So Last Night .. Long Story .. Help Please

[Matt Scars]

I have no idea what happened to my fish tank but something weird happened.

1st, I got Buttercup (The Mantis) in there and she has been in there for about 24 or 25 hours with no problems what so ever. She seemes extremely happy and is eating and everything. Digging holes and watching everything. Her colors are good and everything seems fine. I tested the water right before we got her and everthing was fine and I tested the water a few hours after we added her to the tank and every thing was still fine.

So about 12:45 Last night, I turned the lights back on to watch her to make sure that everything was ok because she was tilted on her side, not a full out Laying on her Side but I just wanted to see what she was doing. So I sat there and watched it for a little while and She seemed ok but all of the sudden one of my Damsels swam up to the top of the water like I was going to feed it or something and just flat out Died. Just like that. Everything was fine, swam up to the top, and died. Then I noticed Buttercup was starting to loose some colors so I started to get really worried. So A few minutes later I started to notice coppapods (sp?) that just seemed to dart off of the rocks and sand and swim about half way up the tank and would just fall over dead. JUST LIKE THAT. And then my other Damsel started to act really weird Darting around the tank like something was wrong so I started to get REALLY WORRIED because all of this seemed to be happening within 5 minutes. Well, that 2nd Damsel died so I was like.. Holy Crap I've got to do something but I dont know what to do. So I started to notice all of the coppapods (sp?) just started darting up and falling down dead. Shortly after I noticed that Buttercup was not looking good at all, she freaked out for a minute swimming up at the top of the water and just fell straight down and seemed to pretty much die right on the spot except she was still kicking her little "Tail Feathers?" and she kept trying to look at us but it was like she just couldn't do it. So after some real quick and nervous thinking I grabbed a bucket and dipped it down in the tank and took out I guess a full gallon (2 KoolAid/tea pitchure (sp?) ) full of water and tossed it and then dipped in in my 29 gallon and stole some water out of there and dumped in back in to the mantis tank and I noticed that the coppapods starting moving again, and then Buttercup started moving and trying to get up but it was like she just couldn't do it still, but she was definately doing better.

So I sat there for about 20 minutes watching her get better at first and then it just stopped, I'm pretty sure she died all together, I pretty much watched her take her last breath and just fall over completely. So I took the Pitchure back to the tank and took out 2 more full and then replaced it with water from my other tank.. I picked up buttercup because I was certain she was gone and held her while I poured the new water over her and back in to the tank. She then started to come back around and started kicking her Tail Feathers so I sat her down to protect my fingers in case she got startled at what just happened. So she started kicking really good and started moving a LOT more and just trying to recover, she started doing a lot better and so I left it be for the time and just said that what ever is going to happen is GOING to happen at this point. She was doing a lot better at this point but was not back to normal yet or even close. So I went to bed and hoped that everything would be ok but I was very doubtfull.

All of this seemed to happen very suddenly within 20 minutes or so.
I'm just really glad that I didn't decide to go to sleep early last night.

When I woke up this morning I woke up to a Lovely Live Mantis Shrimp Moving around things in the tank and making herself a new house out of the rocks while she seemed to be extremely happy to see me because she came right over to the glass and stood up and it looked like she almost wanted to High Five me or something. She didn't pop at the glass when I put my hand up to it. She just stood up and looked at me and used her "Antenna" to touch my fingers outside of the glass and then just went back to digging her hole. Just like that.

Now I am at school and all I can think about is going home to check and make sure she is ok. I'll Post With An Update When I Get Home.

Any thoughts as to what happened?

 

[digidana]

holy crap! we just got back from charlotte and i just decided to look around in here. (hadn't been to RC for a while).

is she ok?? do you need me to take her back for a bit? i'd be happy to lend you some water/rock or whatever if need be.

please keep me posted!

for a mantis shrimp, she really is sweet, i'd hate to see something happen to her.

