mysterious white substance ASAP reply

abrahamcho · #1 11/05/2007, 07:10 PM

When I looked at my tank today morning, there was a white substance on the inside part ofthe galss. So the water looked foggy. Soon later my peacock was on the floor on his side. So I quicky did a water test and took him out into new water with "cycle", god bacteria. Anyways the water was good except for nitrate. It was at .25 ppm. It smelly really fishy and was hard to get out the glass. When I touched it my fingerprint was left there. CAN anyone identify it? I wish I could have taken out early...TT I was lat4e and left him in there and now I dont know if he is going to make it... TT PLEASE HELP!!!
F.Y.I i did a water change and now everything is zero and salinity is at 2.022.

DanInSD · #2 11/05/2007, 08:25 PM

Do you have a sea cucumber or sea apple in there? Do you have caulerpa algae? Do you have a soft coral (e.g. leather) that decided to die on you? Those are three good sources of "milky" toxins. A complete list of "residents" and equipment might help solve this.

If I were you, I'd assume some sort of toxin. Do massive water changes and add activated carbon and PolyFilter.

Best wishes,
Dan

Agu · #3 11/05/2007, 08:36 PM

How deep is the sand ? Was it digging ? Often sand can have anaerobic areas that release toxins when disturbed. That would also explain the film on the glass.

Good Luck

abrahamcho · #4 11/05/2007, 09:14 PM

I have caulerpa algae, but it doesnt look like it is dying. YEsterday it was digging, butit always digs... I still dont know... Iw ill add carbon and poly fiber.

abrahamcho · #5 11/05/2007, 09:53 PM

update= really bad. I added new carbon and new polyfiber and 5 minutes later, I added a chromis and in 2 minutes it was dead. It was gasping for air and then went crazy and dropped to the floor. shouyld I cleans the white stuff off of my tank? Do another water change? HELP!!!!!!!!

DanInSD · #6 11/06/2007, 01:47 AM

Looks like something nuked the tank. What -- exactly -- was in there? Keep in mind that there is lots of stuff that can kill fish that the test kits won't "find".

At this point the *only* thing you can do is continue doing massive water changes, filter, and attempt to identify the nature and origin of the toxin. You may well be looking at a "do-over" here (as in -- throw out everything and start over).

Dan

justinl · #7 11/06/2007, 10:52 AM

im going to assume your salinity of 2.022 is a typo.

i agree with Dan. until you give us a list of what's in the tank that might nuke it, i dont think there's much else we can say.

why on earth would you ADD livestock to the tank?

Angel7989 · #8 11/06/2007, 11:30 AM

how old is your tank?

DanInSD · #9 11/06/2007, 01:09 PM

Yah, 2.022 is approaching the specific gravity of rock salt itself.

dismalorb · #10 11/06/2007, 01:13 PM

*Strains for "constructive criticism"*

If you want some help on this, you really need to post specifics about:

ALL additives (including any Joe's Juice or Garlic additives)

RO/DI or tap water for premixing saltwater - CA tap water is HORRIBLE

Are you premixing your saltwater before putting it in the tank?

Have you added new live rock recently?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know we've all tried in one or many ways to help you out with your animals on a multitude of occasions. Why is it that you've had the most trouble out of anyone in this forum in the last 4 months?

I say this in consideration for the animals you keep, yourself, and your parents... I *SERIOUSLY* think you need to find a different hobby that doesn't involve the lives of animals. Some of us have a blue thumb, and some don't. I don't think you do, man.

I'm with JustinL... WHY would you put a Chromis in the tank KNOWING the stability of the tank is null and void? Are you really that sadistic to use a poor little fish as a 'Canary in the Coal Mine'?

Mistakes are one thing; we've ALL made them. But your mistakes are straddling the fence between mistakes and ANIMAL ABUSE.

RC Moderators have protected you for a long time now. But it's getting to the point that if they protect you any longer by scolding us for our frustration with you, that they are enabling animal cruelty.

abrahamcho · #11 11/06/2007, 07:20 PM

No the water was fine after I did a 50% water change and i added nitrying bacteria. The thing is that there is a turbo in there and it is doing fine, so I put ina chromis and it died on me. Honest mistake. thanks for everyones help it is fine now. I think it is because of the live sand. the only thing I added is live sand. That is it. Anyways the chromis was taken down by the hermits and my peacock is doing fine.

