Tank crashed/crashing , No RODI stores open sunday night

[TheOddCouple]

Went to a wedding for the weekend, and someone was supposed to take care of the fish tank, still not sure exactly what happened, but almost everything is dead. There are two clown fish still alive, though their BTA is dead.

I had enough salt mix to make 2 gallons of water, I used distilled water (Someone let me know if this is OK to change those 2 gallons out, please? I haven't changed it yet.)

I bought some free running salt, though I'm pretty sure I shouldn't use it, but if someone could let me know if it's better than the alternative (waiting until tomorrow for RODI)

I asked on my local forum if anyone had RODI to sell me tonight, we'll see how that goes.

I have also already removed all of the dead things that I could find.

[Ross33]

Use tapwater with some prime (should have at Walmart) if you don't have anything else. I'd also run some carbon if you have it.

[TheOddCouple]

I have distilled water, I ran to the store and bought it when I saw what happened. The problem is that I don't have salt.

I'm going to head to walmart soon and HOB filter to run for the night.

[Typlus5]

I'd change out what you have available. Run carbon as well.

Important to know, and fix the failure mode as well. Rouge heater, no top off, etc.

[Jerzey]

Ive used both distilled and spring water mostly for years until I got a ro/di system and never had an issue with water quality...tap would be my last resort because its gonna contain phosphate nitrates and chlorine

[TheOddCouple]

Temps were fine, We were only gone 3 nights, so evaporation wasn't a problem (salinity was normal, we checked)

I'm wondering if they were fed, we're trying to get a hold of the person who was caring for them.

Good advice, though, want to prevent this from ever happening again. I've got no other ideas. I'd test the params, but I can guarantee they're a complete mess at this point.

[TheOddCouple]

Anyone want to chime in on using free-running salt (table salt without iodine in it) instead of marine salt? Just for the night, of course.

[Jerzey]

Tank doesn't go down over a weekend....curious what really happened to:confused:

[567234ta]

dont do it, it would be worse than lowering salinity

[TheOddCouple]

That's what I thought, And apparently they were fed yesterday morning, 11 AM and everything looked fine?

Serpent star, valentinni puffer, and BTA all died in 30 hours?

[gone fishin]

DO NOT use table salt. That will finish off whatever is left. If you cannot get a hold of any reef salt then just do what you can until tomorrow. Run some carbon if you have it,skimmer and if you got ammonia try some ammonia lock product. If you do not have any ammonia then the clowns will most likely survive.

I would keep the lights out and your circulation going.

[Jerzey]

How Biggs the tank.... If your levels are all good I wouldn't worry to much fish are extremely Hardy especially if you had them 4 a while

[TheOddCouple]

Oh, sorry, 29 gallon, so kinda delicate. Ammonia lock, I'll grab that while I get a HOB, thanks.

No table salt, well that's what I thought.

I'm off to the super center now to get a filter.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply!

I'll turn the light off now, but why? de-stress the fish?

[Jerzey]

Detoxifier

[gone fishin]

I'll turn the light off now, but why? de-stress the fish?

They should not be as active. By the way are the fish acting normal. Not hanging out at the top of the tank gasping or anything like that.

FWIW I keep enough salt on hand to do a complete water change if needed. An emergency stash that I do not use kind of thing. Good luck I hope things work out.

[SteveCon89]

I know my local Walmart sells salt...not reef salt. But aquarium salt. No clue If its the comparable to reef salt or not but I would imagine u could get away w it

[TheOddCouple]

The clowns are acting pretty normal. They're at the same vertical level as usual, same activity, but they're usually playing with the BTA... which is now gone.

I'll definitely be buying back up salt... hind sight is 20/20

[gone fishin]

Yep LOL hindsight sure is. That is why I do the salt thing. Just about everything I got extra of is a result of good ole Murphy and his law.

By the way the aquarium salt is most likely meant for freshwater. Do not use it. it will not work as marine salt.

[Tbcrow]

I don't understand how it crashed in a weekend, unless the dumped bleach or something in it.

