Why are my fish dying

[cmcpart0422]

Ok so last week i had everything in one of my tanks die in a time frame of two days. I lost all fish, plecos, and even snails.

I tore the tank apart and washed everything and changed all filter media and everything.

Reset up the tank and threw some cheap fish in to see how it goes. They start dying. They seem to be breathing heavily and sitting towards the bottom of the tank. Even the tetras wont move that much. They seem lethargic and twitchy.

I test my water and all seems fine.

ammonia 0
pH 7.8
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
temp 80

The only thing I could notice on the dead fish were red stomaches.

Any ideas?

 

[TheWire]

What did you do during the 1st round of dying? Did you change water? add anything?
The test results...is after you start over? or previous round?

 

[cmcpart0422]

I did a big water change and added a small dose of clout when I noticed the fish dying the first time. Water test were the same before and after.

 

[F8LBITE]

Sorry to hear. Did you add any new fish right before they started dying?

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

The red stomachs seems like it might be a GI issue or internal parasite issue. Did you change food type or feed live food near that time?

 

[dogofwar]

No idea why they died but I'd bleach the wAter and start from scratch

Matt

Posted via mobile.capitalcichlids.org

 

[cmcpart0422]

The red stomachs seems like it might be a GI issue or internal parasite issue. Did you change food type or feed live food near that time?

No the tank was empty and I got 6 ruby greens from dogofwar. I noticed that they were not eating, gasping for air, hanging at the bottom, flicking and scratching, and were kind of lethargic. The next day I found two dead so I did a 75% water change and treated with clout. Next day I found 3 more dead and 1 swimming upside-down.

Then I cleaned the tank and started over. And now im here.

 

[Tony]

Dude that sucks... no idea. I'm sort of in the "nuke the tank" camp. Sorry.

Is there a possibility that some sort of chemicals accidentally got into the tank?

 

[TheWire]

did u add prime? just asking lol...i have forgotten to add it before ..

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Yeah, that makes it tough to figure out. You may want to lower the temp a bit because oxygen saturation drops with the increase in temperature. It definitely wouldn't have killed the fish, just an idea for reference.

 

[cmcpart0422]

did u add prime? just asking lol...i have forgotten to add it before ..

I always do. Infect i keep the prime in the bathroom because I do water-changes using the bathtub.

I want to change the temp but i turned the heaters off and this is as low as they will get.

 

[TheWire]

I always do. Infect i keep the prime in the bathroom because I do water-changes using the bathtub.

I want to change the temp but i turned the heaters off and this is as low as they will get.

that could be it...bathtub...possible poisoning thru the soap?

 

[Pat Kelly]

How about the local water supply.
Well contaminated?
City water running anything through to clean the pipes. Have read stories over the years of them putting something in the water to clean or preserve, that is not harmfull to us but can wipe out fish? Never had it happen but have read stories.

 

[cmcpart0422]

Well i'm doing water changes to all my other tanks with the same water and no ill effects. The way I see it, if my tropheus can handle it then the others should be fine.

 

[danger_chicken]

What else is in the tank - substrate, decor, filter media, etc?

 

[minifoot77]

any dead snails?

 

[cmcpart0422]

yeah snails died. In the tank there is gravel, some rocks, small drift wood, and a sponge filter (this is new i put it in after i cleaned and changed everything).

 

[cmcpart0422]

Well more then one of you have mentioned that you would bleach or "nuke" the tank. How would you go about doing this?

 

[Lively]

It is what it sounds like, you bleach everything that was in the tank - toss decor that can't handle it. Rinse everything well with water and decholorinator - and rinse again - and again (to be safe)

 

[danger_chicken]

boil the driftwood if it's small enough. Do you know what type of rock or where they came from?