Disaster has struck ;(

[Awibrandy]

Last night one of my circuit breakers popped. No problem, go and reset it. As I reached the first floor I smell an awful smell. We start looking for where the smell is coming from. We found what we thought was the cause of not only the smell, but that of c/b pop. The timer to my MH does not have the ground therefor I had used an old adapter I had laying around. Well, the adapter had melted and one of the prongs was stuck in the timer. OK, so I throw it away. I got another timer and a brand new adapter and figuered all was well and went to bed.

This morning I get up to the smell even stronger. I thought it was coming from the basement where the c/b box is, so I went and checked. All seemed in order and I had to get my granddaughters up and off to school. When I returned from taking them to school I found my sohal dead, the coral beauty and one of my highfin wrasse appearing to be dead. When I lifted the canopy to removed the sohal and the others the same smell from last night hit me again, I turned on my pcs and waited, only 2 fish came out to greet me.;( I couldn't do anything as I had an appt. with my oncologist. I checked the power heads and all other equipment that were easily accesible and those that were working I left on. The ones that I could not check I unplugged and left for my appt.

I returned to find 5 fish out, purple firefish, firefish, yellow coris, and the radiant looking pretty bad.
I have just about emptied out the tank of all the life rock to find the rest of the fish. As of this moment I have 6 confirmed dead fish and several others looking totally in distress. Corals all seem to be fine.

My son and I have been checking to see what could have happened and the only other thing we have found is one of the heaters dead and stinking up a storm.
I haven't really had to much time so the only pars I've checked are as follows;
PH 8.29 -8.3
Temp. 75.5
cal 470
trates 0
PH and temp. checked with HM digital tester
cal and trates with salifert.

I don't know what else to do except to replace carbon, gfo and 40 gallons of water which is all I have at hand.
If you want to reach me on my cell KathyC has it and has my permission to give it to anyone that may be of help................

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

how old is the heater?

 

[NYreefNoob]

temp might have dropped alot more over night also cause this, no shock when putting hand in the tank ?

 

[tosiek]

yeah but a smell?

 

[nanoreefer22]

Sorry to hear Awilda

What kind of smell was it? Burning?

 

[QUESTIONMARC]

when a heater shorts out it emmits fumes into the water as well as the air.. the fumes will kill mostly anything in the tank if the are exposed to water long enough... if your heater was shorting out.. it might have been emmiting fumes the whole night.. "the horrible smell"... into the air.. as well as the water.. killing the livestock 1 by 1.. until the chain reaction takes place.. best bet.. 50% water change and run carbon and chemi-pure. if you feel the heater caused it.

either way.. that would be my best guess... becasue i was through the same thing last year with a heater that shorted out. it would also cause the ciruit breaker to short out as well.. not the timer or plug melting... that prob happened over time.. too much electric running through that line like MH will casue the plug to heat up and melt. it will ONLY melt that new one again.

i had the same incident. it most likely is/was your heater. it takes them MANY hours to slowly fry out as they emmit terrible fumes over the course of them dying. sorry.

 

[masterswimmer]

Awilda, I'm terribly sorry to hear about your losses. IMO Marc nailed it. From the information given and the experiences I've encountered, I think he summed it up very well. Now, with that being said, I also believe you might have gotten an early warning with the smell and breaker tripping. This could have been a catastrophe that would have made your fish loss a wonderful occurrence. Count your blessings and replace your heater. You didn't mention in your post whether or not you've got a Ranco type controller connected to your heater. I don't know for sure if it would have saved your fish, but I do think it might have.

All in all, consider yourself lucky. This could have been much worse. :grouphug:

You'll get it all back.

Russ

 

[Pinkheine]

Awilda, so very sorry that this has happened. I'm glad though that things weren't worse off even though they still aren't great
I spent the entire day thinking of you after our conversation earlier today. With every tragedy comes a lesson learned and new things to check on in the future. Not that it makes it worth it but hopefully all that read this will take a check of things more often.

Recently we replaced our heaters because we noticed one had condensation in it after being on the tank a year. The day the new ones arrived in the mail, I reached in to pull out the old one before I unplugged it and got a buzz. (Craig said he didn't feel a buzz.. but he's an electrician, I'm convinced he's immune to it) Though all went well and we changed them out to the new ones I have been keeping a more watchful eye on these things all around.

Your circuit breaker did exactly what it was supposed to do and tripped. That is a good thing. Sorry for your fishy losses, it is never easy to lose those things we work so hard to keep. Just know that your tank will be beautiful and full of life again in the future. Keep your head up. ((Hugs))

 

[Domboski]

I hate when bad things happen to good people :irked:

Sorry Awilda. I hope things work out.

 

[Awibrandy]

viewing from phone, will have better response in the morn. Thank you

I hate typing on the iPhone

 

[Awibrandy]

THANK YOU Damion05/Luis for all your help today! I would not have been able to do this without you......... Muchisimas Gracias, que mi Dios te pague como you nunca podre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you guys think the corals will be alright in a bin with a power head and a heater over night??? Taking a break to ask this question and respond to you wonderfull people.
Chief, I believe the heater is about 2 years old. This was a Stealth heater.

