blobaugh
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I morning I walked into my office, where there is a 20L with a small (but growing!) neolamprologus multifaciatus colony and noticed one of the males swimming funny. I watched for a few minutes, but the rest of the tank seemed fine.
That evening, after dinner, I went into my office to watch the shellies for a bit and ALL of them were swimming erratically! Flopping about as is they were fish out of water.
I had been fighting blue-green slime for a while and thought maybe it crashed the tank, so I started an emergency water change. Then I put my hand in the tank and it was freezing! The heater had given up the ghost.
New plan- I filled a 5 gallon bucket with tank water and tossed my small travel heater into it. I then proceeded to quickly, but carefully, rip the tank apart and find every fish.
Luckily only two had died in the tank. All but one seem to have recovered in the bucket. That one is the oldest male.
Tragedy narrowly averted!
I had already planned to pull all the decor out of the tank this weekend to clean the slime off, so while the fish were out I took the opportunity to deep clean. Decor, sand, filtration, everything came out and got cleaned. There is still a bit of the blue-green slime in there, so I still dosed the tank.
The shellies are still in their bucket, till tomorrow. I want to verify the new heater is working and at the correct temp before putting them back in.
Stressful day, but in the end it could have been a lot worse had I not gone in to look at the tank that night. Silver linings right?
That evening, after dinner, I went into my office to watch the shellies for a bit and ALL of them were swimming erratically! Flopping about as is they were fish out of water.
I had been fighting blue-green slime for a while and thought maybe it crashed the tank, so I started an emergency water change. Then I put my hand in the tank and it was freezing! The heater had given up the ghost.
New plan- I filled a 5 gallon bucket with tank water and tossed my small travel heater into it. I then proceeded to quickly, but carefully, rip the tank apart and find every fish.
Luckily only two had died in the tank. All but one seem to have recovered in the bucket. That one is the oldest male.
Tragedy narrowly averted!
I had already planned to pull all the decor out of the tank this weekend to clean the slime off, so while the fish were out I took the opportunity to deep clean. Decor, sand, filtration, everything came out and got cleaned. There is still a bit of the blue-green slime in there, so I still dosed the tank.
The shellies are still in their bucket, till tomorrow. I want to verify the new heater is working and at the correct temp before putting them back in.
Stressful day, but in the end it could have been a lot worse had I not gone in to look at the tank that night. Silver linings right?