Everything Died

As alot of you know i have been raising a baby freshwater stingray
(potamotrygon reticulata) and until yesterday it was all going great. In the
tank I had all of my fry from my texas/jd pair i sold, my breeding group of
cories, some loaches I got from rachel, a baby peackock bass and, an
arowana. So lots of valuble and expensive fish (at least for me because
everything I buy comes out of my alouance).

Every saturday I clean the 55 and the 120 and on sundays I clean the 10,
20, and 29. So I started out doing a 75% water change and everyone was
doing great. Once i started adding water a few of the fish started
swimming weirdly (including the ray) and I thought they where just a
little freaked out from all the moving water.

Half an hour later I come upstairs to see how things are going with the tank. Everything was dead.

I still don't know how or why it happened. I used acid buffer and prime
like I normally do. I checked the ph -6.5- I checked the temp -78f. It was
all normal. What should I do with the ornaments, sand, filter media, and
filter? Should I throw it away?

That's horrible news! I am sorry for your loss. Were you using a hose of some sort to refill? If so, was it cascading water into the tank or was the hose under the surface of the water?
I have noticed in winter that there were times when my fish would gasp and swim awkward upon filling the tank in instances where the hose slipped under the surface when filling. Best guess is poor gas exchange.

Whoa!

So everything in all of your tanks died? Or just the stingray tank?

I did water changes yesterday as well (without incident...and I'd assume we're on the same water supply).

I don't mess with pH buffers but that shouldn't be the issue.

Sure you remembered the Prime?

Matt

festaedan said:

As alot of you know i have been raising a baby freshwater stingray
(potamotrygon reticulata) and until yesterday it was all going great. In the
tank I had all of my fry from my texas/jd pair i sold, my breeding group of
cories, some loaches I got from rachel, a baby peackock bass and, an
arowana. So lots of valuble and expensive fish (at least for me because
everything I buy comes out of my alouance).

Every saturday I clean the 55 and the 120 and on sundays I clean the 10,
20, and 29. So I started out doing a 75% water change and everyone was
doing great. Once i started adding water a few of the fish started
swimming weirdly (including the ray) and I thought they where just a
little freaked out from all the moving water.

Half an hour later I come upstairs to see how things are going with the tank. Everything was dead.

I still don't know how or why it happened. I used acid buffer and prime
like I normally do. I checked the ph -6.5- I checked the temp -78f. It was
all normal. What should I do with the ornaments, sand, filter media, and
filter? Should I throw it away?

Click to expand...

im sorry for your loss as well.. i do hope that its not the water quality from where you are unless you are using well water.. poor gas exchange is also a possibility.. and Andrew may be right about some chemicals being in your water hose..but that is terrible..i do hope you find out what happened..it sucks to loose fish..

Andrewtfw said:

That's horrible news! I am sorry for your loss. Were you using a hose of some sort to refill? If so, was it cascading water into the tank or was the hose under the surface of the water?
I have noticed in winter that there were times when my fish would gasp and swim awkward upon filling the tank in instances where the hose slipped under the surface when filling. Best guess is poor gas exchange.

Click to expand...

do you have a powerhead to break the water surface and agitate it a little? if that happens frequently, i think it would be bad for the fish.. a small aerator and stone would do the trick, or an add on HOB filter to agitate water surface.. in my 125 i have 2 powerheads, one close to the surface to agitate water always and one at the bottom to create flow towards my filter intake..

dogofwar said:

Sure you remembered the Prime?

Matt

Click to expand...

might as well be another culprit..

I am so sorry, Dan!

i'm sorry to hear this. this new water is from the municipal supply, yes?

It would be really hard to do a 75% water change on a tank without splashing water into it.

I'd assume that he's been using the same hose for some time...so unless it's something new or different that doesn't seem like the cause.

I don't use pH adjusters. Is there any risk to adding the water and then the chemicals (vs. mixing a batch in another container and adding once you've verified it's got the correct parameters...kind of like mixing salt water).

