How I Spent Victoria Day

Long weekend, usually great for relaxing, right?

Not so for me.  I came home after a birthday dinner for grandma on Saturday to discover that every single one of my fish in my saltwater tank was dead.  Including the clown fish (Nemo) that I had had since day 1 of my saltwater days.  Granted, it was a big meanie, stealing food from my corals and even nipping at me when it was hungry.  But still, to come home and find all your fish gone when they were still well and alive just that afternoon was a big shock.  My sea urchin didn’t make it either, and I think a couple of hermit crabs have gone to the land of endless shells.

I had no idea what happened. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way in terms of the Internet and Mr. McLuhan’s concept of the global village since my last chemistry class in grade 10, and Google quickly pointed out that the rotten egg stench coming off of my tank water was due to hydrogen sulfide. (Sorry to be disrespectful, but keeping fish tanks has taught me more about biology and chemistry than my teachers ever managed to do)

A major water change that lasted around 4 hours pumped out buckets of greyish black water that was just too gross for words.  I had to stop because I ran out of salt.  That was my Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I spent my entire Sunday afternoon picking up more salt, and then spent another 4 hours or so doing another water change.  At least this time the water wasn’t grey anymore, and smelt a lot better.

My Monday passed by stationed next to the tank watching for signs that things were going to be okay.

It was weird to see my tank without fish swimming around.  And of course, just when you’re looking for that one fish or shrimp that would really help speed up the cleaning process, it’s nowhere to be found, or prices have more than doubled since you last checked at the local fish store.

My fish-less fish tank