HELP!

T

tszabo86

AC Members
Jun 24, 2009
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Just got a used 20 gallon tank from someone and prepared it today for 3 tiger barbs. I cleaned the tank real well the day before, bought gravel and washed the gravel, used chlorine neutralizer as directed for the new water. Also added some cycle to the water. I used only 3 tiger barbs because I read that they are more hardy when starting a new tank before the bacteria builds up.

Ok.. so, I got home, filled up the aquarium, made sure the water was the right temperature. I put the bag with the fish in the water to get the water at the same temperature and then put the fish in the tank. After about 3 hours my fish were all dead.

I checked the Ph level before i put them in the water, 1 hour after and after they died again... it was at 7... what could have killed them?? Should I have waited longer after i put the chlorine neutralizer in? I thought it works instantaneously ... Should I wait a couple of days before I get new fish? Could it be the Kh of the water... i didnt test that. Right now i have the filter running... hopefully that clears everything. I hope they didnt die by ingesting the gravel or anything... there were some small pieces floating around
 
How did you clean the tank?
Did you use soap?

Did you check any other water parameters like Ammonia levels and Nitrite?
Sounds like you didnt cycle the tank, but they shouldnt have died that fast in good water.
 
Sounds like the fish were put in the same day the tank was set up, so it couldn't have cycled; but as Zigman says, that wouldn't kill them in three hours.
 
No, the tank was not cycled. This was fresh tap water, i used the tiger barbs to start the cycling. Theres no way they died becaused of that because the amonia couldnt have gone that high in 3 hours. I will go and check the amonia levels right now but i bet they are down. I used Joy dishwasher soap to clean the tank up and hosed it down 4 times to make sure the soap was gone (seems like it was since ph is fine). From what i understand there is no way to cycle a tank without fish in it. Is there a way?
 
tszabo86 said:
No, the tank was not cycled. This was fresh tap water, i used the tiger barbs to start the cycling. Theres no way they died becaused of that because the amonia couldnt have gone that high in 3 hours. I will go and check the amonia levels right now but i bet they are down. I used Joy dishwasher soap to clean the tank up and hosed it down 4 times to make sure the soap was gone (seems like it was since ph is fine). From what i understand there is no way to cycle a tank without fish in it. Is there a way?
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thats your problem right there, 'never' use soap on anything that the fish will ever come into contact with. Even though you may think the soap was all gone, there will always be some soap residue left over.

I think that you should empty out the tank and thoroughly clean it out again.

Im saying this because its the only thing that it could be, ammonia can not rise to toxic levels within 3 hours of introducing the fish.
 
^ Agree, that is the most likely cause.
The only other thing that occurs to me is that there was some other residue on the tank which was not washed away; but I would say the soap is the culprit.
 
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