what do you do if ( )? An emergency FYI.

Sk8r · 06/26/2008, 01:37 PM

THE TANK CRACKS.
Do not hesitate: little cracks can go catastrophic. Get water prepared ASAP and get your precious specimens to safety. Go talk to your LFS about warranties.

THE FISH ARE NEAR THE SURFACE/INFlOW GASPING
Oxygen deficiency. Small water change and a bubbler in the sump, whatever will work. Your fish load has exceeded the carrying capacity of the tank---or there is something in the water that has limited the oxygen-carrying capacity of the water. This is way serious: they're smothering. Oxygenate! If you can't do else, prepare new water and get some of them into it. There is one other nasty possibility: ich in fish gills, where it can't be seen.
FYI also: tangs and angels, of commonly kept fish, have a very high oxygen requirement.

YOU HAVE A FISH persistently SCRATCHING ON THE sAND: ich, most likely. If you never quarantined, this can be an indication ich is loose in your tank. Catch the fish and quarantine with medication as appropriate.

YOUR PUMP DieS: the lighter your fish load the longer your tank can go without crashing in these conditions. Remove your pump and get into the impeller end: often it's a snail stuck in the impeller. Free it and it should work again. Clean the impeller. If the impeller is chewed up, you need to replace it. Having a spare impeller on hand is a good idea.

YOu HAVE A smooth-bore HOsE cLOG:
Get one of those ribbed hoses of appropriate length, ram it up there and work it back and forth. It makes a good plumbing 'snake.'

YOUR AQUA C SKIMMER POURs WATER ALL OVER:
Get your outflow hose out of the water and let it fall in. It's an air pressure thing.

YOUR TANK OVERHEATS:
fill ziploc bags with ice and float in sump; pack outside walls of sump with ice bags. Open your hood/lid whatever and blow air across water with a fan. Put a small column fan in your sump. Open the cabinet door and put a major fan on the action.

YOUR LiGHTS BLOW:
your tank will be okay for a week with no light if you had to go that long. It's going to cost money.

SOMETHiNg spAWNED AND TURNED YOUR WATER MILKY: do a 20% water change as soon as possible and immediately run WASHED carbon, about a cup of it.
If you HAVE a 1-micron filter cartridge or Diatom filter, this would be a good time to use it: it will cure your problem inside an hour.
meanwhile watch your fish for signs of asphyxiation.

YOU LOST A RAZORBLADE/METAL THING in your tank---use your mag float to pull it out.

YOU sUSPECT CHEMIcAL/METAL COnTaMINATION: run a small strip of polyfilter pad, and if it turns color (indicating presence of metals etc) run a big strip and do a 20% water change.

YOU HAD A fisH DIe UNDER THE ROCkWORK: that's why you have bristleworms and hermits. It's sad, but they'll reduce it so fast so far you won't have any bad consequences. If you've been killing off your bristleworms, stop killing off your bristleworms: they're your insurance policy.

YOU HAVE MAJOR WATER CONTAMINATION AND NO SALT WATER READY: 1. ALwAYS have the means to make salt water at any hour!!!! do not run out of salt. Buy ro/di at the Walmart if you have to do this---2. make up the salt water at the rate of 1/2 cup salt mix per gallon and set a pump to mixing it. A maxijet 1200 does a pretty fast job.
3. If you have to choose between leaving a fish gasping in properly mixed but polluted water and putting it and everything else over into water that's only mixed for a few hours, move them to the clean water. An uncycled glass box with barely-mixed clean water beats out a cycled mess that's short of oxygen every time: think of it as a quarantine in reverse. BUT doN"T FORGET TO AcclimATE! And start taking measures to fix your tank water...

AngeloM3 · 06/26/2008, 01:52 PM

Very good post... I wish the mods would sticky this and the post kar93 made for beginners.

matthewscars · 06/26/2008, 02:28 PM

ThAnKs fOr ThaT InfOrmaTioN MaTE!

Sk8r · 06/26/2008, 04:10 PM

Lol! New keyboard. My caps key is stiff---sorry about the bouncing eyeballs!

ReefingMadness · 06/26/2008, 04:40 PM

Great thread Sk8r. I second the sticky thing.

