WIN FREE SALT MIX!!! The Great Salt Give A Way, sponsored by Aqua Craft!

[skinz78]

Redraw #1, please contact me within 3 days or I'll have to do a redraw!

2yrs old today!

 

[skinz78]

Redraw #2, please contact me within 3 days or I'll have to do a redraw!

I don't have a reefing story, but I can tell a FW one that has some relevance. I actually wrote this in a forum just after it happened, and with some modifications (from new information) here it is.

I had an awful night. I just got home tired from my mom's friend's house, and decided to do a water change before bed, partially because one of my blue rams wasn't looking well. First I removed her into the QT tank, and added a little melafix into the QT; she was behaving like she was ill. I then started the water change in the 50, doing it as I always do. I was nearly filled back up when I noticed a serpae tetra belly-up. I grabbed him and dropped him into the QT, hoping to revive him, but he didn't respond. I turned back to the tank and realized to my horror that my fish were dropping like wasps sprayed with Combat! Apparently healthy only moments before, another serpae turned upside down. I put him in the QT but he died in seconds. A clown loach (I was temping the school in the 50 until I have the 100 set up) was struggling next when I came back. I called for my mom to help me as I caught him. Obviously something was terribly wrong in my tank. We both grabbed nets and started dumping everyone in the QT...that loach passed and another not far behind. Everyone was alarmingly slow and easy to catch. I got ahold of everyone quickly and nobody else has yet died; they seem to be doing OK in the QT, although I really have to get them out of that 10g as soon as humanly possible. I never did find my fifth loach, but two are alive, and thankfully Vegas (my gold nugget pleco) and Spider (my Featherfin Catfish), both favorites, are still alive and should be alright. Now, the culprit: When I was yanking my driftwood out to catch fish faster, I discovered that the new piece of grapewood I had placed in the tank was leaching large amounts of sap. I guess when I did the water change it stirred things up and caused the sap to swirl into the surrounding water. My suspicion that something was wrong with the water was apparently correct - thankfully, it wasn't something in the water supply, and getting them out right away seems to have saved most of my fish.

A slightly later post:
HELP!! I want to cry. I tried cleaning out the 50, even going so far as to completely remove the substrate and clean the filter housing. Put fish back in. They started dropping again as instantly as before. Lost at least two more. I put them back in the 10 and they recovered. OK, so maybe the tank is contaminated still? Tried putting them in the 100, no equipment shared other than the net. No dice. They didn't drop quite as fast but I still lost three more fish before removing them. I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!! And on top of that, I think one of my rams may have C worms - the horror - I don't know what I'm going to do-!

I'm calling the city water supply people tomorrow to ask if anything has been changed. I'm also debating on whether to order the levamisole or wait and see if she actually has them.

EDIT: I noticed that they start breathing really really fast in the tanks the fish are dying in, and that they swim very erratically and spastically just before death. Any clues...?

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Updated for this thread:

Well, I never did find out from the water supply people, but deduction has since led me to believe that the water source was contaminated with something, or it could have been a ton of microbubbles (causing something similar to the bends...I forget the exact details.) Either way, I have made a vow never to use tap water again unless I am forced. I have since been told that the water here is reliably unreliable, and the more experienced keepers here use RO for that reason. Many have experienced terrible fish losses.

Thankfully, I managed to cure the Camallanus worm infestation (brought in from Petsmart on my mollies and German Blue Rams) with the use of Levamisole HCl. My fishlore.com forum buddies informed me that it was the only truly reliable cure (aside from putting everyone down and sterilizing everything), though fendbendazole sometimes works. This was later confirmed by other internet accounts. I nearly lost my mollies; unable to go to the bathroom from the heavy load of dead worms, and not eating, I suspected they were goners as many with advanced infestations are. I took drastic action in the form of 3x daily epsom salt baths until they began eating again. When they finally pooped in the second bath I gave them, I was overjoyed (they had not gone in four days).

Sadly, due to my not understanding the situation when I thought it was the grapevine sap, I threw away the filter media and any decor I could not clean well. The Tetra Safe Start I used, while generally effective, did not work fast enough for my fish load and because I was trying to treat with Levamisole at the same time, I did not test the water. Big mistake. An ammonia spike of 7 killed many more fish, including my favorite - a gorgeous Gold Nugget plecostomus by the name of Vegas. It also took my baby clown loaches among others. In total I lost 25 fish during this disaster, which I'm somewhat tempted to call a mini apocalypse. I do still have my second favorite fish, a featherfin catfish (Synodontis Eupterus) by the name of Spider, and my mollies. The rams I lost later due to freak injuries (like getting caught between the sponge filter and the tank side, causing a major infection.) I will never forget, and hopefully this account will help other fishkeepers avoid a tap water disaster. Always use your RODI and keep the filters maintained. That's what it's there for.

