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100 +/- Massive die off

3K views 34 replies 21 participants last post by  dhgyello04 
#1 ·
Hello,
I am still in shock and I can’t explain what the heck happen. Two days ago I performed a 1 gallon wc on my 8 gallon EBI that is housing what was a huge thriving colony of Blue Bees and a hand full of yellow Neo’s. The next morning before I left for work I looked over all the shrimp tanks just for reassurance, everything was good as gold. When I got home I looked at the tanks again and OMG, there were bodies laying everywhere on the floor of the tank. If I had to guess I must have lost about 90 percent of my tank inhabitants. I asked my mother in-law if anything was sprayed around the area and she said that they dusted. I tested the water and the parameters are

Ph 6.9 – 7.0
Gh 5
Kh 0 – 1
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0
TDS 250
Temp 72.5
Water source is RO/DI top offs with added Fluval mineral supplement added in at water changes.

We had a window guy come by to check out why the windows where sweating and he said that I had too many open top tanks in the house for the temperature that our house is kept at. It almost feels like that tank was hit by sabotage but I have no way of proving it. Has anyone ever experienced a mass die off after a water change?

I guess I know now what to do with the other bag of Aquasoil that I had left over. If I go home today and find the rest of the shrimp dead I might as well just start over.:icon_cry:
 
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#13 ·
I have a spray bar on the surface so the chance of vapors getting in the tank is high. I have the cover for it. I just don't use it because the water gets warm. The fan will not cool the water down with it on. I have a media sock in the tank flow full of purigen. I hope that will help some.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I don’t know what direction to go know….. should I get a tank going to do warmer shrimp or use the AquaSoil Amazonia and fight the heat with a clip on fan and have to top off every day.

I guess there is now way of testing water to find chemicals in the water… is there?

I forgot to mention that my wife always used a feather duster or a swifter around my tanks. She was busy this time and my mother in-law did it for her. She doesn’t know about the hazards of arousal cans and tanks.
 
#17 ·
Sorry for your losses. You have to run carbon for some days now to clean water from chemicals.
With fan you will introduce poison even faster and form further distance. Sprays should be forbidden in shrimp households.
I like to have tank cover + fans= less vaporizing + lower temp.
 
#18 ·
There's ways to test for cleaning chemical contamination, but these test would have to be conducted with a well equipped laboratory & it's not exactly cheap unless you know someone who has access to one either through their school/work.

If pledge was used, that stuff leaves a waxy film on everything. Makes playing cards glide on surfaces like a puck on a air hockey table. I have a coffee table right next my tank, but it's fully covered except for the cutouts in the rear.

Swifter dust pads don't leave a slick waxy residue like a pledge spray would.

Breaking down the tank & running carbon is your only option at this point.

Good luck with your next setup.
 
#19 ·
OMG!!!!! I am soooooo damn pised. I have worked so hard in keeping them alive and giving them the habitate they need. It is just heart breaking to know what happen and to have someone you live with say the opposit...

I am going to look into cardinals this time....
 
#23 ·
Yes I know that would also do that... I don't have an air pump in this tank. only the spray bar.

I always spray all sorts of chemicals near my open top tanks, nothing ever dies from it...
maybe you have been lucky who knows...

this is absolutely horrible. so sorry for your loss.
Thanks


Also On my comment of trying the Cardinals........ Forget it... Man those things are Pre-Madonas... lol
 
#24 ·
I have all natural cleaners, but they definitely don't perform like the pledge.

Nothing creates the bowling alley type feel like a pledge/surface wax cleanser does when you wipe down a coffee table with a smooth hard surface.

Pledge is like a household version of Armor All®, but with perfumes & other polishing agents.

Great product to use on a tabletop before you invite friends over for a poker match.

Most of those accidents could POSSIBLY be minimized if people who clean... spray directly into the cloth they use to wipe the surface down instead of saturating the item they're trying to DUST.

Make sure you never hire a maid service. Everyone cleans differently, but most people take the fastest route when it comes to dusting.

Ultimately the safest route is to eliminate the use of those products anywhere near your tanks.

  • Now that I think about it......Does anyone use incense/scented candles in the same room where you house your invert tanks??
  • Secuono what kind of cleaners do you use? What kind of inverts do you keep?
 
#30 ·
Drift wood can some times soak up all sorts of things, to be safe I would get some new wood. As far as plants go, I know that a soak for a day or two (in plain water) and then letting them in the tank with carbon for a two weeks you will be fine. If you for some reason super worried bad things still remain a few ghost shrimp for a few days will be a good indicator.

You never know sometimes great things come from ashes! Keep moving forward!
 
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