I left for two days and when I came home all seven of my fish are dead! I have a twenty-gallon tank that I have had for two years. I am wondering what has happened? I see some white growth on some of the plants that I have never seen before, could this be the cause of death? After I mourn the death of my fish, how do I get restarted? Do I have to buy a whole new tank? Please help me.
Help All My Fish Are Dead!
- Thread starter kstar
- Start date
How much % of your water do you change every week? What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? As for restarting the tank I would suggest Drying out your tank (except for the plants) Then recycling your tank. Mabye somebody else is more experienced.
The only time I have seen all the fish in a tank die this fast is b/c of a faulty heater. What was the temp of the tank? If the heater short circuits, it can cook the fish.
white growth on plants?
Do you mean white growth like you have live plants that now have growth in new leaves?
Or, is there some white gummy stuff growing on live plants?
Or some other white thing on fake plants?
Do you mean white growth like you have live plants that now have growth in new leaves?
Or, is there some white gummy stuff growing on live plants?
Or some other white thing on fake plants?
I am sorry but I :laugh: when I saw the title to this thread... I guess there's only one thing to help you with since your fish are past our assistance which is 
. next time you should have someone check on your fish while you're away so if anything goes wrong at some point the little buggers will have a shot...
You can wash everything in your tank with bleach (except driftwood or absorbent materials), rinse well and start again, everything should be reusable. When you start the tank (after cycling) get a few cheap hardy fish and let them go a few weeks to make sure there's no remaining pathogen (shouldn't be after bleaching everything). Anything you can't bleach & rinse easily can be boiled as an alternative sterilization.
Make sure you're not using chlorinated tapwater (or that your local water supply didn't start adding something new, like chloramine).
. next time you should have someone check on your fish while you're away so if anything goes wrong at some point the little buggers will have a shot...You can wash everything in your tank with bleach (except driftwood or absorbent materials), rinse well and start again, everything should be reusable. When you start the tank (after cycling) get a few cheap hardy fish and let them go a few weeks to make sure there's no remaining pathogen (shouldn't be after bleaching everything). Anything you can't bleach & rinse easily can be boiled as an alternative sterilization.
Make sure you're not using chlorinated tapwater (or that your local water supply didn't start adding something new, like chloramine).
Well, I'd agree but only if it can be established the cause of the problem was a broken heater or gross over-feeding. If you can't pinpoint the cause, I'd be worried about some weird virus or something which could still exist inside the filter media. In which case, I'd toss the media and wash the filter with bleach as with the rest of the tank. But, that's just me.hurricanejedi said:Re-cycle for bacteria, not recycle as in get rid of.
Strange.
The original poster kstar, was here at 11:35 today, but he didn't bother posting in the thread. It's the only post he has.
Hrmp.
I would think that he put one of those automatic feeders in his tank and it went haywire. That would account for the white stuff, dead fish, and anything else that went wrong.
Yes, this does happen with auto-feeders.
Roan
The original poster kstar, was here at 11:35 today, but he didn't bother posting in the thread. It's the only post he has.
Hrmp.
I would think that he put one of those automatic feeders in his tank and it went haywire. That would account for the white stuff, dead fish, and anything else that went wrong.
Yes, this does happen with auto-feeders.
Roan