Hot tank, cannot find fish

[gas4544]

I came home from work today and made the usual rounds, checking out my three tanks. Everything looked as expected until I got to my fist tank. The Ranco controller read 87 degrees and the chillet read 76 degrees. It did not make sense until I discovered that the submerged Mag5 pump that feeds the chiller had stopped and was overheating. So I had a double wammy - no water flow to the chiller and the circulation pump was adding heat to teh tank.

I quickly cleaned the impeller with some vinegar and got the water flowing throught the chiller again. The temperature has been slowly but surely dropping back down to a normal 78 degrees.

We'll see how the corals do over hte next couople of days. However I cannot find Blen, our Blenny, and Buddy, our Neon Dottyback. they are the only two fish in the tank and usually are visible, especially Blen.

I do not know how long the chiller was out of commission today. My wife said that she saw both Blen and Buddy earlier today. Hopefully they both come out of hiding and let me know that they are slive and well. Otherwise, I am going to need to remove rock and coral from the tank to find them.

Good news - my wife just spotted Blen toward the back of the tank. I watched Blen with a flashlight and saw her eyes move. Blen then eavaded my hand when I reached into the tank. We'll see if Blen goes to bed like she always does at night in a hole in a rock.

We are hoping that Buddy makes and appearance as well. He hides out in the rocks allot until there is food in teh tank. I will put some food in the tank later tonight and hopefully they will both come out in the open.

My wife, Julia, is upset at the idea of losing either Blen or Buddy. We have lots of coral, but only two fish. I hope that they both are okay.

Gary

 

[nsamouroux]

Did they perhaps jump out? I had a pink dottyback that took a leap of faith when a tank got above 80 (heater failure)

 

[gas4544]

I looked around the outside of the tank and did not find Buddy. The tank was covered all day, too. Buddy hides out in the rocks most of the time and typically only comes out in the open at feeding time.

 

[gas4544]

Okay, I finally found Buddy. My tank has three sections - a display section and two rear sections that act as sumps or refugiums. He is in the back left section hiding by the skimmer pump. All of my submerged pumps have intake strainers.

I will let him hang out where he is tonight and retrieve him tomorrow. This is not the first time that Buddy has gone exploring into other sections of the tank.

My wife is relieved, and so am I. Hopefully, Blen, Buddy or the coral will not suffer any long-term injury.

Gary