[Bigtown]

Sorry to hear about your crash. :(

No way that would happen from not getting fed for a few days. Whatever happened, that's not the culprit.

To earlier poster's point, it's always good to have emergency salt around. I keep a gallon jug of cheap salt in reserve all the time to protect against disasters.

Best of luck!

[Saltydrip]

I'm thinking the BTA died and caused the crash. What it died from god only knows.

[Saltydrip]

Maybe the sitter had lotion on there hands and put there hands in the water.

[Handil]

Did you test the water? What are your levels? All of them, it can help narrow things down. Temperature as well.

[kylathwe]

Did the bta get chopped up in the powerhead? That can crash a tank for sure. My clowns have gone 7 days without eating before and did fine.

[Saltydrip]

I would look for anything foreign. A hair pin, a ring or anything that could have fallen in. Maybe they topped off the water with tap water trying to be helpful.

[TheOddCouple]

Well, looks like I was hasty when checking the temperature upon my return. It was actually around 86F. I know I intended to leave the AC on while we were out of town, but I don't know if I did, and I can't remember if it was on when we came home, 'cause of the scramble.

The BTA wasn't chopped up, the puffer was in the grate of the powerhead, but he hadn't been sucked through.

But yeah, I think it got hot yesterday, and it was my fault they died.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I'll be getting a big bucket of reef crystals tomorrow, and a few buckets of RODI.

[TheOddCouple]

Oh, also, wal-mart actually did have marine salt (Says for saltwater tanks on the box), I was surprised. So I've changed a bunch of the water, am running carbon, and slowly lowering the temperature (slightly cool water, AC is on now.)

I should have scooped some water for testing before changing so much of it, but it's too late now. Meh, i'll scoop some now, and test tomorrow, can't hurt.

Again, thank you all so much for the replies! Helped keep me assured that I was doing the right thing when I was right, steered me away from some bad ideas, and gave me some good ideas that I hadn't thought of. This is really one of the best forums on the internet.

[dkeller_nc]

For future crash protection, this is what I'd suggest that you always have on hand:

Seawater mix (looks like you've already taken care of that).

At least 1 Liter of high quality carbon (Seachem Matrix is probably the best, though a bit pricey).

About 10% of your total water volume in RODI. The 10% figure lets you do an immediate water change while making/buying more. BTW - Distilled water from the grocery store will work just fine.

Extra large powerhead and tubing to fit it. That lets you sub out your return pump should it go bad.

Several quarts to several gallons of ice in plastic bottles in the freezer. That lets you control the temp in the tank in case of a house AC failure.

Extra heater (more applicable to winter).

At the very least, a DC to AC power inverter and a trolling motor battery. That lets you power your tank for between 6 hours to 6 days depending on what you're running. A fancier setup is an inverter/charger with a line voltage sensor - it's essentially the "brains" of a UPS that lets you add your own batteries.

[TheOddCouple]

Putting all of those on my list. Thanks for replying!

[slief]

Did the bta get chopped up in the powerhead? That can crash a tank for sure. My clowns have gone 7 days without eating before and did fine.

That was my first thought. I'd speculate that the BTA died one way or another and caused the crash. A BTA dieing in a small tank can foul the water pretty quickly!


Well, looks like I was hasty when checking the temperature upon my return. It was actually around 86F. I know I intended to leave the AC on while we were out of town, but I don't know if I did, and I can't remember if it was on when we came home, 'cause of the scramble.

The BTA wasn't chopped up, the puffer was in the grate of the powerhead, but he hadn't been sucked through.

But yeah, I think it got hot yesterday, and it was my fault they died.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I'll be getting a big bucket of reef crystals tomorrow, and a few buckets of RODI.


Having said that, if I remember correctly, puffers can release toxins when they die. If he got caught in the power head, that could have caused an issue as well. Then again, so could the tank temps, especially if they went above 86 or changed too fast. Many of the fish we keep in our tanks happen to come from oceans that regularly see temps in the mid 80's however not all fish can handle those temps so that too could be a source of the crash. In a tank that size, one or two fish deaths could result in a tank crash if they are not removed from the water quickly.