Hello all,
My 6 month tank was doing perfect in my 45 gallon FOWLR(15 lbs live rock, 2 tomato clowns, 2 firefish, 2 peppermint shrimp) in July, its aniversary. I finally beat the cynao, and the hair algae. Everyone was happy. Everything was perfect. The only problem was the water I was using for top off and water changes, I have a near by source but I cant confirm if it has copper in it. So I can only do a water change a month, when I drive an hour to get RO/DI water for a dollar a gallon. But its OK for now, because I have a nice Prizm skimmer working wonders. All of a sudden, I start not seeing the 2 firefish. When I would see one, it would be skittish, and one of the firefish was looking very skinny and unhealthy. OK, maby he is not eating well or is just getting sick. I just wait it out, always feeding different foods and watching him eat. But he was still skinny. All of a sudden, I never see either of them. Also, the shrimp seem to be out of sight more and more often. OK, I start to worry. I take apart the live rock(im getting more soon), and I find 1 shrimp, and 1 firefish. It is the one that is sick looking, and he is near death. He tries to run and hide, but he mearly can get up off the sand. I scatter the rocks, and I gently put him in a crevace out of sight. Never saw him again. Tore apart my rocks a few days later, becasue one of the clown fish were hanging out at the bottom, and he was starting to look bad. I couldn't find anything, just the fan worm and the 2 clown fish. Not even bodies. Then it hit me. It was about 90 degrees in my room, and humid. Oh my god, I wonder what the temperature is! I live in upstate NY, so I usually worry about the heater malfunctioning from to much cold, but I usually dont have thermomoters in the tanks. I stick one in, and the tank is at about 86 degrees, when it is set at 77*. I get 2 fans blowing across the surface, and I stick a bag of ice in it. Everyone that is alive seems healthy, but man I am such a retard. I feel like a rotten bad person, I killed 2 fish and 2 inverts that I loved so much, just because of neglect. ;-(
My 6 month tank was doing perfect in my 45 gallon FOWLR(15 lbs live rock, 2 tomato clowns, 2 firefish, 2 peppermint shrimp) in July, its aniversary. I finally beat the cynao, and the hair algae. Everyone was happy. Everything was perfect. The only problem was the water I was using for top off and water changes, I have a near by source but I cant confirm if it has copper in it. So I can only do a water change a month, when I drive an hour to get RO/DI water for a dollar a gallon. But its OK for now, because I have a nice Prizm skimmer working wonders. All of a sudden, I start not seeing the 2 firefish. When I would see one, it would be skittish, and one of the firefish was looking very skinny and unhealthy. OK, maby he is not eating well or is just getting sick. I just wait it out, always feeding different foods and watching him eat. But he was still skinny. All of a sudden, I never see either of them. Also, the shrimp seem to be out of sight more and more often. OK, I start to worry. I take apart the live rock(im getting more soon), and I find 1 shrimp, and 1 firefish. It is the one that is sick looking, and he is near death. He tries to run and hide, but he mearly can get up off the sand. I scatter the rocks, and I gently put him in a crevace out of sight. Never saw him again. Tore apart my rocks a few days later, becasue one of the clown fish were hanging out at the bottom, and he was starting to look bad. I couldn't find anything, just the fan worm and the 2 clown fish. Not even bodies. Then it hit me. It was about 90 degrees in my room, and humid. Oh my god, I wonder what the temperature is! I live in upstate NY, so I usually worry about the heater malfunctioning from to much cold, but I usually dont have thermomoters in the tanks. I stick one in, and the tank is at about 86 degrees, when it is set at 77*. I get 2 fans blowing across the surface, and I stick a bag of ice in it. Everyone that is alive seems healthy, but man I am such a retard. I feel like a rotten bad person, I killed 2 fish and 2 inverts that I loved so much, just because of neglect. ;-(