NYreefNoob, why in the world would I put my hand in a tank when I suspect that a pump or something electric has shorted out?:smash:
Tosiak:biggrinpa
Nano thank you! Burnt rubber..

Questionmark, couldn't say it better myself.:splitspin

Russ, thank you for the thoughts. No ranco on the heaters, ranco I have is only a single and I had two heaters. And I consider myself more then just lucky. I have been blessed. Imagine what could have happened. The Lord is Good.... :hug:

Syb & Craig, thank you so much for all your support and input this morning....:hug:

Dom, from your finger tips to God's merciful heart.:hug:

Well, back to finish filling the tank and praying that the corals will survive the night and morning in the bin. Exhausted and riddled with pain and an early appt. tomorrow as well pushes the placing of the corals back in the tank till late afternoon.;(

Death rate will be posted tomorrow. Good night!!!!

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Sorry Hon for your losses

 

[masterswimmer]

T
Do you guys think the corals will be alright in a bin with a power head and a heater over night???

Awilda, we (and MANY others) ship corals in plastic bags with no heater or powerhead. Your corals are going to be in the Ritz Carlton compared to the way they were shipped before going into your tank. Don't worry and sleep easy. They should be fine with a WORKING heater and powerhead.

Russ

 

[cnotes999]

sorry to hear about that. I know how much it sucks for a setback:irked:

 

[UnknownWaters]

Sorry to hear about you loss.

Can mishaps like this be avoided by using titanium heaters? Being that they are not glass and less likely to crack break or spring a leak. My heater kept tripping my GFI outlet and sure enough when I pulled it out it had water in it my visitherm had visiH2O.

 

[KathyC]

I will phone you first thing in the morning A...I'm there in a heartbeat if you need my help. So sorry about the fish.

 

[damian05]

no problem awilda glad to help any time just call ......i will try to swing by tomorrow and see how the aqua scape came out it was too cloudy i couldnt see too much...... bye!!

 

[NYPDFrogman]

Sorry to hear about you loss.

Can mishaps like this be avoided by using titanium heaters? Being that they are not glass and less likely to crack break or spring a leak. My heater kept tripping my GFI outlet and sure enough when I pulled it out it had water in it my visitherm had visiH2O.

titanium heaters can fail too I check mine everyday!
sorry to hear this if there is something I can do or offer please do not hesitate to ask!

 

[masterswimmer]

Can mishaps like this be avoided by using titanium heaters? Being that they are not glass and less likely to crack break or spring a leak.

Titanium doesn't translate to quality. All I have to say is Won Brothers PRO HEAT. Those are probably the worst heaters on the market and they are titanium.

Eheim Jager is an affordable reliable heater and it's glass. It's my top choice for hobbyist heaters.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thank you Nelson, cnotes, Kathy!

Unknownwaters, no titaniums are no better. As Russ stated Won Brothers titanium Pro boiled my fish back in 2003! It failed on the ON position and returned home from work to find all my fish floating in water that when I put my hand in the tank the water felt just like a HOT Tub.yikes
Luis the tank is clearing up nicely, especially considering that all that is going is the 4 Koralias. I didn't have enough rodi water to fill it back up. I have at least another 20 or so gallons to go, so it didn't reach the overflows.
And the best news is that so far "Dori" is still alife!!!!!!!

Frank, thank you!

Russ, thanks for your help!

So far the fish loss are as follow:


Sohal tang 4"
Coral Beauty
Heraldi Angel
lubbocks
scarlet
4 line
1 ocellaris clowns
1 Larytail anthias
Red Head Solon Fairy wrasse
Ruby head Fairy "
2 WhipFin Fairy "
1 Female exquisite "

1 blue/green chromi

Marine Beta, Radiant wrasse and Blue Hippo did not look good last night.
I have a plastic colander which I floated at the top of the tank where the oxygen is best and placed the Hippo in while we worked. This is where the Hippo spent the night being pushed around by the koralia's flow. I looked in at him/her this morn and she/he appears to have made it through the night.yeayyyyyyyy
As to the Bengai, Yellow Coris, Pink Spot Goby, Yellow Watchman Goby, Purple firefish, Orange firefish and 1 of the Ocellarius Clowns; they were swimming around like nothing ever happened.

Oh, and my little green Manderine!!!! What a trooper that little guy is! Luis and I witnessed him actually sifting sand and eating what ever he found in the sand........happy happy happy....
Anyone have a little female green Manderine friend for him Please Let Me Know. He trully diserves a friend.....

Again, Thank You all for the condolences, well wishes and support!

Luis, I can never thank you enough!

Folks this youngman is Tops in my Book. I called him to tell him of my misfortune as we often talk. And the first thing out of his mouth was; "Oh man, I'm so sorry, Do you need me to come over and help?" No hesitation what so ever.. Thank you thank you thank you.:hug::cheekkiss:hug: