soap in tank emergency

[JarviZ]

I woke up this morning to find my clown swimming erratically all over the tank, bumping into walls and the rocks. I'm pretty sure his vision is completely gone or extremely low.

I tried to wonder what happened since last night and this morning that could have happened. I think it was the net that I used to scoop out some excess food before I went to bed. The net I used was left out in the sink for it to dry. I believe there may have been some soap on the net from other people in the house.

I haven't had time to do anything with the tank this morning yet since I had to leave for work. I plan on doing a water change asap when I get back.

In the meantime, should the tank be dosed with Prime or vinegar maybe? hopefully to buffer out some of the soap? :help:

I hope it doesn't crash by the time I get home

 

[skene]

you should never put anything into the tank unless you know where it's been and rinse it out first... I never keep any nets around the sink area. I keep them in a bucket next to the tank for drying.

 

[JarviZ]

you should never put anything into the tank unless you know where it's been and rinse it out first... I never keep any nets around the sink area. I keep them in a bucket next to the tank for drying.

Yea - learned that the hard way :banghead:

 

[andylee]

Massive water change, like 80% twice? If that's the only fish, take him out and put him in a hospital tank while you change water until things stabilize.

 

[KathyC]

Neither Prime nor vinegar will help if you got soap in the tank, you need to do a water change and get some carbon in there if something got into the tsnk.

There may just be an issue with the clownfish.

Are there any other fish in the tsnk and were they acting oddly?

 

[JarviZ]

Neither Prime nor vinegar will help if you got soap in the tank, you need to do a water change and get some carbon in there if something got into the tsnk.

There may just be an issue with the clownfish.

Are there any other fish in the tsnk and were they acting oddly?

Damsel and firefish... I haven't seen them yet but that's because they are normally still in their holes at that time.

 

[guarda]

something like this happened to me when i first started and i did close to 100% water changes without a problem. hope this helps and good luck.

 

[MatthewScars]

I mean, unless the soap was caked on the net so thick it was visible - maybe you'd have an issue.

I have no idea how big your tank is, or how big the net was. But I cant see normal hand soap or dish washing soap residue killing everything in your tank.

Just do the obvious, 50% WC and carbon. +1 Kathy, the fish might be sick from something unrelated.

+1 Skene. Keep the net in the tank stand, dude.

 

[rbtwo4]

anyone sure it was even soap? this is the same guy that just set this up a month ago. maybe the tank decided to cycle? also if u need to scoop excess food that means ur overfeeding...just sayin...

 

[JarviZ]

anyone sure it was even soap? this is the same guy that just set this up a month ago. maybe the tank decided to cycle? also if u need to scoop excess food that means ur overfeeding...just sayin...

I'm pretty sure it was a cycle - I had an ammonia spike and drop a few weeks ago and I test a few days ago were the only reading was a 20-40ppm of nitrate. I did a water change shortly after that. I'm not saying it definitely wasn't a cycle but at least I don'tt think it was.

I gave the fish a pinch of mysis shrimp last night, but the shrimp floats so goes straight to the filter. I thought I would just scoop it before it got caught in the filter. I put in the net and saw a lot of bubbles come off the net, which never happened before... The net smelled like soap so I'm pretty sure there was soap there - just can' tell if it was a lot or a little.

I'm gonna do a wc asap and hope for the best.

 

[JarviZ]

something like this happened to me when i first started and i did close to 100% water changes without a problem. hope this helps and good luck.

thanks.. will do

 

[bizzarro]

Wouldn't changing out that much water on a newly set up tank cause issues?

 

[rbtwo4]

im gonna bet it was a cycle. if the fish all die i say just let system go thru its natural cycle. then test then add fish. i doubt it was soap. JMO

 

[rbtwo4]

Wouldn't changing out that much water on a newly set up tank cause issues?

i think so. makes no sense to me but what do i know lol. he has sand and rock in there. that stuff needed to go thru a cycle and i just find it hard to believe that it went thru a cycle in a month. tho its possible but i just find it hard to believe.

 

[rbtwo4]

Jarviz dont take it the wrong way just here to help but we all learn from our mistakes.

 

[MatthewScars]

I'm pretty sure it was a cycle - I had an ammonia spike and drop a few weeks ago and I test a few days ago were the only reading was a 20-40ppm of nitrate.

And you have three+ fish in it already? :question::question::question::question::question: My 40g cube cycle was 6-7 weeks.

If you did have soap on the net, you would have seen the oil come off the net. It would have been blatantly obvious.

 

[JarviZ]

Jarviz dont take it the wrong way just here to help but we all learn from our mistakes.

No I completely understand - I appreciate the concern and feedbacks. If it did cycle again I will definitely take it slower this time around. I'm just glad I'm going through this now instead of 2 years down the road when I've invested hundreds more into the tank.


Hopefully when I get back everything can still be salvaged, but I can't decide if I should do a water test first or an immediate water change :arg:

 

[rbtwo4]

do a water change bro. if fish still alive maybe someone can hold on to them for u like a LFS or neighboring reefer til ur tank goes thru its complete cycle.

 

[rbtwo4]

even if there were no fish in tank youd still have to do a water change. do maybe 3/4 of a water change.

 

[rbtwo4]

test b4 u do see what params are then do water change regardless. that way u have piece of mind looking at test. if its cus the tank is going thru a cycle at least u know thats what it was. cus like i said lmfao i doubt it was soap depending where ur tank is. if its in kitchen then yeah i can see that or in bathroom even if u have a small child but other then that i cant see that happening. i put my net in my tank too and see micro bubbles.