BlennyBabe
Rachel
Well I havent been on here for a while. A part of that is because I have been a little burn out on reefkeeping. All of last year I was maintaining the reef tanks at central washington university. Things went well all year and everything was thriving. Mushrooms were multiplying and leathers were taking over (in a good way). Algae was minimum and totally under control. Unfortunately around the end of spring quarter things changed drastically.
For some unknown reason the system crashed. Corals were the first to go. To me this seemed like a chemical thing. Perhaps some contamination of some sort. We did water changes like crazy, ran lots of carbon, skimmed overtime and added some absorbtive resins. Nothing much helped. The dead corals poluted the water faster than I could remove them. The cleaner shrimp were the next to go. I only know they died because of their absence at feeding time. Then more fish went missing. The six line, mandarin, some chromis (hard to tell because there were 7 of them). More and more waterchanges were done but to no avail. Spring quarter ended and I was no longer on the payroll. I had to move back home to the west side with my parents. Im not allowed to volunteer for any job that I have been hired to do so all I could do was tell my boss what needed to be done. I dont think he did everything I suggested. I came back twice over the summer to see how things were going. More fish had died. One clown, everyones favorite fish the orange spot blenny named dudley, the sailfin tank had a bacterial infection and the worst case of marine head and lateral line erosion. Cyano algae was everywhere, though you could still see some coraline underneath. The second time more fish still were gone. no more bangaii cardnals, no damsel. I was really heartbroken by then.
Well school started this wednesday and I was finally able to get my hands in the tank. I did a waterchange and all seemed well. Thursday I didnt work or check the tanks (I only have one class so I spent the day working in my yard) I came in Friday and the lionfish was dead. All the other fish (except for 5 pajamas and the already sickly looking tang) were covered in ich. I pulled what fish I could and put them in an emergency quaraitine. I went in today to check them and I had to pull two large black damsels, one male clown and the fridmani dottyback. The dogface puffer I had in QT also died.
I think that the reason for this latest bout of death is my bosses fault. I did a 75 gallon waterchange on friday (after finding the lionfish dead). I usually use a sump pump to move water from two large 100 gallon tanks into the sump. I couldnt find it. I searched everywhere. I finally found it sitting in the sump submerged. This is not good, this pump has some exposed metal (its used for boats) which was all rotted out. I have no clue how long it was sitting in there. Im no expert, but Im sure that rust isnt great for marine systems. I could just scream (but I wont cause I dont want to loose my job)
(On a side note, I froze all of them for later preservation for my ichthyology class, so at least someone can learn from the bodies) All that remains of my once magnificent tank is a handful of pajama cardinals, a sailfin tang, one bangaii cardinal and one or more (they hide) blennies. The quarantine tank just has a very sad and beat up looking panther grouper.
I feel so bad. This has been a terrible experience for me. I feel like everything is my fault. Even if I couldnt have prevented this, at least I could have been more prepared to handle the situation. The problem is, I dont know what they would have done if I hadnt been here. I usually have a sign up on the tanks for people to contact me with questions. Im so ashamed that I had to take it down. I even took down the sign thanking the biology club because I knew they would be ashamed to have their name on such a sad tank.
On a good note, the cichlid tank that I set up this spring is looking fabulous and everything is thriving.
I guess its good that I get to start over. I wasnt the one to set up the tank and things werent really done right from the start. At least now I will have control over which fish go in. I have already talked to the rest of the club and they are planning like crazy ways to raise funds again. I have a feeling there will be lots of bake sales in my future. Anyway, thanks for reading all that. I just needed to get that all out.
For some unknown reason the system crashed. Corals were the first to go. To me this seemed like a chemical thing. Perhaps some contamination of some sort. We did water changes like crazy, ran lots of carbon, skimmed overtime and added some absorbtive resins. Nothing much helped. The dead corals poluted the water faster than I could remove them. The cleaner shrimp were the next to go. I only know they died because of their absence at feeding time. Then more fish went missing. The six line, mandarin, some chromis (hard to tell because there were 7 of them). More and more waterchanges were done but to no avail. Spring quarter ended and I was no longer on the payroll. I had to move back home to the west side with my parents. Im not allowed to volunteer for any job that I have been hired to do so all I could do was tell my boss what needed to be done. I dont think he did everything I suggested. I came back twice over the summer to see how things were going. More fish had died. One clown, everyones favorite fish the orange spot blenny named dudley, the sailfin tank had a bacterial infection and the worst case of marine head and lateral line erosion. Cyano algae was everywhere, though you could still see some coraline underneath. The second time more fish still were gone. no more bangaii cardnals, no damsel. I was really heartbroken by then.
Well school started this wednesday and I was finally able to get my hands in the tank. I did a waterchange and all seemed well. Thursday I didnt work or check the tanks (I only have one class so I spent the day working in my yard) I came in Friday and the lionfish was dead. All the other fish (except for 5 pajamas and the already sickly looking tang) were covered in ich. I pulled what fish I could and put them in an emergency quaraitine. I went in today to check them and I had to pull two large black damsels, one male clown and the fridmani dottyback. The dogface puffer I had in QT also died.
I think that the reason for this latest bout of death is my bosses fault. I did a 75 gallon waterchange on friday (after finding the lionfish dead). I usually use a sump pump to move water from two large 100 gallon tanks into the sump. I couldnt find it. I searched everywhere. I finally found it sitting in the sump submerged. This is not good, this pump has some exposed metal (its used for boats) which was all rotted out. I have no clue how long it was sitting in there. Im no expert, but Im sure that rust isnt great for marine systems. I could just scream (but I wont cause I dont want to loose my job)
(On a side note, I froze all of them for later preservation for my ichthyology class, so at least someone can learn from the bodies) All that remains of my once magnificent tank is a handful of pajama cardinals, a sailfin tang, one bangaii cardinal and one or more (they hide) blennies. The quarantine tank just has a very sad and beat up looking panther grouper.
I feel so bad. This has been a terrible experience for me. I feel like everything is my fault. Even if I couldnt have prevented this, at least I could have been more prepared to handle the situation. The problem is, I dont know what they would have done if I hadnt been here. I usually have a sign up on the tanks for people to contact me with questions. Im so ashamed that I had to take it down. I even took down the sign thanking the biology club because I knew they would be ashamed to have their name on such a sad tank.
On a good note, the cichlid tank that I set up this spring is looking fabulous and everything is thriving.
I guess its good that I get to start over. I wasnt the one to set up the tank and things werent really done right from the start. At least now I will have control over which fish go in. I have already talked to the rest of the club and they are planning like crazy ways to raise funds again. I have a feeling there will be lots of bake sales in my future. Anyway, thanks for reading all that. I just needed to get that all out.
i feel your pain.
