So Much Is Going Wrong

[dem0nz]

Right from the start...

2 weeks ago my tank that had been running very smoothly without incident with the water or its inhabitants for months,then suddenly my betta killed an endler tank mate and kicked off a very stressfull chain of events that has me on th verge of giving this hobby up.

the day after my betta killed an endler i went out and spent all i could afford at the time on a new tank for my betta to live in alone and used media from my main tank to speed up the cycle as my betta was going straight in before he killed again

a few days later my betta got finrot from the new tank

around i week after the death i decided to redecorate my main tank and have it purely as an endler and cherry shrimp tank,
so i brought some sand and loads of plants and got it looking awesome

the next morning all my cherrys were dead

a few days ago i realized that lots of green and brown algae is growing in my bettas tank and due to the tank still settling and the tanks size i couldnt add anything to eat the algae as oto's and amano shrimp are to sensitive
plus the tank has an under gravel filter (which i though would be good for my betta) so i cant just wash the gravel
now my white gravel looks like it is covered in sh*t

then i do a water change today (i do 2 a week) and the filter in my main tank suddenly stopped
i have tried all i can to get it to start again but it wont,the pump seems to keep jamming.
so i just have to wait till tomorrow and buy a new filter first thing if my fish survive the night without a filter

then as i kick back and type out this rant i have noticed that under a patch of sand which has java moss and slate on top of it there is a greenish stain,my first thought was algae but it is nowhere else in the tank
then i realized that,that is the place where all my shrimp were when they died,could copper be leaching into my tank from the moss or slate so much that it is tinting the sand???


AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

should i just stop keeping fish

 

[dem0nz]

jus bin trying to fix it and it aint happening,if they are dead in the morning then i am giving this hobby up,
lifes to stressfull without dealing with this bullsh*t

 

[matt20687]

dude chill out. Things like this happen with every hobby. I would be very surprised if any of your fish are dead tommorrow morning. When they are shipped around they dont have a filter or heater at all. So a few hours wont do them any harm at all!

 

[Mr Bliss]

jus bin trying to fix it and it aint happening,if they are dead in the morning then i am giving this hobby up,
lifes to stressfull without dealing with this bullsh*t

That green stain sounds suspicious. It was under the slate, right? It does sound like something that might have poisoned your shrimp, although where it came from is anybody's guess.

This isn't the first time I read about shrimp dying right after a redecoration, though, so dunno.

In any case it sounds like you've had a horrible streak of bad luck. I know exactly how you feel, as I once lost pretty much every living creature in a beautiful and expensive marine tank after my sea anemone shredded himself in a powerhead. I gave up aquarium-keeping for years. Yet here I am again, more enthusiastic than ever. Don't give up. It's a rewarding hobby and most of the time things go smoothly as long as you pay attention to the basics.

 

[Erised]

Sorry to hear about all the bad luck you're having =(
Your betta probably got the finrot from the stress of moving and going into a new tank. With the right medication he should be just fine.
As to what's going on that caused your cherries to die and leave a patch under the rock, I honestly don't know. Did you do a vinegar test on the rocks before you put them in the aquarium? Even if you didn't though, I doubt calcium would cause the death of your shrimp. I also can't see either slate or moss cause copper to leak into your tank. It still could be algae as it doesn't always appear everywhere in your tank at the same time. Maybe take the slate out and clean it off, you should be able to tell by feel and look when it comes off whether or not it's algae.

As for your filter, did you unplug it during your water change? A lot of the filters don't work properly if they're not fully covered by water and break/overheat during water changes. If you don't do so already, unplug the filter (and heater if that gets uncovered) before doing a water change. Don't forget to plug it back in afterwards!

 

[darklady]

A few years ago I lost everything in my tank due to a power cut which lasted almost 4 days. Naturally it meant that my filter and heater stopped working so all my fish died. I reached a point where I almost gave up but after a few days I decided that I missed seeing my fish so went out and bough a few more and began to re stock.

now I am glad that I kept up keeping fish. My marriage did't last but my love of fish did. Kinda says it all really when the hobby lasts longer than the marriage, lol

 

[silkiechicken]

Don't give it up! Keep on going. It's fun. Poultry is my main thing, and there are times where you think it cant get any worse too. Like when the power goes out and hundreds of baby chicks die a day before hatching, or a random bird flies by and your flock gets a nasty disease or paracite. You'll recover!

 

[dem0nz]

sorry i was just getting a bit hot under the coller
everybody made it through the night and i am off to buy a new folter within the next hour.

The filter has been playing up for a while now and wasnt a very good one to begin with so it will be best that i just replace it

the green stain is only directly under the slate and seems to have leached into the sand,i am gonna take it out later then scoop that bit of sand out for a better look

will post later when i have a new filter and have looked at the sand

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the shrimp dying after adding new plants could easily be explained. a lot of the time when fish shops treat the tanks that the plants are in with copper to kill off snails, shrimp can't tolerate copper so it's entirley possible that some was still on the plants and killed off the shrimp.



agree with the above that the betta probably got finrot from the stress of moving.

 

[NonstickRon]

I see you mentioned changing your substrate to sand. That mighta been what took out your filter, if you had it running while the sand was all stirred up...

 

[dem0nz]

righty ho,

i have brought an elite stingray 10 filter which seems pretty cool,its really quiet (which is good since its in my bedroom)
it does 50 liters an hour where so my 30liter should be fine with it
it holds more than twice as much media as my old filter so i have put all of it in there along with some of the new stuff

i took all the slate out and all the moss i could get
i am certain the slate was responsible for killing my shrimp as almost all the sand it was on has turned a greyish green
i have sucked up as much of the contaminated sand as poss but couldnt get all of it up sadly

so hopefully things will start looking up,the worst thing that could happen is if my new plants die as i am awful at keeping them alive lol

as for the betta,his fins are looking better,i have medicated his tank twice now and he seems ok
i have cut all his plants back as they were looking very dead so hopefully new growth will come through,otherwise i will uproot them
the floating plant in his tank has grown loads and has a huge bubble nest attached to it

i have washed the old moss and tied it to his cave to try and stop the brown algae growth


do you guys think i have done things right?
anything else i should do?

 

[darklady]

keep us posted my friend. i am sure things will turn out ok. we have all been there when things have gone wrong, just dont give up now.

luv darklady