GENOCIDE!!!

O

olivesaxer

AC Members
Sep 20, 2007
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hello dear readers...

55 gallons of fish dead in an hour.


The victims:
1 pacu - 13" long, healthy, eats well until 3 days ago... i assumed he switched food sources to my neon population

25ish black neons - schooled well, avoided big-fish well, introduced 12 of them on saturday of last week

1 placo - big one... maybe 10"

1 Leopard Placo - cool one... tiny, maybe the size of my thumb, had red fins.... introduced last saturday

1 Catfish - random striped one, stayed in a ceramic pot forever.

2 catfish/shark type things - black tips, bug-eyed, quick

1 black ghost - my favorite...


The scene of the crime:
duo bio-wheel rated for 85 gal
single bio-wheel rated for 20 gal
single random filter rated for 5ish gal

large air pump with a buried air stone across the back under about an inch of aquarium stone

the decorations were all ceramic pots, some i had carved out the bottoms of, some had holes carved in them, fishie paradise

black rubber back-drop super-glued to the tank

large amount of single-celled algae


the theory:

a tablet added to the rear tank of the dual bio-wheel to kill the single-cell algae. Aerobic bacteria moved in to feast on the decaying matter, spiking their levels, and dropping oxygen levels to the floor instantly...

Am I far off? Could this explain it? I have no idea what kind of a disease could kill everything that quickly. Has to be contamination or lack of oxygen in my mind...

my alibi:

5000 miles away on business when get a call from the roommate: all the fish are dying, down to 75% of the tank

less than an hour later: all fish gone.

he says they have something like a congealed fat on them which could be rot, i don't know... I won't be home until saturday.:shakehead:


any thoughts?
 
ah, and the tank remained a constant 78 degrees and had the roommate strip-test the water... all levels were perfect. hardness was a bit high.
 
how were the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? You had some large fish in a small tank, so there could've been an issue there
 
roommate did the strip tests and took it to the LFS. They said all levels were good. I wont have numbers until saturday.

I do 5gal water changes twice a week and scrub my charcoal filters every other day.
 
I wouldnt trust the pet stores tests. I HIGHLY doubt with 10 gallons of water changed a week, with THOSE fish, your levels were "good"
 
don't trust the test strips or my LFS' opinion?

and really, could nits and ammos kill EVERYTHING in an hour? I suspect I would have seen something earlier (like small fish dying off, etc)
 
and the last strip-testing i did was on monday (or sunday night).

Temp: 77.8
GH: over 180
KH: over 240
NO2: 0.5
NO3: 80
Ph: 7.0

i did notice my NO3 was high and did a 10 gal water change as a result...
 
Your nitrite should be 0. Even a small reading is highly toxic to fish. Your nitrates are too high as well. Is your tank cycling? How long has been set up? And test strips are notoriously inaccurate.
 
Wow, where to begin. I would be really interested in finding out your water params. That is A LOT of very BIG fish in a pretty little tank. Even with regular water changes things can get out of control pretty darn quick. The pacu alone by himself would have been too much for the tank IMO. A 13" fish in a 12" tank?

That aside I have another quick question, you mentioned a black background super-glued to the back of the tank, was that on the inside or the outside? If it was on the inside it could be possible that something leeched out of the super-glue into the water, if it was on the outside then just disregard. The only glue that should be used inside of an aquarium is aquarium safe silicone.

Just to be safe I would wash the whole tank out with hot water and bleach, rinse really well and then rinse again with a dechlorinator. Do your fishless cycle or pick up some bio-spira and make out a suitable stocking plan for a 55g. There are tons of people here who are always willing to help with stocking suggestions/ideas.

To give you an idea, my moderately planted 55g has:
12 cardinal tetras
8 zebra danios
4 albino corydoras
3 panda corydoras
? ghost shrimps
tons of hitchiker snails
 
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