Love is watching someone die

This weekend sucked. There you know know how I feel about my post today. It all started Thursday. I found out that my teacher was not going to be at class and that a TA was just going to be collecting our reading responses so I decided to just turn it in and go hang out with Tina and Mom. After a great lunch with Mom at Olive Garden Tina and I decided to go ahead an assemble a DVD rack that we had bought months ago because we were being taken over by the loose DVD's in the house. Right before assembling the DVD rack I decide that our fish tanks were all running a little low on water and that Tina and I should do some water changes. We do all of our tanks except my big tank and as the tank is draining / filling Tina and I decide to go to work on the DVD rack.

Well, I forgot to add dechlorination to our tank as I was refilling it and as Tina and I are finishing the rack we stand it up and I realize that all of my fish are on the bottom breathing really heavy and not eating or moving. Well just then Corey Woo shows up and in the whirlwind that is Corey basically tries to reassure me that my fish are fine and to pay attention to him. I realized my error and added the dechlornator right then but, it was too late, damage had been done. I couldn't find anything on the internet about what to do, so I add some stress coat, and I convince myself to just give them some time. We head out to our usual Thursday Spot, The Thirsty Turtle for .25 cent night. Well, we were running a little late, and I guess the word has gotten out about this little deal and the line was down past potbellies. Prolly like 1,000 people in this line, so after not moving for five minutes Tina and I decided to just go home.

I get home and the fish are not doing better, and I find one dead fish. Apparently, when I was filling THAT tank, none of the others, a really chlorine heavy batch of water decided to come into that tank and chlorine burned the gills of all of my fish. That combined with my absence of mind with the dechlornator, equaled really bad things. I get online and find out that this is a lot like being in a room full of smoke, its not impossible to breath, but very hard. Stay in the smoke too long, and you die. I got on the forums and thankfully some of the people in there had some advise, which I could have done hours earlier, but had to wait for the replies. I added some Melafix and some salt to the tank, along with every air stone in the house in an attempt to evaporate all the bad stuff. and find my first dead fish. One of my sub dominant Saulosi had died in the mess. I watch the tank for a few more hours when I find my second dead fish, one of my yellow labs. The worst part about loosing this fish, I had grown him from a fry. Tina and I decide that were going to pull all the rocks out of the tank in the morning and see where we stand.

Well, Friday morning comes and we find another a saulosi who is really struggling. We remove him from the main tank and put him into our medical tank. Add the same medication to that tank, and cover it for complete darkness. By this point the tank is looking really cloudy. What I come to find out is the chlorine also destroyed all my de-nitrifing bacteria.

WARNING SCIENCE CONTENT.
This is the nitrogen cycle. Fish waste and uneaten food become Ammonia, this Ammonia becomes Nitrites which get broken down by beneficial bacteria into Nitrates, these Nitrates are removed by Water Changes. Well, apparently, I killed all of my good bacteria and the tank became over crowded with this bad bacteria, which make the tank cloudy, and smelly. Well I add this stuff that is made in Glen Burnie which jump starts the bio-cycle and pray.

Saturday comes and I wake up to a dead Saulosi, he just couldn't overcome the burns. When I go to work the tank is really cloudy and I get even more depressed. Finally Saturday night I get my first good news, the tank is clearing up nicely. Finally, some good news. I needed this, I was really upset about the fish. Tina had put a lot of the rocks back in and did a head count, so far everyone that was left was still alive.

Skip to today, I go to school at 9AM, get home at 9PM and my little fish (who I raised from a fry) who I had not seen in a few days, dead and being sucked into a filter. Lucky everyone else, including my new fry, are doing much better. Little Miss, one of my labs, was holding, but in all the stress her fry died, and she spit it out. So if you include that little guy, 3 labs, and 2 Saulosi. The only other ray of sunshine is that the tank is looking really decent and I think everyone is gonna make it.

This weekend sucked. But this blog is about fish. Sometimes this happens, but you have to realize that its not all bad. I get a lot of happiness from these guys. Just have to re-build.