HELP!! Everyone dying suddenly help ?

[lucky777]

So I transferred all my fish over to my new 150 gallon from a well established 50 gallon that's been running for a year.  All the sand rock and the existing filter were moved over.

The only things that were new that were not moved over from the old tank were 2 additional bags of play sand (that were rinsed until clear, have used this brand in other tank from home depot), styrene egg crate under the sand,  fluval fx5 (contains new ceramics and dollar store scrubby pads) and finally a DIY spraybar I made for the fx5.  The spray bar was made from grey potable pvc and I used sluyter pvc s-40 glue which I let cure 24 hrs.  No glue was used connections in water.

I was home about 5 hours ago all was fine and they all came out to eat just fine and looked good. Came back from work and dead fish everywhere. Lost 2 juli's, 2 leleupi,1 comprecisseps and m,ight lose some more.  I rushed the remaining 5 fish to my quarantine. They were all gasping for air.  The only air I had running was some been blown in via powerhead tubing.  Apparently the air pump was not plugged in all the way and had shut off.

Do you think the simple lack of air could have done it or could it be  the styrene egg crate, pvc glue, play sand, scrubby pads?  Sucks that there is no way to test for chemical pollution. Nervous to try and put the fish back in.

So bummed out and discouraged right now

[lucky777]

If it helps, I went down to the basement and looked and them in the quarantine, it's only been 45 minutes and they looks 100 percent normal now. They went from dead white and floating to full color and swimming normal.

Do you think it was just air?

If it was chemical would they not probably be still feeling the effects?

[exv152]

I would do some water testing, sounds like you're in the process of cycling the new tank.

[lucky777]

Tested the water and looks like Bio load wasn't enough.  It's like it caused 24hr instant cycling. I thought I prepped proper this time.  Read a bunch and even posted the question on forums about transferring biomedia. Looks like we cant be right all the time.  Bad luck.

They had been in 24 hours.

[lucius]

If I did it your way, I would have transferred all the water over also, poop and all.

[exv152]

Tested the water and looks like Bio load wasn't enough.  It's like it caused 24hr instant cycling. I thought I prepped proper this time.  Read a bunch and even posted the question on forums about transferring biomedia. Looks like we cant be right all the time.  Bad luck.

They had been in 24 hours.

That's too bad. Looking back on it now, you probably should've kept the fx5 media intact at least for another month or so. Was there any ammonia in the new tank?

[lucky777]

I did transfer everything, including poop and all.  The fx5 was brand new. The 406 was off the 50 gallong and they were paired together.

[new_hobby]

I have a 45G corner tank with Eihem 2026, and once in a while, about 1 hour after I changed the water, all the fish are up to the surface gaping for air for no reason?? I usually change about 1/3 of water and pre mix the water with Prime before dump it in the tank so I think it should be safe but .... So now after I do a water change, I set the air stone to run for 5 hours, it seems to work OK. It could happen to you now because of the run off from the melting snow so the city may add more chlorine to the water?

[lucky777]

So this is very strange. I took ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings and they are all coming up good and at zero.  Is it possible that It was at its tipping point for the bio load with the media I transferred to the new tank and then corrected itself within 48 hrs.  Remember I transferred everything Sunday and the readings were through the roof Monday, now its midnight on Tuesday and everything's at zero again? The water went from cloudy with sand debris to foggy and smelling like ammonia to crystal clear now and no smell.

So confused. Is it possible that it corrected itself?

[Aquaticfinatic]

Sounds like a lack of oxygen problem to me. That would explain the sudden change and deaths. This happens lots out there so your not on your own. If you ever do it again just make sure you add air for the first few days to put extra oxygen in the water to help keep ph etc stable. Sorry about your losses.

[Jeff1192]

I'm not sure what it is but I would definitely say that it is not a cycling issue. As long as the established filter you transferred over wasn't sitting around turned off for a long time it would have been more than enough to take care of everything to start the tank off. I have done this before with no problems whatsoever.

One thing I would wonder about is the glue you used to make your homemade spray-bar. I would be extremely hesitant to use any sort of glue on something I was going to use for one of my tanks.

Jeff

[lucky777]

I'm not sure what it is but I would definitely say that it is not a cycling issue. As long as the established filter you transferred over wasn't sitting around turned off for a long time it would have been more than enough to take care of everything to start the tank off. I have done this before with no problems whatsoever.

One thing I would wonder about is the glue you used to make your homemade spray-bar. I would be extremely hesitant to use any sort of glue on something I was going to use for one of my tanks.

