Clay pots killed my prized fish!

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jerppyjerp

jerppyjerp

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2006
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Trout Island
I had some clay pots that were previously used in one of my tanks. They hadnt been in water for about 2 months and were sitting in a box in my garage. So before my kids softball game I decided to give them a good rinse and drop them in. When I returned a few hours later, I had found $200 worth of fish dead and the remaining fish left gasping for air on the surface. I immediately pulled the pots out and added a heavy duty air pump and within 5 mins, all the other fish began to come back down to their normal tank spots. So what do you think? Has this ever happened to anyone else?
 
Hello; sounds like the pots were contaminated somehow. I have reused clay pots many times without a problem. Much as you described, I gave them a good rinse and sometimes a bit of a brushing off. No real clue.
 
They were left in a box near the tank in the garage. Nothing really could have contaminated them other than maybe smoke. I wonder if I had an air pump in the tank to begin with, if I would have lost any fish at all. I just find it weird that as soon as the air pump was introduced, they were fine.
 
I've used clay pots for years.

Sounds like maybe some insecticide or other chemicals got on them while they were in your garage. What was the box that you stored them in previously used for?

Matt
 
jerppyjerp said:
They were left in a box near the tank in the garage. Nothing really could have contaminated them other than maybe smoke. I wonder if I had an air pump in the tank to begin with, if I would have lost any fish at all. I just find it weird that as soon as the air pump was introduced, they were fine.
Click to expand...

Hello; If you disturbed the substrate, especially sand, there could have been a release of something into the water? Perhaps a bacterial bloom that used up a bit too much oxygen. I tend to run a bubbler in all tanks as a matter of course.
 
Ya I will always use an airpump from now on...no matter what.
 
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