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Sad night in the 58 gallon tank (Updated w/pics)

3K views 20 replies 16 participants last post by  DCMarathoner 
#1 · (Edited)
I came home from work last night & went to feed the fish when I noticed that my largest Red Torquoise Discus was not up front & center. I looked around a little & found him laying on his side in shock. A little investigation showed the filter had stopped. Apparently we had a power failure & the filter got stuck & didn't restart. When the CO2 came on, there was insufficient O2 exchange throughout the tank.

I did an emergency WC & popped an airstone into the tank. During all this I found that I also lost (2) Harlequins, a REALLY old Glolight Tetra, an Indian Glass fish & a Silver Hatchcet. By 9 pm the big guy was gone. :icon_frow The strange thing is the Cardinals, Rummies, CPDs & all the other fish I have that are generally considered to be very sensitive to those type of things are all fine. I guess the larger fish obviously have a higher O2 requirement. I'll be contacting Mathias @ Discus Madness to get some new buddies for the one remaining Discus just as soon as I can spare the $$.

In over 35 years of fish keeping, I've only had one other bad deal like this when my 29 gallon Discus tank leaked out & I lost 3 out of 4pairs of breeders. I guess that's not too bad of a record.

Tommy
 
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#2 ·
Sorry for your loss. It really sucks when these types of things happen.

My worst happened when a Heater in my 55 decided to remain constantly on. I guess the internal thermometer stopped working, so when I woke up the water was 89 degrees. I think I lost around 12 fish.

Where your rummies noses discolored when you woke up or were they normal?
 
#11 ·
Where your rummies noses discolored when you woke up or were they normal?
Nope. Everyone looked & acted just fine.

I used to run a Backup power supply for a computer just for the filter and heater just incase.
That's a great idea! I'm sure I can scrounge up a used UPS from the IT guys @ work.

That sucks. Was it your Eheim that didn't start? I've always found that my Eheims are the filters I can rely on restarting without fail after a power failure.
Yeah, it was about due for maintenance & I think the impeller must have had enough gunk in it that it just stuck. I unplugged it & plugged it back in gain & it ran just fine. I cycled it on & off at least 50 times without a hitch after that. I figure it was just a 1-in-a-million fluke thing.

So sorry. It's hard loosing the little buddies.

Wouldn't a pH controller have eliminated this? The soleniod would have turned your CO2 off when it reached the level you wanted. Might be worth looking into. It's just one more bit of insurance.
I've thought about it, but to be honest, I don't think the controller would have made much difference without O2 exchange. If there's no surface water movement, the CO2 levels don't markedly go up, the O2 levels drastically go down. It's O2 depletion that kills the fish.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts & good ideas. I'm going to see Mathias this afternoon to pick out some new Red Tourquoise.


Tommy
 
#12 ·
Sorry about your tank crash, that sucks. I always keep at least two pumps/filters, or even three in larger tanks so I have backups for that sort of thing. When you only have one and it goes down........well, you know what happens. Even a small/medium HOB or PH might have been enough to keep things going till you noticed a problem. Good luck with your new purchase.
 
#14 ·
The new Discus are in & acclimating the the strange surroundings. As soon as they stop hiding & feel more secure I'll post some pics.

Tommy
 
#16 ·
Like I said previously, 1 stuck impeller in over 35 years isn't going to make me panic, but I am looking into a used UPS. As for the pictures, they're still not sociable enough to come out for pictures. However, they did eat for the first time last night.:thumbsup:

Tommy
 
#17 ·
Ok, here's the first shots of the new Turqs. Yeah, I know, the glass needs scraping.:icon_lol:





Tommy
 
#20 ·
I got them from Mathias. He's local to me, but ships well packed. Here's his site:

http://www.discusmadness.com/

The more I see these fish, the more I'm liking them. I just don't like that they have very little personality (correct me if I'm wrong). All I ever see them do is hover most of the time I see them displayed at fish shops.
They have just as much personality as any other cichlid, they just act a little more "regal" than most. Mine get all excited whenever I get near the tank, they think they're going to get fed. Even though they're still a little unsure of their new surroundings, they just about stick their heads into the feed cup when I pour the food into the tank.

Tommy
 
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