Heart broken and Confused

[justpeachy36]

WHAT THE HECK IN THE WORLD HAPPENED? Okay to start 15 gallon tank HOB canister filter 15lbs LR 2" sand bed, salinity 1.023, nitrate 5 (has always been that) ammonia 0. Tank is 1 1/2 yrs old housed 1 kuda sea horse (yes to small of a tank but she was given to me and they person didn't know I couldn't put her in my 55g with the tang and other aggressive fish. I am cycling a 125g now to move everybody over from the 55 to and my little sea horse was to move to the 55g) I have had her for nine months with 1 skunk shrimp. Yesterday I did a water change about 4:30 in the afternoon everybody seemed fine last night about 9:00 pm I feed her and the shrimp and they both ate fine. When I got up this morning she was dead along with the shrimp and apparently I have thousands of bristle worms in the tank all out and dying off along with little black half shell snail liking critters I also think I have some kind of pods in the tank swimming around I'm assuming they are dying also since I have never seen them before). I went home at lunch and the worms I think are still dying. I have no clue as to what could have happened. I check my levels again at lunch and the only thing out of wack is the KH which is off the charts. I just loved that little seahorse she would follow me around the tank and hitch to my hand when it was in the tank.

 

[mr. limpid]

They only way for it to die over night if there was something introduced into the tank. Lotion on hands spray a cleaner or air freshener near tank. Just throwing out suggestions. What test kits are you using? You said you checked all your prams afterwords?

 

[justpeachy36]

I checked everything this morning when I found the sea horse and shrimp dead. The worms are still dying as of noon today when I went home at lunch. Yesterday I checked my salinity both (the new water and tank) read 1.023 nitrate in new water was 0 phosphate 0 tank (reading from Sat. nitrate 5 phosphate .75) I don't have any air freshers in my house as for lotion I really don't think I had any on last night when I feed her again My dKH is very high today after the water change reading @ dKH 14 or 250ppm according to the API Test kit. I did change up the filter media in my canister to CHEMI-PURE AQUARIUM FILTER MEDIA would this have anything to do with it? Keep in mind the water change was about 4:30 pm yesterday and nobody had any signs of stress or trouble last night when I feed? What would be causing even the bristle worms to come out in droves from the LR and start dying?

 

[mr. limpid]

You threw out all the old media and prefilter material and the water that was left in canister? You didn't rinse the chemi-pure? Temperature is ok, no heater malfunction.

 

[justpeachy36]

oh yes I did toss the old filter media the floss & carbon stuff (I did that last time but replaced it with the filter media that goes with the canister RAPIDS C80 ) and yes on the water. I didn't think to rinse the CHEMI-PURE stuff. Wouldn't this have caused them to react sooner not over 7 hours later since it is a small tank? I still can't believe I lost her Thanks for brain storming with me

 

[justpeachy36]

oh as for the heater. No I have never needed one for this tank the temp stays at 70 and during the winter the tank does get down to 68 but that is still supposed to be good for seahorse and helping with keeping bacti from growing. Last week the pipe fish that was with her jumped to his death at night I found him the next morning by the tank hardly breathing. I put him back in the tank he swam off but at lunch that day he was out again from the tank and dead. Nothing seemed to have bother the seahorse or the shrimp...something is going on with this tank while I'm sleeping

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by justpeachy36 http:///t/395210/heart-broken-and-confused#post_3518149
oh yes I did toss the old filter media the floss & carbon stuff (I did that last time but replaced it with the filter media that goes with the canister RAPIDS C80 ) and yes on the water. I didn't think to rinse the CHEMI-PURE stuff. Wouldn't this have caused them to react sooner not over 7 hours later since it is a small tank? I still can't believe I lost her Thanks for brain storming with me
Your not suppose to rinse it, so you did good. I'm stumped. The only thing I can say is that small tank change quickly, could of crashed. But they don't recover quickly that part is stumping me.

 

[mr. limpid]

Did you check your PH?

 

[justpeachy36]

No I haven't checked the PH I was going to at lunch today but the tank was too depressing when I turned on the light. Everything is dead and now the water is cloudy. I will check the PH tonight. What a bummer!

 

[mr. limpid]

Sorry to here that.

 

[flower]

Hi,
Welcome to the site...I'm so sorry about all the bad. I hate mystery crashes.
It does sound like something was introduced into the tank. Is it possible that the bucket or holding tank you used for your water change, could have been used for something that could contaminate it? It isn't always the tank parameters that are off, It could be something you didn't test for. I did in my 55g tank once when I was messing with the rock and had a cold...I had used the puffs with lotion.

