xero2099

my new tank was finally up and running early last month and Its a 45 gallon tank and i have been changing 15 gallons every 2 weeks I know its 15 because i have a 5 gallon bucket i empty the water into and it was 3 buckets that i took out before the tragedy i had 5 bloodfin tetras, 2 Dalmatian mollies and 3 angelfish everyone was happy for all of last month but after doing my normal maintenance on sunday things took a turn for the worst I lost all the angle fish in a 24 hour period the were looking good then all of a sudden they were swimming weird and then got caught in plants that had been in the tank since they arrived a month earlier next were the mollies both were fine until yesterday then the started to rest on bottom of tank and then float upside down one of them died this morning and the other was still breathing but also still upside down and i fear he will have died when i get home from work tonight I was sure to use de-chlorinate and stress coat to the water before i added it to tank am super bummed right now

Tony G.

im sorry
You could have caused a mini cycle from removing the water. by any chance did you scrub deco/change filter pad?
also it could be something in your tap water. A memebr once had very very toxic fluids in their tap water.

xero2099

out of fear of losing more fish i changed the filter bad this morning am using an emperor bio wheel i have also been using ammonia chips in the media bay a well as the pad and changed that out as well I added 3 buckets of water to tank and before each I treated them with and tap water treatment and de chlorinate . one other thing i did was i did move a alot of gravel around

lew2000

In looking at you aqaurium info - you don't have the nitrogen cycle answer. When you say your tank was "up and running" - do you mean it was completly cycled? It sounds as if the tank was not fully cycled - and the fish are dying/suffering do to ammonia/nittrites.

What are your water parameters: ammonia, nitrite, and pH -

How much filtration do you have on your tank?

Tony G.

Ahh i see. by changing th filter, removing, water, messing around with the gravel, you may have killed some bacteria,causing a mini cycle. This mainly happens because the bacteria live on the filter and gravel and deco. I would do to your LFS as soon as you can and get some tss (tetra safe start) it will dettox the nitrites and ammonia in the water making it safe for your fish, while the tank cycles.

Lucy

I'm really sorry about your fish.
I don't think you would have had a massive die off from ammonia in such a short amount of time.
A couple things you might want to look at.
Were your hands and arms free of soap, lotions etc? Was anything sprayed in the room that could have drifted into the tank?
When was the last time you vacuumed the gravel? Sometimes pockets of gas can collect under substrate or ornaments if it's not vacuumed or stirred up from time to time.
Was the water you added the same temp as the water you took out? How about the pH?

I don't know for sure that it was any of these things, but just food for thought.
Tetra Safe start is a bottled bacteria. Maybe you're thinking of Prime? That's a water conditioner that'll detox the ammonia.

Tony G.

i guess i mixed it up. But doesnt the tss make it safe for the fish?

xero2099

I did pick up some of that but have not used it yet since until i get a new ammonia test all i have is a live meter to fall back on and it said it was at a safe level but i dont trust it i only use it for temp and PH will add some of that when i get home

xero2099

had nothing on my hands
1. i did move alot around beacuse of cleaning and i had to rebury 2 airstones i had in there

2. my kittys litterbox is in the same room and when he does his business i spar some air freshener in there i may have unintentionally sprayed some in the direction of the tank

Lucy

Prime works to detox almost immediately when used as directed.
With Tetra Safe Start, you're supposed to add it and the fish at the same time. As the fish creates waste the bacteria begins to multiply and process the ammonia.
If there's already ammonia in the tank there's good chance TSS will be overwhelmed and not work.
If it's going to be used, it's best IMO to use it as directed.

Do you have a liquid test kit?
What are the exact readings?

That's a possiblity.

xero2099

the PH using the liquid kit says its at 6 but it has been like that sine i set the tank up and for a month the fishies were great am going to borrow my gfs ammonia kit and test with it but begin that the ph is that low is that bad?

Lucy

Many fish can adapt to different pH's. As long as the water you added was around the same, it shouldn't cause a problem.
Good news is at that pH if there was ammonia in your tank it would be in it's less toxic form of ammonium.

xero2099

another thing i am thing I am thinking is that the city put a new water meter on my house last friday so they had to shut the main off and the pressure isnt back to what it was yet something in the line may have been pushed through to me so even with the treatments i put in there may have been something else in there sigh.....

Lucy

Yeah, something weird happened for sure. Especially since things were going so well and then bam, things went very wrong even though you followed your normal routine.

xero2099

all i have left now are some babies (which i believe are mollies) and the tetras am going to wait a week before i put anything else in

xero2099

was changing the water daily untill the i felt that the water coming into my house was back to normal and all seems well, I did lose the last molly but I think that it wasn't doing to well because of the initial change after the city turned my water back on my ammonia is still a little high like at .25 but my ph still has never moved either its at 6 and my nitrate is 10 and no notrite

Craig-D

Your ammonia is actually ammonium at that pH. That's not toxic to the fish and was not their killer. If everything was fine until that water change and you're sure that's the only thing you changed, then something in your water is the likely culprit - especially when you said the city was messign with your water system. You might wish to get your water tested before adding anymore fish. ****, at this point I'm more concerned about you than the fish if you're drinking that stuff!

peacemaker92

Hi Xero. I'm sorry about your fish. Great advice above. Hope everything goes well and you can keep having happy fish. Good luck!