Total Decimation in 29 gallon tank!

Over the last two days every thing living in my planted 29 has died. Water perams perfect, which was pretty odd that I did't have more than 5ppm nitrate, it's usually 10. There were no signs of illness. Sunday morning woke up to cloudy water, as if a bacterial bloom. Sunday night, the four angels, and my beautiful long finned pleco all had shredded fins all the way to the base, and skin looked pinkish and red They were also all gasping. No signs of ich, bacteria, fungus, Monday morning two of the angels died, followed by the rest last night. Even my Assassin snails are gone. Any ideas of what could have happened?

I seriously doubt poisoning, and am leaning towards some type of shock cycling, but why? Or maybe lack of oxygen? I have a CO2 hooked up but hadn't changed out the mixture in about 5 weeks. Could that have done it? The tank has been established for more than a year. Three months ago I moved to another neighborhood, but have had no issues with water quality. The other 3 tanks have no signs whatsoever of the same thing...

Thanks for any input.

 

There's actually one survivor...but not for long it seems. Here's a pic in case it might help. Currently added a small amount of salt. Could PraziPro help?

 

Does no one have any suggestions??

 

You were over stocked, So potentially a cycle overload. The fins look like they have Haemorrhagic septicaemia which is bad, very very bad. Not many people recognize it, or at least, not most of the newer members so you will need to wait for one of the older more experiences members to come and help. Ill send some heads ups.

 

Oh wow, SoltarianKnight is right. That is hemorrhagic septicemia! And you were quite over stocked. How were you testing for ammonia, etc? HS is either viral or bacterial in nature. It poisons the blood stream and causes hemorrhaging, hence the name. Unless you've recently added new fish, this is likely bacterial, which is a water quality issue, often related to ammonia spikes. Cloudy water suggests a bacterial bloom, which means the cycle has been disrupted somehow. When you moved, did you keep the original filter material, substrate, etc?

Can you check your parameters again? I can't imagine there is no ammonia . . . but the fact that your nitrates went down could mean you just went through a minI cycle. Gasping is indicitive of ammonia poisoning, or too much co2, but I don't know anythign about mixing it or using it so I can't comment on that.

I would definetly start with a large 50% water change, after testing. I would then do another one later tonight, followed by another in the morning.

Medication wise, look for one for HS. I like Mardel medications personally, but I believe API has a good one for this too. You need to act quickly though, if you want to save your last angel.

 

Thanks for your replies! I use the API drops for water perams, and chek weekly for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ph. Readings have always been 0, 0, 10, and 6.4. It has to have been a cycle, but why would it have happened now after a year? Maybe I fed them too much at some point. I make 75% water changes every week.

The good news is I do believe my last angel is pulling through. I didn't know how to treat so I started with some salt to help her slime, and have been using PraziPro as well. The blood has disapeared from her fins, and started eating again this morning. I'm going to keep her in the quaratine tank until I know exactly what to do with th 29 gallon.

 

PrazI is for parasites. Marcyn1+marcyn2 would be your best bet.