911!!!!!!!!!! please help!!!!!!! big disaster

[mikemou]

oh my god guys please help!!! just added bio-spira w/ 6 lemon tetra, 6 neon tetra, 2 ghost catfish, 6 ghost shrimp to my 55 gal tank 20 minutes ago. EVERYBODY IS AT THE BOTTOM, SOME WENT BELLY UP!!!!!!!!

What did I do???? Please save my fish!!!!!!!

temp: 75
filter working just fine.

i'll do water test and report back.

PLEASE HELP! FAST!!!

 

[Endgame319]

Did you clean the tank with any chemicals? Have the fish come in contact with any chemicals? Did you dechlorinate the water?

 

[QTOFFER]

Water params will help, but till then:

Did you slowly acclimate the fish to your tank by floating the bagged fish and adding tank water to the bag, or did you just release the fish into the tank?

Did you dechlorinate the water?

 

[mikemou]

No, I didn't dechlorinate the water.

The water has been sitting there (no fish) for a week.

PH 7.8
ammonia & nitrite 0

 

[mikemou]

i floated the bag for 20+ minutes and let the fish go into the tank at once. their energy lasted about 5 minutes.

now all are seemed dead but one neon. shrimps are active, tho.

i want to shoot myself in the head....

 

[Endgame319]

I bet It was the chlorine, add dechlorinator.

 

[mikemou]

wouldn't it be too late now?
if there's still hope, the nearest LFS is 20 minutes round trip...

 

[QTOFFER]

OK, after a week any chlorine in the water would have dissapated, but if your water company is using chloramine, it may still be present. Dechlorinators will eliminate both toxic water additives.

Floating the bag for 20 min equilibrates the temperature between the bag and the tank, but does nothing to acclimate the fish to your tank's pH. Best thing to do is to slowly add water from your tank to the bag during that 20 min period.

Please, don't shoot yourself in the head - it's too messy.
What you did is a very common newbie mistake.
I would go right back to the lfs tonight and get some dechlorinator and some new fish. Bring the dead fish and a water sample with you and they will probably replace them for free. It's their fault for not telling you how to acclimate the fish anyway.

 

[grimlock3000]

If the fish have only been in the tank for a few minutes, it is not likely that the water parameters are going to read anything. Fish can not foul up the water in a 55g enough to cause an issue without at least a few hours having gone by. All of the water parameters should match your tap water at this point. Few things, mostly a repeat of the last two posts...

-Could be temperature or ph shock from rapid acclimation. If the LFS keeps all the fish in 81F water at a 7.0 ph and you put them in 75F water with a 6.0 or 8.0 ph, that can come near close to killing a fish.

-Did anything odd happen to fish on the way to you house? This is not likely but if fish are overpacked in transit bags and get banged around a lot it can cause problems

-Contamination. If you used ANY chemicals to clean the tank or equipment, those can cause issues very quickly. Since this has happened so quick and to a bunch of fish, I would put money on this.

-Non-dechlored water can cause a big problem too. Did you use water conditioner? What kind of conditioner and how much did you use?

Let us know ASAP

//Update, NM, posted too late

If the water was there for a week, I am doubting that any possible chlorine would be the only cause of death. Even chloramine usually takes a little while to kill fish. Some people just leave their water to sit out for a few days and add it to the tank with no water conditioner. I am thinking there is something else wrong in the water. Even with people dumping fish straight into tap water with no acclimation, usually people do not kill ALL the fish so quickly unless something else is wrong as well. I would not reccomend more fish just yet...

 

[tsonnenl]

I don't think there's much hope for this batch if they went downhill that quickly. It sucks, but you might have to make your peace with it and focus on making sure that doesn't happen again.

I would have to ask again if you cleaned the tank or any decorations in it with chemicals. Did you add any wood, rocks, sand, or other decorations that you found outside? Chlorine from tap water wouldn't even have that drastic of an effect in 5 minutes.

 

[grimlock3000]

mikemou, please try to think of anything that may have contaminated the water. also try to figure out where each item in the tank came from, and make sure it is fish safe. depending on what killed the fish, at this point you make be looking at a full teardown of the tank, cleaning everything, then starting over with just a couple fish to see how that goes.

 

[tsonnenl]

While the water was sitting for a week, was the top off so that something could have accidentally affected it like an air freshener being sprayed near it or something?

