I think I just killed all my fish

I cannot believe I did this but I think I managed to kill an entire tank of
cichlids tonight. I am really bombed out about it.

I have a 45 gallon tank with some juveniles thriving for the past 3 months.
Typically I changed the water once a month when I had some community fish in
there and once the cichlids were really small. Today I decided to test for
nitrates and switch to a biweekly water change. I had changed 25% two weeks
ago. The nitrates were kind high so I decided to a more aggressive water
change around 40% of the water, I used a python like I always do and filled
the tank up with water close to temp as the tank. The thermometer did not
register a temp change and the heater stayed up after it was full for maybe
3min I used a water treatment in the tank. immediately after this all my
fish went to shock, sitting at the bottom of the tank still gasping for air.
Couldn't understand what went wrong initially I thought they were just
frightened because of the substrate vacuum etc.

Two hours later still gasping and one already dead... I'm afraid they will
be more!

I am so mad right now.

Any comments as to what might have gone wrong are very much appreciated.

And just yesterday I was bragging about their colors and behavior to my
wife, I screwed my self so bad.

TIA

Steve

Sorry to hear that.
"SA" wrote in message
...
I cannot believe I did this but I think I managed to kill an entire tank
of
cichlids tonight. I am really bombed out about it.

I have a 45 gallon tank with some juveniles thriving for the past 3
months.
Typically I changed the water once a month when I had some community fish
in
there and once the cichlids were really small. Today I decided to test for
nitrates and switch to a biweekly water change. I had changed 25% two
weeks
ago. The nitrates were kind high so I decided to a more aggressive water
change around 40% of the water, I used a python like I always do and
filled
the tank up with water close to temp as the tank. The thermometer did not
register a temp change and the heater stayed up after it was full for
maybe
3min I used a water treatment in the tank. immediately after this all my
fish went to shock, sitting at the bottom of the tank still gasping for
air.
Couldn't understand what went wrong initially I thought they were just
frightened because of the substrate vacuum etc.

Two hours later still gasping and one already dead... I'm afraid they will
be more!

I am so mad right now.

Any comments as to what might have gone wrong are very much appreciated.

And just yesterday I was bragging about their colors and behavior to my
wife, I screwed my self so bad.

TIA

Steve

"SA" wrote in
:

I cannot believe I did this but I think I managed to kill an
entire tank of cichlids tonight. I am really bombed out about
it.

I have a 45 gallon tank with some juveniles thriving for the
past 3 months. Typically I changed the water once a month when I
had some community fish in there and once the cichlids were
really small. Today I decided to test for nitrates and switch to
a biweekly water change. I had changed 25% two weeks ago. The
nitrates were kind high so I decided to a more aggressive water
change around 40% of the water, I used a python like I always do
and filled the tank up with water close to temp as the tank. The
thermometer did not register a temp change and the heater stayed
up after it was full for maybe 3min I used a water treatment in
the tank. immediately after this all my fish went to shock,
sitting at the bottom of the tank still gasping for air.
Couldn't understand what went wrong initially I thought they
were just frightened because of the substrate vacuum etc.

Two hours later still gasping and one already dead... I'm afraid
they will be more!

I am so mad right now.

Any comments as to what might have gone wrong are very much
appreciated.

And just yesterday I was bragging about their colors and
behavior to my wife, I screwed my self so bad.

TIA

Steve



Did you put in dechlorinator BEFORE you added water?
Meph

"Mephistopheles" wrote in
message hlink.net...
"SA" wrote in
:

I cannot believe I did this but I think I managed to kill an
entire tank of cichlids tonight. I am really bombed out about
it.

I have a 45 gallon tank with some juveniles thriving for the
past 3 months. Typically I changed the water once a month when I
had some community fish in there and once the cichlids were
really small. Today I decided to test for nitrates and switch to
a biweekly water change. I had changed 25% two weeks ago. The
nitrates were kind high so I decided to a more aggressive water
change around 40% of the water, I used a python like I always do
and filled the tank up with water close to temp as the tank. The
thermometer did not register a temp change and the heater stayed
up after it was full for maybe 3min I used a water treatment in
the tank. immediately after this all my fish went to shock,
sitting at the bottom of the tank still gasping for air.
Couldn't understand what went wrong initially I thought they
were just frightened because of the substrate vacuum etc.

Two hours later still gasping and one already dead... I'm afraid
they will be more!

I am so mad right now.

Any comments as to what might have gone wrong are very much
appreciated.

And just yesterday I was bragging about their colors and
behavior to my wife, I screwed my self so bad.

