i had an ich outbreak in my DT. Some of my fish were in bad shape and I couldn’t catch them easily. I wanted to make a new aquascape anyway, so rather than trying to catch my fish, I just took the live rock out and treated in the DT. I stored my rock in a Rubbermaid garbage can in DT water, and put the heater and circulation fan in. After 2 weeks, I checked on my rock to see if I needed to add water. I came down to by basement to a horrible smell. Apparently the heater stayed on but the fan (on a different outlet) shut off after a blown fuse. Millions of bristle worms were floating at the surface. I got the fan back on and a day later the smell was gone. It’s been 5 weeks with the rocks in the can and I’ll be putting the rocks back in my DT shortly. Should I keep the rock as it is, or should I consider the die off smell an indicator that it’s not good rock anymore? On one hand I’d like to keep the live rock and the beneficial bacteria... but if it’s going to be bad after some die off... should I just dry the rock out and start over?
Do you smell what my rock is cookin?
- Thread starter neson
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Circulation fan like air circulation? Did you have any pump in there to circulate water? If not, that is why there was die off, the water went stagnant and didn't have enough oxygen in it. Before you put them back in the tank I might do a 100% water change, they are plenty live enough still I'd hazard to guess, but do a water change to just let them cycle in cleaner water for a bit.
By circulation fan I meant circulation pump. The way it’s configured it’s more fan than pump. No biggie. I know what happened to it, I’ve just never stored live rock before. I did t know if two weeks of die off would be enough to kill all the beneficial life. The rocks were in my DT for over a year. But thanks for the tip. I’ll change the water out ASAP and let it sit for a few more days before put them in the DT.
if the rock stayed hydrated during this time, the dieoff spiked your bacteria above steady state; not a loss. you would rinse them well and hydrate them and verify there's no free ammonia, good to go
don_chuwish
Smells something fishy
I'd give'em a good rinsing/scrubbing to clean off as much dead stuff as possible. Then let them cure all over again in a tub. You'll end up better off than when you started.
That DT you treated - bare bottom?
That DT you treated - bare bottom?
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