I Hate Tank Crashes.....

[Lonewolfblue]

I don't know what happened, but my 75G had crashed last night. I did a 60% PWC last weekend like I usually do, and cleaned out my XP3 which was partially plugged. Lately it's been plugging up pretty quickly, so it looks like I'm going to have to do filter maintenance about every other week, or maybe every week, til things clear up. But anyways, all was good over the weekend and last night all looked good before lights out. Then this morning I woke up to my beloved Red Tail Shark dead and floating. Also, one of my prize Bolivian Rams was also dead at the bottom of the tank. My Red Tail was huge, about 7.5" and about 6 years old, huge. And thicker than my thumb. His red tail was about 1.5" from top tip to bottom tip. Really going to miss him. So I immediately pulled out the Python and started removing water. At the same time, I added 3x Prime to help the fish. I removed about 70% of the water, then refilled, and added a little more Prime. All seems to be going very well now, and the water is starting to clear up. It was near crystal clear last night, then this morning it was cloudy, and 2 dead fish. It's now near crystal clear once again. Will see how things are in the morning. I Hate Tank Crashes!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Edit: Oh, the Bolivian Ram that I lost was one of my elderly males, he was about 6yrs old as well. So I have 2 more elderly Bolivians, as well as a couple grown-up babies that are about 2yo. It really ticks me off, lol. They say Bolivians have a lifespan of about 2-4yrs, but mine blows that away, lol. 6yo, going on 7yo, lol. Might be a little older than that because they were not babies when I got them, they were about 2" when I got them. They are now about 3 1/2" - 3 3/4", full grown.

 

[beglely]

Im sorry for the loss. Thats a tough one to stomach.

 

[thominil]

Sorry to hear. I would cut back on the prime, too much of a good thing is bad.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Why cut back on the Prime, that wasn't the reason for the crash. I only put in enough Prime for the water I replace. So if I change out 40G, I put in enough Prime to treat 40G. The reason I put in 3x Prime is because of the ammonia spike, it's highly recommended so you can stop the ammonia from burning the gills of the fish til you do your water change, which I was doing immediately. While removing the water, within 5 minutes the fish were no longer at the surface because the Prime was binding all the ammonia. All is still looking really good with the tank lights out.

The only thing I can see that would have caused the crash is cleaning the canister filter. But the tank is fully planted, so that shouldn't have had much affect at all.

 

[thominil]

Oh sorry. Never really noticed that prime is an ammonia remover but only as a dechlorinator.

 

[Zagz]

LWB I am so sorry, I hate tank crashes too. I wish I could offer you an explanation.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Prime doesn't remove ammonia, but rather binds it, as well as nitrites, til the plants use it or the bacteria converts it to nitrates. The ammonia is still there, it's just bound which makes it safer for the fish til it's gone. It basically buys you time while you do the PWC or let the plants do their job, preferably PWC, lol.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm sorry for your losses.

 

[thominil]

Oh very interesting....Thanks. May pick up a bottle/jug of that next time a pay a visit to petsmart.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I'm so sorry for your losses, LWB!

 

[InfernoST]

Sorry man, that really s*^&s.

 

[FishEggs]

yeah they really suck. especially when you loose long time aqua friends. maybe the bolivian owed the shark too much money and wasnt paying so the shark nocked off the bolivian which then in turn caused an ammonia spike that killed the shark.

the prime bottle says that up to 5x the normal dose can be used in an emergency.

 

[InfernoST]

yeah they really suck. Especially when you loose long time aqua friends. Maybe the bolivian owed the shark too much money and wasnt paying so the shark nocked off the bolivian which then in turn caused an ammonia spike that killed the shark.

The prime bottle says that up to 5x the normal dose can be used in an emergency.

. Sounds logical to me, I think it's time to call CSI.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

hehehe........ Yes, it was a tough one. The water is starting to get a little cloudy again, but all the fish are acting normal. Will keep a close eye on it, ammonia is showing 0ppm, and it's hard to tell on the nitrite, so close to 0ppm. Other than that, all is looking good.

 

[kaiofcanada]

oh man...that is a sad story. It made me check my water just now.

I guess it is a comfort in knowing you provided such a spectacular habitat they they lived 2+ years longer than expected. I hope your tank recovers soon.