mass fish loss in less than 10 mins?

[Polarfoot]

HELP PLEASE?!?!?
We have a 47 Gallon Bowfront Aquarium with a Marineland H.o.t. Mag 250 filter and a penguin 250 H.O.T. as well. The aquarium is well oxygenated with a bubble wall and water tested fine. The tank has been up and running since April 2011 with no problems and well maintained with 2 water changes per month with weekly top offs...while I was at work my wife decided to add water to the tank just to top it off like she has a million times....THE only thing she did different was that we purchased Nutrafin Tap Water Conditioner with stress reducing formula instead of our usual API Stress Coat. She added approx 6-8 gallons of water temp checked to tank temp of 75 deg. added 1 cap full of the Nutrafin and within 10 mins EVERY FISH WAS DEAD but 1......she was panicking and didn't know what she did or what to do.... RIP 3 pink danios, 4 blue zebra danios, 2 blue platys, 2 baby blue platys, 1 red platy, 2 Rhombo barbs, 4 lemon tetras, 6 neon tetras, 2 panda corys, 1 Albino cory....amazingly the only fish that is still alive (for now) is the whiptail cat (twigfish). I have NO CLUE what may have caused this or anything we did wrong...I am really devastated and my wife is beside herself right now..... ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS would be appreciated!
thanks
polar

 

[abrahamavelar]

Well first of all wat are ur parameters ammonia nitrites nitrates, also was the water around the same temperature, also u should be doing weekly partial water changes, does that formula has dechlorinator

 

[absolutangel04]

Wow. That stinks. I am really sorry. I actually use a nutrafin product for all my water changes, but I am not by the bottle so I cannot look at exactly which one it is. Are you sure she dosed the water properly? The nutrafin is less concentrated, so you have to add a bit more of it. Also, are you sure she added the proper amount for treating chloramines as well as chlorine?
It sounds like you guys are pretty careful, so I am guessing the issue was something else... Maybe the bottle was bad for some reason. Any chance of a contaminate in the bucket (or whatever devise she sued to transport the water to the tank)? I am just pulling out ideas since there was clearly an issue somewhere.
If all of those options are eliminated, I would try contacting the store where you purchased it, and also the nutrafin company. Maybe you can get a refund, but at least it would be good to notify them in case the bottle has an issue so it doesn't happen to anybody else. Honestly, I am guessing they will brush you off, but I still recommend at least trying.

 

[absolutangel04]

HELP PLEASE?!?!?
We have a 47 Gallon Bowfront Aquarium with a Marineland H.o.t. Mag 250 filter and a penguin 250 H.O.T. as well. The aquarium is well oxygenated with a bubble wall and water tested fine. The tank has been up and running since April 2011 with no problems and well maintained with 2 water changes per month with weekly top offs...while I was at work my wife decided to add water to the tank just to top it off like she has a million times....THE only thing she did different was that we purchased Nutrafin Tap Water Conditioner with stress reducing formula instead of our usual API Stress Coat. She added approx 6-8 gallons of water temp checked to tank temp of 75 deg. added 1 cap full of the Nutrafin and within 10 mins EVERY FISH WAS DEAD but 1......she was panicking and didn't know what she did or what to do.... RIP 3 pink danios, 4 blue zebra danios, 2 blue platys, 2 baby blue platys, 1 red platy, 2 Rhombo barbs, 4 lemon tetras, 6 neon tetras, 2 panda corys, 1 Albino cory....amazingly the only fish that is still alive (for now) is the whiptail cat (twigfish). I have NO CLUE what may have caused this or anything we did wrong...I am really devastated and my wife is beside herself right now..... ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS would be appreciated!
thanks
polar

Oh, I thought of another thing. Again, I don't know, but I am trying to come up with suggestions. Did she add the capful to the full tank, or just to the water that went into the tank?
Also, does the api product you usually use neutralize ammonia by any chance? The neutrafin product does not (I am pretty sure), so if there is ammo in your tap water, that could be an issue.

 

[aqua_chem]

Ammonia, nitrites, nor nitrates would kill that fast. The temperature would have to have been way off, and the fish would have lingered longer or have been showing signs, and even then fish are fairly resilient to temperature swings.

I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt that you checked for obvious issues, but a water parameter report would be needed.

Possible ideas:
Bad batch of dechlorinator?
Soapy pitcher for water transfer?
Cigarette butt in tank? Seen it happen before...

