Xena update- beginning of she'll rot?

[Martini5788]

I took a break from rc for awhile, but I'm back now. I was gone for a few weeks over Thanksgiving and when I came home xena tank was an absolute wreck. Apparently, she had been fed an entire large gulf shrimp every single day for 3 freaking weeks. Dead serious. When I tested the nitrates they were unreadable, probably close to 300 if I had to guess. I immediately set up a qt tank with fresh water and a few rocks and pvc. I have done water changes everyday on the main tank but have been unable to get them under 80. Continuing to do them as we speak. I have been unable to get a picture of her, she is in the pipe almost constantly now, but there are definitely areas of shell rot forming. What can I do at this point? Other than what I'm doing already

 

[Martini5788]

Just tested the nitrates. They are 160+ again

 

[Kharn]

My first thing would be getting the water under control and back into parameters whilst ensuring the tank gets as little light as possible.

Once the parameters are back up to par for what they should be and if the shell rot is still present, offer lots of food but not in the same manner you speak of how it was a whole large shrimp, offer the mantis small meals but frequently, constantly.

The more it eats the shorter the down time for its next molt which is what will help shed some shell rot (not likely all if its bad).

 

[Martini5788]

My first thing would be getting the water under control and back into parameters whilst ensuring the tank gets as little light as possible.

Once the parameters are back up to par for what they should be and if the shell rot is still present, offer lots of food but not in the same manner you speak of how it was a whole large shrimp, offer the mantis small meals but frequently, constantly.

The more it eats the shorter the down time for its next molt which is what will help shed some shell rot (not likely all if its bad).

Yeah I was out of town. My husband was away on training. And we had been helping a friend out by letting her live in our house. She had VERY specific instructions for exactly what to do. She ended up throwing multiple parties, and god knows what else. People were smoking in our house, the military police were called which is the only way I even knew about it. I was in the hospital for awhile and had no idea. When I got home, the salinity on the tank was 1.035, one of the power head was fried because it was out of water, I couldn't even see in the glass. It was absolutely terrible. Seriously, imagine what you see in the movies after a rave. That's what my house
Looked like. I can't believe my parrot survived with all the smoking that happened in the house. I actually have no idea how all the tank inhabitants didn't die, although I lost a few fw fish.

 

[EI Gringo]

Oh my God I would kill somebody if they did that to my aquarium :/

 

[Martini5788]

Oh my God I would kill somebody if they did that to my aquarium :/

I kicked her out, and I am filing a lawsuit for damages to the house. Also, my husband contacted her chain of command( in the marines) to inform them of the behavior of the marines in their unit to someone else's house. It's actually a major ordeal.
Oh, and I punched her in the face [emoji6]
But yeah, dealing with the aftermath of the entire thing has been very difficult

 

[Calappidae]

It'd break somebody's limbs if they did that to one of my tanks.

Sorry to hear about that bad experience. Glad to hear the majority of livestock is ok. I'd get an air cleaner and dehumidifier running to help remove the vapors in the air, and additionally renew your carbon to help the aquariums out.

That's general stuff for your house, as far as the water quality is concerned, I'm requoting kharn's response. you might want to be doing serious water changes to fix the nitrates, overkilling carbon to remove toxins (skimming would help majorly too, even if you get a cheap HoB or biocube unit for 30-90 dollars) and trying to keep the resources SR needs, lighting, minimal. You can recover from this with time.

Good luck!

 

[Martini5788]

I scooped her up into a bucket and got a picture. They aren't great but they will show what I'm dealing with. My husband bought
One of those stupid rainbow vacuum cleaners a few
Months ago and honestly that's the only thing that has been helping with the smell in the house. Everytime I go
Into detail about what happened I get so mad I start crying hahaha. And honestly what I put on here
Is only the beginning. Add piles of vomit, broken toilets, **** in a closet. Yeah it was bad.

 

[Martini5788]

Xena update- beginning of she'll rot?

Well crap they actually don't
Show anything. I
Can't take her back out again, don't want to stress her too
Much

 

[nmotz]

Dang, just now reading this....sounds like a terrible ordeal. Makes me afraid about my upcoming trip back home for the holidays! I can't believe someone would do/allow all of those things in your house.

Just like others said, try to get the nitrates under control through WC's and feed to encourage a molt, no lights. If you have a UV sterilizer, use it, otherwise just try to get her to molt. I know this is rough, but it isn't your fault. Best of luck, hope she pulls through!

 

[EI Gringo]

I don't know your set up but could you get a couple of big containers with overflows and reroute your system from tank to barrels to sump and back to tank? Having a massive amount of water in the system would thin the nitrates out significantly and allow a skimmer to remove them where as if there is a source of organics leaching nitrates into the tank constantly you'll be doing water changes for months unless you can find the source? Just a thought that you're more than welcome to dismiss but with my system I could do that and I would (plus I have a 110 L container with an overflow at the top)

 

[Martini5788]

Unfortunately I don't think that's an option. Currently the tank does not even have a sump. I do have a hob overflow and an extra 10 gallon though. I am going to the lfs today so I will look for an easy temp plumbing solution I could use

 

[Kharn]

I'm just curious but what size is your display tank that houses the peacock?

 

[EI Gringo]

Grab yourself a big plastic container like a water butt, mine cost 12 pounds, set up your overflow and whack a pump in the container, pump only needs to be able to put water to the top to link the bodies, flowrate is irrelevant on this, I think you'll have success with this

 

[Martini5788]

I'm just curious but what size is your display tank that houses the peacock?

It's a 40 breeder

 

[Martini5788]

Grab yourself a big plastic container like a water butt, mine cost 12 pounds, set up your overflow and whack a pump in the container, pump only needs to be able to put water to the top to link the bodies, flowrate is irrelevant on this, I think you'll have success with this

I am confused, how big is a water Butt exactly?

 

[Martini5788]

Xenas tank is being moved to another room, when she gets moved I plan on setting up a sump for her
Tank. So I will probably just wait until then

 

[EI Gringo]

Depends on the size of the water butt but they are used to collect rain water so 100-150 litres is an average size. Any container will do, just as long as it's big

 

[Martini5788]

Depends on the size of the water butt but they are used to collect rain water so 100-150 litres is an average size. Any container will do, just as long as it's big

Oh ok. I had just never heard that term before haha. I am going to do another water change tomorrow, I am still getting debris and stuff
Coming off the rocks. I may end up having to get new rocks and sand. That's how bad it is. I mean the smell coming off the tank when I got home was unreal. Decaying shrimp all over. Covered in what looked like mold. For whatever reason the ammonia when I test it is saying zero. But it's just a seemingly endless supply of leftover crap
From it.

 

[nmotz]

Oh ok. I had just never heard that term before haha. I am going to do another water change tomorrow, I am still getting debris and stuff
Coming off the rocks. I may end up having to get new rocks and sand. That's how bad it is. I mean the smell coming off the tank when I got home was unreal. Decaying shrimp all over. Covered in what looked like mold. For whatever reason the ammonia when I test it is saying zero. But it's just a seemingly endless supply of leftover crap
From it.

Geez, I can't believe Xena survived that at all.