WokeUp to 3 Dead Fish, Please Help

[LoganB]

Hey There-
I am new to this forum, and new to aquariums and fish keeping. I got some fish for my 3 year old son several months ago, which he wanted after seeing the movie Ponyo. We set up an aquarium 10gal in his room. It had 2 fancy gold fish, a tiny alge eater (1inch, light gold, doesn't get bigger than that) and an aquatic frog. It had several live plants. We had some issues with alge but got it under control.

We found out about overstocking and how this was harmful, so decided to upgrade. We bought a 40gal tank, and put a piece of old filter in with the new tank's filter. We put in water conditioner, and let it sit for 4 days. I had the pet store test the water. They said it was fine. I transferred them directly from the small to the large tank last night. They were all fine.

At 6am I went downstairs to leave for work, and found that ALL the fish were dead. The frog was alive. This was awful to walk in on. We were trying to make their lives better and I killed them.

Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 25 ppm Very Soft
Alkalinity 80
pH 6.8

This read is from this am. So now what do we do?

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

What about ammonia? And is this the pet store's test results? What are they using to test the water? Strips or indicator liquids?

 

[eco23]

+1 with needing to know ammonia.

The absence of nitrAtes seems to show the tank isn't cycled (and when you move over media, don't let it sit without an ammonia source).

How long ago did you set up the new tank?

 

[FishieMomma]

Hey There-
I am new to this forum, and new to aquariums and fish keeping. I got some fish for my 3 year old son several months ago, which he wanted after seeing the movie Ponyo. We set up an aquarium 10gal in his room. It had 2 fancy gold fish, a tiny alge eater (1inch, light gold, doesn't get bigger than that) and an aquatic frog. It had several live plants. We had some issues with alge but got it under control.

We found out about overstocking and how this was harmful, so decided to upgrade. We bought a 40gal tank, and put a piece of old filter in with the new tank's filter. We put in water conditioner, and let it sit for 4 days. I had the pet store test the water. They said it was fine. I transferred them directly from the small to the large tank last night. They were all fine.

At 6am I went downstairs to leave for work, and found that ALL the fish were dead. The frog was alive. This was awful to walk in on. We were trying to make their lives better and I killed them.

Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 25 ppm Very Soft
Alkalinity 80
pH 6.8

This read is from this am. So now what do we do?

What was/is the ammonia level?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hey There-
I am new to this forum, and new to aquariums and fish keeping. I got some fish for my 3 year old son several months ago, which he wanted after seeing the movie Ponyo. We set up an aquarium 10gal in his room. It had 2 fancy gold fish, a tiny alge eater (1inch, light gold, doesn't get bigger than that) and an aquatic frog. It had several live plants. We had some issues with alge but got it under control.

We found out about overstocking and how this was harmful, so decided to upgrade. We bought a 40gal tank, and put a piece of old filter in with the new tank's filter. We put in water conditioner, and let it sit for 4 days. I had the pet store test the water. They said it was fine. I transferred them directly from the small to the large tank last night. They were all fine.

At 6am I went downstairs to leave for work, and found that ALL the fish were dead. The frog was alive. This was awful to walk in on. We were trying to make their lives better and I killed them.

Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 25 ppm Very Soft
Alkalinity 80
pH 6.8

This read is from this am. So now what do we do?

I saw your other post in the members introductions so I wanted so say to AA!

If you could give us the ammonia reading that's going to help out. If the fish all died you could have possibly had a mini-cycle. The reason all the levels were fine is because there was no ammo, nitrItes, nitrAtes in there to begin with since there was no ammo source for bacteria to eat. Here is a great link if you haven't checked it out already:

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

 

[LoganB]

Sorry I can't believe I forgot that. Amonia was zero.

 

[LoganB]

What about ammonia? And is this the pet store's test results? What are they using to test the water? Strips or indicator liquids?

The pet store was using liquids. I'm using strips.

 

[LoganB]

+1 with needing to know ammonia.

The absence of nitrAtes seems to show the tank isn't cycled (and when you move over media, don't let it sit without an ammonia source).

How long ago did you set up the new tank?

The new tank was set up on Saturday. I thought that the the piece of filter that we added with the new filter would help with starting bacterial colonies?

 

[LoganB]

Also, the guy at the fish store told me to add more water conditioner. Is that true? Should I do that?

 

[eco23]

Also, the guy at the fish store told me to add more water conditioner. Is that true? Should I do that?

I assume you've previously been using a good dechlorinator / water conditioner?

 

[LoganB]

I assume you've previously been using a good dechlorinator / water conditioner?

