unclenedsfishfactory.com

Ned, anyone, help!

Through a series of mishaps set in motion by my dog, my yeast generator backed up into my tank. About two cups of yeast/sugar/water solution was _ into the 45 gallon freshwater planted tank.

I was out of town when it happened and by the time I returned the tank was filled with this greyish scum. On all the leaves, wood, glass, etc. It sort of looks like hair algae. Water was cloudy and smelled like hell. I'd lost 50% of my livestock and the remaining were clearly oxygen deprived (gasping at surface). My theory is that the yeast was propagating in the tank and creating an anaerobic environment.

I boosted the oxygenation by lowering the water level below the filter outlets. The increased agitation seemed to help and the fish have returned to normal. Then I did a 60% water change. However, the water quality remains poor and the bloom of algae/fungus/bacteria or whatever it is continues.

I'm not sure what to do next. I obviously need to continue with water changes, but I'm not sure what else would help. Please help me end this nightmare!

I remembered reading something about this a while back on thekrib.com, and it turns out it was easy to find again. Down near the bottom of the page is the discussion about yeast in the tank.

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/yeast-disaster.html#0

Good luck!

I would change 90 % of the water
probably twice
maybe 3 times

pretty much you have to start over

if the plants are all mushy
they are obviously dead
so just throw them away
but...

if the roots of the plants
are still firm
they will grow back soon
once you get back to normal

no good deed goes un-punished

my dog always ate my homework

Thanks for the link and the advice. I was afraid the situation was that grim. I've been working on this tank for about 2 years, so it breaks my heart to see it destroyed so quickly. But, I guess that's how it goes sometimes. Perhaps it's an opportunity to try something different with the tank.

Very glad I had this forum for advice -- thanks Ned.

-- Andrew