Total Die Off

[Dreamroper]

Hi Everyone,

My BF just had all of his African Cichlids die. Water parameters are perfect. Nothing happened other than he had his filters (he has 2 canister filters) turned off fro about 15 minutes while he was rearranging the output. They showed all the signs of suffocation. He arranged his output so that it was shooting air down into his tank, did a 30% water change, but nothing helped. What a shame!! Some beautiful large cichlids. Does anyone have any ideas at all?
Thanks-D

 

[JraGold]

Was there much surface agitation?

 

[Dreamroper]

Yes, a lot. He has two large canister filters, so he adjusted the output to spray bubbles directly into the tank. This was really tragic. He bought these fish as small ones and watched them grow and change color. It was obvious that they suffocating, but we didn't know what caused it and how to stop it. Out of 30 fish he has 5 left. Don't know if they'll make it or not.

 

[JraGold]

Sounds like something happened to the water quality... Had he done a wc recently?

 

[Dreamroper]

He had cleaned his tank and did a PWC a couple of days ago. Something toxic had to have gotten in the water. The only thing that we can think is that he was rearranging the output spouts of his filter and he used a piece of inner tube. It was new, and have never been used for anything. The water briefly ran over the rubber. This is a 125 gal tank. When he saw his fish in distress, he immediately did a larger WC. Whatever it was, got into their systems and that was it. Horrible experience watching all these beautiful fish die.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Did he put water conditioner in? Any other chems? Some will bind to the oxygen in the water.

 

[mikem691]

He had cleaned his tank and did a PWC a couple of days ago. Something toxic had to have gotten in the water. The only thing that we can think is that he was rearranging the output spouts of his filter and he used a piece of inner tube. It was new, and have never been used for anything. The water briefly ran over the rubber. This is a 125 gal tank. When he saw his fish in distress, he immediately did a larger WC. Whatever it was, got into their systems and that was it. Horrible experience watching all these beautiful fish die.

This most likely was the problem. The inside of inner tubes have a powder chemical coating to keep the rubber from drying out.

 

[Dreamroper]

That's all we can think that it could have been too. Although I'm not sure that the inside of the inner tube was exposed, but maybe the outside has a chemical on it. It must be super, super toxic though, to affect these fish in a 125 gal tank and as I said, the water just briefly ran over the rubber; it wasn't immersed at all in the water. Hard lesson to learn. Beautiful, large, cichlids that he took such good care of. He's really upset, but he'll start again. I just hope there isn't a residual of this stuff on anything. He's going to drain the tank, refill and put some guppies in for awhile before starting to restock.
Thanks for your help-Denise

 

[Ardynas]

Very sorry you two had to go thru this.
When I first started keeping fish I was worried that one day I would wake up and find all my fish dead. I still hope that never happens.

Sounds like it might have something to do with that piece of rubber. I suppose if you were out spraying the lawn with insecticides (or something similar) and forgot to wash your hands... just guessing.

 

[Dreamroper]

Very sorry you two had to go thru this.
When I first started keeping fish I was worried that one day I would wake up and find all my fish dead. I still hope that never happens.

Sounds like it might have something to do with that piece of rubber. I suppose if you were out spraying the lawn with insecticides (or something similar) and forgot to wash your hands... just guessing.

Thanks for your kind words. I have a 36 gal community tank and as you know, those fish are fragile due to the breeding. The bad part was that he had to sit and watch as they died off one by one. He has 3 left. A Pleco which he inherited from a previous tank, his Jewell and a Flame Back, out of 30 fish.

He's always been very careful to wash his hands before putting them near his tank. Makes it all the more heartbreaking when someone takes such care.

Thanks again. Denise

 

[Aquarium Girl]

My heart goes out to you!

A couple of weeks ago I used a new ant powder to tackle my ant problem. It wasn't until later that I read on the bottle that it was highly toxic to aquatic life and at the time I was refilling my tank with a hose that I realised I would have dragged across the ant powder. It was a nerve wracking night watching and waiting for something awful to happen. Thankfully nothing did but I'll never buy that product again!

