HELP! Help!!!!

[kelsyleyendecker]

So I changed the water in our 10 gallon and upon adding some fresh water as a top off, I was distracted and completely forgot to condition the gallon of water first and dumped 1 gallon of straight tap water into our 10 gallon tank. I realized it as soon as I poured it in. Now the clownfish is staying towards the bottom of the tank and hiding behind the rock. Normally he attacks my hand when putting it in the tank. I'm afraid I've killed it and I'm afraid the hermit crab is going to go after it. Is there anything I can do or just wait and watch and hope... ???

 

[prestofish]

Did you mess up your SG when you dumped that much fresh into your tank? I'd imagine it would be quite a shock in that small of a tank. Do 2-3 10% water changes to get it back up to where it is supposed to be with the proper water parameters.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

what product do you conditioning with? are you doing weekly saltwater water changes? what %

how often & how much topoff water (not sw) are you adding?

 

[Mandy11]

Once you realised did you add conditioner straight into the tank ? It will still work just have to dose more for the water volume of hole tank now. And yes double check salinity

 

[cracker]

It's OK Miss Kelsey, just do some small water changes like presto stated. Get The salinity back to where it was. How is Barnie? If Your worried he may get the clown You could put him under some type of basket or such with a rock on top to weigh it down. At least until You get the water back to normal and clown fish gets back up on his fins.

 

[kelsyleyendecker]

So the water was baaaaaaad. As some of you know I have leukemia and nobody else learned how to do water changes. I usually do a weekly change of 3 gallons of salt water and top off with fresh to what the water level stays at. This keeps salinity pretty perfect.

But I got really sick and we didn't do water changes for 3 weeks! So much algae in the tank. So gross. I was shocked to see how yuck it got and to see them still acting normal. But honestly, it was sort of forgotten about as I was needing some care for awhile and the husband isn't used to caring for all 10 kiddos on his own. I just couldn't get better!

Anyways, so today I freaked out and took out 5 gallons and added 5 gallons. And topped off with about another gallon because it had evaporated.

I did immediately add conditioner to the water based on how many gallons in the tank. I ALSO realized the water going in was much colder than normal. DUH!!!! I just wasn't thinking. I was so bummed out. But as of tonight when I got home from work, the clown was happy to attack my hand if I put it in the tank. The large snail and 3 tiny snails seemed fine and I'm surprised they haven't been eaten by the crab yet. He killed the rest of them. I hate that! I want a creature who will crawl on the glass and keep it clean but I haven't found any. Anyways, there's a white worm thing called a bristle worm that came out as well. So all of the creatures seem to be doing ok tonight.

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[kelsyleyendecker]

It's OK Miss Kelsey, just do some small water changes like presto stated. Get The salinity back to where it was. How is Barnie? If Your worried he may get the clown You could put him under some type of basket or such with a rock on top to weigh it down. At least until You get the water back to normal and clown fish gets back up on his fins.

Barnie is doing well. He has molted twice since summer in the tank. He hasn't moved to the larger shell but I worry he doesn't like the other shell. Maybe I need to buy him a few options. Most places don't sell bigger shells though. So I'm not sure where to find a decent selection of 4" and 5" shells. He also will not leave snails or anything alone. He eats everything so we can't get other tank cleaners. We had a rock too close to the filter and I'm pretty sure if we hadn't found him like that, he would've climbed out of the tank. Pesky guy!

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[kelsyleyendecker]

Thanks everyone who responded! The creatures all seem to be doing ok. Salinity is good but I need to check the rest of the water. I haven't had a chance. I think that I did the change too quickly being in a hurry, didn't condition the tap water and didn't get it warmer. It's cold here and I took it straight from the tap. So I think I shocked them. Hoping they're ok now. They seem better.

Should I get some sort of heater through the winter. My house gets down to 68 at night. Will that be ok or should I bring the tank temps up.

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[cracker]

Sounds like Barnie is doing too well!

 

[DaveK]

I don't think you have a major problem. However, long term, you need to do a few things differently.

You need to actually measure SG. You can not depend upon removing 3 gal and adding 3 gal plus makeup water to correctly maintain SG. I highly recommend a refractometer over a those cheep hydrometers.

It sounds like your using tap water and adding a water conditioner, such as prime. This in not ideal, since what in in your tap water will, in time, build up in the tank. On a larger system, I'd say get your own RI/DI unit, but on a small tank like yours, I'd use distilled water from your supermarket or drug store.

Adding new top off water should be done very slowly. Consider using a length of air line tubing as a siphon to add this water. Don't dump it in. Changing SW should always be done by first matching tamp and SG of the new water to your tank.

 

[Oxylebius]

DaveK is giving good advice.

I'm glad things worked out well. And I'm glad you are doing better as well.

Any chance for some pictures?