This has been one of the worst days of my life....
My hubby is in Atlanta for business...so taking care of the fish falls to me...no big deal...I've done it before...
Fed them last night...everyone was fine...everyone ate....everything looked normal.
Got home late from work after dealing with a different disaster....grabbed a quick bite and headed off to a hockey game. Got home at around 9:30 and I knew something was wrong as soon as I got in the house. It smelled 'fishy'....
So I ran downstairs...and saw the absolute worst sight I could ever imagine...
ALL FISH ARE FLOATING....
Pump and filters are running okay, but tank is hazy...and looks totally lifeless. All Africans are floating at the top....four full grown tin-foil barbs, syno cats....all the clown loaches...I see the huge Tilapia face down in the front corner...and under him the marble cat. And...then to my horror...I see our Pacu in the back corner....he's not moving...
I quickly call my husband and thank goodness I can reach him....he walks me through backwashing the filters and doing a big water change. I'm shaking so hard I can hardly function. All I can think is "NOOOOOO! this cannot be happening!" I get the water out...and start refilling and now comes the time when I have to start trying to get out all the bodies...
By now I can see that BOTH Irridescent Sharks are swimming around like it's just a regular day...they seem to be unaffected. There's 2 or 3 dozen African fry schooling around...and I've seen 4 of the 6 plecos. The Pacu remains motionless...and I can't even locate the Arrowana.
I start scooping out the fish I can reach...and have to accept the fact that the Pacu is dead....and I can't reach him to get him out of the tank. By now, it's 1:00 am...and I am at my wit's end...I'm trying to reach a friend who owns a LFS here that we've known for about 20 years...I finally get hold of one of his employees and he THINKS he may still be down at the petstore. So..I race over to the store, and he's there! But the door is locked and he's in the back room....so I hammer on the front window until he hears me. I tell him what's happened and he follows me home.
I'm so thankful for his help...he takes over and tries to get the remaining fish out...the Pacu is the hardest...he's in the corner and is at least 40 pounds...but we finally get him out...
Those of you who know me...know how I feel about touching fish and fish water...but I did pet him one last time...he would have been 28 this year, and is like our kid....gah...I'm crying so hard I can barely see the keys to type this. I just can't believe he's gone.
We tested the water and everything is normal...Ammonia = 0 Nitrites = 0 Ph = 7.2 . There was no reason this should have happened. This happened to our friend once before...and it turned out to be an air leak in the pressure line...and the pump sends so many micro bubbles into the tank it oversaturates the water...and kills the fish. I'm just confused as to why the Pacu died and not the ID Sharks...he had to have been one of the hardiest fish..and lived thru many near disasters over the years.
Anyway, it's 4:11 am now...and I don't see any sleep for me in the near future...the remaining fish are settled in, and I'll be checking them every so often. The tank is so bare...and I miss the pacu already.
I feel like I've lost one of my best friends... :sad:
My hubby is in Atlanta for business...so taking care of the fish falls to me...no big deal...I've done it before...
Fed them last night...everyone was fine...everyone ate....everything looked normal.
Got home late from work after dealing with a different disaster....grabbed a quick bite and headed off to a hockey game. Got home at around 9:30 and I knew something was wrong as soon as I got in the house. It smelled 'fishy'....
So I ran downstairs...and saw the absolute worst sight I could ever imagine...
ALL FISH ARE FLOATING....
Pump and filters are running okay, but tank is hazy...and looks totally lifeless. All Africans are floating at the top....four full grown tin-foil barbs, syno cats....all the clown loaches...I see the huge Tilapia face down in the front corner...and under him the marble cat. And...then to my horror...I see our Pacu in the back corner....he's not moving...
I quickly call my husband and thank goodness I can reach him....he walks me through backwashing the filters and doing a big water change. I'm shaking so hard I can hardly function. All I can think is "NOOOOOO! this cannot be happening!" I get the water out...and start refilling and now comes the time when I have to start trying to get out all the bodies...
By now I can see that BOTH Irridescent Sharks are swimming around like it's just a regular day...they seem to be unaffected. There's 2 or 3 dozen African fry schooling around...and I've seen 4 of the 6 plecos. The Pacu remains motionless...and I can't even locate the Arrowana.
I start scooping out the fish I can reach...and have to accept the fact that the Pacu is dead....and I can't reach him to get him out of the tank. By now, it's 1:00 am...and I am at my wit's end...I'm trying to reach a friend who owns a LFS here that we've known for about 20 years...I finally get hold of one of his employees and he THINKS he may still be down at the petstore. So..I race over to the store, and he's there! But the door is locked and he's in the back room....so I hammer on the front window until he hears me. I tell him what's happened and he follows me home.
I'm so thankful for his help...he takes over and tries to get the remaining fish out...the Pacu is the hardest...he's in the corner and is at least 40 pounds...but we finally get him out...
Those of you who know me...know how I feel about touching fish and fish water...but I did pet him one last time...he would have been 28 this year, and is like our kid....gah...I'm crying so hard I can barely see the keys to type this. I just can't believe he's gone.
We tested the water and everything is normal...Ammonia = 0 Nitrites = 0 Ph = 7.2 . There was no reason this should have happened. This happened to our friend once before...and it turned out to be an air leak in the pressure line...and the pump sends so many micro bubbles into the tank it oversaturates the water...and kills the fish. I'm just confused as to why the Pacu died and not the ID Sharks...he had to have been one of the hardiest fish..and lived thru many near disasters over the years.
Anyway, it's 4:11 am now...and I don't see any sleep for me in the near future...the remaining fish are settled in, and I'll be checking them every so often. The tank is so bare...and I miss the pacu already.
I feel like I've lost one of my best friends... :sad:
. Yours was a black pacu, correct? If you decide you want to get some more it would be better to go with red bellies, they don't get huge like a black (but still very big as I am sure you know). Hope you're feeling better soon.
