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Posted by Andy Pastuszak on July 20, 2008, 8:07 am
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On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:05:41 -0400, Ieyasu wrote:
> I recently took a year-long vacation and came home to find that my
> moderately planted 55 gallon tank had not been taken care of for the
> past 8 months.
>
> The water had all evaporated except for about 6". My Eheim canister
> filter was turned off. Submersible heater was about 50% exposed and
> still plugged in. Both bulbs in my compact fluorescent fixture were
> burnt out. There were dead plants and algae everywhere. There was a
> layer of mulm over everything. All inhabitants of the tank were still
> alive (1 otocinclus, 3 amano shrimp, hundreds of trumpet snails).
>
> I unplugged the heater, cleaned out the filter (had a horrible smell of
> rotten eggs), refilled the tank, and did a 50% water change every day
> for a week. The second week I changed 50% of the water the first day,
> and 25% every day after. I continued to vacuum the gravel and remove
> dead plant matter. At the end of the second week, I cleaned out the
> filter again. Weeks 3 and 4 were much the same, except that I didn't
> clean out the filter until the end of the fourth week.
>
> Week 5 I ordered new bulbs for my compact flo fixture. In the meantime,
> I set up my old regular flourescent fixture to see if the plants would
> start coming back to life. My plant life consisted of several lucens
> and lutea crypts, dwarf sag, java ferns, java moss, and a large moss
> ball. The dwarf sag and java moss were almost completely dead. The
> lucens crypts were barely hanging on. The lutea crypts and the moss
> ball had almost completely taken over the entire tank.
>
> I uprooted all the lutea crypts and replanted them along the back of the
> tank (NOT AN EASY TASK!). I cleaned up the moss ball, throwing most of
> the "moss" away as it had grown over everything and looked like it was
> killing the dwarf sag, and replanted the dwarf sag.
>
> Week 6 I ordered a bunch of new plants (mostly Italian Vallisneria) and
> 6 killifish. The fish arrived in healthy condition, but quickly
> contracted a case of fin/tail rot and what appeared to be some kind of
> fungus on their mouths. 7 days of dosing with Pimafix/Melafix and a
> little salt, and the fish are definitely on the mend and looking
> healthy. Unfortunately, during the course of the treatment my
> otocinclus (who had survived quite nicely up until this point) died. I
> suspect this was due to a combination of changing water parameters,
> introducing new fish that caught a disease, and the presence of salt in
> the water.
>
> It's now week 7 and my compact flo's are set up along with my CO2
> system. The plants are definitely coming back to life, and the killis
> have finally started to settle in - but there's been a huge outbreak of
> planaria and a bunch of algae growing on the glass. I'm now doing a 25%
> water change once per week with a 10% change every other day. Hopefully
> things will settle down soon.
>
> Any kind of advice or comments are welcome.
>
> I will followup with pictures to alt.binaries.aquaria in a couple days.
>
> -I
I don't think the Planaria should be a problem. Won't the fish simple
eat them? The algae could be an issue.
You're at week 5, so I think you biological filter should be back. Check
your nitrate levels. With all the water changes, they should be low, but
who knows.
Overall, it sounds like you are on your way to a good recovery. It's a
amazing the fish lived!
Andy
--
Andy
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Posted by Ieyasu on July 21, 2008, 4:44 pm
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>
> I don't think the Planaria should be a problem. Won't the fish simple
> eat them? The algae could be an issue.
The fish do seem to have taken in interest in examining the glass very
closely, but I think the planaria may be too small for them to pick off. I
have kept feeding to an absolute minimum during this time, only feeding
twice in the 2+ weeks I've had them. I'm hoping that this will encourage
them to seek alternate food sources in the tank, or at least deprive the
planaria of whatever they're feeding on.
The algae I'm getting is "routine" for this setup - mostly green spots on
the glass which I used to get all the time in the past. I'm hoping it will
back off a bit as the plants get re-established but it's only a minor
nuisance at best because I can scrape it off the glass easily with my
magnets.
> You're at week 5, so I think you biological filter should be back. Check
> your nitrate levels. With all the water changes, they should be low, but
> who knows.
Excellent advice. 24 hours after my last 25% water change, my nitrates are
at ~15 mg/l which should be fine for now. I'll monitor them during the week
and see how high they get.
> Overall, it sounds like you are on your way to a good recovery. It's a
> amazing the fish lived!
I recently watched a very interesting video about otocinclus that showed
them in their natural habitat in the wild - scummy pools of green or brown
water, just like my tank when I got home. I thought at first that it was a
miracle the little catfish was alive, but after seeing this I wonder if I
was being cruel when I originally put him in my clean and clear tank over
two years ago.
@Reel McKoi: There was a personal misunderstanding with the person I left
to care for the tank. I knew that during that time, the tank would be the
last thing on my mind. So I gave away all the fish and plants that I knew
might require special attention and left with only the oto and shrimp,
knowing that they should be able to "tough it out" if proper care wasn't
given. I had no idea it would sit there without even getting the water
topped off for so long, but I had very little contact with the person
involved. My LFS is under new management and offers a home-tank cleaning
service specifically for situations like mine. I haven't looked into cost
yet, but at least I have a solid backup in case I need to go away again.
