Sudden Death

[Dave W.]

Hi. Maybe you folks can help with this baffling problem. I set up a
new 10 gal. tank and ran it for 3 days. I added stress coat to the
water (well water - no chlorine) and the temp was stable at 76.5
degrees. I bought 4 white cloud minnorws (supposed to be hardy),
floated the bag for 30 mins, and released them into the tank. They
swam around happily in the tank, but when I checked about 4 hours
later, they were all dead. I have never had this happen in any of my
aquariums before. Everything in the tank (gravel, plants, etc.) is new
and there has been no washing of anything with any bleach or
detergents. My PH runs aorund 7.5 to 7.6. Could it have been PH
shock? Baffled. Anybody had a similar experience?

[MEAlston]

"Dave W." > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi. Maybe you folks can help with this baffling problem. I set up a
> new 10 gal. tank and ran it for 3 days. I added stress coat to the
> water (well water - no chlorine) and the temp was stable at 76.5
> degrees. I bought 4 white cloud minnorws (supposed to be hardy),
> floated the bag for 30 mins, and released them into the tank. They
> swam around happily in the tank, but when I checked about 4 hours
> later, they were all dead. I have never had this happen in any of my
> aquariums before. Everything in the tank (gravel, plants, etc.) is new
> and there has been no washing of anything with any bleach or
> detergents. My PH runs aorund 7.5 to 7.6. Could it have been PH
> shock? Baffled. Anybody had a similar experience?
>
Do You have a large sulfur content in your well water?..This has to be
toxicity issue.
Did someone maybe place an alien ingredient into the tank behind your back?
(ie-the neighbor's rambuncious son)
NetMax, Frank, Altum, & MrGardner can help you pinpoint this problem quicker
than I can...
Best of Luck -ED

[Altum]

MEAlston wrote:
> "Dave W." > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Hi. Maybe you folks can help with this baffling problem. I set up a
>> new 10 gal. tank and ran it for 3 days. I added stress coat to the
>> water (well water - no chlorine) and the temp was stable at 76.5
>> degrees. I bought 4 white cloud minnorws (supposed to be hardy),
>> floated the bag for 30 mins, and released them into the tank. They
>> swam around happily in the tank, but when I checked about 4 hours
>> later, they were all dead. I have never had this happen in any of my
>> aquariums before. Everything in the tank (gravel, plants, etc.) is new
>> and there has been no washing of anything with any bleach or
>> detergents. My PH runs aorund 7.5 to 7.6. Could it have been PH
>> shock? Baffled. Anybody had a similar experience?
>>
> Do You have a large sulfur content in your well water?..This has to be
> toxicity issue.
> Did someone maybe place an alien ingredient into the tank behind your back?
> (ie-the neighbor's rambuncious son)
> NetMax, Frank, Altum, & MrGardner can help you pinpoint this problem quicker
> than I can...
> Best of Luck -ED

Bummer. I had a similar experience, but it was when my water company
moved to chloramines. I have occasionally had new fish die depressingly
fast from hidden diseases, but not usually four at once.

Here's my two cents' worth. These are just some ideas and other folks
may have better ones.

Sometimes well water is contaminated from agricultural runoff. Nitrate
and phosphate from fertilizers aren't particularly toxic, but sometimes
ammonia and nitrite can make it into water so test for those. As Ed
pointed out, sulfur compounds are common in well water and can be quite
toxic to fish. The most common problem is H2S and it smells like rotten
eggs.

Test for hardness too. If the well water is very soft and store water
hard, the fish could have died from osmotic shock. Floating to equalize
temperatures isn't enough in a hard to soft water switch.

If everything tests out OK, try filtering the water over high-grade
activated carbon to remove contaminants like heavy metals and/or
pesticides (I hope nothing like that is in your drinking water!) and try
again.

