sven_sol
Fish Fanatic
This is a post on what happen to our tank when we returned from 4 days away over New year. Hopefully, people can share their thoughts and experiences with what I have/haven't done just in case other people suffer the same fate. With any luck you can point out some problems.
The tank is a Juwel Rio 240, with plants, wood and some other plastic things. We have been using a couple of the Turbo CO2 systems for our plants and things were going well. For the last month or so, we have been using them just as a bubble infuser by taking off the plastic bottle without a single problem.
Sometime between about midday on the 28th until we returned back at about 5pm on the 1st, one of our CO2 diffuser pumps decided to suck instead of blow... and siphoned the tank. We had about 3" of water left in the bottom. Bit of a problem. I was mortified at the time and panicked. Running around like a headless chicken couldn't think straight (thank god for Alison!) The water was barely enough for the Moonlights to be vertical.
Turned the power off - the pump was making a grinding noises. The heater was still on, not fried itself but it did melt the filter intake (pictures will follow). The sponges, nitrate remover filter were completely dried out. The wood ornaments were bone dry, a couple of plants where crispy from being dry under the lights.
We quickly started running lots of water to fill it up and started filling it up. Knowing we can't use hot water from the tap, I just used cold water. Yes.. I know - big mistake - remember I wasn't thinking straight. Put the heater and a heater from my 2nd tank into the water and turned them on in a vein attempt to get the water up to temperature as quickly as possible. Using one of the working CO2 pumps over the heater to try and make a difference. (Didn't work!)(What a shock!) Took some water (about 20ltrs) out of our 2nd tank and put that into the main tank via the filter - trying to have SOME bacteria in there.
Managed to put in about 60ltrs in before bad things started happening. (Yes - it could get worse!) Couple of the fish were starting to look slow. Our BGKF came out of its hiding place, looked like it had a fit and appeared to be dead. I was besides myself.
Needed to warm him up before he died... grabbed a plastic bag. Scooped the (no so)little fella into a bag with some of the water, and put the bag into another tank. Why I didn't do this with all the fish I don't know. Feel like a tool now for not doing that earlier with more fish. With next to no life in the poor chap I thought I'd leave him in there to warm up.
Trying to think of ways to warm the water quickly, boiled the kettle and began pouring that into the buckets of Aqua Safe'd water. About 2 in 15ltrs was boiled water. Warmed it up just right. So cracked on with that water until I managed to get it up to a point where the main pump would work.
By 8pm we had a level of water that could be pumped and the heater could be put back into the filter. By 10(ish) the water was up to about 19 degrees, and our BGKF was moving around the other tank - all be it not very well. Bit grim, but also hoping that his strength would return an maybe to eat a neon or two. Kept the lights off since hoping that'd help him.
After a head count we've lost one neon. And our BGKF is moving around ok so far but is hiding when I turn the room light on and staying hidden but can see his fins moving as normal. Didn't seem to eat much at midnight when we fed them, but the main tank had everyone coming up for food like normal.
Now we've got about 230ltrs in the main tank, will be putting more in over the next few days to top it up. We'll keep the big guy in the other tank for a few days and then move him back when we're happy he's not too stressed at all. Everyone seems to be swimming around like nothing has happened, and I'm surprised we haven't had more instant fatalities. Needless to say we have now removed both of the CO2 diffusers.
Now, what will I need to look out for now, are there any ill effects in particular I need to look for?
...Help...
The tank is a Juwel Rio 240, with plants, wood and some other plastic things. We have been using a couple of the Turbo CO2 systems for our plants and things were going well. For the last month or so, we have been using them just as a bubble infuser by taking off the plastic bottle without a single problem.
Sometime between about midday on the 28th until we returned back at about 5pm on the 1st, one of our CO2 diffuser pumps decided to suck instead of blow... and siphoned the tank. We had about 3" of water left in the bottom. Bit of a problem. I was mortified at the time and panicked. Running around like a headless chicken couldn't think straight (thank god for Alison!) The water was barely enough for the Moonlights to be vertical.
Turned the power off - the pump was making a grinding noises. The heater was still on, not fried itself but it did melt the filter intake (pictures will follow). The sponges, nitrate remover filter were completely dried out. The wood ornaments were bone dry, a couple of plants where crispy from being dry under the lights.
We quickly started running lots of water to fill it up and started filling it up. Knowing we can't use hot water from the tap, I just used cold water. Yes.. I know - big mistake - remember I wasn't thinking straight. Put the heater and a heater from my 2nd tank into the water and turned them on in a vein attempt to get the water up to temperature as quickly as possible. Using one of the working CO2 pumps over the heater to try and make a difference. (Didn't work!)(What a shock!) Took some water (about 20ltrs) out of our 2nd tank and put that into the main tank via the filter - trying to have SOME bacteria in there.
Managed to put in about 60ltrs in before bad things started happening. (Yes - it could get worse!) Couple of the fish were starting to look slow. Our BGKF came out of its hiding place, looked like it had a fit and appeared to be dead. I was besides myself.
Needed to warm him up before he died... grabbed a plastic bag. Scooped the (no so)little fella into a bag with some of the water, and put the bag into another tank. Why I didn't do this with all the fish I don't know. Feel like a tool now for not doing that earlier with more fish. With next to no life in the poor chap I thought I'd leave him in there to warm up.
Trying to think of ways to warm the water quickly, boiled the kettle and began pouring that into the buckets of Aqua Safe'd water. About 2 in 15ltrs was boiled water. Warmed it up just right. So cracked on with that water until I managed to get it up to a point where the main pump would work.
By 8pm we had a level of water that could be pumped and the heater could be put back into the filter. By 10(ish) the water was up to about 19 degrees, and our BGKF was moving around the other tank - all be it not very well. Bit grim, but also hoping that his strength would return an maybe to eat a neon or two. Kept the lights off since hoping that'd help him.
After a head count we've lost one neon. And our BGKF is moving around ok so far but is hiding when I turn the room light on and staying hidden but can see his fins moving as normal. Didn't seem to eat much at midnight when we fed them, but the main tank had everyone coming up for food like normal.
Now we've got about 230ltrs in the main tank, will be putting more in over the next few days to top it up. We'll keep the big guy in the other tank for a few days and then move him back when we're happy he's not too stressed at all. Everyone seems to be swimming around like nothing has happened, and I'm surprised we haven't had more instant fatalities. Needless to say we have now removed both of the CO2 diffusers.
Now, what will I need to look out for now, are there any ill effects in particular I need to look for?
...Help...
Had a vision 260 empty down from my bedroom down the wall of my mums living room.The cat had managed to knock over my external filter and the lid came off.My heater was smoking when I poured cold water on it and it was all a terrible mess.My fish all survived however and I can only imagine yours will be fine once recovered from the initial shock. Fish are relatively hardy really.Good luck.
