All my fish died :(

[Leader of Men]

I'm at college but my dad has been taking care of my fish while I'm here. Anyway, he went out of town for a couple days on business and came home to find all my fish had died.

I was home maybe 4 days earlier and did a partial water change. I had water sitting out when I left for him to put back in and he put 2.5 gallons in 2 days in a row.

So he's going to test the levels and get a thermometer in there as we try and diagnose it. My plants are still ok so hopefully they stay that way...

I liked my 4 danios, 4 white clouds, blue gourami, and algae eater. My dad isn't sure about the snails yet.

Just thought I'd share with you all. It was pretty rough finding out ALL of my fish had died.

 

[fijiwigi]

So he's going to test the levels and get a thermometer in there as we try and diagnose it.

If you did a PWC and the tank is established there really shouldn't have been any chemistry problems. Were there any other changes to the tank recently or new additions??

You say you are going to put in a thermomoter does that mean there was not one. Your dad left for a few days on business did he turn off the heater in the house dropping the room temperature and dropping the temperature of the aquarium. That has happened to me before when I have been gone for a few days and I forgot to leave the heater on in my house. Came home and my tank was 20degrees lower even with the aquarium heater inside. Luckily mine did not die though.

 

[Leader of Men]

Everything was left on and the tank is established and there aren't any recent additions but the PWC is the only thing I can really pin it to since they seemed healthy before that.

 

[Alshain]

It's odd for all your fish to die due to a PWC. Even a temperature shock would likely not kill all of them unless it was just extreme (like fijiwigi's 20 degrees), some would have survived.

Think back closely... are you absolutely sure you put in dechlor in the water?

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm very sorry to hear about your fish. I had the same thought as Alshain. For fish to die that quickly after a water change, it sounds like dechlorinator was not used, or somehow the water change completely changed all the water parameters in the tank, which would be unlikely if you used the same water you always used. Did you add a water softener or something to your house water supply?

 

[Leader of Men]

I put dechlor in it. It's possibly not enough but when tested, my dad said everything looked fine and possibly the only thing a little off was alkalinity.

 

[Zagz]

So sorry to hear about your losses. Once we have the water parameters maybe then we can help you figure it out.

 

[i3k]

wow that sucks. sorry to hear all your fish expired. i lost 2 in the last two days. it sucks, especially when you've had them for some time.

maybe something fell into the water? what kind of container did you have the water in?

 

[roka64]

I would check for stray voltages, I have a PH leach out voltage and killed all my fish.

 

[Leader of Men]

Sometime when my Dad was gone the heater faulted since the temp was up over 100*. Apparently the floating them. failed, too. My dad said it said like 18* celsius and still does even out of the water.

So once I get a good heater back in I'm not sure what to do with my tank...

That's for another post.

 

[fijiwigi]

Sometime when my Dad was gone the heater faulted since the temp was up over 100*. Apparently the floating them. failed, too. My dad said it said like 18* celsius and still does even out of the water.

So once I get a good heater back in I'm not sure what to do with my tank...

That's for another post.

Just curious what brand of heater was it that faulted?

 

[Leader of Men]

Marineland.

It's a bit older now, I got it in 2003. I wish it would have just stopped heating the tank. Then I could have rant o the store and gotten a new one. Instead it appeared to keep working.

 

[Alshain]

Yeah 100 degrees would do it. If it's any consolation, it is actually more likely they died of Oxygen deprivation long before the tank got that hot, which is probably less painful than being boiled alive.

Sorry you had so much trouble, the Visitherms are usually pretty reliable. I don't know your tanks size and situation but the Hydor Inline heaters are nice if your using a canister. They don't succumb to the same problems as intank heaters.

 

[pitt420dude]

Ouch, this kind of scares me with regard to my heater. I've only got one in there and my apt is usually between 50 (when Im not home) to 60 degrees in the winter. If that heater gave out it would get really cold really quick I imagine.

Wierd that you had the opposite problem; that is that your heater made it way too hot.

What would a higher temperature have to do with the oxygen in the water? Does it escape more quickly when the water his hotter or something?

 

[cogburn]

i was doing a pwc last night and im usually pretty good about matching the temp of the water im putting in... well i guess i was way off cuz i get the water in and the temp is off the thermometer's chart had to be higher than 90 cuz thats as high as it goes... so i turn off the heater... then being the dolt i am forgot to turn the heater back on when i went to bed... got up this morning and the water was at 70 degrees... so i turned the heater back on... hoping when i get home all my fishies are okay...

 

[pitt420dude]

Oh geeze! I too just try to match the temp by feel and don't have to worry as much as there is more room for error in a 55 gallon. But a change from (I assume) 80 degrees, to over 90, then down to 70, all within one 12 hour period seem pretty drastic.

I advise wrapping a blanket around your entire aquarium and praying. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[tawolcott]

Hindsight is worthless but...

Why turn the heater off if the temp of the water you put in raised the water temp? The heater would not 'heat' again until the water temp fell below the heater setting.

 

[cogburn]

nobody ever accused me of being einstein... now that i think about it... it was one of the stupidest 12 hours of my life hahaha

 

[tawolcott]

had em, expect more

 

[rkilling1]

had em, expect more

Agreed. We all make mistakes. As I have heard before, it's only a true mistake if you don't learn from it.