Let me start by saying: :swear:
To start: I was down to about 6 africans - 2 auratus, a bumblebee, 2 of the guys that look like the aurutus but are dark blue (cyano?) and an algea eater. I had more at one time but I had some agression issues that I wasn't able to control. Anyway I was doing my weekly water change yesterday and I stirred up quite a bit of sand and vacuumed pretty deep into the sand bed. I left the house for a few hours and when I came home, they were all dead except the algea eater. Any thoughts as to what happened?
I have about 3-4 inches of pool filter sand in the tank. It seems like I've read about gases building up in the sand? Did I stir up the gas with my deep vacuuming? Is there any way to prevent this? I'd like to restock (with less agressive species next time) but I'm afraid of this happening again...
BTW, the sand has been in the tank for about a year. Nitrate and nitrite levels are within parameters and pH is about 7.8.
To start: I was down to about 6 africans - 2 auratus, a bumblebee, 2 of the guys that look like the aurutus but are dark blue (cyano?) and an algea eater. I had more at one time but I had some agression issues that I wasn't able to control. Anyway I was doing my weekly water change yesterday and I stirred up quite a bit of sand and vacuumed pretty deep into the sand bed. I left the house for a few hours and when I came home, they were all dead except the algea eater. Any thoughts as to what happened?
I have about 3-4 inches of pool filter sand in the tank. It seems like I've read about gases building up in the sand? Did I stir up the gas with my deep vacuuming? Is there any way to prevent this? I'd like to restock (with less agressive species next time) but I'm afraid of this happening again...
BTW, the sand has been in the tank for about a year. Nitrate and nitrite levels are within parameters and pH is about 7.8.