My bet's on not enough dechlor, especially for widespread death that quick. We don't have chloramine in Rockville/Potomac.

Matt

dogofwar said:

Whoa!

So everything in all of your tanks died? Or just the stingray tank?

I did water changes yesterday as well (without incident...and I'd assume we're on the same water supply).

I don't mess with pH buffers but that shouldn't be the issue.

Sure you remembered the Prime?

Matt

Click to expand...

Just the ray tank

I did use prime

My parent's bathroom is getting re-done so that might have some thing to do with it.

dogofwar said:

....We don't have chloramine in Rockville/Potomac.

Matt

Click to expand...

I live in potomac, should I not use prime?

What should I do with the ornaments, sand, filter media, ect. Should I throw it out?

That is terrible :-(. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Prime is good to use (it treats both chlorine and chloramine).

Matt

festaedan said:

I live in potomac, should I not use prime?

Click to expand...

No need...just drain and re-fill. I'd run a piece of Polyfilter to remove any residual ammonia or whatever that might remain...

A few months ago, one of my kids dropped an ant killer thing into one of my tanks. I did a big water change, added some Polyfilter to the filter and no losses.

Just test the tank with some hardy fish before you add more.

Did you also do water changes on your other tanks from the faucet / using the same process?

Matt

festaedan said:

What should I do with the ornaments, sand, filter media, ect. Should I throw it out?

Click to expand...

in regards to the deco and stuff, in my opinion if i would think or assume that it had something to do with chemicals, maybe i would just wash it really good and if possible sterilize them unless they could melt..but i would look into the option of cleaning before resorting to just throwing everything away..it possible to think that there would be such a deadly chemical in the redoing of your parents bathroom and maybe the water line has been affected for a while..

or maybe carbon to filter out some deadly chemicals before putting fish in? charcoal can remove harmful toxins in the body, it can do the same in a fish tank..

But what specifically?

Did you run the water for a bit (to clear any standing water from the hose and the water line)? PVC work with PVC glue/solvent is fish (and human) safe really soon after curing. Unless the workers connected hoses within a few minutes (seconds?) of you adding water through a newly glued line, there shouldn't be an issue.

It's possible that something from the construction (fumes from silicone with mildew inhibitors?) or dust blew into the tank but that would be obvious.

Matt

Ading522 said:

.it possible to think that there would be such a deadly chemical in the redoing of your parents bathroom and maybe the water line has been affected for a while..

Click to expand...

If it makes you feel better, many of us have had a "tank wipe" like this, including me (a 58 gallon all male peacock/hap tank) and Tony's huge African tank. In most cases, no culprit is found. In my case it was elevated nitrite, but I did not find out why that had occurred.

Before you get rid of the water, I'd recommend testing it, although it might be too late now.

Also, because of problems I've had with water changes, I do a few things now out of abundance of caution:

I age water AND add prime. This might not be an option for you. But I have a large plastic trash can filled with water and two bubblers on it all the time and use this water only for water changes.

I do not do large water changes. I do 25 percent more often if need be. I think the large 75 percent changes creates too much flux I know others disagree, but that is my opinion.

Don't mess with pH stabilizers or other additives. most of us use only dechlorinator and nothing else. You can impact water in the way you want by using crushed coral, holey rock, wood, etc. without having to add things.

I never do a water change right before I leave, whether it's before work or for a vacation. I always do a change when I"m there to continue monitoring. Lesson learned there.

Again, sorry. It's very hard to lose fish.

I once lost a tank full of fish using a pH buffer.

If you're in Montgomery County, you have chlorine, but not chloramine. You still need Prime or another dechlorinator.

Back to your loss. I'm sure you feel terrible about it. Most of us have had similar things happen, sometimes due to user error and other times due to mysterious causes. Blaise, who's had aquariums for more than 25 years, had a similar tank wipeout last year (and posted about it). It doesn't sound to me that you did anything wrong.