Leaking Aquarium

I was walking up to my 50 gallon fish tank to feed my fish, as usual, when my socks get soaked by a big puddle of water on the floor. At first I blame it on my one year old toddler who is always spilling her water bottle all over the floor. I quickly wipe it up. But then I look up and see water leaking out of the bottom of my fish tank. Oh no.

I use a paper towel to soak up all the water, desperately praying that it was just leftover water spilling from the water change I did two days ago.

Ten minutes later, water continues to slowly but steadily leak out of my tank. My fiance says right away, "You better empty the whole thing, tear it down before it the crack gets bigger and damages our property." I have a mini panic attack. Tear down my pride and joy? A fixer upper I've poured almost $2000 into? No!

But reality was staring me in the face. I had no choice.

So I turned to Google. Explanations on how to reseal tanks were complicated and unfeasible. I didn't have time to do all that with a toddler to look after. I started going on Craigslist, desperately looking for another 50 gallon or larger tank to buy as a replacement. After sending a handful of emails, I went back on Google.

Meanwhile, in the background, my fiance's voice continues to nag, "What are you waiting for? Just empty the tank already! Move the fish and plants and stuff into your small spare tank."

I retort with great frustration, "Just give me some time to think about it!"

"Think about what?" He says, "It's leaking. You need to fix it or get a new one!"

So I hook up my Aqueon water changer hose and start draining away. I take out my spare 20 gallon tank (used as a plant terrarium) and start wiping it down, all the while silently mourning the loss of such a beautiful tank. I have spent 8 months getting it to the way it looks now...only to tear it down? And don't even get me started on how long it would take to catch all of my shrimp and fish in there (over 50!)

After changing out 50% of the water, I remove the hose. Ok, one last check on Google to see if there are ANY alternatives. One last check before I destroy my aquascape.

I visit a fish forum website and a genius on there was answering a question about leaking aquariums. He said in the past his tank had an unexpected leak. So he emptied it and tore everything down to check out the problem. Yet there was no crack or rupture in the silicone sealant. So he filled it up again and the tank started to leak from the bottom again. Long story short, he discovered that his filter was actually overflowing, causing water to drip from the back of the tank to the front.

OF COURSE!

I had noticed that after draining 50% of the water and unplugging my hang-on-back filters, the "leak" stopped for 15 minutes. Could it be??

I checked the back of the tank and lo and behold, there was a puddle of water right under my Fluval C3 filter!

So I refilled my tank and cleaned out my filter media. Plugged everything back in and it's been half hour now and NO LEAK! WOOHOO!

Problem solved.
Thanks Google for saving my butt.
Thank you inner intuition for staying calm and not listening to the advice of my fiance.

Imagine if I had torn it all down only to realize it was just the filter overflowing...

So just thought I'd share this funny story with you guys.

If you have a strange leak, make sure it's not your filter!! And don't keep the water level too high that causes the filter to overflow more easily.

Take care readers!

Chesmok

Freshwater Shrimp Dying

So for the past few weeks I've had my precious freshwater dwarf shrimp die off, one by one. Only one death a day every other day, but still, it's disheartening. The other shrimp are not active, not eating...It's been heartbreaking.

Not only has this been an extremely expensive loss (they're $5/ea!), but also a puzzling one too. I have no clue why they are dying! My best guess so far is: a bacterial disease.

It's not my water quality- which is pretty much perfect.

6 gallon cube aquarium
73-74F
0 ammonia 0 nitrite <5 nitrates
KH (Carbonate hardness) 2
GH (General hardness) 8
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) ~180ppm
15-20% water changes 2x a week
Densely planted like a jungle and plants are thriving

Most of the shrimp that have died already were actually my red cherries and painted fire red shrimp. I must've lost all my crystal black shrimp too along the way because last week I checked everywhere and couldn't find a single one left (I had 10 a couple months ago). So on top of the lifeless carcasses I've been scooping out with semi regularity there have been several other deaths wherein the bodies were cannibalized in the middle of the night. :'(

I've since added Seachem Prime to the water (in case it's a problem to do with ammonia/nitrite/nitrates, which I doubt) and a big catappa almond leaf (supposed to help naturally treat bacterial disease). A week of doing this and I still lost 1 shrimp that I know of. Some days the remaining survivors are active and eating, but most days they are still listless.

My other small 4 gallon tank (where I relocated some shrimps, hoping they would heal in a different tank) isn't doing so well either. I lost 1 shrimp in that tank last week. Current survivors are not looking good. Pale colors and barely moving let alone eating. My dwarf orange crayfish in that tank also mysteriously lost a main claw so now she's hobbling along with only one pincer. Breaking my heart...but I read that they can regrow limbs with time. (Please be true!)

Meanwhile in my 36 gallon, green spot algae is running rampant and I lost 3 fish this week - my longtime starving killifish, a red calico platy that started getting sick out of nowhere, and I lost 1 dwarf rainbowfish 2 days after adding the school of 4. I must've treated this tank 4 times already and fish are still dying from what I suspect is bacterial disease or maybe even parasites?

I hate how it's almost impossible to diagnose the true cause of a fish's disease. It's frustrating and extremely annoying. I'm praying that more frequent water changes will make the remaining fish healthier.

So it's just been one piece of bad news after another I'm afraid. I'm starting to lose confidence in my fish care abilities. I know, I know, having deaths is an inevitable part of the hobby but I feel like I've been on a death streak with no end in sight.

To further exacerbate matters, I am going on vacation soon and the only person I can rely on to take care of my fish and plants is my teenage brother who knows nothing about these things. I am terrified he will end up overfeeding my fish or polluting the water somehow and I'll come back with tanks full of dead fish and rotting plants. (*freaking out*)

Well, hopefully I'll have better news next time.