mysterious fish deaths

[retiredsailor47]

I'm kinda new at this,but I need help i recently bought 55gal tank,exchanged from 36gal now I'm running two 110 power filters, this went on for two weeks everything was fine, until last night/ changed the media out, bio-max- charcoal- and added ammonia filter - rinsed sponge - everything was great except that I lost two blue gouramis- 3 speckled mollys-1 goldfish- 1high fin platy- 1 red tailed shark which I've had for three years- in approximately 7-8 hours the water was clear all the factors were in place everything normal/ so anybody help what happened. any advice or help would be appreciated retired sailor47

 

[tnfinfan]

What did you change in the filter? I don't know what kind you have from your description but if you changed everything including the media where your nitrifying bacteria live, that's the problem.

Was the tank cycled? Have you tested your tank water for ammonia and nitrite, at least?

 

[venymae]

changing the media sounds most likely. The filter media is where most of the bacteria that keep your water non-toxic live. If you change it (replaced it with new) you probably are having water toxicity issues, which is why your fish are dying.

 

[threnjen]

changed the media out, bio-max- charcoal- and added ammonia filter - rinsed sponge -

Everyone else touched on this already - but if the above quote means that you replaced all of this stuff with brand new stuff and rinsed the sponge in tap water, you have removed basically all of the bacteria that runs your ecosystem.

If this is what has happened, you must now treat your tank as if it is a new uncycled tank with fish: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

Never change your biomax. Rinse your sponge only in old tank water. Ditch the carbon altogether and put more biomax in its place. ammonia filter is unnecessary in a cycled tank, but do use it now to help you get through a new cycle.

 

[tnfinfan]

And if, by chance, the old media is sitting in the trash and still damp, get it out. Just rinse it with dechlorinated water and put it back. Any dry media won't have survived but if there is any still wet, get it back in the filter.

 

[retiredsailor47]

Thanks for the reply's , but have eliminated several culprits, the carbon which I've changed several times and have had no problems, the bio-media was one problem, second was the ammonia media that's the main culprit, when I placed the ammonia media in my filter it contaminated all the media,including the bio-max. So this morning I checked the tank all fish were happy and swimming the water was clear all the ph's were normal the water is a little hard but the fish thrive have been running like this for 24hours everything seems normal so far so by process of elimination the ammonia media was the culprit, I don't know if this was bad to begin with or not but since not having in the tank they seem to be doing just fine, will keep everybody posted and thanks for the help. Retiredsailor47

 

[tnfinfan]

How did ammonia media "contaminate" your biomedia? That makes no sense. And do you understand that you now need to cycle all over again? Fresh water won't stay nontoxic for long in the absence of a healthy biofilter.

 

[retiredsailor47]

ammonia no good

well to answer your question, I've never used an ammonia media before, but after putting this in the fish started dying,after removing this and cleaning everything up, everything is back to normal I can't explain it but this is the logical deduction won't you say. but I'm going to the store later and will pick up another test kit,maybe this is out of date or this was just a fluke accident on my part but whatever caused it sure stumped me, I'm still watching the tank closely and hoping. retiredsailor47

 

[gilpi]

Everyone else touched on this already - but if the above quote means that you replaced all of this stuff with brand new stuff and rinsed the sponge in tap water, you have removed basically all of the bacteria that runs your ecosystem.

If this is what has happened, you must now treat your tank as if it is a new uncycled tank with fish: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

Never change your biomax. Rinse your sponge only in old tank water. Ditch the carbon altogether and put more biomax in its place. ammonia filter is unnecessary in a cycled tank, but do use it now to help you get through a new cycle.

True. Removing the media will remove the BB but from what I get, the fish died right away? I would think it would take a while for the fish to die if that was the case. Hmm, something doesn't sound right.

 

[tnfinfan]

I suspect the ammonia media was likely added in response to a problem with ammonia building up. My guess is that the tank was cycling and the OP mistook his response to toxic conditions for the cause of those conditions. But, it's difficult to say when you only get a fragment of the story.

 

[retiredsailor47]

dead fish /ammonia buildup

first off I want to thank everybody who responded, now I tried something sort of like an experiment,and what i found will shock most of you,as it did me. My 36gal tank was sitting not doing anything really,no fish, so filled with water checked pH and so forth,also checked ammonia levels,they were normal,[ .25 ] ran filter for 8hours[ with ammonia remover inside] they went through the roof [ from safe level .25 to 3.o to 6.0 ] as per test strip. so i removed the ammonia insert and changed the carbon filter still did no water change, after several hours tested again ammonia level started to drop to 3.0 as of this post the ammonia level has dropped more to .5 which is stressful to fish will keep testing tomorrow hopefully they will drop more/so I think I found out the culprit that did there dirty deed on my fish. the big question is why

I've never heard of anything like that before,your comments please if anybody can think of why this happened please let me know, awaiting your input. thanks retiredsailor47.

 

[Sk3lly]

everything was great except that I lost two blue gouramis- 3 speckled mollys-1 goldfish- 1high fin platy- 1 red tailed shark

I didnt think goldfish were suited to a heated tropical tank?? Just putting that out there

 

[tnfinfan]

I didnt think goldfish were suited to a heated tropical tank?? Just putting that out there

Of course they're not. But I don't think the op is interested in fixing the problems in the tank either.

 

[Sk3lly]

Of course they're not. But I don't think the op is interested in fixing the problems in the tank either.

Feeling like your advice is falling on deaf ears are you? Lol