Sad news, Please read

[motherspice]

Thank you for the advice on my problems with my mistakes that I made......I listened to all the advice I got and tried to fix my problems I rehomed 7 of my fish 2 out of the 14 gal and 5 from the 29 gal, and boy that was hard catching them :? then I took the glolites from the 29 gal and moved them to the 14 gal so they can be with the xray both are slow and calm fish, then because all the moving around I stired up the tank and eww so I did a PWC.....I think that was my bigest mistake so far, we lost the otto he kept going to the top, then within minutes we lost the 2 xrays again they went to the top then died then over the next hour we lost 4 glolites one right after the other, I had to go to work and there was one glo left my daughter called me and told me when they got home the last glolite died, we are very upset over this, please dont get nasty or mean we really feel so sick over this, but can anyone please tell me what we did wrong. The water levels were good all 0 and the nitrates were under 20.......... can the stress of trying to catch them, and changing tanks have killed them? or should I be looking for something else? They were all good before I started everything. All the fish in the 29 gal are good so far thank god

 

[JohnPaul]

Sorry about your losses. I think most of us make mistakes along the way, so try not to be too hard on yourself.

Now, as for "diagnosis"...if I read your post correctly, then it seems everything was fine until you did your PWC, and then almost immediately after that the entire tank "went south" (so to speak). Did I read that correctly? Did the fish start showing signs of stress (i.e. going to the surface and gasping) only after you added new water, or did they manifest stress even before you put the new water in?

If they only did that after you put the new water in, then my immediate reaction would be the #1 suspect here would be the new water you put in the tank was the cause. Was it dechlorinated? And was it the same temperature (at least within a few degrees) of the current water in the tank?

Or, another possibility was some sort of poisoning. Two of the most common ways aquarists accidentally poison their tanks are by either soap or hand lotion. After you stirred up the tank (and got the "ewww"), is there any chance that maybe you washed your hands with soap (a natural thing to do, of course!) and just maybe didn't quite rinse 100% of the soap off your hands? If there was even a small amount of residual soap on your hands and you were to then put them back into your tank, that could possibly account for this. (Hand lotion can have the safe effect). In fact this is such a concern of mine that when I am doing tank maintenance of any sort, no matter how grungy or gunky my hands get, I never do anything other than rinse them with plain water until after I have finished 100% of my work.

Anyways those are two possibly theories I could come up with. Either you forgot to declorinate the new water and so the chlorine (or chloramines) in it poisoned them, or else maybe some soap residue.

If, however, they started displaying the stressed behavior BEFORE you put the new water in the tank, then we need to look for another explanation. If your tank was a long established tank and you had a sand substrate and you stirred it up, then another possibility would be hydrogen sulfide...but IIRC these are nearly brand new tanks, so I doubt that would be a concern.

Those are the ideas I have. Maybe someone else can think of other possibilities.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Is the temperature the same in both tanks? PH the same?
I dont think stiring of the tank, then removing that water is harmful at all, if you have plants, its prob better to leave that stuff in there and let it settle(food for plants) before changing water, but should not matter to the fish.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Great advice so far.

Since they started to die right after the water change, I would suspect it was the water. Ie: Did you dechlorinate the water, same temp, did you have lotions or perfumes on your hands/arms, etc. I doubt it was stress since that would not normally kill that many fish that fast.

 

[motherspice]

Sorry about your losses. I think most of us make mistakes along the way, so try not to be too hard on yourself.

Now, as for "diagnosis"...if I read your post correctly, then it seems everything was fine until you did your PWC, and then almost immediately after that the entire tank "went south" (so to speak). Did I read that correctly? Did the fish start showing signs of stress (i.e. going to the surface and gasping) only after you added new water, or did they manifest stress even before you put the new water in?

If they only did that after you put the new water in, then my immediate reaction would be the #1 suspect here would be the new water you put in the tank was the cause. Was it dechlorinated? And was it the same temperature (at least within a few degrees) of the current water in the tank?

Or, another possibility was some sort of poisoning. Two of the most common ways aquarists accidentally poison their tanks are by either soap or hand lotion. After you stirred up the tank (and got the "ewww"), is there any chance that maybe you washed your hands with soap (a natural thing to do, of course!) and just maybe didn't quite rinse 100% of the soap off your hands? If there was even a small amount of residual soap on your hands and you were to then put them back into your tank, that could possibly account for this. (Hand lotion can have the safe effect). In fact this is such a concern of mine that when I am doing tank maintenance of any sort, no matter how grungy or gunky my hands get, I never do anything other than rinse them with plain water until after I have finished 100% of my work.

Anyways those are two possibly theories I could come up with. Either you forgot to declorinate the new water and so the chlorine (or chloramines) in it poisoned them, or else maybe some soap residue.

If, however, they started displaying the stressed behavior BEFORE you put the new water in the tank, then we need to look for another explanation. If your tank was a long established tank and you had a sand substrate and you stirred it up, then another possibility would be hydrogen sulfide...but IIRC these are nearly brand new tanks, so I doubt that would be a concern.

Those are the ideas I have. Maybe someone else can think of other possibilities.

