diy co2 leaked into tank...

[s3xtcy]

Hey all, looks like the cats got interested and knocked the coke bottles that have my homemade co2 in them over, as a result my tank was extremely cloudy, I did a 50% water change, now the fish were ok but have started gasping for air, one of the tigerbarbs (whos always been little and is obv being bullied (he had next to no tail) died..

the others, like i say have been gasping for air, should i do another water change? quite depressing

any ideas that would be great, thanks

[Jennifer]

How old was the mixture? If it had been around for more than a couple of weeks, the alcohol content will be a serious concern so you may want to do another big water change ASAP.

[s3xtcy]

ummm.... it would probably be approx 2weeks... ive gotten lazy with replacing the mixture :-? - would that be enough to require another 50% change? thanks

[Jennifer]

At two weeks, it shouldn't be a high amount of alcohol yet, but even a small amount can be very toxic to fish. If the fish look like they are struggling, then yes, definitely do another water change (and possibly another tomorrow as well if things haven't improved).

[s3xtcy]

great, ill go do one now and report back my outcome, thanks alot for your help

[Adrienne]

Have you got an airline running because if not I recommend you put one in to add oxygen to the water. Have you got a spare tank?

[s3xtcy]

ive got a airpump in there, and ive got the 90cm flexi hose in there at the moment, ive just moved it while i did the water change so it actually bubbles properly (it was quite crap before even on max) but now its bubbling away quite happily, im in the process of rebuilding my old tank after it exploded... so in short no spare tank

[Adrienne]

The other thing I would be concerned about is what the mix is going to do to your filter.

Have the fish started to come down from the top of the tank since the second water change? How much mix do you think may have emptied in to the tank?

[s3xtcy]

ooo i didnt think about that, i think possibly about a cup, its hard to tell, all the levels of the two bottles looked normalish before i blew all the stuff out of the lines.

What kind of damage would you think it would do?

ive got a aqua one cf1200 and the normal ar620t filters going at the moment, thinking about putting in some pond aquaclear stuff to try and clear it up a bit?

the fish have come down and their breathing has gone back to normal, however they are normally put to "bed" by now so some are starting to go to the bottom (the female sword has gone to sleep)

[Jennifer]

Yeast alone won't be too harmful in small quantities (it is actually a useful food for fry). The alcohol would be the main concern but after two weeks the percentage of alcohol will be very low. That coupled with the fact that a seemingly small amount was dumped into the tank means that it shouldn't be a huge concern. You will have removed most of it with the water changes. I would definitely not put any chemicals into the water to clear it up.

[s3xtcy]

ok, thanks i might turn the lights out and see how they are in the morning.

[s3xtcy]

**UPDATE**

water is still cloudy, however no casulties overnight everbody (except my clownloach) is eating like normal, however im struggling to get my loach to eat... (not a new problem)

thanks for everyones help! is there anything else i should do? is another w/c reccommended to clear up the water or should i leave it for a while?

Thanks Again :lol:

[ryanjury]

I would be water changing until the water is clear, have you tried adding crabon or something like that to the filter? I am unsure if it would help but it might do..

[Adrienne]

Only semi related to this post but clown loaches are better off in a group and from what I have read above you may only have one?

As Ryan says keep doing the water changes until the tank clears.

[s3xtcy]

yeah i was given two, one had whitespot really bad (i didnt realise what it was) and was treating them when this happened, the one with whitespot died friday im looking at getting another three to keep the numbers a bit happier problem is ive got to get my tank together again so ive got enough room

as for adding carbon to the filter the ar620t filter system has carbon in the replaceable filter bits if im not mistaken?

thanks for everyones input

[Adrienne]

I don't know about your style of tank but carbon should be replaced around every 4 or so weeks as once it is full of muck it starts to send it back out into your tank I believe.

It may have been a good catcher for any yeast so therefore it might pay to replace it.

Its a lot easier to replace than have to clean out your filter sponges properly therefore losing any good bacteria.

[Jennifer]

I agree with Ryan and Adrienne, you need to keep changing the water until it is clear.

Carbon will not be able to effectively absorb much yeast. Similarly, alcohol will only adsorb to carbon with a weak bond so that won't be very effective either. At any rate, if the carbon has been in your filter for a month or more, it will be 'spent' and unable to absorb much more.

There is usually no need to use carbon under normal circumstances. You would mainly use it to absorb excess medication after a treatment or if you have added other chemicals to your tank. As Adrienne said, it is best to remove spent carbon since it may start to release absorbed chemicals back into the water.