alcohol poisoning

[jbicb3]

I think I may have poisoned my 75. I noticed my power head was putting way more bubbles in my tank than what my homemade co2 could be producing, and upon examination I saw that I had a leaking seal, so I put some putty on it and went to bed. When I got up in the morning, my 2ltr bottle was collapsed, and the powerhead had sucked the "alcohol into the tank. I disconnected everything, and went on to work. When I got home, the water looked a little cloudy, but I didn't think too much about it until I went to feed, and it looked even worse. I didn't check any parameters, but did a 50% water change. I also broke down my fluval 404 and cleaned it, but when I hooked it back up, it quit working. So I got a new canister filter the next day, and did another 50% change. I found 2 dead glow light tetras, and one ghost shrimp. There may be more, but my tank is very full of plants, so difficult to find. Today I did a 100% WC. Actually had water siphoning out while filling the tank. Did this for about 45 minutes. It looks a lot clearer right now, but I don't know what tomorrow morning will bring.

Anyone else have experience with something like this? Any advice?

Thanks,
Jerry

[eklikewhoa]

Re: alcohol poisoning

i had a small dump once but i had a "resevoir" 1L bottle before the diffuser and after the fermentation bottle.

sorry for your misfortune.

[jbicb3]

Re: alcohol poisoning

Any idea about survival rate? Should I transfer all my fish to a couple dozen Tuperware containers, and drain the tank, and wash all my plants? Or do you think my wife might kill me if I do?

[sproett]

Re: alcohol poisoning

I'd be careful because your bacteria colony is low right now since you have a new filter.  Check your water parameters often so you can monitor for ammonia spikes.

[szidlon]

Re: alcohol poisoning

You might get some help from this thread on the planted tank forum.  I don't think you have to be registered to read, just to post.  I didn't read all the way through but it seemed similiar to what you are experiencing.
Planted Tank Forum

[jbicb3]

Re: alcohol poisoning

Thanks szidlon, it sounds like they had very little fluid get into their tank. I estimate I got about 1 to 1.5 cups in mine. I will go right now and hook up an air stone in the tank. I found another dead glowlight, and the yoyo's and botias are gasping for air. The wild guppies don't seem to be too phased.

I'm also going to put some filter material from the old 404 into the tank, and hope the bacteria in there will help some.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: alcohol poisoning

If you need a seeded filter then i have a biowheel thats been running for 6 months+ you can borrow. I only live in Kingwood so its not far.
The 2 litre bottle i used collapsed on itself so i connected two gatorade bottles together and theyre too thick to collapse.

[guppymax]

Re: alcohol poisoning

It sounds like what you are doing is good. If you have the water I think I might even change more water before it turns cold. More bubbles would strip out more of the alcohol. The alcohol may turn to vinegar so watch the pH. Sproett is right you may be cycling the tank again so watch all the nitrogen compounds too. Good luck.

max

[jbicb3]

Re: alcohol poisoning

I added the airstone, and the foam filter material from the 404 I had taken off yesterday. Pulled 2 more dead glowlights out, and one of the 2 remaining is swimming at 45deg @ the surface. The other one is breathing a little heavy, but other than that, he looks ok. That will probably change over night. I wonder if I should call in to the office due to a medical emergency? If one of my team wasn't on vacation already, I probably would.
When I was siphoning the tank for 45 minutes, I got a lot of the "slime" off the plants and out of the water column, but half the tank is christmas moss, and I didn't "rake" it very much. I know it's full of guppy fry and ghost shrimp.
I will check the levels when I get home tomorrow, and probably do another water change. BTW, Max, I have well water here, and have a setup where I can connect to the showerhead, so I can adjust the water temp.
Thanks for the offer of the cycled media Chris, but I can grab some from my angel tank if I need to, and I probably will tomorrow.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: alcohol poisoning

Your welcome. I have a 280 biowheel and a fluval 303 running on my 29 gallon, just incase i buy another tank i have a filter ready to go.

[sproett]

Re: alcohol poisoning

I hope it all works out for you and you don't lose anything else.

[Tiapan]

Re: alcohol poisoning

i also wish you super luck, its a bad deal you got sorry about that.

[guppymax]

Re: alcohol poisoning

Jerry I have some box  filters. You could fill one with activated carbon from the LFS and use that for a while if you like. I think it would remove alcohol. I used  to get into trouble when I changed too much water. I think my well water has something organic in it that depletes the disolve oxygen in the water so I run my make up water through a carbon filter from Lowes. If you see fish hanging around the top you should suspect low disolved oxygen. The alcohol might cause this as well.

max

[guppymax]

Re: alcohol poisoning

Can you put activated carbon in your filter?

max

[jbicb3]

Re: alcohol poisoning

I have activated carbon in my filter now. The tank looks 200% better than it did yesterday. I had one more tetra die last night, but this evening none are swimming at the surface gasping for air. The water looks clear, and the slime seems to have disapated for the most part. I'll check the levels in the morning, and see if I need do do another WC. I thought when I got home tonight, I'd have to get water from the other tanks, and move the fish to a rubbermaid container, then completely empty the tank, and wash all the plants. But I'm pretty sure things will be better now.