Kitchen Sponge Catastrophe - Need Advice
- Thread starter Greggz
- Start date
so very sorry to hear about this 
I hope you have some survivors. Do you have a qt tank you could move the remaining fish to or anything?
I hope you have some survivors. Do you have a qt tank you could move the remaining fish to or anything?
I know the feeling; I did it when first starting out a couple of years ago, BUT added insult to injury.
I had a cycled new 55, my yellow labs and blue cobalts came in, were maturing, growing, etc. etc. I wiped up TESTING KIT fluids--just a few drops--and instead of putting the sponge back in the "danger" bucket, left it sitting on back of hood. Next morning, every one of my fish were dead, overnight!!! I looked all around, scratched my head, then looked again and saw the d***n sponge bobbling around at the filter out take. What a total noob!!
I had a cycled new 55, my yellow labs and blue cobalts came in, were maturing, growing, etc. etc. I wiped up TESTING KIT fluids--just a few drops--and instead of putting the sponge back in the "danger" bucket, left it sitting on back of hood. Next morning, every one of my fish were dead, overnight!!! I looked all around, scratched my head, then looked again and saw the d***n sponge bobbling around at the filter out take. What a total noob!!
Sorry for your loss! I hope things get better from here. Rainbows are beautiful fish and it is a shame that you are losing them. Try not to beat yourself up too much over this. We all make mistakes especially in the beginning. Take this as a learning experience and you will be that much better for it. Keep up with the water changes and monitor your water readings daily and this too shall pass and work itself out.
Marinemom
Marinemom
Sorry for the loss. For cleaning algae I usually just use a razor blade. Its faster and for the most part safer imo, for the fish that is, lol. Normally a magnetic algae cleaner takes care of everything though. Thanks for posting your experience.
I bought my self a few gadgets to remove algae, a magna float, and a few scrapers. I would never use a kitchen sponge. you never know whats in them :eek; sorry bout the loss,
Latest update. Lost a Praecox Rainbow. The rest are holding steady, not better but not worse. Did another water change. With all the water changes I've done, I'm pretty sure whatever was in there is severly diluted.
My fear is that the exposure damaged the fish, and they may not recover. I'm going to try and feed them some blood worms later (their favorite), and if they don't feed, I'm guessing it's down hill from here.
Keeping my fingers crossed, but fully expect that I could lose the remaining fish.
Wow, this has been some couple of days!!
My fear is that the exposure damaged the fish, and they may not recover. I'm going to try and feed them some blood worms later (their favorite), and if they don't feed, I'm guessing it's down hill from here.
Keeping my fingers crossed, but fully expect that I could lose the remaining fish.
Wow, this has been some couple of days!!
Fed them some blood worms....almost all ate something...not the usual vigorous feeding, but I was happy to see any feeding at all. Most are also back out swimming a bit, after being huddled up in a mass the past 2 days.
Strangely, my two German Blue Rams, which have a reputation as being somewhat fragile, seem completely unaffected. They've been buzzing around the tank playing tag through this whole thing. Go figure!
We will see what the morning brings?
Strangely, my two German Blue Rams, which have a reputation as being somewhat fragile, seem completely unaffected. They've been buzzing around the tank playing tag through this whole thing. Go figure!
We will see what the morning brings?
