fish death....

[sweetshannon]

I had 6 ranchu in my 100 gallon tank. No new fish, plants.....Cycled for over 3 years. Ph steady at 7.8
Last week I cleaned my filters lightly in tank water after they laid eggs. I found snails! No plants in my tanks for years......and no snails at last cleaning. All fish died over the next two days....and I am stumped as to why! Feed Progold, peas, bloodworms, and occasional brine shrimp. Could the sails have come from those? (Frozen Hikari brand)
Anyone have a thought as to what could have happened? Fish started being nonresponsive and floating on their sides after that water change....Not sure what to do.
I plan to start again after disinfecting tank and filters with bleach solution.

[suphi]

Sorry about your fish. I'm not sure about snails causing rapid death like that.

I think your fish went into shock maybe from something bad in the new water or from inside the filter that came out after cleaning.

I had similar experiences in the past but moved the fish to the hospital tank right away, they perked up within a few hours.

[sweetshannon]

Sorry about your fish. I'm not sure about snails causing rapid death like that.

I think your fish went into shock maybe from something bad in the new water or from inside the filter that came out after cleaning.

I had similar experiences in the past but moved the fish to the hospital tank right away, they perked up within a few hours.

I wasn't thinking the snails caused the death, but maybe they have some bacteria or something? I was also thinking that maybe I stirred something up in the filter. First three died, then I immediatley did another 80% water change to try to get out whatever was killing them. They perked up slightly after water change, but died that night.
Should a bleach solution kill anything that may have been bad in the water?

[small_ranchu]

Sorry about your fish. Bleach might be a good idea.. :)

[Virginia ranchu]

What did you use to treat your water? Does your water treatment specifically neutralize ammonia?

I've had a similar experience due to using the wrong water conditioner. If it claims to treat "chloramines", but does not treat the resulting ammonia, it will poison your fish.

Rob

[Ajno]

I agree it has to be the water. I've heard of the water companies adding more chlorine or chloramines than usual on occasion resulting in people losing fish. I wondered if maybe the ph was different in the incoming tap water. I'm sorry for your losses that really sucks.

[Jed]

Shannon, sorry to hear about your loss. If this wasn't a pH crash, I'm willing to bet it was the new water you added. This happened to a friend of mine several years ago and he found out that several people in the neighborhood loss fish as well.

[sweetshannon]

I always use Amquel plus or Prime only. Shouldn't that have taken care or Chloramines? I am just so bummed!
I use baking soda with every water change as San Francisco has very soft water. When I start again, I will keep crushed coral in my filters, too.
Thanks for the input....

[Virginia ranchu]

You are using the right treatment. Either of those should be fine. It still sounds like something in the water. Sorry for your loss.

Rob

[Sabine]

I would contact the local water plant and ask about any changes.

[sweetshannon]

thanks so much for all your responses...I am so bummed, still. I lost the most beautiful ranchu from Paul.
So I will call water company tomorrow, for sure. And just disinfect, recycle and hope for the best. I have never used crushed coral before, always baking soda. If I use crushed coral, will that be enough to treat the VERY soft water we have? Or should I dose with baking soda at the water change, and keep it steady with lots of coral in my filters? I have three fluval 405's and could put the coral in the top tray of each one. Any other ideas? And again.....thanks.

[small_ranchu]

If you are doing a large water change as I do, I would put baking soda. I still put coral chip in the filter as well.

[Casper]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your pets. I don't think you did anything wrong and circumstances were beyond your control. Makes me think about keeping a feeder goldfish alive to test new water!

[Sabine]

I don't like crushed coral because it takes time. Soda raises pH instantly.
If after a week your pH is raised to let's say 7.6, and you do a large water change which will lower the pH to 6.8 .... that could do it.
With Buff it up and soda you raise the pH while filling up.
Test your pH from the tap, test your KH,....test both again just before a water change and then again just after and you may know more.

[sweetshannon]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your pets. I don't think you did anything wrong and circumstances were beyond your control. Makes me think about keeping a feeder goldfish alive to test new water!

