Dissaster has happened.

[giroux68]

My 9 discus are dead! My filter output dropped to nothing and the biowheels stopped. I was gone for a few days and my wife didnt notice the low flow. I think it was causedby the sponge pre filter I had put on. There was a load of gunk trapped in it.

[brewmaster15]

Thats terrible news! :'( I'm sorry to hear you lost those fish. I know that feeling feeling well.

I hope you are able to fill that tank with ones you like the same or better!

take care,
al

[daninthesand]

Sorry to hear it giroux68.

I think we can all attest to similar disasters. I know I can.

Quite the feeling of sadness. I feel your pain.

So sorry again.

Take care.

Daniel

[Mat]

I am sorry to hear about your disaster, i was going to put a sponge on my inlet pipe to act as a prefilter im not going to do that now. :thumbsdown:

[Carol_Roberts]

No mat! Use a prefilter. Giroux68 is very upset right now and is placing blame (normal reaction). What you should learn from this disaster is to feed lightly when you are away.

Somebody must have been feeding way too much food. I sometimes go a couple of days without cleaning a prefilter. They don't plug up that fast. Besides all that food on the prefilter would have just been inside the filter raising ammonia levels. I'm assuming no water changes were done during absense since prefilters weren't rinsed.

I'm really sorry Grroux68 :'( What did your discus die from? Were ammonia levels really high, Oxygen levels too low?

[Don_Lee]

Sorry to hear Giroux, boy do I know how you feel. My first 2-3 attemtps at keeping discus were unsuccessful, and my wife still has not entirely forgotten. One thing to consider is having 2 filters going, kind of like 2 heaters, so one acts as a backup. Feel bad for you buddy.

Don :(

[Barb Newell]

Hi Giroux, sorry to hear about your loss. It's very hard. Time helps to make it easier to live with. Don't give up. :)

Barb

[Jeff]

:-\ :-\ :'(

[DarkDiscus]

giroux68,

I'm really sorry to hear about your losses! That's really tough.

John

[Fish Freak]

sorry to hear about the discus (RIP) my first trys at keeping discus went down the drain but im trying again.
Never give.

Josh

[EthanCote.com]

Sorry Giroux, that is really sad indeed.

But with every error, there is always a lesson to be learned. I learned from this that we should always check our equipments each time we visit our tanks, should it be a filter or a heater.

In regard to filters, they should be cleaned out regularly. We sometimes tend to forget this. I came close to losing my fishes due to a filter being clogged up with gunk.

Again sorry for your loss Giroux but this will be a lesson for all that read this thread.

I wish you all the best with your future fishes.


Cheerio,

Chi.

[95jeepxj]

This brings up a question. Would you be better off not feeding if your only going to be away for a few days? I have not stated a discus tank yet but my 2 managuense have gone for 5 days w/o being fed with no problems. I know they are pretty hardy fish, but if your only gone for 2-3 days would there be any harm in not feeding the discus?

jake

sorry 4 the loss

[Aquarius]

Sorry to here of your lose.

I have a couple of Emporers and they slow WAY down with a Prefilter on. So be careful!
The food will increase the ammonia wether inside or outside the filter. The fish might eat it if its on the outside though, but still..I say watch the filter and make sure it will work with the hang on filter that it is used with.

[canuk]

That really sucks!! :( :-[
I've been there done that. Live and learn.
Sorry

[RAWesolowski]

Jake,

The best thing to do is to plan for an extended absence. Feed heavily before a vacation. Be sure the tank is clean and water is changed. Do not feed while you are gone and the fish, barring an equipment disaster, will be fine. I spent two weeks in Florida without a problem.

[giroux68]

Carol is right about the difference the pre filter made. It keeps the gunk out of the canister, that is for sure!! My wife was feeding them CBW only in my absence, doing daily 12 gallon water changes (13gal trash can holding tank). She forgot about the sponge. I tested the water yesterday, NH3/NH4, NO3 were all off the scales on the high side. The switch to CBW had made an amazing improvement in the fish and the water/filter cleanliness. The fish had never paid attention to us until the worms arrived. They were begging like a spoiled dog! Lessons learned - Back ups are indisspensible when someone else taking care of your fish, try new things out only when your there to monitor, show the person taking care of them everything multiple times or leave a check list. Live and learn. Guess a trip back to Mike's garage is in order - Cleavland, here I come.

[wo]

Sorry to hear your sad story. About one year ago, the pump of my dripping filter was out of work. I did not buy a new one at once. Instead, I only let the air stone running with metro medication for 5 days. All my discus soon became ill and ate nothing. I almost assumed they would die. After a week of medcation bath, they recovered. I learned a lesson from then---not to put off things should be done. But by your case, you are innocent because you were out for a couple of days.

[thebaglady]

I took an extended trip of over two weeks out West a year ago. My daughter's BF watched over my 35 tanks.

It was summer and the power goes off at least two, three times for various reasons. Usually because of storms. If you're running power filters, make sure the impellers are cleaned before you leave.

We had a problem with one tank, he fixed the problem and all was OK. I was impressed that he could negotiate the problem "long distance" Before I left, I warned him to feed sparingly, only every four days or so. I made sure I did large water changes before I left and told him what to look for in fish behavior.

I also left a list of several nearby fishkeeping friends' phone numbers, just in case there was something he couldn't deal with. Yes, you're right Giroux, go over everything several times and make sure you do everything you can before you leave.

We are so in charge of "our babies" lives, we hate to make any mistakes, but when they do occur, we learn and that's the important thing! Good luck in the coming weeks restocking your tank.

[carman]

this is sad. sorry.!

:'(

one time I got no power for almost 2 days due to some storm. I had to run a power generator from my car just for the filter. It was really closed to loose all my discus at the time. I don't think discus can live without filtration for a few hours. Learning from your dissaster, I think a backup power filter should come in handy.


carman

[thebaglady]

You can buy battery run '''bait bubbler" pumps in the sporting goods dept. of K-mart etc... They run on batteries and provide a pretty good amount of air.

They will keep small sponge, UG or box filters running, but there's not much you can do for power filters, except a generator.

I really do think it makes a big difference how clean your water is before an outage, but there's nothing like a functioning filter.

When you have a large quantity of tanks, you really should expect some losses of delicate fish, but hopefully, you do what you can. :-\

[Anna Piranha]

Hi Giroux68,
I am sorry for your loss. This is not to say that anyone of us, great or small, can be replaced, however Mike Wells' fish are so awesome that perhaps having them to look forward to will help ease the pain.

Good luck to you!
Anna

[arpanlib]

sorry to hear about the loss. :(

arpanlib

[steve s]

Sorry about your loss. maybe a hdro spong as
a back up would help.

Steve

[Mr.Trips]

I hate that when that happens, you finally get some nice fish, you spend time with them and Wham!

I run two seperate powerfilters on my tank. Id rather over filtrate!

Good luck on some new discus!

[Fisheyes]

When you went to Forida for two weeks were your fish in a planted tank or bare tank.
Also how many fish in what size tank?

[carman]

I think he sent out a few pictures of his tank before. look like he has planted tank.

carman