Tonik Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 So my very naughty 3 year old emptied 8 containers of fish food in my Planted 20 gal this morning while i was in the shower (why I hardly shower haha). I put most of the fish in my quarantine tank and changed out most of the water, vacuumed as much food as possible out and refilled. I couldn’t get the baby shrimp out. I’m guessing that my ammonia is going to go through the roof as the food I couldn’t get out rots. Would you try to salvage it with daily water changes or just start over? I’ll lose my shrimp colony. I was planning to start a 29gal this weekend but the plants in this one have done so well and are/were flourishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcalberto Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Tonik said: So my very naughty 3 year old emptied 8 containers of fish food in my Planted 20 gal this morning while i was in the shower (why I hardly shower haha). I put most of the fish in my quarantine tank and changed out most of the water, vacuumed as much food as possible out and refilled. I couldn’t get the baby shrimp out. I’m guessing that my ammonia is going to go through the roof as the food I couldn’t get out rots. Would you try to salvage it with daily water changes or just start over? I’ll lose my shrimp colony. I was planning to start a 29gal this weekend but the plants in this one have done so well and are/were flourishing. Most water conditioners neutralize ammonia for 24h, so even if you get an ammonia spike your shrimp shouldn't die in this 24h period. You could do daily water chances and gravel vac as much as possible for maybe a week, while always monitoring the ammonia. There's a good chance most of your shrimp will survive Edited September 12, 2020 by gcalberto 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 Thank you! I have been panicked for two hours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Cory Posted September 12, 2020 Administrators Share Posted September 12, 2020 I’d probably just keep doing partial water changes each day if needed and make sure to test each day. If you got most of it in the first big one you may be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 Thank you! At what point would you put the fish back in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 I had same thing happen. Did a extensive vac and water change schedule and dosed extra prime to bind up the ammonia. My tank looked like it had snowed multiple colored snow from the flakes. In the end I had nothing die but they definitely showed stress symptoms. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 I’m glad to hear that! It is definitely super cloudy still but improving! Thank you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 Update on fiasco #43567 of 2020... the tank stayed extremely cloudy all day. After it did not settle, I did another 75% water change last night. Woke up this morning and it smelled like a fish market. Pulled all of the hard scape out and rescued the three remaining live shrimp. Snails still seem to be ok. Then I did a 90% water change and vacuumed up as much of the food as I could. My substrate is three inches deep so hopefully a lot of the good bacteria are ok. Filled it back up and hoping for the best. I should mention that the food wasn’t just flakes, but also algae wafers, Krill flakes, shrimp bites, bottom dweller pellets, and some tadpole and frog food from our tadpole project this summer. It was a greasy awful mess. Some takeaways: thankful that I’ve watched a LOT of videos and had the basic stuff I needed... a running quarantine tank for one so I was able to save all of my fish. While about 1/2 of my small colony of shrimp died, I was able to save the one who is incubating her eggs. And, the nasty water forced probably 100 tiny snails to the glass and I was able to get those out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_RF Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Wish you the best on this, and do keep us updated. I am interested to know how did this go and what did you find best in managing it post. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan W Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 I noticed that you haven’t mentioned your filter at all. What type of filter are you using and did you clean that as well? If you haven’t, your filter is just continuing to dissolve all the food it’s collected and pollute the water column (the grease you mention) and no amount of water changes is going to offer any immediate help. If you haven’t already, I’d give your filter a thorough cleaning including all sponges. If you have healthy and ample biomedia, your tank should be able to handle a full filter cleaning. I use canister filters and I personally use hot tap water to clean all of my sponges. I clean everything except the biomedia tray which usually just gets swished around in old tank water. My 2¢... I think your filter is currently working against you. You can only clean so much from the tank itself before there just isn’t anything left to remove. Filters can be the source of many problems we encounter. After your filter is clean, continue doing your water changes and monitoring the situation. You could use granulated carbon to help remove the dissolved organics but since it’s a planted tank, granulated carbon will certainly work against you. Seachem Purigen is also very effective at removing dissolved organics without affecting nutrient dosing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 I have a HOB and a sponge. I was emptying and rinsing the media in treated water each time but will certainly try rinsing it all in hot water. Thank you for suggesting that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 18, 2020 Author Share Posted September 18, 2020 One week update on the tank destruction by toddler and fish food... I did water changes all last weekend... probably too many, and rinsed the media each time. I overdid it, I guess because the tank exploded into a horrible brown stinky algae and brownish cloudy water which I think, from what I have read, is from excess diatoms? I got some Purigen, but I think it was too far gone to make a difference. So then I made sure every single shrimp was out of the tank, then cleaned what I could off the plants, vacuumed and drained it to the substrate. Refilled and today it is much less smelly and the water is clearing. My ammonia is at 4ppm, the nitrites are 0.25, and the nitrates are between 10 and 20. I don't know what to do except wait it out and see if it cycles? I was planning to keep vacuuming out the brown slimy stuff as it settles to the bottom... will the remaining plants be hurt by the high ammonia in the water? should I do something else? I have the notion that I can preserve some of the bacteria by not tearing it completely down but maybe that's not feasible? Luckily, I had purchased a 29 gal at one of the Petco sales and was planning to set that one up at a later date. I set that up and used a sponge filter and some media from my QT tank... Everyone seems happy in there so far. I'm trying not to remember the perfect state my tank was in... how the plants were pearling and the shrimp were having baby shrimp... sigh. Oh... and I got a lock for my fridge where the food is stored. 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 Based on the numbers you just posted you should be able to start putting your fish back in, but do it gradually adding everybody all at once may screw everything up again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RovingGinger Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 The plants will help with the ammonia and prefer it to nitrites. I think your chances of fully cycling again are just dandy! One thing you could do if you’re concerned is get ammonia absorbing and/or nitrate absorbing material for a HOB filter short term. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 4 hours ago, RovingGinger said: The plants will help with the ammonia and prefer it to nitrites. I think your chances of fully cycling again are just dandy! One thing you could do if you’re concerned is get ammonia absorbing and/or nitrate absorbing material for a HOB filter short term. Thanks! If the plants will be ok, I’m just gonna let it cycle and now that my 29 is the community, maybe I can move the shrimp back in and use it in another way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) From the ashes of this aquarium... a tiny Phoenix!!!! He must’ve been super tiny when all that nonsense happened. Man I love this hobby! 😁 Edited September 23, 2020 by Tonik 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 How has it all turned out? Have you started putting in fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 (edited) I haven’t yet... I checked ammonia and nitrites three days ago and they were still high. Since then I got most of the slime algae out and the water is super clear, it smells normal, the plants are showing some new growth, and having this little guy appear has been encouraging. Tomorrow is water change day so I’ll check everything and go from there! It seems like once I stopped messing with it all the time, it was able to get back closer to balance, if that makes sense? Edited September 24, 2020 by Tonik Nitrites not nitrates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Makes total sense sometimes letting things run their course is better than tinkering 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mychala Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 There should be a what the kids did while I was showering thread🤦♀️. My 3 year old dropped a piece of plastic in tank about 2 months ago and threw all the rocks and a years worth of dwarf hair grass growth on the carpeting a couple months ago trying to get the plastic piece out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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