Yes, but knowing me....I would love that feeder and be so upset if anything happened to it. Those commons can be quite pretty and very active.

[Ranchumaniax]

Sorry for your lose!! I also just lost 5 of my best last week.
So now i have more work beside getting ready for new arrival, but finding new collection.

I am not an expert with water condition, but if i were you.
I will do with just coral and only do 20% water change every other day.
This way you wont have to worry much about PH, but carefully with feeding amount.

[sweetshannon]

Sorry for your lose!! I also just lost 5 of my best last week.
So now i have more work beside getting ready for new arrival, but finding new collection.

I am not an expert with water condition, but if i were you.
I will do with just coral and only do 20% water change every other day.
This way you wont have to worry much about PH, but carefully with feeding amount.

That is a great idea.....I ill try that.:angel:

[Spencer]

Sorry to hear that :(

[RanchuLord]

How can it be the water ???? the first three fish died before the water change!! It is Not the water. A pathogen in the filter may have been disturbed or your bacteria culture may have died back in the filter media cleaning. It's even possible the disturbace of the filter media could have changed your water chemestry. In any case the water change after already loosing three fish is a bad correlation.

[Jed]

Her fish died after the water change.

[sweetshannon]

How can it be the water ???? the first three fish died before the water change!! It is Not the water. A pathogen in the filter may have been disturbed or your bacteria culture may have died back in the filter media cleaning. It's even possible the disturbace of the filter media could have changed your water chemestry. In any case the water change after already loosing three fish is a bad correlation.

No, read the original post. The first deaths were AFTER the water change. All the fish were ill after the change, and got worse after the second change.
Thanks, anyway.....

[eros]

Im sorry about your loss. If you want, I can spare a male TVR that I got from Steve sometime ago or I can give you 5 inch fat but balanced SVR that i bought from Hung Ming 3 years ago (back when they were on Broadway).


We can meet at Starbucks in Dublin:coffee:

[sweetshannon]

Im sorry about your loss. If you want, I can spare a male TVR that I got from Steve sometime ago or I can give you 5 inch fat but balanced SVR that i bought from Hung Ming 3 years ago (back when they were on Broadway).


We can meet at Starbucks in Dublin:coffee:

Wow, thanks for that GREAT offer! I would love to see a pic of the SVR, if you have one.....Have you been to the e Hung Ming? It is pretty nice!

[eros]

Shannon,

Send me a PM so I can email the pix and my phone number to you. It shouldnt take me too long to take a pix but I have a 5 day old newborn so life is pretty busy right now.

Ross

[SeaWitch]

Hi Shannon,
Sorry to bring up an old post, but I was wondering if you ever found out why the fish died? I'm so sorry you lost them! We have very soft water here, too. I use baking soda at each wc. I tried the crushed coral, but it just didn't work for me. It was so messy and I just couldn't see that much of a difference in my pH after using it for months, so I dumped it. I hope you got it figured out and that you got some replacement fish.

[sweetshannon]

Hi Shannon,
Sorry to bring up an old post, but I was wondering if you ever found out why the fish died? I'm so sorry you lost them! We have very soft water here, too. I use baking soda at each wc. I tried the crushed coral, but it just didn't work for me. It was so messy and I just couldn't see that much of a difference in my pH after using it for months, so I dumped it. I hope you got it figured out and that you got some replacement fish.

Thanks for the thoughts. I bought two large goldies, really cute mutts, from a fish store out here. They are doing fine. And no, I never figured it out, and never got an answer from the water department.
They are doing great after a month or a little more. Doing a water change still makes me really nervous, though...

[SeaWitch]

I know what you mean! I still have two of my goldies in a 30g tank and everytime I clean the filter pads, then turn the filters back on, I get this stream of gunk that will comes out! I don't know why that happens, but it does everytime I clean the pads. I can't help but wonder if that gunk will hurt my fish! I'm glad your new ones are doing well!