!!ROOMMATE THROWS 10 GAL ON SECOND FLOOR APARTMENT!!

[FeatherstoneReefer]

He wanted a spoon. They were all dirty. I own everything in the apartment. He gets upset. He lifts up full 10 gallon freshwater aquarium. stumbles into my bedroom. Throws aquarium in the middle of the room. Aquarium bottom disappears. Water everywhere. Kills 5 of my fish. I was able to save the other 4. And then he and I spend the next 8 hours pulling up carpet and drying out the room.

The apartment is fine. all damage cleaned up, and he paid for and purchased all broken goods. I also documented the event in case I have to take him to court over the potential damage to the apartment.

I was forced to move my saltwater tank (25 gallons) from my room to accommodate the removal of carpet and the drying process. I had just bought new salt water the day before so I had no empty buckets and was rushing to get the room clear as fast as possible to soak up the water. I just began my cycle a week before this happened. I was forced to poor all of the water that was in my tank during that first week of cycling down the bathtub drain.

Current situation. I replaced the water in the saltwater tank with new RODI salt water. before the incident I had seen my ammonia spike to about 2 ppm, and I had diatoms formed across all of my live rock and sand. I had also started to see nitrite in my tests as well as nitrate. QUESTION #1::: is it normal to see a spike in both nitrite and nitrate at the same time when cycling? if not what does this mean?

After the new water was introduced I still was reading ammonia but it was falling from its peak of 2 ppm to its current .25 ppm. (this drop occurred gradually, however my first test immediately after we got the room put back together read 1 ppm of ammonia) I continued to see the presents of diatoms and even some small splotches of green algae on my live rock. I used a shrimp to cycle my aquarium prior to this event and had removed the shrimp 2 days before he threw my ten gallon tank on the floor.

QUESTION #2:::: Do I need to put a piece of shrimp back into my tank to produce another ammonia spike?

Currently my test are reading 5 ppm of nitrite, and 80 ppm of nitrate, my ammonia is at .25 ppm.

QUESTION #3::::: What do I do from here? do I need to provide ammonia for my diatoms to continue their life cycle? Why isn't my Nitrite falling as my nitrate rises?

All of my test are done on API test tube kits and cross referenced with clean tank samples labeled from the previous day that are tested again along side the new samples for color comparison and greater accuracy.

Tank is 25 gallons with 25 lbs of live rock.

Thank you and happy reefing.

 

[albano]

He wanted a spoon. They were all dirty. I own everything in the apartment. He gets upset. He lifts up full 10 gallon freshwater aquarium. stumbles into my bedroom. Throws aquarium in the middle of the room. Aquarium bottom disappears. Water everywhere. Kills 5 of my fish.

Forget about your fish... Get rid of your insane roommate before he hurts/kills you...there is something wrong with him!

 

[FeatherstoneReefer]

Forget about your fish... Get rid of your insane roommate before he hurts/kills you...there is something wrong with him!

Can we focus on the questions above? and then we can talk about my safety?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Your roommate is a violent sociopath. I suggest you get clear asap.

 

[vetteguy53081]

File a police report - first thing. Dude is psychotic!!!
As for tank- fish in Buckets at minimum. Using cured rock, place that in tank with New seawater and run carbon if possible. Spike is normal for what you just endured. get some liquid bacteria such as Dr Tims, Bacter 8 or Bio sphere at pet store and add it little by little daily. Feed sparingly once fish are in display tank and again- Ditch the dude ! Not worth what potentially is next. If this occurred over a spoon, I cant imagine over a remote or toothpaste....WOW

 

[FeatherstoneReefer]

File a police report - first thing. Dude is psychotic!!!
As for tank- fish in Buckets at minimum. Using cured rock, place that in tank with New seawater and run carbon if possible. Spike is normal for what you just endured. get some liquid bacteria such as Dr Tims, Bacter 8 or Bio sphere at pet store and add it little by little daily. Feed sparingly once fish are in display tank and again- Ditch the dude ! Not worth what potentially is next. If this occurred over a spoon, I cant imagine over a remote or toothpaste....WOW

The saltwater tank didn't have any fish in them at all. Life is back to normal, I have 2 tanks, a ten gallon and a 25. the fish that were in the incident are the freshwater 10 gallon fish. my questions pertain to the saltwater tank going through a fishes cycle.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The saltwater tank didn't have any fish in them at all. Life is back to normal, I have 2 tanks, a ten gallon and a 25. the fish that were in the incident are the freshwater 10 gallon fish. my questions pertain to the saltwater tank going through a fishes cycle.

I misunderstood. For cycling..... I use liquid bacteria in a bottle. You may use a couple black mollies to feed and produce your bacteria and introduce a natural cycle. Just feed sparingly

 

[OffTopic]

I don't know maybe throwing fish tanks is a normal thing people do

For cycling I used liquid bacteria and I was happy with the results, that'd being said I have heard stories of it no working well. I used a product called SEED for cycling and in my specific use case it worked well.

