# my stupid costly mistake



## tchoke (Mar 15, 2009)

a little background, 65 tall gallon 48x12x21 have had this running for 2 years
13 demasonis 4 yellow labs 10 yellowtail acei and OB peacock
i knew from the start i was overstocked but my plan was to grow out the yellowtail and ob and move them on once they were bigger.

anyhow to cut a story short i was going to upgrade my filters
im currently running 2 aquaclear 70 on one side and a marineland bio350 on the other, i put the filters for sale and which ever sells will get replaced
i put the ad on the kijiji and sure enough someone said they will pick it up and please have it ready, so i went ahead stupid me*cleaned the filter with tap water and scrubbed it well as well * what a dumb noob mistake this has turned out,
the kijiji buyer as usual backed out, i put the filter back in, this was friday last week as of this morning i have a total of 8 fishes that died all acei and my ob peacock was dead.

first fish died saturday morning, i was thinking it was aggression or it was harrased mind, i removed all decors to keep aggression low mind you havnt had a fish die in 1 yr, left for the day come back sunday morning 3 more acei and ob are dead from here i realized that my tank is probably cycling, did 50% water changed and this morning 4 more acei are dead did a 30% wc and will probably do more when i get home.

u guys think my tank cycled? why is the acei and ob the only ones affected?
mind you these guys are the newest in my tank was added back in june


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Yes, that was a big time newbie mistake. Never assume anything is sold until the money is in your hands. I also would have saved up for a new filter first and have that running before taking on offline. You were already pushing your tank to the limit from what I can tell. 

Why are you doing so many large water changes though? 

You live and your learn right? We were all new to this hobby once. Don't give up!


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## tchoke (Mar 15, 2009)

yes live and learn 
doing water changes as i read that when a tank goes in a mini cycle
amonia rises? 
anyhow checked with the wife so far so good fishes are all still swimming


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## Dabigmandan (Nov 13, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the deaths in the tank. However, I don't think it has anything to do with cycling. You only took out one filter and cleaned it right? The other 2 were still running? To be honest, even if you took out all three and washed every single one of them, I still think you would have been ok when you put them back on the tank because the substrate, tank decorations, and water itself would have enough healthy bacteria to recolonize the filters. 

Let me ask you the million dollar question... Did you use soap to clean out that one filter?


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

You may have to ask the experts on that one.

I always thought you should do mini water changes in a situation like yours.

Either way, I'm happy to hear the rest of your fish are doing fine!


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## tchoke (Mar 15, 2009)

Dabigmandan said:


> Sorry to hear about the deaths in the tank. However, I don't think it has anything to do with cycling. You only took out one filter and cleaned it right? The other 2 were still running? To be honest, even if you took out all three and washed every single one of them, I still think you would have been ok when you put them back on the tank because the substrate, tank decorations, and water itself would have enough healthy bacteria to recolonize the filters.
> 
> Let me ask you the million dollar question... Did you use soap to clean out that one filter?


nop no soap just tap water which is a no no as well.
i had 2 ac70 on one side and marineland 350 on the other
so i thought the marineland would have enough bacteria and didnt think anything of it.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

If yo have an ammonia problem, treat your tank with Prime/Amquel/ammonia+chlorine neutralizer to neutralize the ammonia ASAP. I've done this a few time with extremely sensitive stony corals, and it works to limit the death caused by ammonia/nitrites. The after you have it under control a little, the WCs can bring the overall nutrient levels down to control any bacterial blooms. It's a great emergency solution from my expereince when dealing with rising ammonia levels.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

ameekplec. said:


> If yo have an ammonia problem, treat your tank with Prime/Amquel/ammonia+chlorine neutralizer to neutralize the chlorine ASAP. I've done this a few time with extremely sensitive stony corals, and it works to limit the death caused by ammonia/nitrites. The after you have it under control a little, the WCs can bring the overall nutrient levels down to control any bacterial blooms. It's a great emergency solution from my expereince when dealing with rising ammonia levels.


+1

Sounds like an ammonia spike, I think everyone has done something similar in the past.


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Yes I forgot to mention using Prime in situations like this. I really like the stuff and is worth it's higher price over other conditioners.


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## tchoke (Mar 15, 2009)

i use aqua plus by nutrafin, should i ditch it and get prime?

is this the prime you guys are speaking of
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/Fish_Additives_Water-Conditioners_Prime_8059393_102.html?tc=default?

was just at big als and picked up some plants lol , picked up ozelot sword, anubia nana and onion plant fish seems to be a lot more active right now


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

That's weird. But you learn somthing at least. I can only suspect that there is enough dying bacteria in the sponge that you washed with tab water that created enough dead bacteria to cause the ammonia poisoning. It's definately a cycle.

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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Yep. Now you know.

I would run at least a pair of very large cannisters, and maybe a third smallish HOB for running activated carbon plus floss when you want to polish the water up a bit.

And put the new filter on and run it for two weeks and then list your cannisters.

If you had an 8" gorgeous peacock die, that's a lot of money right there, plus the heartbreak, if you got attached, which I always do.

W


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