Welp. So I accidentally killed 2 SAEs.

[GamerChick5567]

It's my fault, shoulda fixed that damn sand pile stumpy made when he was making it (caught him red handed). It was all piled up about 4 or 5 inches thick in the front of the tank because he dug under the pot... I have alot of sand. The other guys making a cave under a lava rock all the way to the bottom of the tank didn't help either. I neglected the tank for 2 weeks when I usually clean and prune weekly or biweekly. I was feeling crappy all last week and this week too. Forced myself to clean the tank, smooth the sand, and redo the rocks today. Totally forgot about nitrite/nitrate spikes and my over treated tap water since I haven't eaten all day. I guess that with a small ammonia spike from the tap water did them in (both read .25, nitrates normal at 5 after an 80% change, only a 1 degree drop in temperature). I got distracted by pruning plants and taking off my dirty uv too so my changes on all 3 tanks took longer than usual.

NOW I FEEL EVEN MORE CRAPPY. Eugh how did I make such a careless mistake. Guess I will have to pretreat the water in a trashcan from now on. At least I rescued the last sae, the cichlids were eyeballing him since I didn't feed them today. Now he's in with the guppies scared but ok. Glad I didn't clean the filters like I was gunna.

Double dosed prime on all my tanks and added stress coat and bacteria. I hope no more die. The only other casualties so far have been a few convict wigglers.

I had those SAE's for 3 years. They are in the freezer, not sure where I will bury them.

 

[skjl47]

Totally forgot about nitrite/nitrate spikes and my over treated tap water since I haven't eaten all day. I guess that with a small ammonia spike from the tap water did them in

hello; Forgive my questions if they seem foolish. First being about the nitrite spike you mentioned. Where do you feel the spike came from? I gather you did a WC and smoothed out the sand.
The other being the implication that there is ammonia in the tap water. Am I reading this into our post incorrectly?

Double dosed prime on all my tanks and added stress coat and bacteria

Hello; I understand a little about Prime and have used it a bit. My tap water has only chlorine so most of the time I allow it to age in containers a few days before a WC. I use the Prime if I need water quickly or after cleaning a tank and equipment with Clorox.
I have been reading posts about Prime/Safe with some interest the last few years. Most that post about using them say they add a dose equal to the total volume of the tank and not the amount of water changed. I guess they siphon out the old water, add the Prime and refill out of the tap. Does this sound correct?

 

[GamerChick5567]

Yea. I think what happened is that I just let the sand pile up way too much in a couple of spots. Basically there were those pits my fish dug, and I smoothed them over while raking my fingers in the sand fairly deep to dig up some small pebbles. Those pebbles constantly get buried and pushed all around so I can't see them after I try to design stuff, annoying fish..... Totally slipped my mind that I would be kicking up toxins. My sand bed is about 3" thick or so in most of the tank since I have plants and really heavy rocks, and the pool filter sand was cheap for 100lbs. There has been a small amount of ammonia in the tap water lately but I don't think that was the cause. It's worth noting I haven't done any major maintinance or a rescape for about 4 months. Usually I try to stir the sand up sooner but I haven't had the time.

When I dose prime I dose it to the size of the tank. On my cap it says one capful is good for like 50 gallons or something. So I usually dose 2 for my 90. A little extra should be ok. I made the mistake of dosing it after I filled though, that's how I usually do it. But I think the extra nitrite while I was filling is what killed them, since my sink is super crappy and can barely pump water in there. It must have gotten fairly concentrated because there was only maybe 8" of water in the tank.

Also as an update there were thankfully no more casualties and everyone is back to normal haha.

 

[skjl47]

Totally slipped my mind that I would be kicking up toxins.

Hello; That was going to be my next question. Sand over an inch or so deep is reported to hold pockets of anaerobic bacteria which produce byproducts toxic for fish. I stopped using sand some years ago. Regular stirring is supposed to help. While I use gravel to help avoid the pockets there is a way to get the look of sand with less of the issue. I get construction sand, which is cheap, and dry sift it. I either make a sieve to get the particle size wanted or find something the right size. The dry sift is important to get rid of the very fine stuff.

stir the sand up sooner but I haven't had the time.

Hello; Do you care about snails. I keep the MTS in my tanks to burrow in the gravel.

 

[GamerChick5567]

I prefer the looks of sand and the ease of vaccuming it. have a ton of ramshorns in my 20 that hitchhiked on plants. I tried dropping a few in my big tanks but they mysteriously dissapeared lol. Saw a shell all sucked out today hahaha.

 

[monkeybike]

Put some MTS snails in, they keep the sand stirred

 

[skjl47]

I prefer the looks of sand and the ease of vaccuming it. have a ton of ramshorns in my 20 that hitchhiked on plants. I tried dropping a few in my big tanks but they mysteriously dissapeared lol. Saw a shell all sucked out today hahaha.

hello; Interesting. Loaches are reported to do this. Could you have assassin snails?

 

[GamerChick5567]

I have some small nano tanks I've been meaning to get snails and shrimp for. I will see how much they are at the lfs and go from there haha. I would get clown loaches but I'm worried any babies would be munched a bit.

 

[monkeybike]

hello; Interesting. Loaches are reported to do this. Could you have assassin snails?

If you add MTS you will want to also have Assassin snails otherwise the MTS get overpopulated

 

[skjl47]

If you add MTS you will want to also have Assassin snails otherwise the MTS get overpopulated

Hello; This has not been the case for me. Some decades ago the MTS did overrun my tanks. I discovered over a long time (years) that I was overfeeding and the excess MTS population was a result of that. I even flirted with a period of light feeding when few snails grew for me.

The balance is difficult if feeding is done every day. To make sure all fish have a chance at some food the tendency can be to add a bit more than just enough. This gives the slow or timid fish time to get some. The practice I have used the last few decades is to have fasting days each week. I feed only once a day and a bit more than needed some days. I skip feeding the next day with a light feeding the third day.
If I have few snails over time then I step up the feeding. If numerous snails start to show up then feeding is cut back a bit. I keep an eye on the fish during these periods. It was interesting to discover just how much my tendency to overfeed was. It has taken a few years to work some of it out.
Fish will eat with gusto several times a day but do not need to eat every day.