Oh My God Why Did This Have To Happen? Someone Please Help!

souljah

souljah

Member
I had a very unfortunate accident happen today
to my 20 gallon tank that has been running for over
2 years. I have a miniature cooling fan on top of the tank
to cool the water down when it gets to hot.
I put the fan on at 6:00pm today, when I checked
my tank last it was 7:45pm, the fan had fallen in the tank,
I have no idea how long it was in there, but I had found
my two damsels (domino, 3 stripe) stuck to the filter,
my maroone clown on the bottom, and my strawberry
basslet was no where to be found.
I threw my damsels into my 60 gallon with my assasi
trigger and put my maroone in a 10 gallon quarantine.
I also saved my sally lightfoot, 2 blue legged hermits,
and condy anemone which also went in the quarantine.
All these fish and inverts were saved.
my only casualities were my strawberry gramma, my
arrow crab, and 1 turbo snail.
My question is....in my 20 gallon, what caused all my fish to get so sick? Did the fan shock them? Did the fan stir up the water and
cause an ammonia spike? Could have dust and dirt in the fan
screwed up the water quality? The water in the 20 gallon is
cloudly as hell. Should I do a big water change?
Someone please help!
 
bigbonedee

bigbonedee

Member
If it is an electric fan consider yourself lucky that you did not electrocute everyone. In a weeks time you will find out if every thing is all right.
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
I'm guessing that if the tank was grounded, you'd have tripped a circuit breaker when the electric fan fell in the tank, or your GFI if you use one ( everyone should near water ).
If the tank's ungrounded - the breaker may not have tripped, and you'd have a huge voltage potential in this tankwater.
Like 120 volts AC
I'm no electrician - so as I said - just guessing at this point.
Either way - not a good thing.
Consider yourself luckey this time, and a good lesson/reminder to us all.
Sorry you lost your strawberry gramma, arrow crab and I suppose your snail too.
 
souljah

souljah

Member
thankyou for the replies but why is the water so hazey
and cloudy? it used to be crystal clear until the fan feel in.
is the hazeyness from the fan falling in the water/circulating the
water causing an ammonia spike? I'm trying to figure out
why the water quality qent down the drain?
someone please help me play detective and figure
what exactly the problem is and what i can do about it?
thanks:confused:
 
ryebread

ryebread

Active Member
The water may be hazy now because the fan probably had dust on it. Dust may have spread into the water and clouded it. Just an idea, not an answer.
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
What kind of substrate do you have? That may have been blown up into the water by the fan, or possibly detrius blown up into the water.
 
souljah

souljah

Member
I have 4 inches of live sand bed, there also appeared
to be alot of particles on top of my live rock that blew around,
thats probably what did it, most definately a ammonia spike
plus 20 gallons isnt a lot of water so I'm sure it was
very easy for the water quality to get screwed up fast
I tested the ammonia and it appeared to be .20
I going to carry out a water change, probably 25%
does this sound reasonable? or should I do more?
 
souljah

souljah

Member
I ended up doing a 40% water change on the 20 gallon and
the water is still very very cloudy. The fan falling in screwed up
the water quality really bad. Is their something I can do
to make the water crystal clear again? I tested for
ammonia and its 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates 15ppm,
salinity is still 1.024, its gotta be cloudly from dirt and dust
from the fan, is their something I can put in it to
the tank to make it crystal clear again?
 
donkeykong

donkeykong

Member
My best guess about the cloudiness is a combo of the dust off the fan, sand, and detrius. Water change was a good idea but would have stirred everthing up again, just give it some time to settle.
I dont remember but did you say if you left anything in there. If not you might want to put some sort of ammonia source in there so your good bacteria doesnt start dieing and you will have to recycle your tank.
PS I dont know about the lubrication thing.
 
souljah

souljah

Member
sammy, I have no idea...... what?
I'm not sure if your trying to make a point?
because I would definately like to know what
you getting to
 
donkeykong

donkeykong

Member
I think he is trying to figure out if there is some sort of oil or grease lubricant. Because that could polute the water but I cant find any info on if and what they use.
 
mr . salty

mr . salty

Active Member
My guess,,,The fan fell in and shorted out almost immediatly sending a surge of voltage through the tank.(your lucky anything lived at all)...The dust off the fan,and the fish getting spooked(stirring up the sand) clouded the water.Probably the burned fan and lube helped with the cloud also...The ammo spike was most likly due to the sand being stirred up...Is there,or was there, an oily film on the surface of the water??This could be from the fan lube or burning burning electronics...To clear the water you should add a micron/polishing filter(or carbon) to your existing filter somehow.Or go to your LFS,Most of them will rent or loan one to you to clear the water...By the way,,,How are the damsels and your trigger getting along???They could make a nice snack for that trigger..
 
slothy

slothy

Active Member
acutally i was gonna add that, but wasnt sure... ive dropped a few fixtures in the tank before and the fish well, just went on their routine... liek nothing happened other than i was trying to kill them lol, and yes i was dumb enough to grab it lol... ouchy :(
 
mr . salty

mr . salty

Active Member
That was just a guess on my part(electrocution)..I have never had the experience of dropping anything electrical into my tank,so your first hand accounts on this is a lesson to me...
 
souljah

souljah

Member
I really must say, after the tradegy of my fan falling into
my tank and me going nuts, you guys have been a REALLY
big help on www.Saltwaterfish.com. I just want to say
thankyou to everyone who gave their comments and suggestions
on this situation.
Mr. Salty and Sammystingray :cool:
You guys were right on the money.
There was an oily substance on top of the water
possibly from the fan, the fan falling in did cause
a surge in the tank, dust and detrius was stirred
up causing an ammonia spike, and the fish did get spooked
stirring up the sand contributing to the spike.
Also the lube and burned out fan did add to the
cloudlyness of the water. You guys are amazing.
Thanks to EVERYONE on this board who replied
and helped me out during this time of massive stress.
Heres what I did to get my tank back on track
1. I Did a 40% Water Change
2. I added 2 ML of Cycle (Good bacteria strains) every night
3. I added 2 ML of Prime (Reduces Ammonia) every night
4. I added a water clarity conditioner for ideal enzyme balance
5. I let the tank settle for 2 days
After all this, I tested my water....
pH 8.2, Salinity 1.024, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10ppm
The water is crystal clear and doing very well again.
P.S. To everyone who is against quarantine tanks,
I'm TELLING you to go get one now, your never know
when your going to desperately need it. My quarantine
saved my ass, because of it, I was able to save a huge
ammount of my invertebrates, and my gold stripe maroone
clown. So go get one!
Also, my 2 damsels are doing excellent with my 6 inch
assasi trigger. Yes I know, I cant believe it either.
They dont fight at all and are all doing very well together
mysteriously. Ain't that somethin.
Thanks to everyone for their help
much love :D
 
souljah

souljah

Member
no,,,,,,,,
I put 2 damsels from the 20 gallon in with my
trigger in his 60 gallon, that he lives by himself in.
geez, have you not read this whole thread?
 
badpacket

badpacket

New Member
Dang, looks like my Rio 600 just died on my fan as well. Came home to find this weird film on my tank. Checked the Rio, and it was silent, not pumping.
The fish seem to be doing well at this time ( 2 fake clowns), and everyting else also. I think I've been able to get all of it off the surface with paper towels.
Hope my fish can hold out till Wed/Thu when my new Maxi-jets are coming in.
 
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