The Puffer Forum

so i came home from work today to a cloudy tank, dead yellow tail damsel, 1 un-accounted for spotted hawkfish and starfish, 2 barely alive maroon clownfish, probably hundreds of dead bristle worms, a few dead snails, 1 alive nassarius snail and a heater that the head(where the temp adjuster is) that is now separated from the glass, thus exposing the insides to water... im assuming my fish got shocked. i unplugged the heater and right now its sitting still being filtered. i dont have water premixed as it wasnt water change day, so what do you guys think i should do? i know obviously to take out the dead fish and worms, but i also have to sift around behind rock to find the starfish and hawkfish so thats more time with my python in the water siphoning out water with none to replace. kind of thinking i should just empty it tonight and break the tank down as i plan on selling it now, twice in the past six months i have lost fish due to stupid crap. but i dont want to just empty it because of the clowns that are alive...

No advice for you sorry, but hope this all gets figured out and sorry for your loss!

I wouldnt give up, just get a better heater. Id get on mixing up a batch and go a head with the water change.

I know its no fun, but dont give up

Ya don't give up set backs totally suck but with some work the tank can be saved. Remember all the fun parts of fish keeping!

oooh, so the top part of the heater somehow came off where its connected to the glass part? i was reading and rereading that part of your post trying to figure out what you meant XD

sorry for the loss, id hate to come home to find everything dead in any of my tanks.

im wondering if i should use the heaters only to the minimum water line on them now instead of submersing them...

About 2 months ago, my fugu had some stuff growing on it's skin & I over -medicated the tank. Next morning everything was dead--even all those lovely tiny brittle starfish & my giant brittle starfish. I took out all the bodies I could find (there were lots of starfish), supposed all the worms & pods were dead to. Did a big stirring of the substrate, a 90% WC. Left the tank for 2 weeks. I now have a big, happy Bluespot puffer living in a very, healthy tank, along with a Copperband butterfly I just added 2 weeks ago. Oh & I always have 33g SW mixed & ready for emergencies.

PP - do you know what that was from? how long can you let the water sit in buckets? i usually get water ready the day before my water changes.

hadla - yes the glass came separated from the top of the heater. it was an old heater i got from this lady when i bought my 54 corner tank from her. she said the tank and supplies, minus some decor, was about 15 years old. so maybe it was just a matter of time with all those years of use. after i get home tonight i will take and post a picture of the heater.

this sucks too because its just about to be full out summer weather, which i dont use a heater during... i was just thinking the other day about if it stayed hot for another week and didnt get too cold at night i could unplug my heater for the summer since summers are typically 90+ days with ridiculous humidity. but it decided its own fate...

one of my two maroon clownfish didnt make it last night and i talked to a pet store this morning about bringing in my alive clown and the snail(plus anything else i find alive). they said they will set up a 15 gallon QT. it was weird i have never seen anything like this though. my nassarius snails all came to the surface of the substrate, same with the bristle worms. i had piles of bristle worms, from small earthworm size, to the size of the little bloodworms from the frozen cube packs.

i may not give up, but that option is looking very likely. i just am not home as much anymore becuase i work 60-65 hours a week(mon-saturday) with a double header softball league sunday mornings. and honestly the only exception i think i would make as something i would want to keep right now is a fahaka. but thats not possible as of last night, the space i have in mind is only 45 1/2 inches long, the depth is there for a 4x2x2 tank, but not the length

I have this in my basement:

I keep water mixing in it for weeks at a time, until I use it. I turn the pump on & off throughout the week.

Do I know whatwhat was from, the puffer's disease? Probably lowered immune system, when it got warmer this sumer. I knew I should have kept the fish cooler but also knew I'd never be able to afford a chiller for it. I figured the 8 months I was able to keep it was a better life than it might have had if someone else had purchased this fish from my LFS.

i wish i could do that setup in my basement! 50gpd ro/di is what i would have liked, but me and my roommates rent right now since were still young and dont plan on buying with eachother, this is just temporary. i was just asking if you knew what caused the stars and all to die. would all my bristle worms and snails emerging from the surface before death be a sign of electricity being shot through the tank? i stirred my substrate every few water changes, plus had clams, bristle worms and nassarius snails in the sand bed so that it wasnt undisturbed for a lengthy period of time. i had live littleneck clams in the substrate from when i first made it SW, i thought it would be cool to put them in the tank alive and see what they did. they burried themselves throughout the night and every once in a while they emerged for a day and went back down. they stayed alive for a long time, until my starfish caught them poking out of the sand over time. since i first set up my tank i know not to put stuff in the tank like that so i havent since then. the clams were in my tank from when i had the 75 as SW, made it through a move to the 54 corner, and just recently got eaten by my starfish

Electricity kills most everything. Killed a tube anemone I had. At least it didn't kill my Mantis shrimp.

hmmm mantis shrimp. that might make me want to keep my fish tank! just have to try to find if i can find one a lfs can order for me do you have any good links to them and their care? im going to do some research but i would trust a link you provided rather than random articles i find on the internet. ive always been intrigued by them. yeah i was surprised to find the two clowns and a snail alive when i finally realized what probably caused the problem.

Although I hate this site & am banned forever, there are quite a few mantis experts & they have their own forum: http://www.reefcentral.com.

which type of mantis do you have? thank you for the link

Peacock:

You should always have some water on stand by... Guy on the other site had a great idea. I just bought all the stuff and should have it up and running soon. Total cost $175 so far for me. Here are a couple of pics....it hold 55 gallons