06/26/2008, 01:37 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	what do you do if ( )? An emergency FYI. THE TANK CRACKS. Do not hesitate: little cracks can go catastrophic. Get water prepared ASAP and get your precious specimens to safety. Go talk to your LFS about warranties. THE FISH ARE NEAR THE SURFACE/INFlOW GASPING Oxygen deficiency. Small water change and a bubbler in the sump, whatever will work. Your fish load has exceeded the carrying capacity of the tank---or there is something in the water that has limited the oxygen-carrying capacity of the water. This is way serious: they're smothering. Oxygenate! If you can't do else, prepare new water and get some of them into it. There is one other nasty possibility: ich in fish gills, where it can't be seen. FYI also: tangs and angels, of commonly kept fish, have a very high oxygen requirement. YOU HAVE A FISH persistently SCRATCHING ON THE sAND: ich, most likely. If you never quarantined, this can be an indication ich is loose in your tank. Catch the fish and quarantine with medication as appropriate. YOUR PUMP DieS: the lighter your fish load the longer your tank can go without crashing in these conditions. Remove your pump and get into the impeller end: often it's a snail stuck in the impeller. Free it and it should work again. Clean the impeller. If the impeller is chewed up, you need to replace it. Having a spare impeller on hand is a good idea. YOu HAVE A smooth-bore HOsE cLOG: Get one of those ribbed hoses of appropriate length, ram it up there and work it back and forth. It makes a good plumbing 'snake.' YOUR AQUA C SKIMMER POURs WATER ALL OVER: Get your outflow hose out of the water and let it fall in. It's an air pressure thing. YOUR TANK OVERHEATS: fill ziploc bags with ice and float in sump; pack outside walls of sump with ice bags. Open your hood/lid whatever and blow air across water with a fan. Put a small column fan in your sump. Open the cabinet door and put a major fan on the action. YOUR LiGHTS BLOW: your tank will be okay for a week with no light if you had to go that long. It's going to cost money. SOMETHiNg spAWNED AND TURNED YOUR WATER MILKY: do a 20% water change as soon as possible and immediately run WASHED carbon, about a cup of it. If you HAVE a 1-micron filter cartridge or Diatom filter, this would be a good time to use it: it will cure your problem inside an hour. meanwhile watch your fish for signs of asphyxiation. YOU LOST A RAZORBLADE/METAL THING in your tank---use your mag float to pull it out. YOU sUSPECT CHEMIcAL/METAL COnTaMINATION: run a small strip of polyfilter pad, and if it turns color (indicating presence of metals etc) run a big strip and do a 20% water change. YOU HAD A fisH DIe UNDER THE ROCkWORK: that's why you have bristleworms and hermits. It's sad, but they'll reduce it so fast so far you won't have any bad consequences. If you've been killing off your bristleworms, stop killing off your bristleworms: they're your insurance policy. YOU HAVE MAJOR WATER CONTAMINATION AND NO SALT WATER READY: 1. ALwAYS have the means to make salt water at any hour!!!! do not run out of salt. Buy ro/di at the Walmart if you have to do this---2. make up the salt water at the rate of 1/2 cup salt mix per gallon and set a pump to mixing it. A maxijet 1200 does a pretty fast job. 3. If you have to choose between leaving a fish gasping in properly mixed but polluted water and putting it and everything else over into water that's only mixed for a few hours, move them to the clean water. An uncycled glass box with barely-mixed clean water beats out a cycled mess that's short of oxygen every time: think of it as a quarantine in reverse. BUT doN"T FORGET TO AcclimATE! And start taking measures to fix your tank water... __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

06/26/2008, 01:52 PM	#2
AngeloM3 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 1,016	Very good post... I wish the mods would sticky this and the post kar93 made for beginners. __________________ "I'm sick of chasing my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where their going and catch up with them later." -Mitch Hedberg R.I.P

06/26/2008, 02:28 PM	#3
matthewscars Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Astoria, NY Posts: 657	ThAnKs fOr ThaT InfOrmaTioN MaTE! __________________ A plane passed silently overhead, the streetlights, and the buds on the trees and the night, were still. Current Tank Info: 90g Reef/35g Sump with Foam Rock Wall. 10g Propagation Reef. 55g Goldfish Tank.

06/26/2008, 04:10 PM	#4
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Lol! New keyboard. My caps key is stiff---sorry about the bouncing eyeballs! __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

06/26/2008, 04:40 PM	#5
ReefingMadness Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Benton, MO Posts: 413	Great thread Sk8r. I second the sticky thing. __________________ Ain't no fun when the rabbit has the gun. Current Tank Info: Oceanic BioCube 29, 40 lbs. LR, 20 lbs. LS, Maxi-Jet 1200 return pump, Radion xR30w Gen. 3, MP10, and ReefLink