Emergancy!! Fish Kill?

[26pets]

I've had my 50gallon bow front cycling the past couple of days. Its been set up maybe 3 to 5 days now. I was told I could use play sand because it had no silicon in it?? The fish were acting normal last night. And I wok up to everything dead this morning. Only my big hermit crab made it. And barely... I grabbed him out of the tank and put him in a hospital tank.

But what caused the fast kill? All in one night??

I checked my perimeters this morning. There's 0- Ammonia, 0- Nitrates, 0- Nitrites, The PH dropped down to 6.5 But i think that was due to the fish kill.

 

[26pets]

Bump??

 

[TwistedPenguin]

If the tank's been set up 3-5 days I can almost guarrantee the ammonia wasn't '0'. My 1st guess is an ammonia spike killed the fish. "Cycling" takes 4-6 wks and shouldn't be done with fish in the tank. I don't believe the sand had anything to do with it. Also-don't test with those paper test strips-they're worthless. Get a liquid test tube kit. Now would be a good time to look up "fishless cycling" and cycle that way before you get any more fish.

 

[Eamiles]

I agree that the dip tests are bad, but it could have been something in the sand. Test only search things that are in normal water, there easily could have been some chemical on the sand that does not show up on your test. I don't mean to sound cynical but what were the temperatures of the tank and the water the fish were in before you put them in? If the 55 was colder that can cause serious stress that takes fish out easily. Also, what kind of fish?

 

[Lou8337]

Did you do all the tests before adding the fish. I thought temp shock happens almost right away so in that way I don't agree with Easmiles. I temp shock goldfish all the time when I feed them to my RES and it seems almost instantanious. If not I agree it must of been the sand. Where did you buy it from. I think some places have sand shipped in with fertilizers and other chemicals. If you got it from a place that sells it by the pound where they have it bulk outside with other things like mulch. Chemicals could have seeped in off the mulch which has all kinds of crap in it like pesticides.

 

[Lou8337]

I would think the ammonia depends on your water source. I've never had much of a problem with it on an initial setup, but I've had a hard time with my ph just can't remember if it was dropping it or raising it.

 

[invisyblegypsey]

If the tank's been set up 3-5 days I can almost guarrantee the ammonia wasn't '0'. My 1st guess is an ammonia spike killed the fish. "Cycling" takes 4-6 wks and shouldn't be done with fish in the tank. I don't believe the sand had anything to do with it. Also-don't test with those paper test strips-they're worthless. Get a liquid test tube kit. Now would be a good time to look up "fishless cycling" and cycle that way before you get any more fish.

i have a 285g cycleing now for 3 weeks and the amonia has spiked twiceit will be a few more weeks befor i add fish

 

[26pets]

I usually put the fish to start the cycle then pull them out and feed the tank to keep it going.

 

[26pets]

The sand I got from Home Depot. It was near concrete... But the bag was fully sealed tight. Wouldnt the sand affect them right off the back. Not just sudden?

 

[Oddball]

The difference between plain sand and play sand is that play sand has less sharp edges to make it safer. Whoever told you that one contains no silica must have a vasectomy immediately to prevent more morons from being added to the population.