 

[Burrito]

Was his cereal getting soggy? I mean a dude has limits.... seriously though kick him the f out

 

[FeatherstoneReefer]

Was his cereal getting soggy? I mean a dude has limits.... seriously though kick him the f out

he was in fact making cereal

 

[wesman42]

he was in fact making cereal

Was he drunk because that's literally the only thing I could think to make a person do something like that.

 

[KrisReef]

Answer 1; Normal cycle can have spikes of nitrite and nitrate while the bacteria are colonizing.

Answer 2; Use a fresh piece of your roommate to restart the cycle. Don't waste any more shrimp after what the guy did. (Hint: Testicles would work for this.)

Answer 3: I don't even know if any of this is real,

 

[FeatherstoneReefer]

Answer 1; Normal cycle can have spikes of nitrite and nitrate while the bacteria are colonizing.

Answer 2; Use a fresh piece of your roommate to restart the cycle. Don't waste any more shrimp after what the guy did. (Hint: Testicles would work for this.)

Answer 3: I don't even know if any of this is real,

LOL thank you so much, just to be clear, do I need to add another shrimp?

 

[Zeal]

Dude hello.. get rid of your crazy roommate.........................???????????

 

[Stanzo13]

Was his cereal soggy,
He was in fact making cereal.
DUDE I LAUGHED SO HARD

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

If what you say is true, (please do not think I’m saying your not being honest,not that at all), you have much larger problems at hand. First why would anyone even continue to live under the same roof as that person? The fact he paid for it is irrelevant, it’s called cruelty to animals, (it’s a crime, it’s also one of you don’t report it). Secondly, this was over a spoon, so what happens if you eat his food or something major? I’m sorry law enforcement must know about this. Yes one can speculate all kinds of things on this, one can even ask is this all the info. If so if anyone did that to me and we had a joint lease, I would leave. I’d fine a hotel and stay there and stay safe. Since I work in the trauma center nobody thinks they will get hurt or injured until they are in the hospital.

In addition what prevents him from doing this again? From what I have read, (and it’s your right to not say or give little info), but him buying you new stuff and fish solves nothing. You have animals that died because of this persons actions, in which they would still be alive if he didn’t do this. I can’t force or tell you what you can do, but I would definitely file charges or make a report at least.

Please understand I’m am not trying to be critical of you or
What you have posted. But this is a major red flag, others have point this out. I’m truly sorry, I am very sorry but how this is being handled is not okay. It’s ultimately your decision, but professionally speaking, I would be worring about much more severe problems at the moment.

Sincerely
Sarah

 

[FeatherstoneReefer]

Hello,

If what you say is true, (please do not think I’m saying your not being honest,not that at all), you have much larger problems at hand. First why would anyone even continue to live under the same roof as that person? The fact he paid for it is irrelevant, it’s called cruelty to animals, (it’s a crime, it’s also one of you don’t report it). Secondly, this was over a spoon, so what happens if you eat his food or something major? I’m sorry law enforcement must know about this. Yes one can speculate all kinds of things on this, one can even ask is this all the info. If so if anyone did that to me and we had a joint lease, I would leave. I’d fine a hotel and stay there and stay safe. Since I work in the trauma center nobody thinks they will get hurt or injured until they are in the hospital.

In addition what prevents him from doing this again? From what I have read, (and it’s your right to not say or give little info), but him buying you new stuff and fish solves nothing. You have animals that died because of this persons actions, in which they would still be alive if he didn’t do this. I can’t force or tell you what you can do, but I would definitely file charges or make a report at least.

Please understand I’m am not trying to be critical of you or
What you have posted. But this is a major red flag, others have point this out. I’m truly sorry, I am very sorry but how this is being handled is not okay. It’s ultimately your decision, but professionally speaking, I would be worring about much more severe problems at the moment.

Sincerely
Sarah

Thank you Sarah, I am a pre law student at Central Michigan University, and I have reached out to me friend and battalion commander in ROTC to help communicate with my roommate and discover if his intentions were violent or a major miscalculation. He is 19 and moved from Miami to Michigan to go to a god danged community college. First time away from home. I think that what he did was disgusting, but on the other I am 22 and have had many bad roommates. I plan on filing a police report and cover my butt if the apartment finds out and tries to charge us jointly. I understand the concern and I want you all to know that I think I will be safe and sound here.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

LOL thank you so much, just to be clear, do I need to add another shrimp?

No. It’s probably fine.
Sounds mid cycle ish.
Grab a cheap ammonia alert badge though. A good back up as the api ammonia kit is famous for the .25 ammoina error.
But because your nitrite hasn’t fallen much , I’d say there is still Ammonia in there.
Also , you can just use flake food to ghost feed. It all rots and gives off ammoina.

 

[Katrina71]

It's cycling. Don't stress. You just had a cycle hiccup. It will just force you to be patient.

 

[ihavecrabs]

LOL thank you so much, just to be clear, do I need to add another shrimp?

I agree with @KrisReef

As far as question #3, your nitrite isn't falling as your nitrate raises as there is still ammonia being converted into nitirite. Once ammonia is 0, then nitrite will start to fall.

Hope this helps!