Thanksgiving Day Disaster

[Emily M]

Hi folks! Many thanks for all the words of encouragement. I’m very grateful. I’ve learned a lot this weekend.

I did lose many fish, but not all of them. My happy goofy Venezuelan Corydoras are superstars all survived. I lost many barbs, danios, and two of my beloved angelfish (three remaining, and are starting to eat and now re-establishing their territories). I’m taking it slow with re-feeding, added additional sponges from other tanks for beneficial bacteria re-seeding, and small twice daily water changes, which I’ll slowly back off of. I have very soft water with very low pH at baseline. So I refreshed some crushed coral (not too much, just a bit because I hadn’t added any since I set up the tank).
 

The biggest miracle of all, I had put my Cory eggs in a Ziss breeder box in the tank (like I always do) the day before the crash. I thought for sure I’d lost them. BUT about a dozen or so fry hatched out yesterday, and they are doing well. My post apocalyptic population.  Amazing how nature can work.

Thank you all so much!

 

Emily M

Hi forum friends. I don’t post very often, but visit regularly, and I’m hoping to find some love in the group today. 
 

I’m relatively new to the hobby (3 years), but now have several tanks and have been having so much fun…until yesterday.

I experienced my first pH crash on Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite tank, mature scape, 75 gallon beauty with my dream fish. Everything was fine in the morning, had spawning from the Corydora the day before. I went to check on my creatures before I sat down to Thanksgiving, and they were all gasping for air. Many of my smaller fish already passed away. 
 

Big water change, 30 minutes of panic, and a delayed thanksgiving dinner. You can imagine the mood at dinner for me😪.  The crash appears to be BIG, and happened so so FAST. 

Today, another big water change, and I’m watching one fish after another suffer from injuries sustained yesterday. I’m euthanizing when I feel they are beyond healing and just suffering. But I’m just so sad.

I have a reasonable hypothesis as to why this happened. I don’t think I need any problem solving, but I’d love to hear from folks who have had this happen to them, and how they coped. I’m just devastated. 
 

Very grateful for this kind, fishy community,

 

Emily M. 
 

pic from my tank just a few days ago, before this happened!

Edited November 28, 2022 by Emily M
Update

[TheSwissAquarist]

So sorry this happened to you!!!

[Mmiller2001]

What was the pH before and after?

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/25/2022 at 10:53 AM, Emily M said:

I have a reasonable hypothesis as to why this happened. I don’t think I need any problem solving, but I’d love to hear from folks who have had this happen to them, and how they coped. I’m just devastated. 

I would check your filtration and equipment.  Temporarily add one airstone on either end of the tank until things stabilize.  This will help with the fish stress and their gasping at the surface.

Secondly, check temperature and your heater.  Make sure it wasn't damaged and is functioning properly.

I do apologize for the issues you're having. It happens, and it's never, ever going to be easy to deal with.  Keep pushing, do what you can, and please feel free to ask any questions you need to.

[Flumpweesel]

So sorry, they do have great timing to throw down these challenges.

I lost all my fish while on holiday established tank but something went wrong an it was brutal. I was away 2 weeks but my partner was only away 4 days so  the window for disaster was quite small but they found it.

Fish keeping has some cruel learning curves hopefully you'll come out of this a little wiser and little better prepped.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Oh @Emily M so very sorry, what a bummer. I hope you do have it figured out- there is usually a solution that can prevent it in the future. I haven't had this particular thing happen to me *yet* but I've had plenty of my own issues- it never gets easy- but what it does do is give you valuable experience in how to treat, prevent and prepare for things like this in the future. You can help yourself and others with the experience. 

[KittenFishMom]

@Emily M I'm so sorry this happened.I hope you can find the support you need here from the community to help you get through this. Let us know how we can help you.