The Aqueon kind. I added 20ml when we started the tank up on Saturday.

 

[eco23]

Is there any chance a cleaning product or other toxin made it into the tank?

Did you guys clean the tank and maybe it wasn't rinsed efficiently?

Any chance there was a water change done and nobody used the dechlorinator?

Did the fish show any signs that were weird? Gasping at the surface or anything?

What is the pH from the tap? Did you guys use the same water when you moved the fish over...or was it brand new water? If brand new...did you guys acclimate them in any way or just move them right over?

 

[LoganB]

Is there any chance a cleaning product or other toxin made it into the tank?

Did you guys clean the tank and maybe it wasn't rinsed efficiently?

Any chance there was a water change done and nobody used the dechlorinator?

Did the fish show any signs that were weird? Gasping at the surface or anything?

What is the pH from the tap? Did you guys use the same water when you moved the fish over...or was it brand new water? If brand new...did you guys acclimate them in any way or just move them right over?

Well, I bought the tank off Criaglslist, it looked perfectly clean, and spotless, I didn't even rinse it out. The tap water is the same water I use to do the water changes on the other tank, I fill up a water bucket, put in the conditioner, and then let it sit a day. They were being kinda weird I guess, swimming around, going up and down, I thought they were just happy they were in a bigger space. And I just moved them from the small to the large tank.

 

[eco23]

Well, I bought the tank off Criaglslist, it looked perfectly clean, and spotless, I didn't even rinse it out. The tap water is the same water I use to do the water changes on the other tank, I fill up a water bucket, put in the conditioner, and then let it sit a day. They were being kinda weird I guess, swimming around, going up and down, I thought they were just happy they were in a bigger space. And I just moved them from the small to the large tank.

Sadly I don't personally have an answer. All those things lead to possibilities...the tank could have been cleaned by the previous owner with a harsh chemical that wasn't rinsed out...you don't have to leave your water sitting out as long as you dechlorinate it, but that shouldn't be related unless something made it's way into the bucket...if the water parameters between the tanks were different somehow, it could have shocked them, but since it's the same water supply I can't see that being an issue.

Sorry about your fish, and sorry about not really having an answer . I'd personally lean towards the previous owners using a chemical to clean. The fact it was so spotless might even be a clue.

 

[LoganB]

So what do I do now?

 

[librarygirl]

So what do I do now?

So there's just one frog in the tank, right? How is the frog doing?

If you still have the 10 gal, you could move the frog into the 10 (with the same filter media if you can) and keep an eye on that tank, test the water, etc and do water changes as needed. Once the cycle is stable you could get a couple more frogs and make it a frog tank; if it's an african dwarf frog they do better with a few frog friends. Then if you wanted to get fish at some point you could really clean out the larger tank and start over with a fishless cycle.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

So what do I do now?

Well, whether eco is correct about the tank being spotless due to cleaning chemicals or not, I would scrub down the tank with some hot water, and then try fishless cycling again. I'm sorry but I can't think of an answer either. Unless you added the store's water into your tank?

 

[LoganB]

So there's just one frog in the tank, right? How is the frog doing?

If you still have the 10 gal, you could move the frog into the 10 (with the same filter media if you can) and keep an eye on that tank, test the water, etc and do water changes as needed. Once the cycle is stable you could get a couple more frogs and make it a frog tank; if it's an african dwarf frog they do better with a few frog friends. Then if you wanted to get fish at some point you could really clean out the larger tank and start over with a fishless cycle.

The problem with the small tank is that my kid dumped an entire thing of frog food into the small tank the other day and now it is a mess, and is pretty Nitrate Dense right now. I am planning on shutting that tank down and starting over with it this weekend. I'll clean it out, keep the filter and do a fishless cycle on that. I guess I'll see what happens over the next 2 days, and if needed I'll shut down the big tank, and start cycling both tanks on the same day.

 

[LoganB]

Well, whether eco is correct about the tank being spotless due to cleaning chemicals or not, I would scrub down the tank with some hot water, and then try fishless cycling again. I'm sorry but I can't think of an answer either. Unless you added the store's water into your tank?

I wrote to the dude I got the tank from, asked him if he had cleaned it out with any chems and didn't rinse well...hopefully I hear back.

 

[eco23]

I wrote to the dude I got the tank from, asked him if he had cleaned it out with any chems and didn't rinse well...hopefully I hear back.

Sorry I don't have more to contribute in the way of ideas. That's the only thing I can think of that makes sense. Even if you did have an ammo or no2 spike (which I know you didn't) I can't image it killing them all overnight. My personal belief is that it was a foreign contaminant.