Check the tank, make sure there are no foreign objects in it. Check the fish for marks, swollen gills, etc. Check heater.

Thats really horrible. I would be devastated. You have my deepest condolences.

 

[Polarfoot]

Thanks to all who have replied so far....
As I stated before the water tests were all within normal parameters
The temperature was checked and was at 75 deg (same as the tank)
The Nutrafin tap water conditioner DOES NOT remove ammo
The API stress coat does remove ammo
both are declorinators
No foreign objects in the tank....the bucket used is ONLY used for aquarium use...the nutra fin was added to the pail directly according to the directions on the bottle to "protect scales and fins" which is 10 ml to treat 38L
and the fish have no signs of trauma

Also as I said before the water changes and top ups are done regularly as well as water testing weekly...it is soo dry in our apt. (no control of heat 80 degrees in here lol) that I loose 10g-15g/week so top ups are all that is needed.......I have kept fish for 15 yrs myself....with no problems until now....(knock on wood) not even a case of ich

I am thinking maybe a bad batch of nutrafin..
My twig fish (whiptail cat) still seems to be alive and well.....guess I am gonna do a pwc tomorrow and see how he does.....I thought/ I am hoping it was just a bad batch and I don't have to start over again from scratch....( I HATE TANK CYCLING LOL) but time and testing will tell I guess....will keep you posted....

 

[absolutangel04]

I agree that a bad batch of nutrafin is quite likely. Like I said, I think its would be a good idea to contact the store where you got it from as well as the company.
If I were you, I would also test the tap water since some tap water has ammo in it. In case it does, you want to stick with a conditioner that deals with ammo. But, I am guesing you are done with nutrafin anyway after an incident like the one you had.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

Are you sure your wife didn't accidentally contaminated your tank?

It's unlikely that you'll get bad batches of water conditioners, it's even more unlikely that those bad batches would be THAT toxic. I've heard of people spilling bleach in their aquarium and not lose any fish.

 

[tropical-fish]

sorry to hear about your fish. it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong and looking ofter your fish very well. danios are usually quite a hardy fish. i doubt if even untreated tap water with chloramine and high ammonia would kill so many fish that quick.

 

[jcolon]

HELP PLEASE?!?!?
We have a 47 Gallon Bowfront Aquarium with a Marineland H.o.t. Mag 250 filter and a penguin 250 H.O.T. as well. The aquarium is well oxygenated with a bubble wall and water tested fine. The tank has been up and running since April 2011 with no problems and well maintained with 2 water changes per month with weekly top offs...while I was at work my wife decided to add water to the tank just to top it off like she has a million times....THE only thing she did different was that we purchased Nutrafin Tap Water Conditioner with stress reducing formula instead of our usual API Stress Coat. She added approx 6-8 gallons of water temp checked to tank temp of 75 deg. added 1 cap full of the Nutrafin and within 10 mins EVERY FISH WAS DEAD but 1......she was panicking and didn't know what she did or what to do.... RIP 3 pink danios, 4 blue zebra danios, 2 blue platys, 2 baby blue platys, 1 red platy, 2 Rhombo barbs, 4 lemon tetras, 6 neon tetras, 2 panda corys, 1 Albino cory....amazingly the only fish that is still alive (for now) is the whiptail cat (twigfish). I have NO CLUE what may have caused this or anything we did wrong...I am really devastated and my wife is beside herself right now..... ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS would be appreciated!
thanks
polar

So sorry to hear about your loss It's my biggest aquarium nightmare, do PWC or some other maintenance and have the stock die.

I really don't have anything new to add from what's been suggested except to say that for that many fish to die in a tank that size from such a small water change in such a short time is has to be some type of contamination.

HOWEVER, besides looking at the de-chlorinator, check with your water supplier and see if they were doing any maintenance with the water supply or the water lines. I read a thread where someone did a PWC right after the water company "purged" the lines (unknowingly) ... all but one or two of the stock died.