--
Put the word aquaria in the subject to email me.
Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com

[Dave W.]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I had set up a tank a little over a week
ago and the fish are doing very well (more mollies of course, seeded
with a sponge filter from an established molly tank). Therefore, I
think it's unlikely a water issue. As far as agricultral runoff is
concerned, I suppose anything's possible, but there are no farms nearby
(residential neighborhood, one of the few in the area where people
still have their own wells). There is no smell to the water and I have
no children to inadvertantly drop something in there. My sister lives
here, but she keeps fish as well and would never put anything into my
tanks to cause an issue. A friend suggested that perhaps some ignorant
employee in the LFS cleaned the tanks with some sort of chemical
(windex, fantastic, etc.) before putting them on display. Being a new
tank, I generally just wipe them out with wet paper towels to remove
dust/dirt before filling them. I can't imagine that the plants (fake
"silk" ones made by PennPlax) or the resin rock with caves would cause
it, but then again, something did.

[Gill Passman]

Dave W. wrote:
> Thanks for the speedy reply. I had set up a tank a little over a week
> ago and the fish are doing very well (more mollies of course, seeded
> with a sponge filter from an established molly tank). Therefore, I
> think it's unlikely a water issue. As far as agricultral runoff is
> concerned, I suppose anything's possible, but there are no farms nearby
> (residential neighborhood, one of the few in the area where people
> still have their own wells). There is no smell to the water and I have
> no children to inadvertantly drop something in there. My sister lives
> here, but she keeps fish as well and would never put anything into my
> tanks to cause an issue. A friend suggested that perhaps some ignorant
> employee in the LFS cleaned the tanks with some sort of chemical
> (windex, fantastic, etc.) before putting them on display. Being a new
> tank, I generally just wipe them out with wet paper towels to remove
> dust/dirt before filling them. I can't imagine that the plants (fake
> "silk" ones made by PennPlax) or the resin rock with caves would cause
> it, but then again, something did.
>

My first hunch would have been the water - I guess there is a
possibility that something changed in the last week...Do you use a Water
Conditioner to remove any chloramines/chlorine/heavy metals?

Another possibility might be an atmospheric pollutant...is it in the
same room as the other tank(s)? Has anything been decorated recently in
the room (paint fumes)? Have any aerosols been used? (eg. polish/fly
spray etc)Does anyone smoke in the room?

And of course your friend might be right...maybe the tank/decor was
polished somehow...I could see a cleaner maybe dusting the tank
decorations....

I would remove the Mollies (if they are still alive) and then tear down
the tank...I would soak everything thoroughly in a bleach solution and
then rinse, rinse, rinse to get rid of the bleach. I would then put the
tank and accessories out in the sun....

Gill

[Koi-Lo]

Moments before taking that leap of faith into the pond <Dave W.> at
> was heard opining:

> Hi. Maybe you folks can help with this baffling problem. I set up a
> new 10 gal. tank and ran it for 3 days. I added stress coat to the
> water (well water - no chlorine) and the temp was stable at 76.5
> degrees. I bought 4 white cloud minnorws (supposed to be hardy),
> floated the bag for 30 mins, and released them into the tank. They
> swam around happily in the tank, but when I checked about 4 hours
> later, they were all dead. I have never had this happen in any of my
> aquariums before. Everything in the tank (gravel, plants, etc.) is
> new and there has been no washing of anything with any bleach or
> detergents. My PH runs aorund 7.5 to 7.6. Could it have been PH
> shock? Baffled. Anybody had a similar experience?
==========================
I had a similar thing happen with a some fancy goldfish in the past year. I
bought them from a new Pet shop chain that I'd never gone to before.
Because I had to leave the house almost as soon as I got home, I floated
them a few minutes then let them out of the bag and went out. I ACCLIMATE
new fish to my water in a plastic 1g container but I didn't have time.
Several of them died right away and the last one some days later after never
acting right. It turns out the FS has a PH of 6.6 to 6.8 or thereabouts and
soft water. My water has a PH of around 7.8 plus or minus and is very hard.
Since acclimating fish from this store is so time consuming and chancy I
just don't buy fish there anymore. All the water in our area is hard and
alkaline I don't see how their water is so soft and acidic. FSs have such a
large "water turnover" you wouldn't think it would get so low.
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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