Jeff

I thought so to but everyone on cichlid forum had used the same glue on theirs with no problem.  Only the fittings on the parts outside the tank were glued.  Anything under water were just hammered together to get a tight fit.  Wish there was a way to test for  chemicals.

[Peekay]

I would be suspect of the scrubbies.  I looked into sponges from the grocery store as a less expensive, easily accessible option.  They all said specifically "Not for aquarium use".  Not just the ones obviously impregnated with cleaners, but even just the plain ones. 

It's my understanding that if you have zero nitrates, you actually aren't cycled.. nitrate is the end byproduct that is only removed by plants or water change.  So something is weird there. 

Stinks losing livestock.    So sorry.

[lucky777]

Bought some cheap danios and threw them in. cranked the air yesterday. So far so good. I Gueas only time will tell. Will let you guys know what happens.

[lucky777]

Bought some cheap danios and threw them in. cranked the air yesterday. So far so good. I Gueas only time will tell. Will let you guys know what happens.

bought 2  whisper 100's and cranked them up for the last 4 days and the fish couldnt be happier. Guess it was just the air. Water test berfect and crystal clear since the air was added. Figured I would put twk pumps on to avoid it from haopening again. Also shortened the spray bar to 30 inches and getting much better surface agitation.

[Jeff1192]

Glad to see that you seem to have figured it out and that it's not a huge problem.

Good luck getting it going again.

[angelcraze]

Lucky777:
If your tank was in the process of adjusting to a new volume of water at all, the nitrifying bacteria would consume more oxygen in the process.  Anytime I do a large w/c or notice any cloudiness after w/c's, (not all my tanks are planted-yet) I make sure the spraybar is disrupting the water surface to add oxygen.

I have a 45G corner tank with Eihem 2026, and once in a while, about 1 hour after I changed the water, all the fish are up to the surface gaping for air for no reason??....... So now after I do a water change, I set the air stone to run for 5 hours, it seems to work OK. 

Sometimes, a tank will do a mini-cycle after a w/c.  Like the nitrifying bacteria has to catch up to the bioload if you remove too much of it.  I found this out while running a grow-out tank (bare-bottom, sponge filter) I had the same problem, the fish where all rising to the surface and gulping air after a w/c.  Then I figured out that the water I was adding had a ph of 7.4.  The water in my tank has plummeted to 6.0.  Being a newbie, I then tested for ammonia and realized I had a reading of 4!!  The water I was adding was raising the ph and causing the ammonia to become toxic.  (this happens with an alkaline ph)  So until my ph fell back down below 7,  (which usually happens when ammonia is present, kindof nature's way of protecting itself) my fish were being poisoned.  This is very stressful for fish and I am upset I put them through it.  I am not saying this is what's happening with your tank, I just wanted to share my experience.   Luckily,  no long term ill effects were suffered during this learning experience, as the fish still continue to live healthy lives, two years later, in another tank.

I am sorry for your loss, Lucky777, and I guess we don't know for sure what exactly happened, but I am glad things are settled now.   

[lucky777]

Lucky777:
If your tank was in the process of adjusting to a new volume of water at all, the nitrifying bacteria would consume more oxygen in the process.  Anytime I do a large w/c or notice any cloudiness after w/c's, (not all my tanks are planted-yet) I make sure the spraybar is disrupting the water surface to add oxygen.

Sometimes, a tank will do a mini-cycle after a w/c.  Like the nitrifying bacteria has to catch up to the bioload if you remove too much of it.  I found this out while running a grow-out tank (bare-bottom, sponge filter) I had the same problem, the fish where all rising to the surface and gulping air after a w/c.  Then I figured out that the water I was adding had a ph of 7.4.  The water in my tank has plummeted to 6.0.  Being a newbie, I then tested for ammonia and realized I had a reading of 4!!  The water I was adding was raising the ph and causing the ammonia to become toxic.  (this happens with an alkaline ph)  So until my ph fell back down below 7,  (which usually happens when ammonia is present, kindof nature's way of protecting itself) my fish were being poisoned.  This is very stressful for fish and I am upset I put them through it.  I am not saying this is what's happening with your tank, I just wanted to share my experience.   Luckily,  no long term ill effects were suffered during this learning experience, as the fish still continue to live healthy lives, two years later, in another tank.

I am sorry for your loss, Lucky777, and I guess we don't know for sure what exactly happened, but I am glad things are settled now.   

Sounds about right.  Sucks to because I had added salts and baking soda to get the hardness and ph levels of existing tank about the same.  Lesson learned the hard way 

[lucky777]

Do I have to worry about the bio load dropping out when I remove the smaller of the 2 filters? The smaller fluval is going back on the 50 gallon in another week or so.