I upgraded my 55 gallon tank to a 60 gallon tank 2 days ago. I had 6 discus in the bare 55 with some driftwood. My fish got quite large and lovely, and I wanted to add a sand bottom for various reasons since I was done growing the fish (also have 3 cory cats and khuli loaches). Decided to do this sand substrate and tank upgrade all at once. I used Stoney River Premium Aquarium Sand purchased from the LFS. Just put in enough to cover the bottom as I'm not planning on having plants, just wanted it to look covered. Washed it, filled and emptied the tank a few times. Was happy with it, looked good... a tiny bit cloudy, but the LFS guy said it was normal for a day or so. I have 2 mature filters on this tank, each is big enough to handle the tank alone. Turned them on, waited a bit...
So I put my discus back in with their bottom feeding friends.
They looked great. Swam around, seemed to enjoy the new height on the tank. Went to bed.
Woke up to 3 dead discus, and 3 bobbing. Khuli loaches all dead, cory's all totally fine... figures.
I have spent today reviving my fish and filling and emptying this 60 gallon tank to lose the murky colour.
I don't have an ammonia kit to test with, but is that what killed my fish? I have upgraded tanks before and always the mature filters had enough bacteria load that I have never had cloudy water and dead fish! I don't have an alternative tank to put them in. They are in the sand bottom again, but it is still cloudy. They are swimming happily, but I am afraid to go to bed. I have set my alarm for 3am to check on them.
My question: Was this an ammonia thing? Or the sand? The sand had a lot of air bubbles in it yesterday and after reading the package it does say it is coated with a polymer to make it inert. I am heading to the LFS tomorrow, but I don't even know what I am going to pick up... ammonia kit... waste of money bottled bacteria (what if the bacteria in my filters died or something?)... gravel to replace the sand... more khuli loaches to sacrifice as indicators of the water quality declining?
My biggest fear is that somehow my tank is cycling all over again (with my discus!), but even then, there should not have been an ammonia spike to kill my fish so fast... which brings me back to the sand... should i remove it? I didn't want to be rash about it, I know some things need time to settle.
What did I do wrong, how do I fix it? Water change like crazy? take out sand? ... wait?
Would appreciate some advice.
So I put my discus back in with their bottom feeding friends.
They looked great. Swam around, seemed to enjoy the new height on the tank. Went to bed.
Woke up to 3 dead discus, and 3 bobbing. Khuli loaches all dead, cory's all totally fine... figures.
I have spent today reviving my fish and filling and emptying this 60 gallon tank to lose the murky colour.
I don't have an ammonia kit to test with, but is that what killed my fish? I have upgraded tanks before and always the mature filters had enough bacteria load that I have never had cloudy water and dead fish! I don't have an alternative tank to put them in. They are in the sand bottom again, but it is still cloudy. They are swimming happily, but I am afraid to go to bed. I have set my alarm for 3am to check on them.
My question: Was this an ammonia thing? Or the sand? The sand had a lot of air bubbles in it yesterday and after reading the package it does say it is coated with a polymer to make it inert. I am heading to the LFS tomorrow, but I don't even know what I am going to pick up... ammonia kit... waste of money bottled bacteria (what if the bacteria in my filters died or something?)... gravel to replace the sand... more khuli loaches to sacrifice as indicators of the water quality declining?
My biggest fear is that somehow my tank is cycling all over again (with my discus!), but even then, there should not have been an ammonia spike to kill my fish so fast... which brings me back to the sand... should i remove it? I didn't want to be rash about it, I know some things need time to settle.
What did I do wrong, how do I fix it? Water change like crazy? take out sand? ... wait?
Would appreciate some advice.