 

[mattjfishman]

Sweet... sweet isn't the word i'd use to describe any mantis! Maybe scary, or frightful, but not sweet. lol

 

[Matt Scars]

Hey Dana, She's ok!
Apparently we didn't have enough Oxygen in the tank. We've done a lot of research and have been asking around at all of the different LFS and this is the main result. If it gets close to happening again or if we notice anything different at all, we're watching her very very closely, I'm going to put her in my main tank. There is not too much to worry about her eating in there, a couple of clownfish and a lawnmower blenny that has an attitude.

We just couldn't figure out how all of the sudden all of this happened?!? Everything was Hunkey Dorey and the Poof, everything is dying.

I'll let you know if we start to have anymore trouble. Its not fair to her so if I notice that she isn't doing any better I'll be more than happy to return her to her rightful home so that she'll be safe and sound.

Promise.

 

[planejane]

Dana, Dana, Dana!!! You must be kidding!!! LOL...

 

[reeflover101]

well welcome back Dana. so you coming to the meeting?

 

[TriMax]

With evening commitments, noon works better for me. For this months meeting, that is.

Matt how did you decide it was low O2? What did you do about it?

 

[digidana]

glad to hear she's doing better. janie, she really is sweet, the only nutso attack was with you, and i swear it was because of the glasses. she always very gently took the food from me, etc.

yeah, travis, i think i'll be able to make it. earlier is better for me too...its mountain jam night for us too. let me know what you need for food.

matt, what size tank is that again?

 

[mattjfishman]

Dana, Dana, Dana!!! You must be kidding!!! LOL...

See, she had a near death experience with buttercup! lol She understands the fear!

 

[reeflover101]

Well glad to her she is doing better

 

[Matt Scars]

Buttercup is now doing wonderfully!
We've been constantly watching and checking on her to make sure everything was ok with her. We've had the water tested pretty much every day and I even had the water sent off to a company to check for pollutants and other things in the water that I saved from that night. I should have results soon.
We even would come home on our lunch breaks at work to check on her.
But she's doing great. Still Moving everything around and still as curious about everything as she was on the first day. She's doing great.

By far the best pet I've ever had, Just don't tell my bearded dragons I said that.

Matt how did you decide it was low O2? What did you do about it?

Well, we went around to most of the LFS and told them the story and everyone gave us pretty much the same answer. I posted the same story in other forums and stuff and it seemed like it was either that or a pollutant or a heater issue.

It is hard to say that it could have been a pollutant because of the fact that I used the same ol stuff that I always use for my Salt Tanks, they stay in a bucket that gets sealed every time and everything gets washed off with clean freshwater every time I use it. And we haven't done any major cleaning or anything like that so that one was pretty much out.

Its very possible it was a heater issue because I AM using an Older Heater that I have had for a while but it doesn't seem to be having any trouble now, or since then. So I think I can cross that one out.

And I think it was the O2 because of how much water I had in this tank. Its really hard to explain. Its a nano tank and the filter system is enclosed in the tank. Where the water returns back to the tank is just basically a hole and it pours back into the tank. Well, I had the water lever all the way up past that hole so there was pretty much no way for the water to get oxygen. PLUS I had so much filter media in there and polyfilter that the water was pretty much entering the filter and then immediately hitting filterpads, then polyfilter, then the carbon, then the ceramic stuff and then to the hole where it returns, there was really not a chance for it to touch any oxygen without being in something else. It pretty much poured straight into filters and then back to the water. Like I said, its really hard to explain.

 

[EvilMel]

On the whole pollutant or not issue...some types of stomatopods are supposedly extremely sensitive not only to changes in things like salinity or temp but more importantly WICKED sensitive to pollutants. I think yours might have been a different issue but just make sure to be really careful. In Dana's sump Buttercup was part of a very large system that wouldn't have changed quickly no matter what.

I'm so glad to hear she's doing better. That's a big relief.

 

[mattjfishman]

Still got that santa hat Melly... but i have room to talk, I still have the swap thingy for my avatar...

 

[TriMax]

Matt

If we have it, the swap will be on the 19th of June. Just change the date and you will be the first to start the advertising for this year's swap.:spin3:

Oh, yea. Glad to hear buttercup is doing great. Got to have access to O2 to get O2 I guess, huh.