Can Biocoat go bad???

I will try that next time I post something..had a "minor" emergency a few weeks ago to no avail also ** sigh ** was begining to think I had the plague!!
As for the tank, it was completely cycled when I moved it from a friends house about a month ago, came with fish and all so I had no choice with the contents. I was very careful not to overwash the gravel, left the filter media intact etc...and all was fine. As for the smell, your question about releasing a "nasty gas" seems rather perfect! I'm not sure how to describe it, other than it did not smell like a fish tank, was very "acrid"...horrible....I don't think I shook the gravel up any more than usual, but it's hard to say looking back...wasn't planning on having to re-think my actions! No to any outside chemicals, and no 4 year olds!! ( dog and 2 cats though ) I had been treating the Spotted Hoplo for ich with Malachite Green though....have been wondering if it was harboring some cruel surprise!!!


daveedka said:
It's unlikely that a little (or even a lot) of extra dechlorinator would cause those problems.

How long has this tank been set-up? My reason for this is the possibility of anaerobic pockets in the substrate. You mentioned stirring up gravel, but not whether that is normal practice. You may have relaeased some nasty gas. you mentioned a smell, what did it smell like?
Assuming that your last water change was done with biosafe and the same tap water, that would rule out chlorine, chloramines etc. Ammonia would have caused rapid breathing and red gills. Nitrite would have caused your fish to act drunk, but not swim in circles.

It may also have been a poison of some kind from an outside source. So here is the list of questions:
Fabreeze?
Air freshener?
Bug spray?
Any soap exposure on hands, buckets, hoses, tank lid, etc. ?
Glass cleaner?
4 year old ?

There is always a cause and someone here will help find it sooner or later.

Lastly and most importantly, never be offended by how fast or how many folks respond. It's always difficult when you want fast answers and things are going wrong, but no one is purposefully ignoring you. The title of your thread is product specific, and many folks won't speak up, or even read the thread unless they are familiar with the product you asked about. The only reason I looked at your thread was because I was curious about a product I didn't have experience with. Everyone here (at least 99.9% of them) is here to help, and the only people we snub are the trolls. I'm a regular, and seem to be fairly well thought of most days ( I think). I posted a thread here last week that no one responded to for several days. In the futre if you are in an emergency situation, title your post accordingly. something to the effect of "help, Fish Dieing after water change" there are folks here who are here specifically to help in emergencies.
Dave
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then others of the same species were acted like notihng was going on !!!
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this is the part that has me perplexed, any poison should have effected every fish and not just some, however there are some gasses that could have selected only the fish exposed to them in large quantities, so the fish that were swimming in the wrong spot got poisoned and other didn't.

Either way I wouldn't think it was the bio-coat stuff, I'd look elsewhere.
Dave
 
The same part has left me completely clueless. I have had tanks for years, and never come across such a thing. I'm thinking of taking these little guys that are left to the lfs, and getting all cichlids....is more what I am used to ! I sure do miss my Ghosts though.....one of them would come to the top and let me pet him even......thank goodness I took a picture of him last week!

daveedka said:
this is the part that has me perplexed, any poison should have effected every fish and not just some, however there are some gasses that could have selected only the fish exposed to them in large quantities, so the fish that were swimming in the wrong spot got poisoned and other didn't.

Either way I wouldn't think it was the bio-coat stuff, I'd look elsewhere.
Dave
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Well put Davedka, simple yet thurough.

REDZPONY, sorry, i was just trying to help you find the culprit, Dave is setting you on the right track though, I vaccum every week thats why I forget that others don't do it as often.

I had no choice but to change the water..fish were dropping like flies!!
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I understand you needed to change the water, my point is that if you thought it was the dechlorinator causing problems, why keep using it? My logic gets in the way sometimes. ;)




HTH,
Serg
 
Well...that's a good question!! Guess I wasn't thinking as clearly as I could've ! It was 6am, had to get my son ready for school....fish were dying....I was having a hard time rationalizing that it could possible be the Biosafe.
Also, I have vacuumed every week since I set it up. Though, the guy I got it from wasn't quite as tidy with it. Perhaps something was lying dormant and I shook it up finally?
I do have one more question though...is it possible for a fish to be "brain damaged"? One of the Black Ruby Tetras was acting very odd when I got home...I thought this morning he was a goner...he can swim fine when another fish comes along and "nudges" him..otherwise, he's hanging at the bottm..fins kinda twitching. He doesn't look too happy. Everyone else seems fine though...for now...not sure if I'll be able to sleep tonight after waking up to the carnage I faced this morning...
 
I'm not sure how familiar you are with the possibility of anaerobic pockets. It's not as common with unplanted tanks as we tend to stir the gravel up more in unplanted tanks than in plant tanks. However any part of the substrate that does not have available oxygen has the possibility of developing anaerobic bacteria pockets. the gasses they produce can be very nasty, and if released they can be lethal. I only ever had one experience with this problem, and it was the result of moving a piece of driftwood that had been in the same place for eons. After that (this was many years ago) I started using UGF's and of course UGF's don't allow for the problem to occur.

It almost seems like an anaerobic pocket is the culprit. Run a search here, there was a thread many moons ago that discussed the different smells associated with anaerobes, and the different gasses they produced.
Dave
 
Well....that could definitly be a possiblity..the description of the smell is rather close. It was very "sharp" smelling....not quite like a rotten egg, but very similiar....though, I am uncertain as to what it was "hiding under". Though, I did pull up a plastic plant, and re-set an air tube that had broke free by digging a "trench" in the gravel...I have never heard of such a thing, if this was the case, I am terrrrrrified to vacuum again !!!! Was the tank over stocked you think???? and helped cause this horrible gas?
(Thank you all very much for your input, it has been very helpful...this has been eating at me all day !! )
 
Tank doesn't smell at all now. But it didn't smell like earth either, at least I don't think so. The description under anaerobic pocket is pretty close though....and it got much stronger after I smelled it initially, did about a 40% water change before I went to bed, all seemed find, but I woke up to it smelling worse than last night!! You have another take on this maybe? I'm more than willing to explore all options! Thinking I'll go get a 10 gallon this weekend to hold everyone while I pull up all the plants etc and vacuum and swap out all the water again...skeeered to death of this ever happening again! :thud:
 
Sulfer is one smell I know that is produced in pockets. That much I do remember distincly from the thread.

I know what I would do if it was my tank, but it's your call. I would start by very carfully vaccuming small areas deeply. never do very much at one, and vaccume all the way to the bottom. do the tank in sections a little at a time until the whole tank is done. then return to normal maintenance and vaccuming. but be sure to vac deeply when you do your maintenance. Some folks would reccomend leaving it well enough alone, but this idea scares me personally. I don't like nasties lurking in the depths so to speak. The other option is after your fish recover, put them in holding tank and chrun every inch of the substrate real well. then do a large volume water change and proceede with normal maintenance and vaccuming. In a non-planted tank, I'm a firm believer in vaccuming deeply and frequently. even with the best filtration and circulation there is an abundance of wate that settles in the substrate.
dave
 
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