"SA" wrote in message
...
Thank you all for your responses. They are really appreciated, as of now
my
news are not so grim, I lost two fish. Last night after what happened I
took
one of the Yellow Labs that was floating upside down by the filter intake
and put him in a small hospital tank. Today back from work the little
fellow
seems to be recovered, he's swimming around the tank and seems a lot
better.

I should have done the same with the other two but they were difficult to
catch and I didn't want to chase them around and stress them more. The one
is definitely gone, the second's gills are still moving but he looks bad,
I
now have him in the hospital tank as well. I have read somewhere that
sometimes they come back even after they have stayed motionless for a
while.
Not sure if there's any truth to that.

After reading your posts all day I realize that you all make some
excellent
points.

I too was not certain as to whether or not it was ok to use the python to
fill the tank as opposed to a bucket of water that gets prepared first.
But
I figured many people use their python to fill their tanks and I have in
the
past also without an incident. I wasn't sure if adding the water treatment
was supposed to be before adding new water or during, I figured during
would
be better.

The more I think of this the more Bitey's comment makes sense. At first I
thought it may have been pH shock to the fish that did it. But I was
puzzled
indeed by the many little bubbles of air everywhere on the tank. On
decorations, glass, even on some fish. At that time I thought it was a
good
thing thinking that I aerated the water stream enough when I was filling
the
tank - I read somewhere that some of the chlorine escapes by having the
water come in under pressure and slash vigorously on the surface - in the
past I used to add water in a much slower rate.

I know think a pH shock should have come slower to the fish, but I'm
guessing here. I just checked the pH and it registers at typical levels,
so
either it shifted in 24 hours time or it was ok to begin with. I was not
aware of "gas emboli" the way you described it one bit, but it almost
sounds
like the 'bends' with divers. Is this a correct analogy? This is great
insight for all of us with tanks I think. I would have never thought of
it.
The rest of the fish seem to be doing fine now in the tank. The pl*co did
not seemed phased at all but the cichlids felt it big time.

Will there be any future side effects from this ordeal in your estimation?
If I was to use a python to fill a tank is there a way to avoid this or
should I just skip to a water pump and a bucket?

Sorry for the long message but I feel that we all learned something here,
I
certainly did and I thank you again all for your time.

Regards

Steve



I have water stored in my basement that I keep heated and agitated with an
airstone and this water I use in a lot of my tanks. My 77g tank upstairs and
my 50 g hex tank are both planted tanks that I use the Python on to do 50%
weekly water changes. When I am finished my tanks are full of bubbles, the
glass is covered, the plants are covered, everything is covered. I do this
week after week after week and have never lost a fish. I live in Canada and
the water does have more gas content than in summer however I have never
experienced a problem. However like everything in this hobby, YMMV.

Rick