I came home today to something awful. I looked at my 20 gallon aquarium to find it incredibly cloudy. I didn't know why. I had made sure to ration out water conditioner well during my water change yesterday, and although I had fed two times today, I knew that couldn't have been the reason, because I didn't horrifically overfeed. pH, nitrites, and ammonia were all balanced last time I checked. So that's why I found it odd. I decided to change a few gallons of water in order to fix the cloudiness problem, but then I noticed something. My eel from my prior post (BTW, the 20g was just a growout for it) was completely limp. I tried to help him out, yet to no avail. I didn't know what to do. I left it there for a bit so my change could settle. I really didn't know what to do. My tank has had problems like this before that were back to normal in a day or so. But what I came back to was devastating and heartbreaking. The eel was 100% dead, along with three of my four red-eye tetras, and my favorite fish, a halfbeak who I had kept for over 14 months. I'll admit it, when I found it I cried a little. Okay, not a little. I completely broke down. It takes some to admit, but when you've kept fish that long you just get a certain connection to them. I decided to do a 100% water change (which, normally I would never recommend, I was just in a state of distress.) Afterwards, my kuhli loaches were okay, my otos were okay, and my betta was okay. However, the tetra was left without his friends, and the halfbeak and eel were gone forever. I really felt (and still feel) like throwing up. It was by far one of the worst things that's happened to me in this hobby.(Rivaled only by the 15 gallon situation, but I'd rather not elaborate on that.) It'll probably take me a few days to cope, but sharing it here so others can understand made me feel a little better. I hope some of you understand.
Edit: I think the water conditioner had something to do with it. It was very heavy duty
Edit: I think the water conditioner had something to do with it. It was very heavy duty