Possible vodka dosing catastrophe?

spanko

spanko

Active Member
Not sure if this is the correct forum but I think so.
Fed the tank last night. Like always dose the vodka and amino acid, turn off the return pump and the skimmer, put the MP10 on feed mode and feed the fish. Normal daily ritual.
Not normal, forgot to turn the skimmer and return back on. Got up this morning, about 11 hours with pump and skimmer off, do the morning ritual of dose esv b-ionic and change filter floss. Don't check anything cause white moonlights are all that is on, can't see anything anyway. Notice the pump and skimmer........Oh Balls.........turn everything back on. Now remember the MP10 was on feed mode and automatically goes back to regular long pulse mode after 10 or 15 minutes itself.
Come home this evening and
African Flameback Angel, Chalk Bass, Tailspot Blenny, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp all belly up. Purple firefish still swimming around like normal. Have yet to see Bali Tiger Jawfish, but that is not unusual as he may just be in his caves.....but may also be dead in his caves.
 
Temp is okay at 80, normal for my tank. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all undetectable. Ph 7.9.
 
So is this the result of low dissolved oxygen in the tank? Only thing I can think to attribute it to, but the firefish being alive makes no sense to me.
 
Oh and coral is all fine.
 
Your thoughts?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Yeah, I believe it is an oxygen thing, but want to get some more input.
Knew something could happen going in to the dosing gig, but didn't think it would be something that happened from my own stupidity.
Won't stop me from dosing though. The benefits still outweigh the risk IMO. Just gotta be careful and watch what I am doing.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Oh man, sorry to hear this. I think you're right about the low oxygen. I had a somewhat similiar catastrophe with my fish as I first came into the saltwater side of the hobby. Had an outbreak of Ich...decided to treat with a mirical in a bottle produce that was basically fermaldahyde. Not realizing that it reduced oxygen levels in the tank. Didn't have a skimmer or sump at the time so I was using air stones. Anyway, I turned the air stones off one night after treating the tank with this stuff, thinking that I wanted to see if what I was seeing wasn't maybe just micro bubbles sticking to my tang. To make a long story short, I forgot to turn the air pumps back on. Woke up in the morning to find both of my tangs, and coral beauty dead but the clown and gobie still hanging on. The clown looked like some kind of burn victim. I followed the instructions on the bottle to a T but I had no idea about the reduced oxygen levels because there was no mention of such a thing on the bottle. Bottom line, I think it was the low oxygen. I did a 50% water change and turned the pumps back on, the clown cleared up after a couple of days and both remaining fish are alive and healthy today.
 
Sucks to hear about this though. Sorry, man.
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
YARG!!! I'm really sorry to see you post this.
 
Considering the success you've had dosing I wouldn't stop either. My first thought though is....adjust the dose. I'm sure your well aware but I'm just thinking out loud. Was the fire fish on the bottom? or near the top of the tank? He should have been near the top or making runs to the top if he was low on O2 right?
 
Do or did you have any white growth in the tank? Just curious cause of the lack of skimming and the bacteria producing over time ya-know.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I need to make you a bathroom timer thingy so you can switch the dial and turn your pump and skimmer off. It'll come back on itself when the time runs out.
 
There's always "the one" that can make it through tough conditions. Your winner is the firefish.
 
How is everything else in the tank? This sucks Dood.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
All coral and inverts with the exception of the skunk cleaner are fine. Still have not seen the jawfish though. He may have succumbed also. Firefish is still kicking. Good idea about the time gig, may look into that.
No growth in the tank Posiden. I don't think the pumps were off long enough for that to happen.
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
I remember one time when I went belly up on vodka ....
 
 
I have no clue what could have happened since I have never done the vodka thing so I have no insight. I hope you figure it out and sorry for your loss but the o2 thing sound logical.
 
naclfish

naclfish

Member
OMG HENRY THAT POOR KID!!!!! her mountains are not blue and that's abuse imo. srry bout your fish that sucks
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/380109/possible-vodka-dosing-catastrophe#post_3307538
All coral and inverts with the exception of the skunk cleaner are fine. Still have not seen the jawfish though. He may have succumbed also. Firefish is still kicking. Good idea about the time gig, may look into that.
No growth in the tank Posiden. I don't think the pumps were off long enough for that to happen.
 
Are you much on the DIY with electronics?? Like a 555 timer? i will post a diagram of a timer if you would like. Just like the other pump, after your set time frame they will kick back on.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Yup would like to see the setup Posiden.
 
On another note saw the Bali Tiger Jawfish in his hidey hole last night. Was looking out like "
happened here. Hey firefish where did everybody go?"
 
So the losses at this point, and I believe this is all
 
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 African Flameback Angelfish
1 Tailspot Blenny
1 Chalk Bass
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Well I am glad you found the Bali at least....
 
are you gonna replace the other fish with different ones? Or the same
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/380109/possible-vodka-dosing-catastrophe#post_3308017
Yup would like to see the setup Posiden.
 
On another note saw the Bali Tiger Jawfish in his hidey hole last night. Was looking out like "
happened here. Hey firefish where did everybody go?"
 
So the losses at this point, and I believe this is all
 
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 African Flameback Angelfish
1 Tailspot Blenny
1 Chalk Bass
Here you go. This is from BeanAnimal's site. Just zoom in on it.
http://www.beananimal.com/media/4859/555-feeding-timer-schematic.jpg.pdf
 
al mc

al mc

Active Member
Henry...Sorry about your losses. While I noticed this thread only today I do agree with your assessment that it was low O2. I have a tank that I dose with vodka at work. on a day off i got a call from one of my coworkers that the fish were behaving 'funny'. No one realized the return pump was off (off because breaker had tripped). The sump contains both skimmers/open top..certainly place where most 02 is added to water....water temp in DT 79. Within 15 minutes of turning pump back on all fish appeared OK. I assume it was low O2.
While I know there are good reasons to turn off one's skimmer during feeding/dosing I leave mine on 24/7 because I am afraid I will forget to turn it back on.
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Hey Spanko,
 
Hows it going? Everything level out yet?
 
I read an interesting article in the recent issue of Coral magazine. There is a tank in there with a DSB and she forgot to kick the skimmer back on one evening after feeding, and lost a few things due to lack of O2. It was just interesting to me how a few drops of the HOT stuff could do the same as a whole lot of sand.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Yup all is good now. Have three fish now. The original Bali Tiger Jawfish, a new Tailspot Blenny, and a new Pacific Blue Pygmy Angelfish. Need a couple more fish, just not sure which way to go right now.
 
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