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View Full Version : Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day



Ed
Sun, 18th May 2008, 04:41 PM
Ever think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel only to find out it's an oncoming train?

Woke up @ 7:00am to the noxious smell of burned plastic. Went downstairs to check the aquariums and the smell got worse. Through process of elimination, I discovered that the Stealth heater in my (connected) frag tank had nuked both tanks. Pulled the - insert favorite expletives here - heater out of the water to discover that it was spewing toxic smoke into the tank. No more Stealth heaters for me.:angry:

Needless to say, the fish were severely stressed. One Chromis had jumped, the other was dead in the rock work, both CBB's were wedged in the rocks breathing hard as was the Powder Blue. No sign of the Sohal or Mama Clown. The little man was in the anemone and I could see at least one Engineer peeking out from under their rock.

I immediately started running carbon, added two air stones, and began mixing water. It's now 8:00am. Four hours until the LFS opens and more water is available. Ran to the closest Wal Mart for more carbon. They were out. What luck! Came back and did a 55 gallon water change. After an hour or so, the CBB's started to move a bit as did the Powder Blue. Still no sign of the Sohal.

Fast forward to 12:00 - LFS is open, get more water, and start mixing for another water change. Fish are looking a tad better - except for the Sohal - found him dead behind the rocks.:cry_smile:. RIP big guy.

2:00pm. Second 55 gallon water change. Added more carbon. Now the large CBB is missing.:at_wits_end:

Corals and inverts are unaffected. Still no sign of the big CBB. Other fish seem to be improving slowly. Only time will tell how much more I will lose.

This has been a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

aquasport24
Sun, 18th May 2008, 04:55 PM
Man that's sucks, sorry to hear that .Hopefully your tank will recover in time.

JimD
Sun, 18th May 2008, 04:56 PM
Ouch! Dang Ed, not good! Let me know if theres anything at all I can do yo help you out!!

captexas
Sun, 18th May 2008, 05:17 PM
Sorry to hear about your troubles today Ed. I hope everything is not a loss, even though it probably feels like it. Heaters always make me nervous. Unless it's winter time when I tend to let the house get colder inside, I leave the heaters not just turned off, but unplugged.

joelb
Sun, 18th May 2008, 06:53 PM
that was AWESOME!!!....but sorry about the fish man.

drgnbttrfly
Sun, 18th May 2008, 07:07 PM
Oh man...sorry for everything. Big hugs! :bighug:

BioCube14
Sun, 18th May 2008, 07:58 PM
use ebo heaters

JimD
Sun, 18th May 2008, 08:57 PM
use ebo heaters

All equipment fails, Ebo is no exception...

ErikH
Sun, 18th May 2008, 09:05 PM
Ed if you come to SA, I have some zoas to help you get back on track. Sorry to hear about your losses! This is what makes it hard to want to stay in, but you have alot of people here for support. LMK if you need ANYTHING... :)
Erik

Ed
Mon, 19th May 2008, 08:22 PM
Well,

A day later the toll so far is two large green chromis and a show sized Sohal. The least expensive (and most common) fish and the most expensive fish (Marinecenter lists (rare) show size Sohal for $349 - ouch!). All other fish and inverts seem OK. Still running airstones and carbon and will do another big water change this weekend. Hopefully, the worst is over.

RayAllen
Mon, 19th May 2008, 08:43 PM
Way to hang in there man!

verynewatthis
Tue, 20th May 2008, 08:06 AM
sorry to hear about your lucky....if it makes you feel any better....I SO feel your pain on this one.....http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42884
this is what just happened to me....sorry again bro....but it could be worse tho..

rich

Kristy
Tue, 20th May 2008, 08:15 AM
Sorry about the Sohal, those are such beautiful fish. Hope today is a better day for you and your tank!

(Glad you didn't decide to run off to Australia... I always loved that children's book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day).

jc
Tue, 20th May 2008, 08:17 AM
That sucks. Have you considered not using heaters? I never have and my corals grow fine.