Loaches Online Forum

This morning the cat was very insistently trying to wake us up. she has an automatic feeder, but I was sure my husband had filled it last night. I groggily asked him -- yup. But couldn't sleep with her yowling. So got up and stumbled downstairs.

54 gallon looks funny -- all the plants flopped over, filter just a few gurgles of water coming out. Takes me a few seconds to fully realize the tank is empty. Scream!

No water on the floor. Quick try to turn everything off - where is the leak?

Instinct is to throw fish into the cycling 40 g, but hubby is smarter and says wait I have water ready -- fish seem to all be in puddles inthe tank. He adds water while we try to drain the 40 (there is still some ammonia we have been adding)

Find the water is all over the kitchen floor.

Mad dash of water change in the 40, get the filter from the 54 on the 40, try to get all the flopping fish into water -- finally decide with my hands less stressfull to fish than trying to get them with the net.

One of our big kubs was burned by the heater Alos lost a cardinal and the pleco. I am still shaking and crying. I hope all the other guys make it. Have stuck a lot of the decor, rocks plants from the 54 into the 40 wth the fish.

there is a crack in the bottomof the 54. the engineering eval will come later.

ugh.

oh our poor fish!!!!

Cat's name changed to Lassie.

What a nightmare! Great that you had another tank ready to go.

Way to go Lassie!

Update: Pleco is actually alive and well.

Unfortunately, the 40 g wasn't quite ready to go -- we had just gotten a lot of plants and they were quarantining in there while we cycled the tank. Sure hope they didn't have any Ich or other nasties on them!!!

We took those new quarantine plants out before the fish and water went in, and I'm putting rid-ich in the new tank just in case. Also some stress coat. Unfortunately the ammonia isn't yet zero in the new tank. We were going to fish-less cycle it for a bit, and I had added ammonia and the newer filter last night. Even an as-full-as-possible water drain didn't get all the ammonia out. But adding new water bit by bit, and all the old plants are in there, and the established filter.

We could repair the old tank fairly easily. It cracked all along the bottom. But the reason it cracked is worrisome. No doubt the structure it sat on settled or sagged a bit, and perhaps in response to adding the new tank next to it. This is a built in bookshelf, very solid, with some good solid posts. However the top surface on which the tank rested is only 1" thick with a 40"span. This isn't "1 by" wood, but a full 1" thick. It's reinforced by 1" wood below on both sides across the 40" span, but that wood isn't very sturdy. Of course it's more than strong enough to hold the tank, but also perhaps it sagged or settled.

It won't be too hard to repair the tank with new glass, but it's hard to trust setting it back up on this same built-in. I could reinforce the top span with 1-by wood so that the long way would be down. 2-by could be do-able, but harder to finish nicely. Still, it's hard not to feel gun shy after this traumatic rescue operation.

All in all it could have been much worse. We lost one cardinal and perhaps the nicest kubotai, but we've generally survived, people and fish.

Wow, all problems are just piling up on you. Lucky for you that your cat was awake.

Sorry to hear about the leak and loss of fish. I think that must be the number one nightmare for fish keepers.

I know when I set up my 125 just a few months ago, some kind of leak has been on my mind.

Good luck with fixing the tank and finding a place to put it. Many of us would be there to help if we lived closed enough.

I'm wondering whether to try to repair the bottom glass (cracked the long-way, all the way across) with silicone, or replace the whole piece. It seems that repairing the crack to be watertight will be possible, and perhaps a bit of flex in the silicone will make the whole thing more resilient, and be just as strong. On the other hand, it seems like one solid piece of glass might be stronger.

A feeding of bloodworms and daphnia to the moved fish. Most of them eventually joined in with enthusiasm. Most of the Kubs, except the youngest, stayed hidden -- except one medium one who looked kind of gray. The sumo, though visible, didn't do his usual feisty-dragon-in-the-sky. Still a bit of trauma, but most of us are survivors.

I think if we had slept in a half hour longer, they would have all been dead. There was just enough water for them to flop around in when Kate came down, and that went pretty fast.

I figured out why it cracked. The board upon which the tank rested, 14" wide, had bowed. I guess enough dampness under the tank had caused this board to warp -- up in the middle, down at the edges. It wasn't like this when we set the tank up. Yesterday we had done some water changing, so perhaps that was the extra dampness that caused the warping to progress just to the breaking point. I guess we better avoid this spot altogether until the board becomes straight and stable again, and also I better build a base on top of it.

Shocking to hear about another leak from someone.

One thing that is sometimes recommended is that the tank is placed on top of a sheet of styrofoam so that if there is slight bowing or settling in the stand, the styrofoam will conform to it.

I'd worry about the 40" horizontal span being too wide also. I'd probably brace it in the middle somehow.

I wouldn't repair such a large crack. I'm sure it could be done properly, but I wouldn't get any sleep at all. If I were in your position, I'd get the bottom replaced by someone who either build aquariums, or work with similar type glass-constructions, or buy a new tank. I can promise you that the crack(s) you see is just a fraction of the number of microcracks that surround the visible one, so just smearing some silicone on the crack is probably going to crack again. I will admit that I'm not familiar with working in glass, but I do work with metal, and I've rarely seen any repairs being as strong as the "original".

first off Katy, I am SO sorry. I cannot image the disgust and sadness that you all feel after nurturing those beautiful fish. I know too well the panic in the wet PJ's as you rush around trying to salvage (in your case, LIVES). Plecos are amazing, don't you think? I'm glad your pleco made it.
To have something like this happen is truly awful. And WOW, sounds like your quick thinking (and that wiley cat) saved a fair number of fish!!
The important thing is not losing faith, being able to start over with a positive attitude.
I would look into what chefkeith says about the styrofoam under the tank. I am researching this myself as I think sometimes our stands and supports can be "too sturdy", leaving no flex for the tank.
OF course, you all were able to figure out the problem and can correct it.
please keep us posted on how the "survivors" of that near fatal crash fair.

We actually did have it on some foam. It was just a bit of it though, some foam presentation board, maybe a quarter inch thick. Maybe a real piece of styrofoam, like some blueboard, would have been a different story.

We lost another cardinal tetra today. The loaches ate it. The sumo loach isn't quite himself. The Kubotai and Rostrata seem much pinker than they did, but they're under a very different light. Hopefully everyone will be OK in the morning...

Water in new tank: zero ammonia. Whew.

Fish behavior is a bit different, but it's a new environment and post-trauma. The striata are schooling together in a different, tighter way, and so are the sidds. The kubotai are hiding more, and the sumo is a bit weird, but I saw him eating.

Fishkeepers: also post-trauma.

I'm still pretty traumatized -- afraid to even look in the tanks.

I did e-mail half-dozen people with tanks for sale on Craigslist yesterday, and the one that sounds the besst, though far away, is a (gulp) 120 gallon, with stand hood and filter.

I think it is crazy to get a tank that big, but I also like the idea of our fish having lots of room to swim.... and the 40 could become a river tank.

But how can I think like that when I am too scared to even go near the tanks we have?????

Katy wrote:
But how can I think like that when I am too scared to even go near the tanks we have?????

Because you love your fish, because you want the very best for them!!

Val