 

[QTOFFER]

Leaving water to stand for a few days is a tried and true method for removing CHLORINE.
However, many municipal water suppliers have switched to CHLORAMINE because it is more cost-effective, safer to store/handle, and it has no noticeable smell/taste.
Unfortunately for fishkeepers, it cannot be removed by simply allowing the water to stand. A water conditioner is a must!

http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/chloramine.html

 

[mikemou]

ok, i did use clorox wipes to clean the tank when i first got it.... i don't think i rinsed it thoroughly afterwards.... could this be it?

now all fish are at the bottom, shrimps are still active.

i still can't believe what has just happened..... my fish are all dead, right?

is there a way to remove any chemicals residuals without removing gravel? if not, any tricks how to remove gravel without making a mess?

 

[grimlock3000]

"ok, i did use clorox wipes to clean the tank when i first got it.... i don't think i rinsed it thoroughly afterwards.... could this be it?"

Quite likely. While I do not have any Clorox wipes handy, most of those cleaning wipes are covered in various perfumes and cleaning chemicals.

"now all fish are at the bottom, shrimps are still active.

I still can't believe what has just happened..... my fish are all dead, right?"

Umm, are they breathing? I would get the shrimp out of there. Anything is likely better than the tank currently. Maybe a rapid trip to the pet store is in order for a small tank and some water conditioner, maybe you can save the shrimp.

"is there a way to remove any chemicals residuals without removing gravel? if not, any tricks how to remove gravel without making a mess?"

There should not be much of a mess taking out the gravel because there is no fish waste or anything in it. If the tank is poisoned, IMO you really would have to tear down the whole tank and thoroughly clean and rinse everything multiple times with plain water.

 

[Sati]

In addition to what everybody else has suggested I would recommend that in the future if you add the bio-spira, let it cycle at least overnight before adding fish. Make sure you have enough bio-spira for your tank too. It's 1 oz per 30 gallons I believe. After that add only a few fish, not 20 different life forms. You want to make sure the amount of bacteria in your tank can handle processing the bio-load of all of those little guys.

That's too bad, Mikemou Do some reading on cycling before you get more fish and you'll be in good shape Don't beat yourself up too much.

 

[QTOFFER]

ok, i did use clorox wipes to clean the tank when i first got it.... i don't think i rinsed it thoroughly afterwards.... could this be it?

Aaaaack!
There is your problem!
Chlorox diisinfecting wipes do not contain bleach - their active ingredient is Dimethyl Benzyl Amonium Chloride.

http://www.buildsafe.ca/msds.html

I use this stuff in my lab to disinfect hi-temp water baths. It's alot like soap in that it requires lots and lots of rinsing to remove.

I agree with Grimlock3000 that you should move the shrimp and any surviving fish to fresh water and tear down your tank. Rinse the tank out thoroughly! It's going to take quite a bit of rinsing to get this chemical out of your gravel.

 

[QTOFFER]

Boyoboy, just because something has Chlorox's name on it doesn't mean it contains bleach.

The only things I ever use to clean my tanks (besides water) is good old-fashioned bleach (sodium hypochlorite in water) to disinfect and white vinegar (acetic acid) to remove water stains.

 

[millipede]

.

hey qtoffer, I would think the vinegar alone would be enough of a disinfectant... of course that's just because I try to stay away from chemicals... just because the gov. says it's safe doesn't mean it is... anyway, that's another subject... we wont get into that... I agree about getting anything living out of there asap... If you don't already have one, I would get a qt tank as well... even if it was a little one... then take everyone's advice... clean that tank as well as you can, then use some start right type stuff, then just ad a few fish at a time... whatever you buy first can go right in the big tank and just watch them... when you're ready to add something new put them in the qt tank for a while, at least a few days, to watch for sickness before adding them to the big tank... Another personal opinion of mine is live plants... I truly believe that live plants make for a healthier tank... just something to consider anyway... Sorry for your loss... hopefully your next attempt will work much better... good luck

 

[QTOFFER]

I agree with Millipede - chemicals are best avoided. I deal with enough of them at work - why subject my fish to them?

On new tanks, plain water is good enough to clean.
I've only used bleach to disinfect my hospital tank after a nasty columnaris infection. I haven't had reason yet to use vinegar - that may change if I ever buy a used tank with bad mineral buildup.