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HoodedWarrior
03-30-2003, 5:00 PM
I've got a tragic mystery on my hands.:confused: Over the past 4 days, I lost all 9 fish in my 20 gallon tank. Last Thursday, my dwarf gourami died. :( Friday I did a 75% water change. Right after the water change, 3 blueberry/strawberry tetras bit the dust. We went out of town this weekend and found our pleco, the last tetra, and our 3 platys had gone to the big tank in the sky. :eek:

I checked the levels right before I changed the water and then again this afternoon when we got home. The pH was around 7.6-7.8 both times and no ammonia either time. However, my nitrites were down around 1.5-2 on Thursday and were at/above 5 today.

No fish have been added recently to account for that high of a spike in the nitrites. I have been noticing one of the decorations in the tank beginning to leach its color, but would that knock off everybody in the tank?

Obviously, I need to make sure this doesn't happen again so I need advice on cleaning everything. Will bleach or vinegar work well enough?

Help me please!
ChilDawg
03-30-2003, 5:50 PM
Nitrites should be undetectable. Your biofiltration was not set to accommodate the fish load in that tank.
NJ Devils Fan
03-30-2003, 6:12 PM
How long has the tank been set up? It seems like it isn't cycled yet.
ChilDawg
03-30-2003, 6:24 PM
This is a good website with cycling info: http://njdevilsfan130.tripod.com/Getting_started.htm
HoodedWarrior
03-30-2003, 9:23 PM
I know that the nitrites should be undetectable, but the tank has been up and running for 2 months. Most of the fish (all but 2) have been in there since the beginning (I know I shouldn't add fish until it is cycled, but my wife got tired of looking at an empty tank. You know how wives can be!:D).

The problem is that this all happened in a short period of time. The fish had survived the "big" nitrite spike and were at the very tail end of the cylce. It seems to me that if it was the nitrites that did them in, they would have died sooner and over a longer period of time.

What is the best way to clean the tank now that there are no more fish?
RTR
03-30-2003, 9:29 PM
When you did that 75% water change, did you add the appropriate chlorine/chloramine remover? It sounds as though you killed off your biofilter and then the toxins killed your fish.
NJ Devils Fan
03-30-2003, 9:41 PM
Wow, thanks a lot ChilDawg. ;)
Bantam
03-31-2003, 2:18 AM
what exactly was the decoration that was leaching colour? unless it was mopani wood or similar I would be inclined to point the finger in its direction.
as you say, although the nitrites were high it would be unusual (although possible I guess) for all your fish to kick the bucket at the same time having been in the tank for a while purely as a result of nitrite poisoning
HoodedWarrior
03-31-2003, 5:02 AM
I did the big water change on Friday morning, soon after the gourami died. I did add the right amounts of all the usual water treatments. Nothing unusual about the water change except the amount.

The decoration that was leeching was a fake rock/algae/fungal looking thing that had lots of bright colors (wife: "so the tank won't look so boring").
ChilDawg
03-31-2003, 6:45 AM
np, Devils' Fan :D
Bantam
04-01-2003, 2:09 PM
take the decoration out! all you can really do is start again i guess. keep a close watch on the water conditions.

good luck