@Len: The tank actually did not smell any worse than the smell at my local
fish store, which is just a mild watery-kind-of smell and not unpleasant.
The pictures I mentioned have been uploaded to alt.binaries.aquaria. I can
post some closeups or answer questions about my setup on request. Hope you
all enjoy them.
-I
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Posted by Reel McKoi on July 22, 2008, 12:49 am
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>
> The fish do seem to have taken in interest in examining the glass very
> closely, but I think the planaria may be too small for them to pick off.
> I have kept feeding to an absolute minimum during this time, only feeding
> twice in the 2+ weeks I've had them. I'm hoping that this will encourage
> them to seek alternate food sources in the tank, or at least deprive the
> planaria of whatever they're feeding on.
=====================
Most of the fish I have owned would not eat planaria. Please don't starve
your fish thinking they will eat them. Feed your fish every day for their
health and longevity. All animals feel hunger. Please feed them daily.
I do hope you get another service to care for your aquarium the next time
you travel. :-) Several years ago I left 5 bettas in the care of someone I
trusted. They were a mess when I got back after only a week. One had died in
the stinking mess his bowl had become due to gross overfeeding. Within
minutes of walking in the door, exhausted after a long flight, I was
cleaning their bowls...........
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Posted by Andy Pastuszak on July 26, 2008, 11:16 pm
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Ieyasu wrote:
>> I don't think the Planaria should be a problem. Won't the fish simple
>> eat them? The algae could be an issue.
>
> The fish do seem to have taken in interest in examining the glass very
> closely, but I think the planaria may be too small for them to pick off. I
> have kept feeding to an absolute minimum during this time, only feeding
> twice in the 2+ weeks I've had them. I'm hoping that this will encourage
> them to seek alternate food sources in the tank, or at least deprive the
> planaria of whatever they're feeding on.
I'd scrape the glass and churn up the gravel and run a diatom filter on
the tank for a few hours. That should suck up a good deal of algae and
most of the planaria.
Andy
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> moderately planted 55 gallon tank had not been taken care of for the
> past 8 months.
>
> The water had all evaporated except for about 6". My Eheim canister
> filter was turned off. Submersible heater was about 50% exposed and
> still plugged in. Both bulbs in my compact fluorescent fixture were
> burnt out. There were dead plants and algae everywhere. There was a
> layer of mulm over everything. All inhabitants of the tank were still
> alive (1 otocinclus, 3 amano shrimp, hundreds of trumpet snails).
>
> I unplugged the heater, cleaned out the filter (had a horrible smell of
> rotten eggs), refilled the tank, and did a 50% water change every day
> for a week. The second week I changed 50% of the water the first day,
> and 25% every day after. I continued to vacuum the gravel and remove
> dead plant matter. At the end of the second week, I cleaned out the
> filter again. Weeks 3 and 4 were much the same, except that I didn't
> clean out the filter until the end of the fourth week.
>
> Week 5 I ordered new bulbs for my compact flo fixture. In the meantime,
> I set up my old regular flourescent fixture to see if the plants would
> start coming back to life. My plant life consisted of several lucens
> and lutea crypts, dwarf sag, java ferns, java moss, and a large moss
> ball. The dwarf sag and java moss were almost completely dead. The
> lucens crypts were barely hanging on. The lutea crypts and the moss
> ball had almost completely taken over the entire tank.
>
> I uprooted all the lutea crypts and replanted them along the back of the
> tank (NOT AN EASY TASK!). I cleaned up the moss ball, throwing most of
> the "moss" away as it had grown over everything and looked like it was
> killing the dwarf sag, and replanted the dwarf sag.
>
> Week 6 I ordered a bunch of new plants (mostly Italian Vallisneria) and
> 6 killifish. The fish arrived in healthy condition, but quickly
> contracted a case of fin/tail rot and what appeared to be some kind of
> fungus on their mouths. 7 days of dosing with Pimafix/Melafix and a
> little salt, and the fish are definitely on the mend and looking
> healthy. Unfortunately, during the course of the treatment my
> otocinclus (who had survived quite nicely up until this point) died. I
> suspect this was due to a combination of changing water parameters,
> introducing new fish that caught a disease, and the presence of salt in
> the water.
>
> It's now week 7 and my compact flo's are set up along with my CO2
> system. The plants are definitely coming back to life, and the killis
> have finally started to settle in - but there's been a huge outbreak of
> planaria and a bunch of algae growing on the glass. I'm now doing a 25%
> water change once per week with a 10% change every other day. Hopefully
> things will settle down soon.
>
> Any kind of advice or comments are welcome.
>
> I will followup with pictures to alt.binaries.aquaria in a couple days.
>
> -I