Close Call

[eschaton]

Friday I came home and found the water in my main display tank cloudy, and almost everything (fish, shrimp, snails) gasping at the top of the tank for air. Quickly figured out my C02 reactor fell over and around half the liquid got into the tank. I did a 50 percent water change and then things started to settle down. Then, after dinner, it happened again, and I did another 50% water change. Then, I woke myself up at three to check on the tank again, and surely enough, the fish were again breathing rapidly. Another 50% water change, plus adding some additional filters running with carbon in them. Finally, the next morning things still didn't look too hot, so I did another 40% water change and added two sponge filters in the tank as well.

The only things that died were one cherry shrimp and one amano shrimp. Water is still a touch too cloudy, but everything is behaving fine, and my cycle was preserved. The guy at my LFS I go to regularly said I'm one of the only people he's met who has had their tank survive this essentially unscathed, and if I caught it an hour later almost everything would have been dead.

Lesson learned: While I'm a clumsy fishkeeper, I'm also a dedicated one.

 

[freerunner416]

Good save on the tank!! Great dedication getting up during the night for a water change!! im impressed

I had a lucky break this week too. I moved my tank to the hall and set it back up. At night my wife can hear the air curtain so turned it off. At some point my filter shut down. When i got up in the morning and switched the tank back on EVERY fish was sitting almost at the top gasping. My plecs were even up there. Air curtain on, filter fixed, disturb the top with my fingers for some gas exchange (don't know if it made a difference but made me feel better) and two minutes later almost all the fish were getting back to normal. Only my plecs were having trouble. They seemed to stick to the glass low down but were unable to stay there and slide up the glass. This would have been funny if i was so worried. 2 hours later everybody was back to normal.

I never lost one fish, which i am so glad about!! that will teach me to sleep in!!

 

[sic0198]

What is a CO2 reactor for?

 

[eschaton]

What is a CO2 reactor for?

It's a device which generates CO2 to help plants in the tank grow better. In my case, it's a soda bottle filled with water, sugar, and yeast. The yeast eats sugar and metabolizes it into CO2 and alcohol. When it works right, just the CO2 gets into your tank, but since mine fell over, the nasty yeast and alcohol water got into the tank.