Long post warning. Please bear with me and try to help me figure out what happened.
I really need some input here. I had set up a 3rd 125 about a month and a half ago. The tank was leaking like another one I had, as it seems that all my tanks leak. I went through the resealing process using GE silicone I (the safe stuff) and set it up to cycle. I had an AC 110 on it for the first several weeks, then added an emperor 400 because we all know the AC wasn't gonna cut it. I let the silicone cure for about 5 days before filling it. I used PFS on the bottom, and it was relatively bare other than a small cave.
Now that you have the back story on the tank, it was fully cycled about 2 weeks ago. I added 2 fish, a 6 inch RTC, and my stubborn 5 inch Ocell that wouldn't get off live food. I was doing 50% WC weekly, as in all my tanks, once the fish went in. All was good for a week. Then the cat stopped eating his talapia. The bass seemed a little off, but he still ate his feeders like a champ. I came home late Wednesday night and the ocell was dead at the bottom, with no wounds, signs of sickness, ect. I was upset, as he was my first Pbass, but whatever. Note that the cat still didnt eat, so it had been about 5 days that he refused food, but his habits never changed. He did what you would expect an RTC to do, hide in the day and swim around at night. So i get up the next morning, and the catfish is dead. His skin was a little red, but it think he was dead all night so that might have caused it.
So I'm obviously a little disturbed now, as I haven't lost a fish since I first got into this hobby about a year and a half ago when I lost a tank of 3 oscars to ich. I ditched the fish in my neighbors trash can, and started to drain the tank to clean everything for take two in this tank. As I was cleaning, I noticed this slime had developed on the silicone. I dont know what it was, but I saw it on my turtle tank as well, and that was sealed with the same silicone. It is the only thing that I could find that was a little off. The fish were mine previously, so nothing was introduced disease wise. The feeders were not Q/T as they should have been, but I put in only a half dozen or so and this was after the cat started fasting. The only additional thing that was added was a tiny piece of driftwood that I found submerged in a river. It was both baked and boiled before being put in the tank, and was only about 8 inches long.
I'm grasping here. I want to know what happened, and more importantly, what, if anything, I have to do to make sure this wont repeat itself when I set it up again.
I know it will be asked, so here are the parameters.
Temp - 78 F
PH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - ~30ppm
Anyone have any idea? It's driving me insane.
I really need some input here. I had set up a 3rd 125 about a month and a half ago. The tank was leaking like another one I had, as it seems that all my tanks leak. I went through the resealing process using GE silicone I (the safe stuff) and set it up to cycle. I had an AC 110 on it for the first several weeks, then added an emperor 400 because we all know the AC wasn't gonna cut it. I let the silicone cure for about 5 days before filling it. I used PFS on the bottom, and it was relatively bare other than a small cave.
Now that you have the back story on the tank, it was fully cycled about 2 weeks ago. I added 2 fish, a 6 inch RTC, and my stubborn 5 inch Ocell that wouldn't get off live food. I was doing 50% WC weekly, as in all my tanks, once the fish went in. All was good for a week. Then the cat stopped eating his talapia. The bass seemed a little off, but he still ate his feeders like a champ. I came home late Wednesday night and the ocell was dead at the bottom, with no wounds, signs of sickness, ect. I was upset, as he was my first Pbass, but whatever. Note that the cat still didnt eat, so it had been about 5 days that he refused food, but his habits never changed. He did what you would expect an RTC to do, hide in the day and swim around at night. So i get up the next morning, and the catfish is dead. His skin was a little red, but it think he was dead all night so that might have caused it.
So I'm obviously a little disturbed now, as I haven't lost a fish since I first got into this hobby about a year and a half ago when I lost a tank of 3 oscars to ich. I ditched the fish in my neighbors trash can, and started to drain the tank to clean everything for take two in this tank. As I was cleaning, I noticed this slime had developed on the silicone. I dont know what it was, but I saw it on my turtle tank as well, and that was sealed with the same silicone. It is the only thing that I could find that was a little off. The fish were mine previously, so nothing was introduced disease wise. The feeders were not Q/T as they should have been, but I put in only a half dozen or so and this was after the cat started fasting. The only additional thing that was added was a tiny piece of driftwood that I found submerged in a river. It was both baked and boiled before being put in the tank, and was only about 8 inches long.
I'm grasping here. I want to know what happened, and more importantly, what, if anything, I have to do to make sure this wont repeat itself when I set it up again.
I know it will be asked, so here are the parameters.
Temp - 78 F
PH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - ~30ppm
Anyone have any idea? It's driving me insane.
