Instant Death

[nfored]

I have had many ammonia spikes to .25 and .50 and never lost a fish? I did lose some fish to new tank syndrome at first when i had 2 - 4ppm ammonia. See I have 1ppm tap water, when I add Amquel Plus it drops the ammonia to .50ppm. So every time i do a water change i get a .25 ammonia spike for 1 day followed by a 2 day nitrite spike day 1 is nitrite .25 day to is .50 day three back to 0 Ammonia and 0 nitrite. I am investing in a R/O system. Oh ya and my PH is 7.6 or higher, I say or high as thats as high as my test shows. The water temp is always 79-82, so basically I have everything you need to make ammonia more toxic high ph plus high temp and never lost a fish.

I think you are having a chloramine problem, and I would think unless you have zero surface agitation you should have enough aeration.

Before I moved over to a wet/dry i ran only a top fin 60 hob filter and no air pumps, I hate bubbles in my tank.

 

[Optimist]

Hey guys, thanks for all your replies. I've been looking into chloramine and I think it might be responsible for the untimely deaths, but does it really kill within an hour or so? How do you get rid of chloramine? I use stress-coat with every water change, but I don't know if that is very effective. Would you recommend that I switch over to Prime?

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

Hey guys, thanks for all your replies. I've been looking into chloramine and I think it might be responsible for the untimely deaths, but does it really kill within an hour or so? How do you get rid of chloramine? I use stress-coat with every water change, but I don't know if that is very effective. Would you recommend that I switch over to Prime?

Chloramines equals quick death to fish and amphibians. There are alot of different brands of water conditioners. I'm almost positive that you can by the conditioner at any pet store. Everyone uses the conditioner for chloramines so it is very abundant. I've found that any brand will do the job. Just take a look at the bottle and the correct conditioner will say that it removes chlorine and chloramines. Hope I've helped, The Doctor.

 

[drb]

If you are using amquel or something similar I would say there is another problem. When I change my water I add amquel the same time the new water from the tap is going in and have never had a problem. Sounds like some kind of contaminent in the tank you may have to empty every thing clean it and start over.

 

[Raynebowfish]

Just a thought, as I am sure you know this, but are you gradually acclimating the fish to the tank? If the Ph is higher in the petstore than your home, they could be dying from Ph shock. I'm sure everyone has seen what happens when the Ph is your tank crashes...and what your describing sounds like how they die. If the Ph is the same at the store as your home water...than I have no idea, and I wish you the best of luck.

 

[drb]

Just a thought, as I am sure you know this, but are you gradually acclimating the fish to the tank? If the Ph is higher in the petstore than your home, they could be dying from Ph shock. I'm sure everyone has seen what happens when the Ph is your tank crashes...and what your describing sounds like how they die. If the Ph is the same at the store as your home water...than I have no idea, and I wish you the best of luck.

My opinion about ph crash only applies to none hardy species. Most central and south american cichlids can handle just about anything and will acclimate!

 

[Optimist]

Yeah, I always acclimate my fish slowly. I use stress coat during water changes to get rid of chlorine, although I'm not sure If I'm doing the best way. I usually add a bit of stress coat right before I put new water into the tank via python, and I add small doses as the tank is filling up. I did do a 10% water change about a couple hours before adding the danios that were killed. Maybe there was still chloramine in the tank. Should I have let the water age some more? Its weird, I've never had this problem before.

 

[LisaH]

Maybe a family member or friend thought they would be helpful and cleaned your glass with windex?

 

[OnceLoyal]

Man if they die that fast I would say they are being poisoned by something other than ammonia. Like your x girl friend is put bleach in there or something. Not tryingot make a joke....but to have fish die within hours? WoW!!!!

 

[chesterthehero]

is this a new tank or used? have you resealed it or washed it out with anything (detergents, soap)? if you resealed it, did you use a silicone with microban in it? are you washing your hands before putting them into your tank?