I think I have a problem...

So 2 weeks ago I posted about waking up and finding all my equipment to be off and it it ended up being a weak breaker that finally gave out. I replaced and all was good. Or so I thought.....

I was in Canada for about a week and a half on a fishing trip. This past Monday I got home from work and started prepping to do a water change on the old tank. (The new tank is still cycling) I have 2 power heads on the right side of the tank and they keep sliding sideways. Well this time one of the lids was off the top of the power head. I removed the tank cover and was getting ready to get them fixed up, when I notices the power cord was no longer attached to the power head.....

I removed the power head and pulled the cord back out of the water then unplugged it from the surge protector. Upon unplugging it from the surge protector I found this....



So I opened the door to my sump and the skimmer was full of black crap and there was some sticking to the glass in the sump. I cleaned up as much as I could and I emptied out the skimmer cup. I only have 2 fish in the DT and some snails. No corals or anything like that.

The fish and snails seemed fine. Yesterday I got home from work and noticed almost all the snails were laying on their backs and they were sticking out of their shell, my fish are hiding in the back of the tank behind the rocks and aren't coming out. I currently only have one power head available for movement. I have 2 of the Jebao WP-25s coming. The new tank isn't quite ready yet. I am still seeing traces of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I dropped a snail in the new tank over the weekend and he is still in there moving around.

Should I do more water changes? think the fish are just freaked from the power head going nuclear? Should I take my chances and just move them to the new tank?

Thanks,

 

Yeah I would do a water change, run new carbon.

How large is the new tank, how long has it been cycling and what is it's water chemistry?

I would be very tempted to move the fish over after a slow acclimation. You can always add some bacteria in a bottle, have prime on hand and do water changes.

 

I will test the water on the new tank tonight. I know I checked it Sunday and there was trace amounts of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. The new tank is a 55G with a 20G sump. It's been cycling for about 4 weeks and I started it with a piece of shrimp. I will check parameters tonight and post them up again.

 

Do you have your tank on a GFCI?

 

Not directly. The circuit has a GFCI on it, but the tank items are not directly plugged into a GFCI. This has been remedied with the new tank. I have 2 power strips mounted upright on each end of the tanks stand and I replaced the electrical outlet with a GFCI outlet.

 

Ok so I came home and got the parameters for both tanks....


Current tank:

Salinity - 1.020
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 25
PH - 8.0

New Tank

Salinity - 1.020
Ammonia - <.25
Nitrite - 2
Nitrate - 50 - 100
PH - 8.0

I realize my salinity is a bit low. I am using a refractometer, but I just bought a salinity checking solution and the refractometer was way off. I have done one water change in the current tank since I found the refractometer to be off so I am slowly increasing salinity.

So would you move the fish to the new tank with those parameters? I only have one power head at them moment which is the one in the current tank so I definitely will not have the flow I want. But it is fish only, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Would it hurt anything to move the Live rock from the current tank to the new tank? I am really hoping to use it as is.....

Thanks,

 

Meanie.. PRIME is your Friend. get some and dose it up. this will detoxify the ammonia and nitrites.

 

Is the issue a shorting PH, or the Nitrates and ammonia, or both?

Were you running a grounding probe on the tank that shorted? (Ooohhh, that'll start a discussion!)

I hope you had a nhice fishing trip, sound like fun.

 

I am thinking they are all related. I had a bunch of snails, and a few weeks ago I noticed tons of starfish. Since the PH went nuclear, I don't believe any of the snails are alive and I haven't seen any starfish. I am guessing they are all dead and decaying which caused an ammonia spike. My fish were back to the front tonight when I got home from dinner. They were both in their normal spot under a rock front and center. I dropped some food in for them and they came out in the open to eat, but they seemed very skittish. I am guess the PH detonating scared the crap out of them and it's going to take them awhile to recoop.

I will pick up some prime on my way home from work tomorrow.

No grounding probe and yeah I had a blast on the fishing trip. This was my second year fishing Big Rideau Lake. Caught some really nice Bass and Pike. My cousin caught about a 34" pike. I was close with a 30" pike. I also caught 2 lake trout. I filleted to Bass and cleaned the 2 trout they are all in my freezer. I'll probably have a fish fry in a week or 2.

Thanks for the help guys and girls!