My 10+ year old Unicorn Tang died tonight

Dlionsfan09 · Jan 20, 2018

That’s why I hand dose. Pain in the butt I know. It also ensures that a major mistake like this will happen. I’m sorry he died. I to have a close connection with all of my fish.

Mark Gray · Jan 20, 2018

Roggio said:
I'm sure, I started looking for problems when I realized the dosing pumps were stuck on. They dumped a liter of vodka and at least 800mg of calcium and Alk into my tank. Two different dosing pumps. I hate how these companies have no responsibility. If a product failed and killed my dog it would be on the news. This is a $2,000 investment that killed my fish. I'm making water as fast as I can to try and save my other fish.

Wow so sorry I have the same system for my new build now I am worried, the Apex has saved me many times from disaster I am planning on using them for the Triton method

Roggio · Jan 20, 2018

The Dose have worked fine for months. I had two that I lost to the hurricane before that. All of my equipment is new. I have no idea how two Dose can just stay on. I haven’t changed any setting or even been in my Apex.

Losing my fish and knowing that he suffered is so heartbreaking. I’ve has him since I broke my neck. He cheered me up on so many occasions. He was huge but always peaceful and probably contributed to the low stress levels of my tank.

My advice to everyone is to simplify your tank. When I look at even my LFS or when I go into WWC I don’t see APEX (if they do I didn’t see them).

Flippers4pups · Jan 20, 2018

I'm so sorry for your losses.

When others, including myself say that we haven't ever used a controller for these reasons, please don't be offended or to make you more upset. It's not intended to do that.

With that said.......
I've never felt any reason to own one, but if I did, it would be only for sending me an alert if something failed. No dosers for me, just manually dosing. No controlling my heaters, my pumps......etc.

Once again, sorry for your losses and I hope things get better soon.

Jeepguy242 · Jan 20, 2018

Have you been able to do a water change yet. How are things looking with the other fish?

elisa h · Jan 20, 2018

I’m so so sorry for your loss. Before I got into this hobby I never realized how attached I could get to fish. But they really do have their own special quirks and personality. While there’s no way to make this kind of situation right, I really hope Neptune takes some kind of responsibility and takes this into consideration when improving their controllers.

Jeff_Toronto · Jan 20, 2018

All I can say is I've had my first fish ever. Two clowns, for 13 days total and already attached. I can't imagine after that many years. So sorry to hear and hope you can save the rest

dede · Jan 20, 2018

So sorry you had to go through this and for your losses. I also get very attached to my critters and feel very depressed whenever I lose one. At least you were able to figure out what happened very quickly so hopefully you will be able to save the rest.

CeeGee · Jan 21, 2018

Im wondering how your ph is at a normal level when you just dosed 800ml of alkalinity solution.

Mark Gray · Jan 21, 2018

wow I guess cause of my work a controler makes it simple for me. I can not run without one it is the only way I can see when I am working what's going on in my tank. I really feel bad for you

sundog101 · Jan 21, 2018

Sorry to hear

After listening to other experiences, I’ve decided to use controllers for monitoring only.

Roggio · Jan 21, 2018

CeeGee said:
Im wondering how your ph is at a normal level when you just dosed 800ml of alkalinity solution.

The controller just didn’t update. It also dumped a whole bottle of vodka into my tank and does not reflect that.

Thank you all for your kinda words. Most people wouldn’t understand but losing my fish is like losing a dog. He was tame, could be pet, got excited whenever I approached the tank, he ate out of my hand. He was with me through some of my worst hardships and even survived the hurricane when the roof caved in. Hopefully this experience saves someone else’s pet.

My other fish are still eating and I’m replacing water as fast as I can make it. I have been working around the clock but cannot let them down. Here’s hoping they pull through

ReeferDave01 · Jan 23, 2018

Did you lose power or internet connection? Few months ago I lost connection as apex was supposed to add salt water to tank automatically. It dispenses small amounts every 3 hrs for 10 seconds thru neptune pump. During those 10 seconds apex lost connection and continued to dispense non stop. Lucky for me the salt water container is only 7 gallon tank so I didn't get the flood nor it was chemicals that were being dispensed. Could have been a lot worse.

Josh Kraft · Jan 23, 2018

ReeferDave01 said:
Did you lose power or internet connection? Few months ago I lost connection as apex was supposed to add salt water to tank automatically. It dispenses small amounts every 3 hrs for 10 seconds thru neptune pump. During those 10 seconds apex lost connection and continued to dispense non stop. Lucky for me the salt water container is only 7 gallon tank so I didn't get the flood nor it was chemicals that were being dispensed. Could have been a lot worse.

After reading this, I would probably plug any controller into a UPS. I'm sure a UPS could last a long time with something that uses such little power.

Roggio · Jan 23, 2018

My blonde naso is breathing very heavy! He's doing the same thing the unicorn did! Does anyone know anything I can do????

He's not eating!

TheEngineer · Jan 23, 2018

What have you done since your last update? Water changes, additional aeration?

What are your current parameters?

Josh Kraft · Jan 23, 2018

Roggio said:
My blonde naso is breathing very heavy! He's doing the same thing the unicorn did! Does anyone know anything I can do????

He's not eating!

What have you done since discovering your doser got stuck on?

Did you do what Humblefish recommended? Do you still run the 600g tank in your signature? I agree that getting your water oxygenated will help with the heavy breathing, and some water changes are definitely needed. Maybe run some carbon and get your skimmer running wet as well. Did you water get cloudy after this happened?

Humblefish said:
I'm so sorry for your losses.

If I had to guess, the calcium and Alk dump is what killed all your SPS. However, your fish are probably suffocating to death from all that vodka fueling bacteria growth and they are using up most of the oxygen in the water.

Point all your powerheads towards the surface of the water (to increase gas exchange) and run as many air stones in your DT as you can. Do water changes with heavily oxygenated water, and if the fish are looking too bad relocate them to another tank ASAP.

SDReefer · Jan 23, 2018

If possible, turn up your skimmer so that it takes out the oxygen-consuming bacteria out of the water column. Set up an air pump, and try to get the smallest possible bubbles (wooden airstone is best but regular ones can work).

Josh Kraft · Jan 23, 2018

SDReefer said:
If possible, turn up your skimmer so that it takes out the oxygen-consuming bacteria out of the water column. Set up an air pump, and try to get the smallest possible bubbles (wooden airstone is best but regular ones can work).

Interesting, could he install an air stone under his return pump temporarily and use the micro bubble scrubbing technique to oxygenate the water / push stuff to the skimmer?