Someone help me?!

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DanTheGuppyMan

DanTheGuppyMan

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
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Ok guys I just got back from my trip and my 60g planted tank is a DISASTER. The feeder over fed, the ammonia flew up, all my shrimp and snails died, it stinks terribly, there is a white fungus all over my driftwood and plants, algae everywhere, but the angelfish are somewhat ok...they seem sick though. WHAT SHOULD I DO? I started a water change and so far it's at 25%. I trimmed all the plants I could and tried to vacuum up all the excess food but it is just terrible PLEASE HELP !?!
 
Lots of water changes, q/t the angels in a hospital tank. I would go for large frequent water changes, try to stay away from products that "kill" life, in its place try promoting beneficial bacteria. I'm tempted to say scrap your plants, I felt sick just saying that... As for the driftwood, I'm useless on that one, but I am sure someone around here has an answer for ya. Good luck!!
 
ktomminello said:
Lots of water changes, q/t the angels in a hospital tank. I would go for large frequent water changes, try to stay away from products that "kill" life, in its place try promoting beneficial bacteria. I'm tempted to say scrap your plants, I felt sick just saying that... As for the driftwood, I'm useless on that one, but I am sure someone around here has an answer for ya. Good luck!!
Click to expand...

I'm on the same boat with you about scraping the plants. I'm trying to clean as mush stuff off of them as I can though. How can I clean the substrate? It's fluval stratum.
 
If the tank is empty I would probably not try to clean the substrate completely, it might cause more problems then it helps. Start by trying to get your parameters stabilized after a good gravel vac, swish your filter around with water from your 5.5g maybe? You'll probably wind up having to go through cycling your tank again, though, So sorry!!
 
I wouldn't scrap the plants, many are quite resiliant. If they are black mush then get rid of them. If any need trimming trim them up. Do large WC's, that will help more than anything. The stink and ammonia spike are from the dead snails mostly and the shrimp. Put some actual carbon and purgin in the filters to help remove smell and toxins. Don't run your CO2 until you get your tank squared away. Only run your lights 6 hours max and don't add your new lights until it clears up. Now take a deep breath and start working. Oh, once your dead snails and any dead plants are removed, some big WC's, even do a big 75% or so WC to get that nasty water out and with the carbon/purgen your angels will start recovering. Then if you go away again either get an auto feeder or make little containers of food, one for each day, so a feeder can only feed the amount you have made up. And at that put less food in than you would normally feed.
 
Alright, but what is still puzzling me is how I get all the decaying and excess food and debris off of the substrate...it looks terrible and I want to get it cleaned! I tried vacuuming it up but we all know you can't vacuum stratum...
 
You can take your hand and stir the water up over the plants and substrate and you can actually run your hand "gently" through the plants several times to remove and loose debris. That is what I do anyway during normal weekly WC's. It works for the substrate fine if you just wave your hand hard enough to make the crud on the bottom raise up so you can suck it up. Try doing an area at a time. It may take a few WC's and let the tank rest for a couple hours between WC's. And you can put the vac right against the substrate in this instance just don't push it into the substrate.
 
Rivercats said:
I wouldn't scrap the plants, many are quite resiliant. If they are black mush then get rid of them. If any need trimming trim them up. Do large WC's, that will help more than anything. The stink and ammonia spike are from the dead snails mostly and the shrimp. Put some actual carbon and purgin in the filters to help remove smell and toxins. Don't run your CO2 until you get your tank squared away. Only run your lights 6 hours max and don't add your new lights until it clears up. Now take a deep breath and start working. Oh, once your dead snails and any dead plants are removed, some big WC's, even do a big 75% or so WC to get that nasty water out and with the carbon/purgen your angels will start recovering. Then if you go away again either get an auto feeder or make little containers of food, one for each day, so a feeder can only feed the amount you have made up. And at that put less food in than you would normally feed.
Click to expand...

+1 agree
 
Yes this can be terrible. This has happened twice to me with different fish care takers.

Change water, pwc, back to back 50%-75%, rinse filter with treated water. Do back way off on feeding yourself, too. It is key to keep water in perfect condition for the next couple months to help fish recover. It is possible you could have to cycle the tank again, you will just have to watch it.

How many days were you away?

Maybe just trim plants if they are looking degraded.

If it is really bad maybe just remove and lightly clean tank and remove substrate and rinse in treated water and put everything back. Keep filter running in a plastic tub (if you don't have a different tank) with treated water. If you do that I would gently swish the filter pad, not wash too hard so you can try to keep as much BB as possible.
 
Omg, I just had something so similar to this happen to me the night after the mystery plant appeared in my tank- Rivercat- it had to come out, the world will never know what it was- I got up in the morning and my tank water was yellow and smelled like sulfur and my betta was hiding in his house, the crabs jumped ship, I saw one by my bed.

I have been doing 50- 75% changes all day. Most of my plants survived, but not unscathed, and I'm gonna have to keep doing them until my water lilies are back to normal. Trimmed back dead roots and leaves and am waiting for this mini cycle to end. Point is- I feel your pain, lol, hang in there :)
 
Man, that's crazy. I am on the same boat you are. 50 and 75% WC about every 2 hours, and trimming, trimming, and trimming. Things are a lot better now in mine, but I have to order new shrimp and snails :( my parameters are still a little shaky and the angels have been acting a lot better tho :) this morning I noticed all my plants pearling so I must be doing something right! Still have a bunch of that annoying fungus I need to clean out and the walls are still covered in algae. Fingers crossed for both of us!
 
I am going out tomorrow to get a smaller water changer to get in those hard to reach areas and some more accessories. Does anyone know a good little powerhead to blow my C02 around my tank better? I have a nano circ. pump but it's too much for my angels...
 
Lol, I'm kinda hoping that that my fiddlers will do what they used to do and just climb back in, but, unfortunately, I believe my cats got to them. I'm glad that your angels are ok and that things are doing better. Total damage for me was a baby peace lily and a baby crypt, though my pretty mottled lily is still a little on the transparent side and there is no red left to them :-( but the good news is the roots are better now and there are new leaves forming. As for the CO2, I have no personal experience with successfully using it, but I'm thinking about it simply because I want the entire tank planted, including grass and moss for my substrate and driftwood- I am not sure if it would be worth it for a 10g betta tank.
 
ktomminello said:
Lol, I'm kinda hoping that that my fiddlers will do what they used to do and just climb back in, but, unfortunately, I believe my cats got to them. I'm glad that your angels are ok and that things are doing better. Total damage for me was a baby peace lily and a baby crypt, though my pretty mottled lily is still a little on the transparent side and there is no red left to them :-( but the good news is the roots are better now and there are new leaves forming. As for the CO2, I have no personal experience with successfully using it, but I'm thinking about it simply because I want the entire tank planted, including grass and moss for my substrate and driftwood- I am not sure if it would be worth it for a 10g betta tank.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the crabs :( Hope those plants get better soon! For C02, I think that C02 injection is a great investment to any planted tank and since I have had experience not using any C02 and a pressurized C02 system on my planted tank, I can say that it has a tremendous effect on the growth of plants and overall keeps the tank looking more healthy. But, you can easily have a beautiful tank like Rivercats who doesn't even have C02 and still has the great results with using glut and the right ferts.
 
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