Dish sponge

[Amanda_lyn]

Hi,

I’ve had my current tank setup for almost a year. I’ve had no issues till the last few weeks. Now all my fish are dropping like flies. I’ve tired everything tests say to do more water changes but I’m at the point where if I take anymore water out I’ll have change all the water in a week. I was trying to think if anything out of the ordinary happened. Well right before the fish started dying I did a tank cleaning. My dad thought he'd help me so he got the sponge from my kitchen sink. When I came back in he’s dunking the dirty sponge in the tank and ringing the extra water back into the tank. I’m wondering now if that was the issue and what I’d have to do to fix it and save the rest of my fish.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

If the sponge had come in contact with soap at all, it still most likely contained chemical residue that leached into the tank system. Very frequent large water changes will most likely be the best solution (at least for now).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The sponge is the culprit. They usually come with chemicals embedded in them that are very bad for fish. Even a brand new kitchen sponge should never be used in a tank. There are plenty of specific tools and a few chemicals one can uses to clean a tank. However these are to be used on an empty tank not one set up and stocked. Algae pads and scrapers are tank safe. Bleach and acid can be used and are easily removed afterwards if they are needed for certain nasty things.

Bear in mind that we measure some of th things toxic to fish in parts per million. I am not sure you can make the tank fish safe again solely with water changes. The nasty stuff can be anywhere and everywhere and may not easily rinse out. I see you having two options. Try lots of water changes, they may work but they may not. The other option is to start over but that will be a lot of time and effort. You need to keep the fish alive in an uncycled container while you set up and cyle a new tank. If you are not on a budget it is easy to do quickly. But if money is an issue, the alternatives are few.

Finally, we do not know hat was in the sponge that got added to the tank, The dirt in the tank was already there and obviously not the issue. It has to be the chemicals and soap likely in the sponge. So, we cannot know if they have affected the health of the fish in any permanent way even if you move them to a safe environment now.

This is going to be a hard decision for you to make as there are too many unknown variables. Plus there will be the cost and/or effort involved with some of the solutions which may make them unrealistic.