Help me revive my aquarium...

[dnajarro]

I havent been on here in sometime... This past summer something started happening to my fish, personally I think it was the hermit crab.

Little by little a fish would disappear every week or so; give you, I didnt have much; 2 clowns, 1 lemon peal angel, few snails, 1 yellow watchman, and 5 tiny blue legged hermits, and one large hermit. Anyhow, I've had those guys for months and some over a year living just perfectly fine in a 24G Aquapod but as I said before one by one they each disappeared. The fan and the water pump also gave out around this time. Unfortunately, during this time my dog was also dying so I gave up paying any attention to the tank to attented to my dying dog.

Well, it's been several months since the tank died and my dog passed away 3 weeks ago. I've decided I want to attend to the 24G bucket of water I have sitting on my counter and bring it back to life. I'm ordering the parts I need to fix the Aquapod, but was wondering what should i do with the water, live rock(is it dead rock now?) and the sand?

Some helpful advice would be much appreciated.

thanks in advance.

Oh yeah, one last thing, The large hermit crab is alive, I've had him for 3 years now.

[texanstwoone]

Sorry about your pup. My pup is in surgery right now and I am worried sick. I feel you just need some inspiration to start up this hobby again. When my tank goes yucky I go to the fish store and by a fish that I would like to care for.
The rock you can put in a closed bucket with an airator and let it settle for a few weeks while you wait for your parts. Sand should be fine but change the water completly over a 2 week period. Then drop in a fish. And buy a new pup.

[Sploke]

Wow, sorry to hear about your dog.

I think what I would do is drain the tank. Take the live rock out and put it in a bucket, rinse the sand really well. Fill the tank back up with fresh sw. I don't know if the LR would still be alive, I would think as long as the salinity and temp were maintained it would be ok. I would give it a good rinse and put it back in, and maybe dose some ammonia up to like .25-.5ppm and see if it goes away. If so, they you should still be cycled, although when you start adding fish you might get a small spike since the bioload in the tank has been so low for so long.

[dnajarro]

Hey thanks,

I was thinking of cycling the tank over.As soon as the pump and the fan come in I was thinking of dumping all the water, rinsing all the sand, and the rock. Put it all back in and cycle the tank but wasnt sure if i should start from scatch with all that.

As far as the salinity and temp goes, I think it's maintained since it was the summer time. I'm in no rush to put any fish in it I just wasn't sure what to do the the stuff inside. As far as franken-hermit, I was thinking of giving it back to the pet store, I'd hate to part with him but, he's just gotten to big for the tank.

[texanstwoone]

You seem like a good person and another dog would be a good idea. There are lots of dogs out there that would love your attention. As for the fish it sounds like you got a good plan. Out of curiosity, how did the hermit get so big? I thougth they had to change shells are do they molt?

[dnajarro]

I would love another dog, and I'm believer in adopting and not buying, but the boyfriend and I have decided to wait on the dog since we're thinking of moving in the next six months. The hermit had a bigger home once before, I had a 55G which was then moved into the Nano... I had plenty of shells where it would molt and switch, He even killed one of my larger turbos in the nano for its shell... That's where it's living now.

I'd hate to part since he's survived moving, downsizing, the ups and downs when I first began the hobby, and now even the dead tank for over 3 months.

[snailrider]

I would take a different approach. Just get your hardware working again, throw in some macro algea and see what comes to life.

The crab survived so I'm sure other stuff has too. The drastic measures of changing rinsing etc are fine if you are in a hurry, but why not let nature heal the tank and you?

You need a greiving process for the loss of you beloved pet, and it can be quite healing to watch something close to death come back alive, without dumping all the memories. It is a process, but not for everyone in this throw away society in which we live.

The hours you spend meditating with your tank and "frankie" could be just what you need. Not to mention how your tank evolves may not be at all like you might have thought.

Do give it some thought before doing anything drastic. :hearts:

[texanstwoone]

Sorry I am not much help. I am not an expert on fish care. but why do you need to get rid of the hermit?

[dnajarro]

to give you a mental picture, the sheel its in at the Moment is slightly larger than a golf ball, and there's plenty of rock in there that all I hear is the tap tap tapping of its movement and at times it sounds like it struggles. 24G with 25-30lbs of rock doesnt allow for much space.

[texanstwoone]

oh so its to big.. I did not catch that. Yea, get rid of it. I just love crabs though. I have had lots of fish and forgot them but the one crab I had I remember till this day. It was about 7 years ago and I called him Godzilla.

[snailrider]

How can you rearange to better suit?

Do you have a current photo?

What is wrong with having a crab as your centerpiece for the aquarium?

[texanstwoone]

yea, dont get rid of your crab unless you have to

[snailrider]

dnajarro:

I thought a little about your situation and came up with yet another scenario.

Are you mad at the crab?

Follow me on this. The crab, not the most pretty, not really the most interesting, survived it all.

Your beloved dog is gone, the pretty fish are gone, and yet this nasty little critter survived it all. How unfair!

Maybe a ritualistic sacrifice of the crab is in order. Just giving him away would not be resolution to this scenario. After all, he did murder a snail :mad2:

Just a thought :eek:

What ever you choose to do, just do it for the right reasons. Now go talk to franken-hermit and see how you really feel :hearts:

[dnajarro]

I am planning on rearranging adn I may just keep him, but lets see how the reviving works out. who know if he may not survive new spikes.

I'll take a photo when I get home tonight and post later

[dnajarro]

Ha ha ha... I was thinking a little butter a little salt, a pot a boiling hot water, show him who's boss. I'll prob keep him.

[dnajarro]

where can I get this macro algea?

[Sploke]

There are lots of different kinds of macro algae. I have chaeto in my sump, and halimeda and caulerpa prolifera in my main tank. Most fish stores sell several different types.

[Grins]

I'd clean off the rocks and get them in a QT tub. I'd dump the salt and replace it. Get the tank running and cycled as you said then start stocking again. Possibly get your first new fish while it cycling but house the new fish in a QT tank so it will be ready for the display when the cycle is done.

I know the kind of crab you're talking about and yes he is a likely culprit. I'd donate him to someone else or back to the store.