 

[GhillieSniper115]

HELP PLEASE?!?!?
We have a 47 Gallon Bowfront Aquarium with a Marineland H.o.t. Mag 250 filter and a penguin 250 H.O.T. as well. The aquarium is well oxygenated with a bubble wall and water tested fine. The tank has been up and running since April 2011 with no problems and well maintained with 2 water changes per month with weekly top offs...while I was at work my wife decided to add water to the tank just to top it off like she has a million times....THE only thing she did different was that we purchased Nutrafin Tap Water Conditioner with stress reducing formula instead of our usual API Stress Coat. She added approx 6-8 gallons of water temp checked to tank temp of 75 deg. added 1 cap full of the Nutrafin and within 10 mins EVERY FISH WAS DEAD but 1......she was panicking and didn't know what she did or what to do.... RIP 3 pink danios, 4 blue zebra danios, 2 blue platys, 2 baby blue platys, 1 red platy, 2 Rhombo barbs, 4 lemon tetras, 6 neon tetras, 2 panda corys, 1 Albino cory....amazingly the only fish that is still alive (for now) is the whiptail cat (twigfish). I have NO CLUE what may have caused this or anything we did wrong...I am really devastated and my wife is beside herself right now..... ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS would be appreciated!
thanks
polar

Never add that fish stuff to the tank. I don't and all my fish die of natural causes. Wat really happened was u introduced a new medium into the tank that the fish couldn't handle. This caused a mass die off. Please don't use it again, especially if itsexpired

 

[Fishkeeper26]

Never add that fish stuff to the tank. I don't and all my fish die of natural causes. Wat really happened was u introduced a new medium into the tank that the fish couldn't handle. This caused a mass die off. Please don't use it again, especially if itsexpired

If he has water with chloramines and chlorine he has to use some sort of water conditioner. Not all people have well water so they can't just use tap water.

I agree that it must have been some sort of contamination. Was any aerosol products sprayed near your tank?

 

[GhillieSniper115]

Oh, I thought of another thing. Again, I don't know, but I am trying to come up with suggestions. Did she add the capful to the full tank, or just to the water that went into the tank?
Also, does the api product you usually use neutralize ammonia by any chance? The neutrafin product does not (I am pretty sure), so if there is ammo in your tap water, that could be an issue.

If Theres ammonia in their tap water they have a HUGE issue

 

[GhillieSniper115]

If he has water with chloramines and chlorine he has to use some sort of water conditioner. Not all people have well water so they can't just use tap water.

I agree that it must have been some sort of contamination. Was any aerosol products sprayed near your tank?

I use tap and my fish don't seem to get sick

 

[Fishkeeper26]

I use tap and my fish don't seem to get sick

Do you have well water?

What kind of water does the op have (well or city)?

 

[Hondatek]

That's very weird what happened to your fish. Only recommendation I have is to use prime and prime only in your tanks for the future. I also have ammo in my tap and the only thing I use is prime for all my tanks including discus with no issues.

 

[BillD]

There are a couple of things here that should be of concern. The amount of weekly evaporation is very high. This will cause a steady increase in the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the tank. After a length of time, the tank water and tap water get significantly different, which can lead to osmotic shock caused by a water change, which can kill fish. I don't think this is what caused the problem, because the amount of water added wasn't that large.
So, you need to determine if there is chloramine in your tap water. You said you tested weekly so I assume you have a test kilt for ammonia. Test the tap water.
I would suggest you get glass covers for the tank to slow down evaporation. At this point I would do some large water changes to get the water in the tank back to the same parameters of the tap water. In fact since you have only one fish left, I would change all of the water and start over.
I don't see that anything was done incorrectly here with regards to the manner in which the water change was performed. Even if there was chloramine in the water, the small amount added should not have been an issue.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Never add that fish stuff to the tank. I don't and all my fish die of natural causes. Wat really happened was u introduced a new medium into the tank that the fish couldn't handle. This caused a mass die off. Please don't use it again, especially if itsexpired

So, you're suggesting they don't add dechlorinator to their tap water? That's definitely not good advice. If you're using treated tap water (not from a well), you HAVE to use dechlorinator (unless you let it offgas... but chloramine isn't that easy)

If Theres ammonia in their tap water they have a HUGE issue

Why? Ever hear of chloramine?

I use tap and my fish don't seem to get sick

Most people do, but you have to use something to remove chlorine and/or chloramine. That's not the issue at hand here.

 

[tropical-fish]

chlorine will evaporate from tap water after about 24 to 48 hours, chloramine on the other hand does not. it need to be neutralised using a good water conditioner such as Prime. out of the tap my water has an ammo reading of 2.0. on top of this chloramine locks away the oxygen so the fish will have trouble breathing.

 

[tropical-fish]

hi polarfoot, just to check as i don't think it was mentioned in your post. are you adding any aquarium salt to the new water when you top up?

if so the salt level of the tank water would be increasing at each top up as evaporation does not remove salt.