fish died after gravle vac

[jason longboard]

Man, Ive had nothing but good with my 125 central and south Americans, the tank bottom is pool filter sand, 2 of the big aqua clear filters and a big bio sponge bubblin in the corner.

I always do weekly water changes and get clear water with happy fish.

Haven't vacuumed it for months and did so the other night, water was white cloudy next day and fish were kind of breathing a bit heavy.

Did a small water change and cleaned one of the filters with tank water and refilled. fish seemed crappy last night, thought all was good this morn then tonight just saw my 6 inch choc cichlid dead. Water is clear and all fish are active and healthy looking.

Did I stir up some gasses or something?

 

[COG Commando]

Do you have the water parameters after the change??

 

[jason longboard]

No I wish I did, I lost or may have accidentally tossed out my little vials a few months ago. I need to get new ones, still got my solutions. I never have issues so I didnt rush out to get them but now I guess I will.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; One of the issues with sand that has been posted on this forum is the potential for pockets of toxic material to build up in sand. It has been suggested that sand not be very deep, an inch or so, and that it be stirred up on a regular basis.
My take is that sand can pack tight enough to form anaerobic areas. Organic material can then be consumed by anerobic bacteria and perhaps form methane and other waste byproducts that may be released into the water.
Gravel is much more coarse than most sand and in appears that the anaerobic pockets are much less likely to form.
It a freshwater tank the addition of MTS (snails) might be helpful as they plow thru the substrate and this may help prevent the pockets.

This is only a guess, but perhaps a few air powered bubblers could help to disperse the toxins that are in the form of a gas.

I dry sift sand thru screens when I use it in a tank. I have found that there are many different sized particles in construction sand and that I can have the look of sand with out the fine material. Depending on the size you want the screens can be modified.
Good luck

 

[tomomothy]

If your tank would up cloudy thats often a sign that your beneficial bacteria population is low. As the water clears up your parameters will stabilize. Could you post your water parameters and how much water you changed when doing your gravel vac? It could help us trouble shoot.

This could have been caused by a few things but more information could be helpful. The water change may have been too big, your water may have had chloramines in it or as skj mentioned something in the tank may have been released.

 

[duanes]

If you haven't vacuumed the substrate in a while, and you don't have snails or something else to prevent anoxic/anaerobic areas from building up, there is a chance that you released enough of a hydrogen sulfide bubble to kill one or more of your fish. This one of the main reasons to vac regularely during water changes, not just getting out the mulm for aesthetic reasons, but preventing such areas being created in the first place.

 

[F1 VET]

Hello; One of the issues with sand that has been posted on this forum is the potential for pockets of toxic material to build up in sand. It has been suggested that sand not be very deep, an inch or so, and that it be stirred up on a regular basis.
My take is that sand can pack tight enough to form anaerobic areas. Organic material can then be consumed by anerobic bacteria and perhaps form methane and other waste byproducts that may be released into the water.
Gravel is much more coarse than most sand and in appears that the anaerobic pockets are much less likely to form.
It a freshwater tank the addition of MTS (snails) might be helpful as they plow thru the substrate and this may help prevent the pockets.

This is only a guess, but perhaps a few air powered bubblers could help to disperse the toxins that are in the form of a gas.

I dry sift sand thru screens when I use it in a tank. I have found that there are many different sized particles in construction sand and that I can have the look of sand with out the fine material. Depending on the size you want the screens can be modified.
Good luck

+1


Once a month stir up the sand.


Go S. Vettel #1 rb8