Tea leaves killed 99 fry & male dying in separate tank HELP

[Medanthropro]

I was so happy to get tea leaves as water changes difficult and I read tea leaves help keep tanks free from harmful bacteria: 24 hours later all but a single fry are dead, and male is at bottom of his tank dying. Please advise. Is there danger in using tea leaves? I will change water in male tank, but please let me know if there is anything more I might do to save a wonder papa male. To be honest, I noticed the betta in two tanks started lying on floor about an hour after I put leaves in, so I considered the leaves might not provide enough surface area and cut small pieces. I have never read any warning on tea leaves from Amazon seller.YOU CAN SEE I added air stone and betta has moved near it.

 

[Demeter]

Were these leaves meant for the aquarium and can you perhaps provide a link to where you bought them? I've never tried tea leaves with my bettas, only oak, IAL, and teak.

One possible reason is adding too many leaves will leech tannin too fast and that can shock the fish. Remove the leaves and do a 75% water change. Adding some active carbon to the filter (or any place with water movement) will soak up the remaining leaf substances. I've never had an issue when adding leaves, perhaps it's a supplier issue in your case. Contact the seller and ask them if any pesticides were used, tell them what happened when you added the leaves.

 

[StarGirl]

I'm pretty sure you need to do a water change now......Vacuum all the leaves out. What kind of tea was it?

 

[coralbandit]

Sorry to hear this . Cutting the leaves surely hastened their leaching quality and possibly just too much ?
Any way tank size and age of fry will help .
agree to remove leaves and tell what you got there ? Many of use IAL [capatta] leaves ..
Tea leave could be something different ?
This article may be helpful ?Might not be ? I use common to me leaves ,oak ,maple besides capatta ...
Leaves for Aquaria (Full Article) | Details | Articles |
I suspect you added too much ?
Welcome to the site .

 

[MacZ]

I have never heard of tea leaves in tanks. I heard of roiboos tea used for blackwater as well as people calling blackwater leaf extract "tea", but actual tea... Could you find the seller again and link us or take a pic of the bag they were shipped in (not the box), so somebody can identify that stuff?

 

[rhyan]

Uhmm unless you are making a tea for a drink it's good, but jokes aside where did you find that tea leaves can also be alternative to Indian almond leaves or driftwoods? This is the first time I heard about it and hope you remove it from your tank just to be sure. I'm puzzled out by this maybe I should also research on tea leaves for tannins. Anyway hope some of your fishes survives.