cichlids freaked out...no idea what's going on

[MDH]

I've got a 29 gallon tank, up and running for 2 1/2 months now. Stocked with a convict (4") and a blue acara (5"). They have always come up to see me when i approach the tank, and constantly swim around all day. No aggression or fighting that I can see. Well all this changed yesterday. I came home after being gone all day, fed them like I always do, everything was normal. I let them be for a few minutes, walked by the tank, and the 2 of them were freaking out, ramming into the glass, lost all color, went into hiding, and have been pretty much unresponsive for the past 24hrs. I did nothing out of the ordinary to freak them out. I turned the lights off, and they have stayed off since.

I managed to get them to eat this afternoon, but they were still extremely skittish, ate the food quickly, and went right back to hiding and being unresponsive (can't see any stripes on convict). I've checked all my parameters, and nothing is out of whack, Ammonia and Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 10, ph is 7.5. Water change last done on Friday, 40% weekly as per usual.

The only thing I can think of is I picked up some Purigen on Friday, and added it to my 2nd AC 50 HOB. (removed a carbon so it would fit). I rinsed it thorougly beforehand, and double bagged it. Plus it had been in the tank for 2 days before the episode.

I'm wondering if any of you can share similar experiences, and what measures you took to remedy it. The last thing I want is fish that are stressed, and hide all day long. Or is there something I'm missing here?

Thanks, and sorry about the long winded post.

 

[jonie]

could the heater of shut off?

 

[MDH]

I checked that as well, seems to be working normal, and temp is the same as always (80-82).

 

[MDH]

Update:

Tonight they were getting worse, my blue acara was completely unresponsive, and his body was twisted. I got thinking that maybe in fact it had something to do with the Purigen, so I took it out. Not an hour later they were getting back to normal, color coming back, and are all over the tank as per usual.... 4 hours later, and their color is almost completely back to normal.

It seems as though even double bagging the stuff wasn't good enough, as I think it was slowly leaking out of the bag straight into the tank

Lesson learned, make SURE media bag will adequately handle the media going into it.

I still don't understand how the stuff could make my fish that way, or if in fact that was truly the case. At any rate, I thought I would share my experience...

 

[barley pop]

this may be a dumb question but what is Purigen ???

 

[MDH]

Ok, so all was well up until about an hour ago. The exact same thing happened, all fish are pale as can be, and pretty much motionless, not responsive the least bit. I have no idea what the heck is going on, but it's starting to get at me. Any help or suggestions would be much appretiated! Thanks

Like i said, this behaviour is completely new to the fish