Gryphons DIY 3D background
- Thread starter Gryphon
- Start date
Disaster has struck yet again. Second background was done, I cured the concrete for a week, air cured the epoxy a week, and had it in the tank and with water for a week. I did two 80% changes, the second being last night before I added my fish. I woke up this morning to all ten neon dwarf rainbowfish and two snails dead. My striped Raphael was still alive, so I immediately pulled him out and have him floating in a bag in my 30 hex for the moment.
So frustrating! I don't know if it was something from the background that killed them, or the fact I had to adjust my heater (in-line) last night cause the tank was sitting at 72, I adjusted the heater to 78 before I went to sleep. I don't think it was the temp change, as it wasn't a huge difference. They had been in the tank at the most 10 hours, and they were moved in right after the 80% change.
If its the background, and its something I can't fix the tank is toast, there is no way in hell to remove the background back out without tearing the whole thing apart.
So frustrating! I don't know if it was something from the background that killed them, or the fact I had to adjust my heater (in-line) last night cause the tank was sitting at 72, I adjusted the heater to 78 before I went to sleep. I don't think it was the temp change, as it wasn't a huge difference. They had been in the tank at the most 10 hours, and they were moved in right after the 80% change.
If its the background, and its something I can't fix the tank is toast, there is no way in hell to remove the background back out without tearing the whole thing apart.
bassetman
Member
That is awful. I was hoping this would work out as I'm trying to convince the wife that we need to build one......guess I'll switch to working on buying a pre-made for the 8' tank coming in 2 weeks. I cannot afford to have a bunch of dead fronts in the morning. What is your best guess on a toxic agent? maybe get some cheap test subjects and see if there is a repeat of fatalities. most of your materials are in one or the other of my tanks but not in combination. Could it need a longer cure? is there any odors of and unusual nature? I hope you can nail down the causes, the background looks great.
I think I found the culprit, I checked the pH between the two, and found the tank I pulled the rainbows from was .8 lower than the 29 I moved them into. I did put in some water from the 29 into their bags when I moved them, but perhaps not enough?
I didn't even expect the pH to differ that much as they're both fill from the same water source, and with nothing that should be affecting the pH that much.
I didn't even expect the pH to differ that much as they're both fill from the same water source, and with nothing that should be affecting the pH that much.
I checked my tap water pH and the tank I pulled the fish from, same .8 difference. I'm trying to figure out now whats changing the pH in the other tank cause it has nothing in there that would drop the pH that much, unless the two pieces of a broken clay pot are affecting it.
So my current theory is the pH change was too drastic. I'm thinking that, combined with the stress of having to catch them and the lower than normal temperature was just too much. I didn't realize the heater was unplugged until i glanced behind the tank and saw the light wasn't on. I grabbed my digital thermometer off the hex and dropped it in and it said 72.1F which shouldn't have been too low for them.
On a side note, the goldfish are still alive. I'll try to get pictures taken tomorrow, apparently there were drip marks on the front that I didn't see because of the glossiness, but once it was in the tank they show up blatently
So my current theory is the pH change was too drastic. I'm thinking that, combined with the stress of having to catch them and the lower than normal temperature was just too much. I didn't realize the heater was unplugged until i glanced behind the tank and saw the light wasn't on. I grabbed my digital thermometer off the hex and dropped it in and it said 72.1F which shouldn't have been too low for them.
On a side note, the goldfish are still alive. I'll try to get pictures taken tomorrow, apparently there were drip marks on the front that I didn't see because of the glossiness, but once it was in the tank they show up blatently
Well the background definitely has to be the problem, I didn't get the chance yesterday to do another 30% water changes as I have been doing daily, and I noticed a chemical smell coming from the water in the tank this morning. So I'm gonna take it down and give it another week of air drying/curing and see what we get then. This is gonna be a pain getting all the sand out and rinsed again.