TIA

Steve



Did you put in dechlorinator BEFORE you added water?
Meph


why would that be necessary?. As long as you add the dechlorinator to the
water it makes no difference if you do it before or during the process of
adding the tap water. I use a python and always add dechlorinator while
refilling and in 35 tanks I've never lost a fish during that process.
Something else is wrong here, gasping for air could be an ammonia spike but
why after a 40% water change?. Check with the water utility and make sure
they have not switched to chloramines.

Rick

SA wrote:
I cannot believe I did this but I think I managed to kill an entire
tank of cichlids tonight. I am really bombed out about it.

I have a 45 gallon tank with some juveniles thriving for the past 3
months. Typically I changed the water once a month when I had some
community fish in there and once the cichlids were really small.
Today I decided to test for nitrates and switch to a biweekly water
change. I had changed 25% two weeks ago. The nitrates were kind high
so I decided to a more aggressive water change around 40% of the
water, I used a python like I always do and filled the tank up with
water close to temp as the tank. The thermometer did not register a
temp change and the heater stayed up after it was full for maybe 3min
I used a water treatment in the tank. immediately after this all my
fish went to shock, sitting at the bottom of the tank still gasping
for air. Couldn't understand what went wrong initially I thought they
were just frightened because of the substrate vacuum etc.

Two hours later still gasping and one already dead... I'm afraid they
will be more!

I am so mad right now.

Any comments as to what might have gone wrong are very much
appreciated.

And just yesterday I was bragging about their colors and behavior to
my wife, I screwed my self so bad.

TIA

Steve

Use Amquel next time. It's the best friend to a Python system. Works quick,
and eliminates Nitrates and Ammonia.. nitrites too!!

Dan J. S. wrote:

Use Amquel next time. It's the best friend to a Python system. Works quick,
and eliminates Nitrates and Ammonia.. nitrites too!!


Can you provide some support for the claim that Amquel
eliminates nitrates? Where do they go?

From:
http://www.novalek.com/kpd51.htm
"AmQuel quickly and effectively removes ammonia, chlorine and chloramines"

Please think before you post erroneous information.

Jeff Dantzler

http://www.novalek.com/kpd79.htm

2. A primary purpose in aquariums and ponds is to protect aquarium and
pond fishes and invertebrates by quickly eliminating (actually
detoxifying) the harmful components of the biological nitrogen cycle -
ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates without slowing the nitrogen cycle
(see KPD-64 "Biological Filtration"), or interfering with the
beneficial bacteria involved, or depriving these bacteria of their
food.

To control the toxic organic nitrogenous compounds of ammonia,
nitrite, and nitrate and other toxic organics that build up in
aquariums and ponds from the excretion of body wastes by fishes,
invertebrates, bacteria and other aquatic organisms start with a
Standard Dose (see definition above). This Standard Dose will remove
(detoxify) at least 1.2 mg/L (= approx.1,2 ppm) of all ammonia
compounds, at least 2.0 mg/L (=2.0 ppm) of nitrites, and at least 13
mg/L (=13 ppm) of nitrates. We recommend only one standard dose per 24
hour period. The removal of these compounds will happen within five
minutes, or slightly longer for ammonia at a higher pH above 7.5. It
is important to understand that the amounts of organic compounds
removed may vary with differing water conditions. The amounts
indicated above are the minimums that AmQuel will detoxify, and what
is removed may be up to several times higher. Use accurate test kits
to check how much of each compound is being removed when using
multiple doses (see the section in KPD-80 on "Water Quality Test Kits"
under "Problems When Using Water Conditioners..."). Be aware that test
strips may be insufficient to provide accurate readings; check liquid
and powder reagents to be sure that they are not out-of-date.

So, according to their own support page, Amquel + does handle 13 ppm
of nitrates.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 19:08:42 -0000, Jeff Dantzler
wrote:

Dan J. S. wrote:

Use Amquel next time. It's the best friend to a Python system. Works quick,
and eliminates Nitrates and Ammonia.. nitrites too!!


Can you provide some support for the claim that Amquel
eliminates nitrates? Where do they go?

From:
http://www.novalek.com/kpd51.htm
"AmQuel quickly and effectively removes ammonia, chlorine and chloramines"

Please think before you post erroneous information.

Jeff Dantzler

Water heated up inside the tank or under pressure (your water heater)
may cause gas emboli in fishes' gills with the symptoms you describe.
This is a bigger problem in the winter when the cold tap water has
more dissolved gas and with larger water changes. Water should be
heated outside of the tank and at atmospheric pressure with some
agitation to help de-gas the water. I have a powerhead pump the water
several feet above the container with a heater and fall back into it.
After several hours I add the replacement water to the tank over the
course of several more hours.

If there were a significant number of bubbles forming, particularly on
your heater or anything else glass, then you may have experienced this
problem.

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

"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