Major 55 tank disaster!

[crazyred]

Well, I seem to be having a major tank disaster of unknown origin because I lost an angelfish yesterday of unknown cause, and when I went home for lunch today I had lost my male ram, and I have another angelfish that isn't looking too hot. I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, but I performed a small emergency water change in case there's something in there that I can't test for. This totally sucks. I've spent a small fortune on fish lately and I'm losing them one by one. Now, my female ram is alone and I fear that one of my favorite angelfish (my little koi) will be dead when I get home at 5:00. I'm beyond sad, and I don't know how I'm going to get through the next 4 hours of work.

I just don't understand what it could be. Two days ago my fish were fine, active, swimming, eating and now, they're all dying one by one......except the platies. There are sometimes I just hate fishkeeping. I guess it's going to be a while before I try to put any fish back into this tank, and I may have to abadon my dream of a lovely SA set-up. I can't take this.

Can anyone offer any insight here? The only things I can think of are these: I performed my weekly water change yesterday and within hours one of the anglefish was dead....could it be something wrong with my water that I can't test? Also, I did spray a little air freshner in the room with tank (I have before) could some of that leeched in and poisoned the fish? I do have to say that my two only remaining rummy nose tetras and my last cardinal tetra are okay; I figure if it was that....they would be the first to go. The last thing, I did notice condensation on the inside of my new glass Hagen Tronic heater. I couldn't find any cracks, but could it have sent current into the tank and killed my fish. I changed it out for my older that has poor temp control, but at least it will do until I can get a Visitherm Stealth.

Any thoughts, clues, ideas, sympathy?????

 

[hulkamaniac]

I don't have a clue how something like this could happen, but I can sympathize. I moved and about a month later the tank crashed. I lost two angels and 3 upside down cats in one day. It sucked.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Sorry about the losses. How long did you have the fish that died? I'm just wondering if it could be internal parasites. I'm not sure that air freshener will do much anything, especially if you've done it before. I personally don't use spray air fresheners, but instead, I use spray on carpet fresheners. That way I don't accidently spray anything too close to the tanks, and still makes the room smell great.

Other than internal parasites or an unknown disease that could have come in on a new fish, not sure what else it could be. And I don't think there would be anything in the tap water that would have done it. I do 50% PWC's weekly and all my rams are doing great, even the babies.

Again, sorry about the losses. Hope you can find out the problem soon, so the rest of the fish will live a long healthy life.

 

[crazyred]

Maybe it is internal parasites! I've had the angels for two weeks and I've had the rams for almost two weeks. I'll start feeding anti-parasite meds tonight, but I think it might be too late. I'm SO sad

 

[MACATUA]

Sorry dude, but don't let it get you down. With time, the rewards make it all better....

 

[rich311k]

Sorry for the loss. Did the rams and angels come from the same store? I would imagine one of your newcomers came with something extra. Again sorry for you losses.

 

[Alshain]

Sorry about the losses. How long did you have the fish that died? I'm just wondering if it could be internal parasites. I'm not sure that air freshener will do much anything, especially if you've done it before. I personally don't use spray air fresheners, but instead, I use spray on carpet fresheners. That way I don't accidently spray anything too close to the tanks, and still makes the room smell great.

I prefer burning candles but then that presents another risk. Sorry for your losses Crazy, I hope things turn around.

As for the water change, my tap water is terrible and my tank takes it easy. Straight out of the tap with dechlor the stuff has anywhere from .5 to 1 ppm ammonia in it but if I test the tank after a 50% water change, I get nothing detectable. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for a cycled tank, there shouldn't be anything in the water that would kill your fish provided your conditioning.

 

[chotie]

what are your nitrate levels?
what are your other fish in the tank?
how long has the tank been cycled or in operation?
were any of the new acquisitions QTd before they got put into your tank?
where were the new fish from?
what were you feeding these fish?
how often were you feeding your fish (specific amount)?
what kind of substrate?
what kind of filter?
when was the last filter change?
what kind of chems do you put in before/after a W/C.
how often do you W/C?

 

[chotie]

also, do you have a thermometer (reliable and tested) in the tank?
are you 110% sure your heater didnt break?
how much suface tension do you get (for oxygen purposes)?

 

[crazyred]

what are your nitrate levels?

Always less than 5 ppm because of the high light and fast growing plants

what are your other fish in the tank?

About 10 platies tranferred over from my 29 (I've had 3 of these platies for almost a year and the and the others are their babies....very healthy) 3 angels (one's not looking too good) the left over female ram, 2 rummie nose tetras and 1 cardinal tetra

how long has the tank been cycled or in operation?

