I mentioned this in my AIO build thread, but thought I'd post here for more eyes...
I actually recently just had some Newbie? trouble with my JBJ 20 g Cubey and lost all my fish. Had it going for a couple months. Stocked with a purple firefish and a damsel for about a month. Not really sure what happened, but I think I must have screwed up the water.
Everything was fine, I thought. I went to bed late and thought the fish put themselves to bed. I’m betting they were suffering now? Last Fri/Sat my ammonia levels got to .05. I had to make water, so I added API API ammo lock Saturday night and did a 25% water change on Sunday, and added 2 oz of Dr Tim's one and only. The filter sponge was dirty. I didn’t have one on hand as I thought, so I cleaned/rinsed it in the sink. Changed the carbon. And scraped the diatoms off the glass. I set the return underwater, not all splashy.
Ammonia levels were at <0.02 by the Ammonia Alert sticker when I went to bed and the water was clear, pH mid to upper 7s. Temp 79. SG 1.024. I did put a SaltwaterAquarium ORA captive-bred clown in and some snails/hermits earlier in the day. The clown didn’t look so good out of the box and it died later night (maybe due to water?). Given how it arrived, it wasn't surprising to me that it didn't make it. I saw it going to bed and its corpse was in a tough spot, at the back of the tank under the rock canopy, so I figured I’d remove it first thing in the morning. I woke up 6-7 hours later water was super milky-cloudy and all the fish and urchins were dead. I was able to save most of the Narcissus snails and hermit crabs. Only one of the Turbos "came back to life".
I’ve drained, cleaned, and rinsed it. Then filled it back up with Nutri Sea-water to get the surviving inverts in there and to try for another go. If anybody has any ideas about where I went wrong, I'd appreciate the lesson!
My guesses are a bacterial bloom or that having the return underwater and not splashy decreased the O2 in the water and made it hypoxic? That monitoring ammonia is not a great index of nitrates/nitrites? That adding a clown and inverts yesterday plus one fish dying starting a cascade that caused bacteria to bloom and use up all the oxygen and they suffocated? I’ve got no idea. I'm also still working at trying to feed the right amount.
Little sadder than I thought it would be losing fish. If there are any ideas, I’ve got a water change coming up on my 125 g tank and I’d like to not have it happen to that tank, too, if I did a bad rookie water change mistake.
I actually recently just had some Newbie? trouble with my JBJ 20 g Cubey and lost all my fish. Had it going for a couple months. Stocked with a purple firefish and a damsel for about a month. Not really sure what happened, but I think I must have screwed up the water.
Everything was fine, I thought. I went to bed late and thought the fish put themselves to bed. I’m betting they were suffering now? Last Fri/Sat my ammonia levels got to .05. I had to make water, so I added API API ammo lock Saturday night and did a 25% water change on Sunday, and added 2 oz of Dr Tim's one and only. The filter sponge was dirty. I didn’t have one on hand as I thought, so I cleaned/rinsed it in the sink. Changed the carbon. And scraped the diatoms off the glass. I set the return underwater, not all splashy.
Ammonia levels were at <0.02 by the Ammonia Alert sticker when I went to bed and the water was clear, pH mid to upper 7s. Temp 79. SG 1.024. I did put a SaltwaterAquarium ORA captive-bred clown in and some snails/hermits earlier in the day. The clown didn’t look so good out of the box and it died later night (maybe due to water?). Given how it arrived, it wasn't surprising to me that it didn't make it. I saw it going to bed and its corpse was in a tough spot, at the back of the tank under the rock canopy, so I figured I’d remove it first thing in the morning. I woke up 6-7 hours later water was super milky-cloudy and all the fish and urchins were dead. I was able to save most of the Narcissus snails and hermit crabs. Only one of the Turbos "came back to life".
I’ve drained, cleaned, and rinsed it. Then filled it back up with Nutri Sea-water to get the surviving inverts in there and to try for another go. If anybody has any ideas about where I went wrong, I'd appreciate the lesson!
My guesses are a bacterial bloom or that having the return underwater and not splashy decreased the O2 in the water and made it hypoxic? That monitoring ammonia is not a great index of nitrates/nitrites? That adding a clown and inverts yesterday plus one fish dying starting a cascade that caused bacteria to bloom and use up all the oxygen and they suffocated? I’ve got no idea. I'm also still working at trying to feed the right amount.
Little sadder than I thought it would be losing fish. If there are any ideas, I’ve got a water change coming up on my 125 g tank and I’d like to not have it happen to that tank, too, if I did a bad rookie water change mistake.
