GouldFever
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
KNEW IT! Happy to hear (read) your success
Nothing survives....
- Thread starter DonCollins
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I really wonder how much current the older of the two old power heads was putting out....I tossed it last night when I opened it up to clean it and found some firm growth that I could not remove.
ezy33
Aquarium Advice Addict
A titanium grounding probe will drain off any stray voltage. I strongly recommend using a GFI with the probe encase you have direct and not stray voltage. Good luck!
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I actually purchased one this evening, but I want to make sure I set it up right so I do not have an unexpected fish (or human) fry. I think the nearest outlet is grounded. I will have look tomorrow.
Last update before bed tonight, 4 hours in and both Damsels look to be doing well. I just walked into the room to check on them and they both shot to the top to see what was up!
Don
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
HELP!!! I just woke up to find one of the damsels dead and the other near-death. It has been approximately 8 hours since introduction. The first one introduced had looked possibly bad immediately after introduction, but at that time I assumed that it was because he got pushed against the net with the powerhead current especially since he was better when he got back into the bucket of all DT water & appeared okay when he went back in to the DT the second time. All fish are alive and well (except horribly overstocked) in the QT. My water parameters are actually worse in the QT then the DT now since I had done a massive clean on it before I had expected to need it for so many fish. If it's not aeration and not stray current, I'm back to square one. I'm totally at a loss. And discouraged...
I attempted to save the second damsel, but he died halfway through the process. He did seem to perk up when he was removed from the DT. He was swimming, albeit erratically, at least (as opposed to laying on his side, not caring if he was netted) & seemed to move toward the QT water I was dripping in. Too little, too late I guess.
I attempted to save the second damsel, but he died halfway through the process. He did seem to perk up when he was removed from the DT. He was swimming, albeit erratically, at least (as opposed to laying on his side, not caring if he was netted) & seemed to move toward the QT water I was dripping in. Too little, too late I guess.
Last edited:
TheTodd
Aquarium Advice Addict
Wow...just read this thread. I have nothing to add, but am following along in hopes of seeing some resolution eventually. When damsels don't make it a day, something is going on.
AtoZ Cichlids
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2013
- Messages
- 430
Yea same here! It's an amazing thread.
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
So I have had a little while to think about this now...
Stray Voltage is at 0.7 volts. There is no way this could kill any fish, I would think....even if it was live voltage which seems unlikely since I tested all my outlets last night and all came back as grounded meaning the GFCI or surge protector should trip if that current was live.
Oxygenation: The glass top has been off for almost 48 hours now. As I understand it, if oxygen saturation was our problem, the problem should have fixed itself pretty quickly after removing the hood. That being said, the damsels did appear to be breathing somewhat rapidly last night, but I just assumed it was from being newly introduced and suspended in a net. Any suggestions as to where to get an oxygen saturation test?
Other than that, I am 100% at a loss. None of the algae growing could suck oxygen out of the tank, could it? We do have some red algae, some bubble algae (although that seems to be kind of under control now) and some green string algae. Nothing that looks out of the ordinary....
Don
Stray Voltage is at 0.7 volts. There is no way this could kill any fish, I would think....even if it was live voltage which seems unlikely since I tested all my outlets last night and all came back as grounded meaning the GFCI or surge protector should trip if that current was live.
Oxygenation: The glass top has been off for almost 48 hours now. As I understand it, if oxygen saturation was our problem, the problem should have fixed itself pretty quickly after removing the hood. That being said, the damsels did appear to be breathing somewhat rapidly last night, but I just assumed it was from being newly introduced and suspended in a net. Any suggestions as to where to get an oxygen saturation test?
Other than that, I am 100% at a loss. None of the algae growing could suck oxygen out of the tank, could it? We do have some red algae, some bubble algae (although that seems to be kind of under control now) and some green string algae. Nothing that looks out of the ordinary....
Don
somethingsfishy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I've heard that some algae requires oxygen when the lights are off. However, that would require a lot of algae to suck a 125 to nothing.