 

[skinz78]

Redraw #3, please contact me within 3 days or I'll have to do a redraw!

DIY #1 Calcium – 30 lbs | AquaCraft Products

I have never heard of your salt but always willing to try out a new one. I would like to try out the build Calcium as well as the Alk, I'm always going to need that

 

[Eckolancer]

Redraw #3, please contact me within 3 days or I'll have to do a redraw!

OMG this is cool I never win anything and just in time for tank transfer to a 105 gallon might wait to use this salt for a couple weeks and work it in with my normal water changes. I feel this will give me the best way to see how the salt is. Thanks again for this.


Sent from inside the shark tank!

 

[Loki]

And a calculated two are left congrats to the newest winners.


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[Eienna]

O.O Holy cowfish! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

 

[Loki]

And then there was one.


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[Loki]

So..... One redraw?


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[mfinn]

So..... One redraw?


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Is that true?

 

[Loki]

I'm not sure. They may have all been claimed but from the forum there is one that wasn't posted about.


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[skinz78]

So..... One redraw?


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Yep, sorry, 7 hours of driving to Seattle and back today for an 8 hour forklift certification class.... I just got home...

Is that true?

Shoot me a pm with your shipping addy, you win! lol.

 

[mfinn]

Awesome

 

[skinz78]

Alright with all the salt mix being claimed, this contest is officially over! Thanks for participating!

 

[Aqua Craft]

Salts have been sent to all winners.

For those wondering what took 8 extra days ...... Give thanks to the United States of America Post Office.

All packages were ready to go and sat on a shipping table for well over one week. After numerous emails and phone calls, our friendly smiling mail man finally came to pick up all packages last week.

When winners receive their package, please post that you have received it.

When your BIO-SEA experience starts (from opening the package and seeing the mixed chemistry to mixing it in clean fresh water) give thanks to the many people at R2R & Aqua Craft that put their time, effort and money in this project.

Advise how BIO-SEA mixes Vs. your current marine salt. (Does BIO-SEA heat up when mixed, leave a residue, produce a cloudy solution, need supplementation, etc.)

Advise if your captive marine pets look better.

If anyone has any questions about BIO-SEA, simply post in this thread.

MDP

 

[bkhunt]

Got my box the other day and was surprised with my bonus refractometer calibration fluid!!! Thank You!! Got 15g of mixing overnight for a water change in the morning.


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[shellynjason]

I received my salt a few days ago. Haven't had a chance to use this specific mix because I still have some of my other Aqua craft salt left.

Once I start using it I can give a comparison to the 'coral sea' versus the 'bio-sea' salt mix.

 

[Eienna]

Got mine! and THANK YOU AQUACRAFT for both that and the bonus refractometer fluid and magazine!
I'll be sure to let you know how it goes just as soon as I use up the bucket of water I already have mixed up with Instant Ocean. Shouldn't take long...it's only a 5g bucket.

 

[KSzegi]

Received mine last week! Thank you again Aqua Craft & R2R!! I did a water change yesterday using up the "prize" bag plus some. I've been using the Bio Sea for a couple months now and am very pleased. I had made the switch from Red Sea Coral Pro - the Bio Sea mixes up far better, first thing I noticed was that there is no dust when you are adding salt to the water like there was with the rscp and some other brands I had tried. Next thing that is impressive is how quickly the salt mixes - a full 44 gallon brute can mixes crystal clear within minutes. There is zero residue left in the can - and that is even if it is left stored for a couple weeks. My tanks and livestock have responded favorably to the Bio Sea. An immediate improvement over the RSCP was that the glass says cleaner noticeably longer and the water is crystal clear after a change.

 

[revhtree]

HUGE thanks to Aquacraft for this awesome prize!

 

[VB68]

Got my box the other day. Thanks Aquacraft and R2R for the contest and extra calibration fluid. Going to try it out when I use up the 30gals of Reff Crystals I have mixed up. Thanks agian.