I'm having a big issue with my fish tank. All my fish are dying and I'm not sure why. I think it has something to do with the paint thinner my roommates have been using but I'm not sure.
Here's some background.
I got the tank about a month and a half ago. I had it set up and doing fine with 3 zebra danios, an african dwarf frog, a neon tetra, a rainbow shark, and a blue dwarf gourami.
About a week ago I added 5 guppies and two scissortail rasbora's. I also changed the filter pad. My roommate was using automotive grade paint thinner about two feet from the tank and without thinking I had opened the lid to feed the fish. That night about two hours later I noticed my gourami was laying on the tank floor flipping around and couldn't swim straight. All his feelers were fine so none of the new fish bit them off.
The next day he seemed a little better so I thought maybe he was just high off the fumes and was getting better. I came home that night to find him lifeless and barely moving. He died an hour later.
The same night the frog started just floating at the top of the aquarium or hanging behind the filter. I thought maybe he just found a new spot and all the fish seemed fine so I thought it was just a fluke.
The next day I found one of the rasbora's dead and decided to do a 25% water change. I made sure to add enough water conditioner to it too.
The next day I found two fish dead and another nearly dead so I went to petsmart to get water testers and the person there said to do a %70 percent change. I tested the water which was a little high on nitrates and did the change. I also changed the filter pad and rinsed off the filter itself. The filter pad which is a carbon one was giving off fumes that smelled like paint thinner really bad.
Now today I found the frog dead and yesterday when I approached my roommates to ask not to use the paint thinner anymore they said that it couldn't be that, and they have been using it for their oil paintings since I've had the aquarium.
By the way, I have a 30 gallon with hood and lid, lightly decorated, and an air pump and its in a small interior room with no windows but it does have a sliding glass door onto a balcony in the connecting room and there's no door between the two rooms.
What I'm wondering is if it might be the long term use of the paint thinners and what I can do to get it out of the water.
My other roommate has a tiger oscar in their room, who seems fine, but his filter smelled like paint thinner too.
Here's some background.
I got the tank about a month and a half ago. I had it set up and doing fine with 3 zebra danios, an african dwarf frog, a neon tetra, a rainbow shark, and a blue dwarf gourami.
About a week ago I added 5 guppies and two scissortail rasbora's. I also changed the filter pad. My roommate was using automotive grade paint thinner about two feet from the tank and without thinking I had opened the lid to feed the fish. That night about two hours later I noticed my gourami was laying on the tank floor flipping around and couldn't swim straight. All his feelers were fine so none of the new fish bit them off.
The next day he seemed a little better so I thought maybe he was just high off the fumes and was getting better. I came home that night to find him lifeless and barely moving. He died an hour later.
The same night the frog started just floating at the top of the aquarium or hanging behind the filter. I thought maybe he just found a new spot and all the fish seemed fine so I thought it was just a fluke.
The next day I found one of the rasbora's dead and decided to do a 25% water change. I made sure to add enough water conditioner to it too.
The next day I found two fish dead and another nearly dead so I went to petsmart to get water testers and the person there said to do a %70 percent change. I tested the water which was a little high on nitrates and did the change. I also changed the filter pad and rinsed off the filter itself. The filter pad which is a carbon one was giving off fumes that smelled like paint thinner really bad.
Now today I found the frog dead and yesterday when I approached my roommates to ask not to use the paint thinner anymore they said that it couldn't be that, and they have been using it for their oil paintings since I've had the aquarium.
By the way, I have a 30 gallon with hood and lid, lightly decorated, and an air pump and its in a small interior room with no windows but it does have a sliding glass door onto a balcony in the connecting room and there's no door between the two rooms.
What I'm wondering is if it might be the long term use of the paint thinners and what I can do to get it out of the water.
My other roommate has a tiger oscar in their room, who seems fine, but his filter smelled like paint thinner too.
