo your eventual fish produce.

I apologize for coming off that way. You'll have to excuse me I was exhausted when I sent that and I had just gotten done doing a bunch of calculus homework for about 3 hours. I understand what I really need to do. I went to the store today and purchased a bottle of ammonia, came home, raised the water temp. to 83 degrees (highest my heater would go), and added three drops of the ammonia. Waited about a half an hour tested it: 7ppm. Now I'm just going to let it run for a week or so.

I apologize for choosing bad words, I do understand what I need to be doing.

 

[bmoraski]

Well, it's good that you've read the website. However, saying you'll "wait some more and keep testing" doesn't give me confidence you really understand how a tank cycles. Sure, if you let it sit there, the ammonia levels will go down, but that's because the ammonia source will just get eaten up, not because it's cycling. To cycle you need a constant source of ammonia to "feed" your growing bacteria, this good bacteria is what will eat the poo your eventual fish produce.

a most important point in treating waste water. all your waste water plants (except for the few) use bacteria to eat pooo.
its called activated sludge
and i would take MissFishys advice