GouldFever
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I'm beyond puzzled now
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Same here. Another possibility that was mentioned was something leeching into the system. While I don't -think- this is the case, I will go through what happened since 2012.
-Dismantled tank, put all live rock in a 32g plastic container with air and heat.
-Reset tank. The only chemical used was Silicone to seal the bulkheads. No new silicone has been added since the day the bulkheads were installed back in December 2012 (give or take a couple weeks on exact date.)
-Since then, no rock has been out of the water.
Contents of the tank: 2 Marineland powerheads, 60lbs live sand (~1.25" average depth), ~125lbs love rock.
Contents of the sump: eshoops RS200 sump, 2 micron filter socks, skimmer, UV Sterilizer, 1 bag of carbon, foam bubble trap, 2 marineland return pumps.
Don
GouldFever
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
The silicone is the only other thing that it could be. Unless the prolonged exposure to the voltage did something to the rock? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Forgot to add lighting info...
2x 48" Hamilton Technology Blue/White LED strips, 2x 24" Hamilton Technology Blue/White LED strips, 3x 6 watt LED night lights. All 7 items mounted to a marine varnished 1x6 suspended ~7" above the water line.
Again, nothing that -should- cause a problem.
Don
2x 48" Hamilton Technology Blue/White LED strips, 2x 24" Hamilton Technology Blue/White LED strips, 3x 6 watt LED night lights. All 7 items mounted to a marine varnished 1x6 suspended ~7" above the water line.
Again, nothing that -should- cause a problem.
Don
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I did check the silicone, it is all dry. It is marine grade as far as I know (bought the tube at my LFS) and it was used to seal bulkheads only. Might the next step be to remove any excess silicone on the bulkheads and reseal with a new tube?
Don
GouldFever
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I wouldn't do that yet......... Have you introduced any live stock into the tank with everything turned off? I'd turn EVERYTHING off and see what happens.
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I did that last night. Everything was off. I let the damsels sit for about a half hour before I started slowly plugging items in to see if anything had an obvious effect on the fish. No one item produced the immediate effects observed on Wednesday evening with the Cardinal. This time, it was (I assume as I did not observe them for about 5 hours) a slower death (that sure makes me feel good
its bad enough I can't keep anything alive...)But...maybe something is emitting a charge periodically as opposed to continuously? Might try again tonight with everything off and just leaving everything off over night.
Don
somethingsfishy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I was originally thinking it was your heater. It turns on and off periodically and could hit he fish after a while in he tank. What do you take from the dt and use in the qt? Filter, heater etc.
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Nothing is transfered between the two systems. The QT used water from the DT to set it up 10 months or so ago, but since then the two systems have not had any contact.
The QT consists of:
Standard rectangular 20g tank
Marineland Penguin over the back filter
Prizm over the back skimmer
50w heater (which I think is from my first fresh water tank in 05!)
Glass canopy w/plastic strip on the back removed for filter/skimmer clearance.
Standard fluorescent light strip.
Don
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Missed this first part. I replaced the heater last night. It did create a significant drop in stray voltage (from 4.1 to .7) and I also determined the .7 volts are coming from the two Marineland return pumps. I don't think less than one volt could hurt the fish, but if I am wrong I can replace those as well.
Don
DonCollins
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
As I am looking through other forums to find other possible issues, one possibility came to mind with regards to the idea of an intermittent "live" charge OR a toxic substance being the culprit.
The two return pumps and the pump on the skimmer are all 13 months old, should be fine, but the pump feeding the skimmer is about 4 years old. If there is corrosion in that pump, could that create an intermittent live charge? Or, if there is corrosion, could it leech into the system making it toxic without showing any other evidence of trouble?
Don
The two return pumps and the pump on the skimmer are all 13 months old, should be fine, but the pump feeding the skimmer is about 4 years old. If there is corrosion in that pump, could that create an intermittent live charge? Or, if there is corrosion, could it leech into the system making it toxic without showing any other evidence of trouble?
Don
Similar threads
