Tank Disaster Lost 75% of my fish today!

[vinny73]

No such perfect innovation exists for our hobby. But does the failure of a vital piece of equipment constitute new husbandry skills? Maybe. Up to the individual. I apologize for wrecking havoc on behalf of my "bad luck". I figured blaming the equipment rather than pointing the blame on patty would alleviate some of the "What did I do wrong?" syndrome that comes with a catastrophy. The initial impact of what took place I am sure was devastating. But the aftermath of the week later is 10 fold of what occurred. I know I am attatched to my livestock. The only "true solution" by putting heads together would be to move forward. Ever have problems with one piece of equipment and find several temporary solutions? And then, to find that different placement, surrounding circumstances, less flow, more flow, is what finally fixed the problem.

But what if it is the product?

[LarryM]

Patty,

I know how attached you are with your aquatic friends and am saddened by the loss. I know how your sysem is hooked up and can not think of anything that could have caused this if all was working properly.

David, can you think of any diagnostic that would provide what was on or off and what modes were operating at a specific time?

[psmith444]

Hey all,
When I posted last night, I was devasted and I had just found out what had happened earlier in the day from my Husband so here is all the info I have at this time...

I along with my husband and son look at our tank and RKE daily... The only hint of a problem was a SLIGHT couple patches of brown algae on the front of my tank about 2-3 inches at most on Tues night, before I went to bed. Tank temp seemed to be 82-83 that I can recall. (My tank usually runs 78-83 due to living in Ramona.)

I have a 500watt Jalli titanium heater on my tank in the 40g sump due to running A/C usually along with temp changes in Ramona for stability. (Of course like a dumba$$ I do not have a Chiller yet but was working on it.)

Pump seemed to be running normal (according to Pat) before, during and after.

T5 Lights are on timers and due heat up the water a little but they were off over night.
Also, lights were off like normal when I left for work in the morning and I did not check the tank or the RKE before I left.

Pat actually saw the RKE read 96-97 degrees when he checked the tank at 7:30am on Wed including him feeling the hot water. He dropped the temp on the tank pretty fast considering the temp was already deadly in order to save the few fish we had left after losing about 40 of them already.

Pat also shut down the entire system for a couple of hours and then started everything back up and there seemed to be no problems as though the problem had reset itself. I had him unplug the heater in case it was the culprit once I got home from work 8 hrs later even though the temp was only about 80-82 just in case.


Dave, I believe my ph probe still needs to be dialed in due to my tank being FW @ 7.0 but is the temp probe completely calibrated? I can not remember...




Now at 8:30pm on Thurs , I just checked the temp and with having no heater on my tank the temp is 76.3 (Kinda low)

On a good side note- I am happy to report that all 11 remaining fish seem to be doing ok including all 6 of my Clown Loaches. (Amazing that my entire school made it.)

Please understand that this has been a VERY traumatizing experience for me and I am not bashing / blaming any of the products that I use nor do I wish for anyone else to do so. I instead am just looking for a little empathy and a lot of help in diagnosing and treating the problem. I want to replace my beloved fish but I also want to alleviate any potential hazardous problems too. I have never had any problems with this setup since we put it all together May 1st.

Please ask any questions of me if you think that they may help figure out the nature of this diseaster...


BTW- Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate them at a time like this.

[DaveMorris]

Was the heater plugged into the PC4 and being controlled by the RKE? If so, can you tell how the programming is set on that channel? I honestly do not remember setting up the heater at all, so I'm not sure if it was the controller sticking on or if the heater is suspect. The only thing I could think of that would have been an issue with the controller is if the temp probe failed. If the RKE was reading the high temp of 97, then it isn't the temp probe failing. Let us know how the heater was plugged in and whether or not it has its own control on it. Or is it the type of titanium heater that is simply either on or off.

[psmith444]

Dave,
Pat said that the heater was plugged into the #1 plug on the PC4.

The heater does not have its own controller therefore the RKE was its only source to control it, and is either on/off.

I don't remember how to check all the functions/settings but I do remember that it was set to come on below 78degress. (I have never seen my tank below 78 other then tonight since there is no heater hooked up to the tank anymore.)

If you have time tomorrow, give me a call and we can check the settings over the phone...?

[99sf]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. What was the air temperature in Ramona when the tank reached 97 degrees? Is it possible that the heater was shut off by the controller and the lights and air temperature combined to result in such a high water temp? Are you able to attach a chiller to your freshwater system?

[psmith444]

The air temp that night would not have been any higher then 82 in my house and most likely about 78-79 as that is what we have our thermostat set for even though we turn it off at night and leave the windows open. So it was not abnormally hot or anything and it was night time. Tank lights were off as well since it was night. The RKE runs my lights, pump & heater and only shuts off the lights at night but keeps the pump on and the heater set to come on if the temp drops below 78. So I don't think the air temp was the problem as the tank water was the only thing at 96-97*.

[corbeano619]

Sorry to hear your loss Patty.

[psmith444]

Ok I just checked the setup on my RKE and went into the PC4 CH1 section and my target temp is 78.5, hysteresis 0.5, ON when Low and Alarm None if Alarm OFF.
I assume that the Alarm off is why we never heard anything...

Thanks again all for the kind words. It's nice to have fellow people on here who can relate...

[Techknowledgy]

Sorry to hear about your loss Patty. We all get so attached to our critters.

[DaveMorris]

The alarm OFF is the default. It just means that no alarm was programmed into it. Is the blue light for the channel that the heater was plugged into still on? PM me your number and I will try to call you tomorrow and we can step through a few things to get to the bottom of this.

[SoCalBoo]

14 rainbows ready for delivery to Ramona. Say the word...

[Lic3nc3ToKlLL]

Patty, I remember coming over there to your beautiful home in Ramona and sold a Clown Loach to you...seeing your tank was absolutely amazing I too am very sorry to hear about your loss I hope everything goes well and you get up and running on the livestock that you did before!

[vinny73]

Please keep us informed patty as to the cause of the problem. As I stated earlier, It's not the initial trauma, its afterwards! Hope you get all the help you need. Looks like the techno dudes are all over wanting to help figure out your RKE.

[psmith444]

Hey Vinny, I will definitely continue to update the status and diagnosis of my tank so that we can all learn from it if nothing else.

Lic3ns3, THanks for the nice words. I am glad that you thought my tank was amazing just like I did and you have not even seen the tank as 180g. When you came over it was a 125g before I transferred everything over. I am happy to say that all 6 Clowns made it through this including the one yo brought over and so far none are showing any ich.

Paul, Maybe not all 14 but def some of them.