Livestock death sucks. It's even worse when your ENTIRE tank dies.
Hi, I'm Alan. I've been a FOWLR tank owner for about a year now. I started with just a single clownfish in my 45gal tank. It was amazing - everything popped and fish were slowly introduced until I hit my limit at about month 6. Around month 9, I had a tank crisis and lost a couple of fish. The water was cloudy and the fish were gasping for air. I posted in the Emergency topic group and got quick help, saving what I still had. Yesterday, I had the same occurrence but with dozens of bristleworms that I never knew I had just died off collectively. Additionally, this long, slimy white goop draped off of everything - powerheards, waterfalls, live rock, etc. I immediately did a 40% water change and everything was back to normal with the exception of the protein skimmer, pumping out fist-sized amount of bubbles every 10 minutes. I left for the store a few hours ago and returned to everything close to dead - swimming upside down, darting into walls and rocks. Looking at it, there was no way I could safely save everything in the tank. In a matter of 20 minutes, everything was deceased - fish, hermits, snails..
I'm posting this today to get recommendations from where to go from here. What can I salvage from the tank, what should I toss, and what should I do to prevent such an issue. Additionally, any ideas on how to restart would be appreciated.
My current setup:
45gal tank
Canister filter w/ 2 media trays (from top to bottom: coarse filter, carbon filter, floss filter, ammonia/nitrate sponge)
Protein Skimmer
Powerhead
2" sandbed
5 liverocks (medium to large size)
Thank you!
::EDIT:: My target here is to see what I can save now before I start ripping things apart. I'll definitely be investing more time into correcting my mistakes, doing more research, and rebuilding later down the road.
Hi, I'm Alan. I've been a FOWLR tank owner for about a year now. I started with just a single clownfish in my 45gal tank. It was amazing - everything popped and fish were slowly introduced until I hit my limit at about month 6. Around month 9, I had a tank crisis and lost a couple of fish. The water was cloudy and the fish were gasping for air. I posted in the Emergency topic group and got quick help, saving what I still had. Yesterday, I had the same occurrence but with dozens of bristleworms that I never knew I had just died off collectively. Additionally, this long, slimy white goop draped off of everything - powerheards, waterfalls, live rock, etc. I immediately did a 40% water change and everything was back to normal with the exception of the protein skimmer, pumping out fist-sized amount of bubbles every 10 minutes. I left for the store a few hours ago and returned to everything close to dead - swimming upside down, darting into walls and rocks. Looking at it, there was no way I could safely save everything in the tank. In a matter of 20 minutes, everything was deceased - fish, hermits, snails..
I'm posting this today to get recommendations from where to go from here. What can I salvage from the tank, what should I toss, and what should I do to prevent such an issue. Additionally, any ideas on how to restart would be appreciated.
My current setup:
45gal tank
Canister filter w/ 2 media trays (from top to bottom: coarse filter, carbon filter, floss filter, ammonia/nitrate sponge)
Protein Skimmer
Powerhead
2" sandbed
5 liverocks (medium to large size)
Thank you!
::EDIT:: My target here is to see what I can save now before I start ripping things apart. I'll definitely be investing more time into correcting my mistakes, doing more research, and rebuilding later down the road.
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