Cleaning killed denison barbs.. Why???

[Rolance]

So today i decided to do a thorough cleaning of my 55g community tank. A lot more than my regular PWC/Vacuuming. I moved all my driftwood around and Vacuumed all the nasty stuff that has been under them for months. The tank was super nasty after moving everything. I took off my filters, squeezed the media in tank water in a bucket, cleaned out the filters, finished water change and put media back in filters.

I noticed my two denison barbs (aka Rose-lined Sharks) that ive had for 5 months were looking really fat and gasping at the surface after the water change. My regular Temperature is 79 deg F. and I might have had the fresh water a little warmer because my temp went up to 82 deg F. What killed my two fish. Only them that species of fish died. My glofish, Rainbowfish, otos, and pleco are all fine. I will give parameters tomorrow. Please help me understand what i did?

 

[Andy Sager]

Possibly you did too much and just freaked out those fish. The water temp change may have been the cause or a quick change in the TDS by the new water may have done them in. Hard to say for sure.
I do not suggest doing massive changing in an established tank for exactly this reason. It stresses the fish too much. Doing a small routine cleaning weekly will help keep detritus to a minimum while helping to keep the tank clean and the fish less stressed.

Sorry for your loss Hope this helps

 

[Rolance]

Yeh i guess i tried to do too much at one time. I took out a lot of water and there was crap everywhere from moving all the driftwood. Its weird only that type of fish died. It really sucks too. They were my favorite. Thanks for the help. I wont be doing any massive cleanings like that again. My tank was established for a while and I prolly ended up messing it all up today.

 

[RUBE31]

I agree Andy Sager. Less is more. Sorry for your loss Rolance. I have a 55g tank with 6 different species of barbs, denisons being one of them. The denisons are the most sensitive (IMO) of the barbs. I had the same thing happen to me when I did a water change and cleaned the tank due to a brown algae bloom.....that was a big mistake on my part, I basically started the cycle all over again. What works for me is 20% water changes and skimming the top of the gravel with the gravel vac every 4 days, aquarium salt, prime water conditioner. Once every six weeks I do a major cleaning where I change one of my filters out then the next one the following week. Denisons unlike other barbs (from what I read) like clean, clear super oxygenated water. When I see mine gasping like that, I turn on my airstone. That usually helps. Hope it helps.

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[Rolance]

Ok thank you. That does help. I definitely will be getting more denison's when I know my tank is fine. I wish I woulda thought to put my air stone in yesterday. Imma definitely learn from this mistake and hopefully I won't have any more deaths.
What do you do about cleaning under decor? Just one piece a week or something?

 

[Rolance]

And when you do a 20% water change do y'all even worry about turning the filters off?

 

[Caliban07]

Possibly you did too much and just freaked out those fish. The water temp change may have been the cause or a quick change in the TDS by the new water may have done them in. Hard to say for sure.
I do not suggest doing massive changing in an established tank for exactly this reason. It stresses the fish too much. Doing a small routine cleaning weekly will help keep detritus to a minimum while helping to keep the tank clean and the fish less stressed.

Sorry for your loss Hope this helps

I agree. Unless your water change schedule has always been 50% + from day one it's unadvisable to do a large water change. If you want to change more water do the desired amount in stages over the course if a few days. Fish can obviously adapt to changing TDS but some are more sensitive than others and I'm sure they would rather not have to adapt even if they can. Stability and routine is everything in this hobby.

 

[Angela1108]

You mentioned a higher temperature- denison's are a little on the cooler side for appropriate temperature. 70-77 is what I have read/researched before I got mine. So I think like they mentioned the stress of too much cleaning and then raised temp just did them in. Sorry to hear. I love those little buggers!!! One of my favorite fish ever!


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[Angela1108]

Also live plants will help with keeping stuff clean without changing stuff drastically


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