I killed all my fish.....

[BoCoMo]

you might find it hard to believe.. but... BELIEVE IT!! lol

it happens.. I have seen it... STIR YOUR SAND!!

Thanks for calling me out! LOL

I don't use sand or deep beds in freshwater for this reason. I thought that the gas would slowly leak in but stirring it up would release it into the atmosphere. Any thoughts on this?

You should know immediately if you had gas pockets. This doesn't sound like gas pockets. 1 - You didn't mention seeing gas pockets being released and coming to the surface, and 2 - you didn't mention a rotten eggs smell. The gas formed should be methane, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulfide. Methane is pretty hamrless to fish and nitrogen is harmless. Hydrogen sulfide can be a killer in large amounts, but again, you would see the gas escaping. I move rocks around and have pockets come out of my sand all the time. No biggie. You need a lot of the gas to cause problems. I've never even had enough to smell it. If you want to restock, call your local water supplier, ask them for a report on your water. They will supply you with one or direct you to a place online that has it. Be sure to ask if they have recently introduced any new elements to fight a potential problem - like flooding. Even if you're not flooding, precautionary measures can be taken by the treatment facility to ensure water collected from different points isn't contaminated from flooding elsewhere. Lastly - what size is your tank, I don't remember if it's big enough for demasoni or not.

 

[mel_20_20]

I didn't test afterwards, didn't even think of it. Before the water change nitrates were zero, nitrites at 15. I use an API liquid test kit.
No boil orders that I'm aware of. I don't use prime, just tap water dechlorinator.

I find it interesting that the plecostamus is hardy enough to survive but not the cichlids.

Did you mean to say nitrates are 15 and nitrites are 0? I hope this is what you meant to say.

 

[austinpetemo]

i havent had any issues with gas pockets in my tanks. i have about 3inches of sand in my multi tank and less than 2inches of sand in my other tanks, ive only had an issue with the gasses in my multi tank. but i havnt noticed any difference in water quality or smell (ive heard that you can smell the released gasses) and i havnt lost any fish.

 

[cschilly]

Did you mean to say nitrates are 15 and nitrites are 0? I hope this is what you meant to say.

yeah that's what I meant. Typing on my phone is fun...

 

[mel_20_20]

I was thinking that's what happened.... and hoping, lol.

 

[DrNo]

I have to say this doesn't really sound much like death due to hydrogen sulfide build-up... but it is certainly possible. What is your water change schedule like and how often do you gravel vac?

 

[ksane]

That's way way too much sand for a freshwater tank. I'd take it down to 1-1 1/2" and you won't have to worry about the gasses. I read some article awhile back saying that in reality the gas pockets don't kill fish. I don't know.

 

[cschilly]

I have to say this doesn't really sound much like death due to hydrogen sulfide build-up... but it is certainly possible. What is your water change schedule like and how often do you gravel vac?

I do a water change at least bi-weekly, sometimes weekly. I do a quick vac while water changing and try to remove all the rocks to do a more thorough vacuuming every couple of months. With the levels ok, I can't think of what else might have killed them other than gas buildup.

 

[Pittbull]

On second thought it could have been an ammonia spike due to disturbing the deep sand releasing decayed matter.. but you would have only known that if you tested after the fact.. cool deal lessons learned are always a hard one to swallow reduce sand and do weekly water changes with the stirring of sand.. its what i would do..

 

[AfroCichlid]

I'm still not buying the gas pocket theory. Come to think of it, I've used sand in tanks for years and never paid much attention to stirring. I've never witnessed this type of crash in person.
A water change was performed just before the crash. Somewhere in here is the cause. How about a test on your source water?