Kid put soap in my reef tank!!!!

h2oengr

h2oengr

Member
Ok, my 4 year old just squirted anti-bacterial soap in our 54 gallon tank to clean the glass. Has anyone got any suggestions - other than start doing some water changes immediately? HELP. No, this is not the kind of post people just are, "hey, help me" - this is truly, a need for some kind of expertise here...
Is there any way something could neutralize the soap?Is there any way something could neutralize the soap?
 
h2oengr

h2oengr

Member
Too late. I've got suds coming out of my sump. All the fish are dead and my son is asleep. When he wakes up, I think we'll find a good spot in the backyard and talk about death.
Now about the tank!? What in the world do I do? I don't even know where to start. If I turn the pump back on, I'm afraid I'll just continue to create suds! I think I'll start with a 50% water change and see how much suds that generates.
I've got to get a pic of this for you guys . . . it's like the worst nightmare!
By the way, when asked, he told Mommy that he put 10 pumps of the liquid soap in . . .
 
usinkit

usinkit

Member
I would pull everything out and rinse away. If the fish are dead I assume that any bacteria in the rocks ,sump and sand are dead too. Sounds like you may have to start from scatch. I dont blame you about having a talk about death. My daughter is 13 and I already had that discussion with her if she does anything to the tank but look at it from a 4 foot distance and that goes for my wife as well. Sorry about your loses.
 
lestregus

lestregus

Member
really sorry about your losses...do you have another tank you can put your corals/inverts in?? if not you may want to try to find a friend or LFS that will take your stuff for a few days... but no, i dont think there is anything else you can do other than water changes... again really sorry for your losses.. ive alwayz been worried about something like this happening in my tank.. by the way bump just means that it's moving the post back to the top of the posts so it won't get buried...just trying to get you some more responses i'm sure
 
dockery07

dockery07

Active Member
I have a "friend" and this happened to him; he had to start over with rocks and sand. He tried to let it sit for awhile but nothing would live. I was going to buy his tank and his kid figured he would help him clean it. This was the day before I picked it up. The rock landed in the garden and from there he went freshwater.
Sorry it is no fun.
 
h2oengr

h2oengr

Member
Well, I appreciate the sympathy. However, I was expecting some kind of miracle from you guys! I understand.

I've done a 200% water change, all the fish are dead, the inverts (SPS) are probably real dead, but will make good rock! I think I'll let it sit for a month or so and see what happens with the chemicals and see if I can get some algae growth. Amazingly enough, the snails and hermit crabs are still crawling around. Nothing more than I can do but get the chemicals, salt, pH all back to where they should be and leave it alone.
I was just really getting into this - now, I'm absolutely devastated. :mad:
 
sandman12

sandman12

Active Member
hey, iam in bradenton so if u need a holding tank iam here to help. Get anything that is still alive out and u can bring it to my house tomarrow if u want. I also can get u good deal on lr and ls . e-mail me and i will help u get started back up. i would start completly over. Sry it happened. like i said get in touch with me asap to get the live stuff out.
James
milkmanf12@aol.com
941-761-3364
 
h2oengr

h2oengr

Member
Hey, Sandman, I really appreciate it. I'm still skimming off suds from my prefilter to my media. I think I've got it under control, but everything is dead, really everything. I really do appreciate the offer, but I really think it's too late. I'll just let it run for a couple weeks and see what's up. Water changes like crazy. Thanks for the offer though!
 
sandman12

sandman12

Active Member
ok np. if u need new lr and ls let me know via e-mail. u sure everything is fully dead? no chance of survival?
 
fishman830

fishman830

Active Member
i wodner if this happened to a tank with damsels.. would they die.. or live.. they're the cockroaches of the sea
 
sammystingray

sammystingray

Active Member
A skimmer might go crazy, but soap and detergents are surface active agents, and a skimmer does remove them. Might have to keep a watch on the bubbles it makes though. Sorry about the losses. Don't give up!
 
bgbmom

bgbmom

New Member
so sorry to hear about the soap. My kids have done sooooo many devastating things trying to "help" me. After they spilled all of there light bright pegs in my aquarium and I dug them out I installed tot locks like I have on my cabinets on my aquarium canopy. these locks are outstanding. An adult can not even open them without a special magnet. I think it is also good to prevent them from getting burned by lights etc.. Maybe this can help you to have better luck in the future.
 
harlequinnut

harlequinnut

Active Member
Personally I would start from scratch and dump everything in tank and start over but that's just me. Sorry for your losses, don't give up!
 
h2oengr

h2oengr

Member
Actually, here's the scoop:
hermits are still crawling - barely.
Sump is barely sudsing up with bubbles
I've got two bags of carbon in the sump hoping to pull out some of the detergents
I didn't put in the protein skimmer yet, because I'm skimming off the bubbles every 15 minutes or so without it!
Fishman , I had a blue damsel from 3 years ago that made it through horrific water quality problems and even the move into a new house - he's now dead. :notsure:
BGBMom, I appreciate the idea for the locks. However, we've had some serious discussions (and I've got to admit that I yelled just a little!) about this. I've attached a pic as we were setting up the tank - He can't reach the hatch easily/readily. We probably ought to have had our eye on him a little more!
I'm going to continue to do water changes until I don't have any more suds in the sump, then put the protein skimmer back in. I've got about 100 lbs of LR - I can't let that go yet! I'm just not ready to!

Thanks for the help and ideas. If things get bad enough, Sandman, , I may be contacting you for the LR and LS.
 
sandman12

sandman12

Active Member
ok just let me know. its might soud stupid but if ur clean up crew is expensie i would get them out while there still alive. i.e. scarlet hermits.
Where do u buy all ur stuff at? fish bowl,seaclear,sea scape?
 
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