Tank has been up & running with plants and platies for well over a month. I put a bunch of gravel and filter media from my well established 29 and put the platies in there to kick in the cycle. I got a small nitrite spike at first (2 ppm), but the seed material took over and all levels were zero within a couple of weeks. I waited until this time to add the angels.

were any of the new acquisitions QTd before they got put into your tank?

No, I don't have a QT tank.

where were the new fish from?

An LFS that, up until now, I trusted (I got my blue platies from there and had no problems....I still have those fish a year later)

what were you feeding these fish?

Flakes and cichlid pellets

how often were you feeding your fish (specific amount)?

Once a day, only as much as they could eat in two minutes

what kind of substrate?

65 lbs. of Eco Complete, and 25 pounds of regular black aquarium gravel

what kind of filter?

Penguin 350 HOB and Eheim ECCO 2233 cannister

when was the last filter change?

I don't filter change, because I don't use carbon. I rinsed the pads in old tank water on the Eheim ECCO a week ago

what kind of chems do you put in before/after a W/C.

Just Prime to dechlor and plant ferts (Leaf Zone, Flourish)

how often do you W/C?

40% once a week

also, do you have a thermometer (reliable and tested) in the tank?

Yes, the ones that are in-tank held on to the side with a suction cup....it reads 80 degrees

are you 110% sure your heater didnt break?

No. I saw condensation inside the glass, but I CAN"T see visible evidence of a break...no cracks or anything.

how much suface tension do you get (for oxygen purposes)?

Not sure on this one, but the HOB provide quite a bit of agitation provided I don't fill the tank too full.

 

[chotie]

other than your heater, everything else looks real good. fish dying suddenly w/o symptoms are usually from a few things:

-introduction of an overdose of chems (co2? as well?)
-bullied/eaten by another
-broken heater, filter (oxygen levels decreased)
and the #1 reason for fish dying suddenly...
...they were already very sick in the first place.

 

[crazyred]

-introduction of an overdose of chems (co2? as well?)

DIY CO2 that I have now disconnected. My pH and kH would indicate a CO2 level of only 20 ppm so I can't imagine that that would be it, but I'm taking no chances...My pH is around 7-7.2 and my kH is 120 ppm so I don't think the CO2 is the answer.

-bullied/eaten by another

no aggression in this tank whatsoever

-broken heater, filter (oxygen levels decreased)

filters work great. The heater had problems, but it was keeping the tank warm, but not too warm

and the #1 reason for fish dying suddenly...
...they were already very sick in the first place.

This must be it, but they sure didn't show it. The angels were feisty and spunky with ravenous appetites....now I'm down to two, and one of them looks bad. The rams laid eggs and now I'm down to one of them and she looks bad.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm sorry, Crazyred...how awful...

I think the fish were sick to begin with too...if they don't eat the anti-parasite food (I tried to give my fish Jungle anti-parasite food and they spit it out and then did a little shake 8O) then try Seachem's Metronidazole powder. You can mix it with their food paste to feed, or just soak some frozen or freeze-dried bloodworms in some water with a little of the metronidazole powder mixed in, then feed.

 

[crazyred]

Good idea....I think, so far, they might be going to eat the Jungel anti-parasite food. I mixed it with Kent's garlic to give a double whammy.

The two remaining angels look okay so far...***keeping fingers crossed*** I had to euthanize my female ram last night....it was too sad to her struggling so hard to breathe and swim.

I am so sad I can't even describe it.....it's so overwhelming to go from having a tankful of happy, healthy fish with my rams laying eggs, to a tank of death with everything I added in the last three weeks are now dead except for the two remaining angelfish, 2 rummynose tetras, and 1 cardinal tetra. Of course, the platies are still going and blowing....every last one of them.

It's going to be 2-3 months before I'm going to try to re-build my fish population to where I want it and then I'm only going to buy from breeders on Aquabid or online sites. I can't trust any LFS down here to have healthy fish. The only LFS I trust doesn't have anything I want. So sad.

RIP my beautiful fishies.

 

[TwoHobbies]

Sorry for the loss.......Is it possable something came in with the plants....Just thinking... How frustrating it must be.... not nowing.

 

[kmgriff72]

I would not mark the air freshener off the list quite yet. I had a friend who lost her entire tank of fish because her husband sprayed some air freshener in the room that her tank was in. All of a sudden they just started dying with no explanation, it was then that she found out about the air freshener.