This was not a tank of mine, but I'm so stumped on this one and was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas. I'm the aquatics specialist at my local Petco, and we had someone that came in and bought a 29 gal kit (heater, filter, water conditioner). They set up the tank properly (rules out new tank syndrome) and the bio filter was set up properly. They came in and bought (if i'm remembering correctly) a pleco, some white skirt tetras, and mollies first. All dead in an hour. Came back and bought 3 more fish (not sure what), all dead in an hour. Came back two more times and the same thing, even killed a single feeder goldfish in less than an hour. Tested his water every time he came in, everything was perfect. From what I've seen, there's nothing he was doing wrong that could have killed all those fish so quickly. He rinsed everything with hot water before placing it in the tank, and didn't use anything to clean that could have harmed the fish. Does anyone have any ideas as to what was causing this? He returned the tank and is starting over completely, but I'd like to know what could possibly have caused all the carnage.
29 Gal Killing Fish, WHY??
- Thread starter krenner
- Start date
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TomCarter13
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- Jan 20, 2014
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Was the heater at the right temp for the fish? Temperature shock could easily kill a fish in an hour. Or the heater could be malfunctioning and releasing toxins into the tank. Or the filter could be doing the same thing. Malfunctioning and releasing something into the tank.
It does kind of sound like the tank hasn't been cycled properly yet though, because it sounds like the same thing that happened to me when I first started keeping fish. I remember getting my first tank and adding fish straight away. The fish died and I would be confused and for about 4 weeks I would go back to the pet store and try different fish and they would all die until one day they stopped dying. It was when I went in to get some more pet food that I explained to one of the pet store workers what happened to me and they then explained to me about cycling. I don't know why I didn't research or ask about anything to begin with but anyway that's besides the point.
Fish don't just die in an hour when put in a healthy cycled tank unless the fish themselves are very very ill in which case you should not be selling the fish to people or the fish tank has not been cycled properly.
If this really truly isn't the case and my other ideas aren't the reason then I have no idea.
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It does kind of sound like the tank hasn't been cycled properly yet though, because it sounds like the same thing that happened to me when I first started keeping fish. I remember getting my first tank and adding fish straight away. The fish died and I would be confused and for about 4 weeks I would go back to the pet store and try different fish and they would all die until one day they stopped dying. It was when I went in to get some more pet food that I explained to one of the pet store workers what happened to me and they then explained to me about cycling. I don't know why I didn't research or ask about anything to begin with but anyway that's besides the point.
Fish don't just die in an hour when put in a healthy cycled tank unless the fish themselves are very very ill in which case you should not be selling the fish to people or the fish tank has not been cycled properly.
If this really truly isn't the case and my other ideas aren't the reason then I have no idea.
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I believe the tank was up and running with no fish for around 3 weeks before they added fish, and we all make sure to explain and ask if a tank has been cycled before selling them fish. I'm not sure what the temp was in the tank, but I know they floated all their fish before adding them to the tank so they didn't shock them. My only thought was the heater releasing something into the tank as well. If they come back with issues with the new tank we'll know it's user error. Thanks for the ideas!
That's the only option I can see. We're planning on setting up the tank in the back and I'm gunna leave the heater out and see if the fish will live. If there's no issues I get to take it home so I'm hoping we get it figured out!
