Came home to my entire tank dead

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Aqualoon

Aqualoon

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 8, 2009
1,787
52
81
Minnesota
Alright, yesterday when I got home from work I noticed my water softener was empty so I refilled it with salt. About 2ish hours later I did my normal Thursday water change, added my API Water Condition (I use this as my area is known for heavy metals). After the water change fish were all normal, eating, etc. Went to bed, woke up, went to work, after work came home at 8:30pm go to feed my fish and every single one of them is belly up.

Checked water temp - 78F, my filters are both working and I'm left wondering what happened.

The only thing I can think of is adding salt to the water softener prior to a water change - I have NEVER done that before. Everything else was my normal twice a week water change.
 
Damn I am so sorry for your loss. Did you test your water for salinity? Mayb too much leech into the water.


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Hard day for fish today, woke up to my bichir who 1/2 swallowed my BGK twice the size of him, both died in the process.. $40 bucks all i one night. water parameters? how old is the tank? was it fully cycled?
 
I didn't test for salinity although I'm wondering if this is the actual cause. As for testing in general I have my test kit at my brother's house - helping him cycle his first tank and told him I'd just let him use my test kit (it's an API Master Freshwater kit and I know he dropped down some $$$ for a brand new setup).

This tank has been up and running since June, my fish were just starting to reach that length where their beautiful colors start to come in and trailers.

Hard lesson learned I guess - whenever I add more salt in the water softener I'll wait at least 24 hours...although will probably wait more like 72.
 
you answered your own question. "from work I noticed my water softener was empty, I use this as my area is known for heavy metals)" was your filteration still pulling water from your salt tank?? If you ran out of salt for your water softener then the water going into the tank would have been much much harder then it previously was, which could cause a serious ph spike or even heavy metal poisoning. Did you add water from the softener into the tank?? I used to work with water softeners and di tanks for a few years.
 
I have been in my current area for 7 years. I moved into a new house in June that had a water softener, my house prior (which is 3 blocks away) didn't have a water softener - that's why I started using API instead of just Prime. I was in my old house for 5ish years and had fish the entire time.

But you do bring up a good point - my last several water changes would have been without salt in the water softener, when I added salt to the softener last night it would have changed the composition of the water. I did about a 20%-ish change last night which seems to have been enough to kill them all.
 
Yes absolutely, check the ph in the fish tank now, PH change can easily kill fish. Especially if there is harsh chemicals in your water. likely your tank had high ph and when you changed the water you put 20% water that was softened, which caused a ph drop. lower ph = more toxic ammonia and nitrite i believe
 
Hard lesson learned on my part. First time in my life I've ever had a water softener...I need to be more mindful and watchful of it and make sure that it always remains full.
 
Sorry to hear that, I recently lost my discus to my canister filter getting a air lock. It's kind of heartbreaking to see your 'Friends' floating.
 
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