Emergency! Fish Rapidly Failing!

[supermazz9]

I woke up this morning to the sight of all but one of my tiger barbs (12) and 2 of my yo yo loaches at the surface. 1 tiger barb is dead. This is a 40g.

I put an orange in the tank last night, and I'm thinking I must have had some soap traces on my hand when I did. There are a few small bubbles around the glass, and the water surface looks filmy.

Suggestions on what to do? I'm about to make a MAJOR water change. I've disconected the filter, and will begin to clean it out as soon as I get a little advice...how do I clean it? Should I use water from my 29? I don't know what could be bad about that right now, but we'll see.

Please help!

 

[Sadielynn]

I am not a freshie ,hopefully some one will chime in ... How I was ours (remember I am on the salt side) is to tip upside down and use the kitchen hose to rinse very well... As with any tank tho you will want to do a 50% change if possible add some new carbon to your filter and do multipule small water changes over the next few days ..25% for the next week daily . Change your carbon every 2-3 days ... Sorry I am of not much more help ....

 

[Zagz]

First do the water change, then add fresh carbon to the filter. Rinse the filter only and change the removable media. If possible steal some media from the filter in your 29 gal. Water will not help. Add an airstone if you haven't got one already. Make sure you use dechlorinator and match the water temp.

 

[supermazz9]

it's looking better than it was this morning...

The question about the water from the 29g was about rinsing out the media from the 40g. I don't like to cross water from tank to tank (that's just how my brain works, please don't judge me...), so I thought i'd ask, even though I knew it was a stupid question.

I guess carbon will be neccisary, won't it? I don't use it, so I'll have to go buy some.

 

[Zagz]

Yes for this carbon is necessary. And while the best practice is to use tank water to rinse out your filter media, the water is the problem here as it is contaminated. Actually you could use the water from your 29 gal to rinse the filter. If you can use the media from the 29 gal then you can use the water. I thought you meant to keep the cycle going.