If you have kids and they used the buckets...they may not own up to doing so, for fear of being seen as the one that killed the seahorse.
I must agree with Mr. Limpid, a 15g tank can go bad very fast...7 hours is just about right for the bad to happen as a time frame too. There is just no wiggle room in such a small tank.
I killed 4 Erectus seahorses when my nitrate filter had clogged...I flushed the line right into the sump, it smelled bad, but just for an instant, everyone ate just fine and were swimming around happy at lights off....but by next morning, all my seahorses were dead. That was a hard lesson learned.
Thousands of bristle worms???? You must have been overfeeding to have such a large population of them. That wouldn't cause your problem, but you might consider a better CUC (clean up crew) to help eat some of the seahorses wasted food. I keep Kuda (56g tank) and potbelly seahorses (90g tank)...they sure are messy eaters, and waste so much. If I were you, I would go ahead with my plan to upgrade but not use anything from the 15g for now...just rinse all the stuff in freshwater then soak in bleach, then let it dry out for a few weeks. Most seahorses tanks are started with no live rock to prevent bad hitchhikers. So to restart the 55g as a seahorse tank, is no big deal to not have your live rock " live" anymore. I hope you don't give up on seahorses, they are like little sea puppies, and not like the usual fish that are just to look at...they actually do become pets.

 

[mr. limpid]

"I hope you don't give up on seahorses, they are like little sea puppies, and not like the usual fish that are just to look at...they actually do become pets." Flower I resent that comment, LOL. My fish follow me like in the move Evan Almighty.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Limpid http:///t/395210/heart-broken-and-confused#post_3518364
"I hope you don't give up on seahorses, they are like little sea puppies, and not like the usual fish that are just to look at...they actually do become pets." Flower I resent that comment, LOL. My fish follow me like in the move Evan Almighty.
LOL...I don't mean to burst your bubble, but the fish are just looking for food. Seahorses watch you, as much as you watch them....My Kuda tank is in my bedroom, it's a little creepy. I will be at my computer, I can sense somebody watching, I turn around and there is a seahorse just staring at me. I stand up and it's little eye turns upward and follows my every move... not his whole body, just his eyes. My Erectus also went to the food dish to eat...try getting any of your fish to do that.

 

[deton8it]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/395210/heart-broken-and-confused#post_3518444
LOL...I don't mean to burst your bubble, but the fish are just looking for food. Seahorses watch you, as much as you watch them....My Kuda tank is in my bedroom, it's a little creepy. I will be at my computer, I can sense somebody watching, I turn around and there is a seahorse just staring at me. I stand up and it's little eye turns upward and follows my every move... not his whole body, just his eyes. My Erectus also went to the food dish to eat...try getting any of your fish to do that.
I had a Vlamingi tang that I could pet. It started by him rubbing up against my hand one day while I was doing a water change. Eventually it got to the point that I could walk up to the tank and pet him at any given time. We had a great relationship for about a year, up until my anemone ate him.
John

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/395210/heart-broken-and-confused#post_3518444
LOL...I don't mean to burst your bubble, but the fish are just looking for food. Seahorses watch you, as much as you watch them....My Kuda tank is in my bedroom, it's a little creepy. I will be at my computer, I can sense somebody watching, I turn around and there is a seahorse just staring at me. I stand up and it's little eye turns upward and follows my every move... not his whole body, just his eyes. My Erectus also went to the food dish to eat...try getting any of your fish to do that.
LOL, I knew that I just want to see your response. Never had seahorses, you remember back in the day the only food available was live brian or mollies babies, both never kept the horses alive for long. So I opted out of keeping them, never thought about it again.

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Deton8it http:///t/395210/heart-broken-and-confused#post_3518446
I had a Vlamingi tang that I could pet. It started by him rubbing up against my hand one day while I was doing a water change. Eventually it got to the point that I could walk up to the tank and pet him at any given time. We had a great relationship for about a year, up until my anemone ate him.
John
That is sad.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Limpid http:///t/395210/heart-broken-and-confused#post_3518474
LOL, I knew that I just want to see your response. Never had seahorses, you remember back in the day the only food available was live brian or mollies babies, both never kept the horses alive for long. So I opted out of keeping them, never thought about it again.
I'm with you Mr. limpid, and the only seahorses I ever knew about back in the day were the tiny ones. Times sure have changed for the better as far as keeping SW tanks are concerned. When i learned SHs would eat frozen food...it was a happy day for me.
John...I'm so sorry about your fish buddy, I had a FW Betta that actually loved to be petted. I would put my finger into the tank and "Gullum" would swim and rub against it for as long as I was willing to stand there. Such people friendly fish are not the norm....Our fish are indeed pets, but for the most part they are pretty things to watch....Seahorses IMO, are a cut above the average fish.