DanInSD · #12 11/06/2007, 07:39 PM

I guess you and I have different definitions of "fine". Water that kills a chromis on contact is not "fine" IMO. Oh, well, we tried.

Dan

abrahamcho · #13 11/06/2007, 07:54 PM

No sorry I made it sound wierd. I have antoher 24 gallon nano cube running just in case. So I put my mantis is that one and the one that is "nuked" is redoing its cycle. yeah sorry for the confusion. It didnt kill the chromis on contact, it slowly killed it. Whatever though, thanks for all your help at RC!

dismalorb · #14 11/07/2007, 01:55 AM

You need to be reported to the local Humane Society.

Angel7989 · #15 11/07/2007, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by abrahamcho
No sorry I made it sound wierd. I have antoher 24 gallon nano cube running just in case. So I put my mantis is that one and the one that is "nuked" is redoing its cycle. yeah sorry for the confusion. It didnt kill the chromis on contact, it slowly killed it. Whatever though, thanks for all your help at RC!

"it slowly killed it"
well if you saw that there was a problem, why didnt you take it out and put it in your "spare" nano?
IS there a spare nano?

Angel7989 · #16 11/07/2007, 02:27 AM

sorry that last sentance was rude

abrahamcho · #17 11/07/2007, 10:08 PM

The thing that the spare nano has a peacock in it so it will eat it. So, I put it in my P.ciliata tank. It didnt eat it and when it died the hermits went after it.

lillurker · #18 11/11/2007, 12:55 AM

I feel this guys pain. Its hard to be new and not have on hand experience to help maintain a tank. He does seem to be a bit on the hyperactive side. The dude really needs to calm down and stop making rash decisions. I still consider myself a noob and I love learning everything I can about this hobby. But, I will say, dude needs to slow down and consider everything he's doing to his tank a lot more. Furthermore, you got to give the guy credit. All the bashing he's taken from some guys here, he hasn't fired back. At least not that I've seen, I haven't checked all his posts.
As far as animal cruelty though, C'mon. Better a chromi than his mantis. Personally I would have picked something cheaper. I waited three months before I put my damsel in the tank, that was his purpose, to be a starter. He's still alive and kicking, but if the mantis gets ahold of him, no worries to me, I did name it "happy meal" after all.
I think some people have the notion that some animals hold some kind of regard for we humans. They don't care about us. You think if a shark bites your butt in the ocean, he's going to regret and mope about it later. Whatever, all the cruelty your trying to prevent happening to them, they'll glady do to you in a heartbeat to survive. They won't do it for malice, fun or just plain ignorance. They would do it to survive.
Now thats in no way a cry to just go out and do whatever you feel like to critters everywhere. Its just my opinion that so called animal activists just need to settle down everytime a KFC commerical comes on.
Remember this, just because you go out of your way to avoid eating them, doesn't mean they won't go out of their way to eat you.
-FIN-

justinl · #19 11/11/2007, 04:16 AM

sigh. you had to bring this one back up. on a fundamental level, i disagree with your point of view. all the experience and then a lot more is sitting in front of you or him or anyone who is currently reading this post. the internet is a wonderful thing even if you do have to sieve through to get reliable info.
Whether or not a chromis would bat you over the head to survive or not (though i agree nature is one brutal b**ch... that's the food web, baby) is irrelevant. when you go out and buy a living organism, you are the designated keeper of something alive. it is your RESPONSABILITY to give the thing a decent home. stress on decent. not a home that kills it in two minutes. Now, for example, if you're going to test out a mantis tank to see if it will let a fish live, i personally see no problem with that if you only do it once (given the fish gets hunted down). really what it comes down to is lines drawn in the sand. the problem with our dear beloved abe is that imho, he completely missed the sandbox.

btw i love that... "happy meal". whenever i put a snail or crab in my mantis tanks, i collectively name them the walking dead.

lillurker · #20 11/11/2007, 04:27 AM

I do see your point there

Jambi · #21 11/12/2007, 07:00 PM

same thing happened to me, i found out my heater had a crack in it and it was nuking everything in the tank. I put my hand in there to move some rock around, the header clicked on, and electrucited my arm. Everything died except my faithful Tomato clown and the hermits. There was also a white film on the glass (from all the death)

How large is your peacock? Is it possible you fed him something large that was raw and dead, and he took it in his cave and never ate it? What is your ammonia level?

abrahamcho · #22 11/12/2007, 11:43 PM

Ammonia was 0 nitrate was around .25 ppm.