Yes I put prime in like I always do 2 drops to 1 gal.......... that might be it the temp, the tank was 78 before then with the change I thought it was the same but it went up to 84 so I took some out and added some cold water brang it down to between 80 and 82.........and tested the water all was good except they were dying............ and yes after the water change they started to go to the top then die ...... we always rise our hand 100% I make sure and with just water..........BTW thank u for not atacking me I was scared to post for help thank u

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Please don't ever be scared to post. AA is a family friend community that prides itself on our membership. We do not tolerate that kind of behavior. You are always safe to post here.

I don't know if I'd chalk it up to the temp difference. I'm more inclined to believe that the water was contaminated in some way since they all died in a short time period. I've had my tank go from 80 down to the low 60's in a matter of 6 hours due to a power outage from an ice storm and didn't lose a single fish. Not saying that temp swings won't kill fish, just saying that it's not as likely as contamination.

 

[motherspice]

Please don't ever be scared to post. AA is a family friend community that prides itself on our membership. We do not tolerate that kind of behavior. You are always safe to post here.

I don't know if I'd chalk it up to the temp difference. I'm more inclined to believe that the water was contaminated in some way since they all died in a short time period. I've had my tank go from 80 down to the low 60's in a matter of 6 hours due to a power outage from an ice storm and didn't lose a single fish. Not saying that temp swings won't kill fish, just saying that it's not as likely as contamination.

so do u think this tank is now contaminated? was thinking of getting more fish what should i do just in case?? please, again thank u

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Was the tank cycled? If not, I would start over fresh. I'd clean everything very well before setting it back up and doing a fishless cycle. If the tank is contaminated, it would already be in the filter and I wouldn't trust activated carbon to remove the contamination.

 

[motherspice]

Was the tank cycled? If not, I would start over fresh. I'd clean everything very well before setting it back up and doing a fishless cycle. If the tank is contaminated, it would already be in the filter and I wouldn't trust activated carbon to remove the contamination.

Yes it was cycled..............so u think I should rinse it really good? and start all over.......

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I tend to be very cautious about contamination so if it were my tank, I'd drain the water and clean everything with a bleach mixture and start over. But others may disagree.

 

[Capella]

I'm sorry to hear you lost all your fish, yet grateful that you admitted you were afraid to post your message here. I did all things wrong also and it seemed like every water change I lost a few more. I finally quit posting when I made the decision to leave the darn tank alone. Basically I've had four fish and two snails survive 11 days in a totally toxic tank. Ammonia 8, Nitrites 5 - everything off the charts and about as bad as you can imagine. But I digress. IF I had lost them all, I had planned to start totally over again as per the moderators suggestion. As it is, I have survivors and finally a small drop in the ammonia.

 

[jsoong]

Just one other thought: When you stirred up your tank, did you notice any gas bubbles from the substrate or foul odor?

It is possible to have anaerobic pockets in the substrate where decomposing matter forms H2S (hydrogen sulfide). Stirring that up will kill any fish that is close by. This is a fairly common problem in ponds (hence we remove the fish before really mucking with the pond bottom) but is possible in tanks as well.

 

[lance]

If you placed fish in right after filling with new water and the new batch didnt have time to circulate the fresh salt would be harmfull to them.

Also whats used for water movement in your , 14 gallon ?
Whats your setup like any LR and your substrate and all equipment used for better help?

 

[Zagz]

I am so sorry for your losses. Please never be afraid to post on here, for any reason. I think you will find our members both supportive and helpful.

My first thought is contamination. Did you wash your hands prior to moving the fish or cleaning the tank? I also would be suspect of gasses built up in the substrate having been released suddenly.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

What kind of substrate do you have? Gravel, sand, river stones, etc.

 

[haykay]

not to step on any toes but I have heard a vinigar wash is easier to rinse off and just as effective.. But i also usually use blech in a contamination issue... It's all in how comfortable you are using it and making sure you get all teh bleach off

 

[p3purr]

Just one other thought: When you stirred up your tank, did you notice any gas bubbles from the substrate or foul odor?

It is possible to have anaerobic pockets in the substrate where decomposing matter forms H2S (hydrogen sulfide). Stirring that up will kill any fish that is close by. This is a fairly common problem in ponds (hence we remove the fish before really mucking with the pond bottom) but is possible in tanks as well.

That was my thought when I read the original post. The use of Prime and the lack of any other obvious contaminates would make me lean toward that even more.

 

[motherspice]

What kind of substrate do you have? Gravel, sand, river stones, etc.

We have Gravel

 

[motherspice]

Just one other thought: When you stirred up your tank, did you notice any gas bubbles from the substrate or foul odor?

It is possible to have anaerobic pockets in the substrate where decomposing matter forms H2S (hydrogen sulfide). Stirring that up will kill any fish that is close by. This is a fairly common problem in ponds (hence we remove the fish before really mucking with the pond bottom) but is possible in tanks as well.

No I did not notice anything but we were just trying to hurry to make sure they were ok and wound up doing wrong .......what is this im confussed now

 

[lance]

So you added the new water batch without letting it mix overnight?