Hope your BF fills the tank with some new beautiful fish and can enjoy the process of watching them grow big and bright and strong again

 

[aquandrew]

Thanks for your kind words. I have a 36 gal community tank and as you know, those fish are fragile due to the breeding. The bad part was that he had to sit and watch as they died off one by one. He has 3 left. A Pleco which he inherited from a previous tank, his Jewell and a Flame Back, out of 30 fish. He's always been very careful to wash his hands before putting them near his tank. Makes it all the more heartbreaking when someone takes such care. Thanks again. Denise

i am also sorry for your loss. did your boyfriend wash his hands with soap right before putting them in the tank? soaps, detergents and fragrances are common causes for mass die offs in aquariums, when they contaminate the water column. if he has been washing his hands for some time now without problems, did he change to a different soap before this happened? how fast did it take for each one to die? as someone else asked, was he sure he added water conditioner?

 

[Dreamroper]

i am also sorry for your loss. did your boyfriend wash his hands with soap right before putting them in the tank? soaps, detergents and fragrances are common causes for mass die offs in aquariums, when they contaminate the water column. if he has been washing his hands for some time now without problems, did he change to a different soap before this happened? how fast did it take for each one to die? as someone else asked, was he sure he added water conditioner?

He washed his hands, but he's always very careful about rinsing thoroughly to make sure no soap residue enters the water. He tested his parameters and all were negative. They all dies quickly-within several hours and it was clear that they were suffocating. He tried everything, but something must have been bonding to the oxygen in the water. Thanks Andrew-D

 

[HUKIT]

did your boyfriend wash his hands with soap right before putting them in the tank? soaps, detergents and fragrances are common causes for mass die offs in aquariums, when they contaminate the water column. if he has been washing his hands for some time now without problems, did he change to a different soap before this happened

That is the most ridiculous thing I've read lately, soap residue on your hands is not going to cause a massive die off...especially in a 125 gallons of water!!

How are fragrances going to effect a closed system like this?

The poster said the water quality was perfect but without knowing what their idea of perfect is I'm leaning towards water quality issues. Without knowing the actual test results with a liquid kit the root cause still can't be determined.

I would seriously doubt exposure to a rubber inner tube would cause this...

 

[mikem691]

That is the most ridiculous thing I've read lately, soap residue on your hands is not going to cause a massive die off...especially in a 125 gallons of water!!

How are fragrances going to effect a closed system like this?

The poster said the water quality was perfect but without knowing what their idea of perfect is I'm leaning towards water quality issues. Without knowing the actual test results with a liquid kit the root cause still can't be determined.

I would seriously doubt exposure to a rubber inner tube would cause this...

I agree I do know there is a powder inside inner tubes but have no idea what it is. The poster corrected me tho by saying it was used to deflect water or something. I thought it was used as piping for the filter.

 

[Rare]

What did he test? What about pH? What was the pH at?

 

[Dreamroper]

I agree I do know there is a powder inside inner tubes but have no idea what it is. The poster corrected me tho by saying it was used to deflect water or something. I thought it was used as piping for the filter.

The water parameters were:
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-barely discernible on color chart included with API kit.
PH-7.5

The inner tube is hard to understand, I agree. He was using it to hold his two output tubes from the filters together(he has 2 canister filters). The water simply ran over the small piece of tube for a matter of seconds. The inside of the tube was never exposed to water. This is a huge mystery. The tank has been established for 7 months with no losses in the past other than fry.

 

[FrankoQ]

Sorry to hear. I hope you find the cause and share it with us.
I'm starting a new cichlid tank and I also fear screwing up and killing all these beautiful fish.

 

[smithpants94]

This exact thing happened to my African cichlids. I rearranged the tank, did a water change, came back and my fish were all suffocating.

In my case (which sounds a lot like your boyfriend's) I believe the bacteria in the canister filter may have died and when I turned it back on, it polluted the water.

I hope we find the problem so others don't have to go through what we did.

 

[howmanyds]

So sorry to hear. I definitely agree the hardest part is not knowing exactly what the cause was, especially since such care was taken.