I recently set up a 125 gal aquarium. I bought the tank off of a guy and he told me he used lime-a-way and windex to clean it. I cleaned the tank several times with water and vinegar and let air dry. Set the tank up and had it running for several days before introducing any fish. Both fish were acclimated for over 3 hours before being put into the tank. Nitrates, Nitrites, pH are all in excellent shape. One fish died after first night, second fish after the second night. Is there a way to test and see if any chemicals from the Lime-a-way or Windex are in the water still killing the fish? Any suggestions on what to do before anymore fish have an untimely death. Im running an eheim 2217 filter and have three air stones aerating the tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Chemicals in water? fish dying
- Thread starter brandonhovis
- Start date
All I can think of is there may been some residue still up in the upper seam area under the top frame area. I don't know of any test kits to test for Windex. What kind of fish were they?
If you suspect resudidual ammonia from the windex you could put say like 10x the normal dose of water conditioner( prime,etc) to eliminate the ammonia and run carbon for a few days before starting your cycle. What kind if fish? Depending on the species hey could have just been sensitive to the cycling process. IMO best to cycle a new tank without fish. You'll need a source of ammonia for that, but it's unlikely the ammonia or other compounds in windex would help there. Rotting food or pure ammonia is best in that department.
One fish was a large size pop-eyed sea goblin and the other was a small volitan lionfish. I knew it may be a possibility they just died from the acclimation and not any chemicals from the cleaners but I didn't know if there was a way to check or not so i didn't just buy more fish that would just continue dying. Ill try putting some more Prime in the tank and throw some frozen food in to let sit for a while along with some carbon in the filter and see if the next fish survives.
nes999;4774177; said:
You think? Even with no fish in the tank. Or at least I think there arent any more.
Oh. Just read last post. No fish. Get a good test kit and start the cycle over without fish. Add ammonia or food and monitor. Ammionia spikes then drops. Nitrite spikes then drops. This could take a few weeks. Then add some small fish once nitrites are zero and nitrates are present.
I'd keep the carbon in if you think there is still some residual chemicals. Wont do much harm, especially with an empty tank. Remove once you add fish so it doesn't leech absorbed chemicals back into the tank
Several days it's not enought time to cycle your tank, probably you have a high dose of ammonia, check your parameters before introducing more fish. I agree with using carbon to remove any quemicals from the previous owner, could be some residous on the silicone? but don't forget to remove the carbon after a week or so, other wise quemicals will be back on the tank.
Most likely your tank its not cycle, if thats the case get media with some good bacteria or be patience until you cycle the tank, best way for me its fishless, feeding the tank every day like if i have fish using flake food, checking parameters until i get some nitrete reading, then do a big water change, check reading again until you get nitrate reading then you are good to go, temperature its important when cycling your tank.
Most likely your tank its not cycle, if thats the case get media with some good bacteria or be patience until you cycle the tank, best way for me its fishless, feeding the tank every day like if i have fish using flake food, checking parameters until i get some nitrete reading, then do a big water change, check reading again until you get nitrate reading then you are good to go, temperature its important when cycling your tank.
Howdy,
The only way to test for residual chemicals would be trace analysis by GC/MS or HPLC/MS. I doubt you have access to either. Thus, I agree with the recommendation to just run carbon filtration for a couple of weeks with no fish and frequent changes of water and carbon.
Best of luck,
HarleyK
The only way to test for residual chemicals would be trace analysis by GC/MS or HPLC/MS. I doubt you have access to either. Thus, I agree with the recommendation to just run carbon filtration for a couple of weeks with no fish and frequent changes of water and carbon.
Best of luck,
HarleyK
rudy1964;4774502; said:
I agree that a couple of days isn't enough to cycle a tank. Unless the fish you put in are really sensitive, I don't know why they would die in a day. An uncycled tank would at least have fish live a couple of days, The Doctor.