Somethings wrong with my water? (Big fish kill)

[kumdoalan]

sounds like a problem of chlorine, chloramine, or a heavy metal in your water. Did u use water conditioner? Like prime?

No,
Again this is what i did.
I took an empty 40gal tank and filled it with water and turned on a corner drop-in filter.
The filter ran with no fish in the tank for 7 days.
I added some goldfish and within 24 hours all were dead.

I then drained dry the tank and re-filled it again turned on the filter to run a week without any fish.

After 7 days I added fish, and again within 24 hours are were dead...
But also this last night I did a 25% water change on a 100gal tank.
Within 24 hours all fish in the 100gal tank were dead.

UPDATE!!!!!!
After I took the two water samples to the fish store and the water tested out fine, it was suggested that I get-
PETCO WATER CONDITIONER and PETCO BACTERIA.

I got enough to add to both the 100gal and the 40 gal tanks.
I also got 8 more goldfish and have places 4 fish in each of the "Death Tanks" as a means to test if the Conditioner will end the problems, or if there is actually something else going on that is not learned from normal aquarium water tests?

I will let you know if there is more to report on this......

Now, the truth is, that due to the fact that i only have goldfish in the tanks I have NEVER had a problem before. I have had some of the goldfish that just died today for years and years.

I have changed water the same way without any concerns or any problems...I have NEVER had a total fish die-off like this in all my life!

25% water change and I kill all the fish?

It just should not have happend....I mean 6 Inch GOLDFISH dead?!....
I could understand a die-off with fish that are not as strong as goldfish...But Goldfish can take a punch.

Clearly i did something wrong, or there is really something odd about our tap water....

 

[ctenopoma]

stop doing water changes , adding a few live plants to the water a week befor putting fish in can help balance harmful toxins in the water.

 

[Onion01]

stop doing water changes , adding a few live plants to the water a week befor putting fish in can help balance harmful toxins in the water.

it sounds to me like your tank isn't cycled. If u keep adding fish, they will keep on dying. You gotta properly cycle it

 

[crashinc25]

Did you use any chemicals to clean the tank(s)?
Was the hose or tube used to fill the tank(s) used for anything other than water?
Was the drop-in filter a used filter? Was it cleaned before using?

 

[kumdoalan]

it sounds to me like your tank isn't cycled.

well,,,,I mean....perhaps thats true for the 40 gal tank that I just got going...BUT
....BUT the 100 gal tank has been running for years!

The 100gal tank has both a WET/DRY and an undergravel filter going and they are running fine and have been for a long time with no problems at all.
-, and the water tests out great!....

So this leads me to believe that there is clearly nothing wrong with the filter...


The lady at the store tested the water for me and she could not find any hint of a water problem......

There is nothing wrong with the water that normal aquarium water tests can show me.

Clearly I made an error, or there is something else in the water....
It's not the filter's fault, I got to believe that had I not changed 25% of the water last night on the bigger tank all the fish would still be alive today...

 

[kumdoalan]

Did you use any chemicals to clean the tank(s)?
?

......I wish i could remember...I want to believe I just used water to clean the tank, but I cant remember....

Lets say i used dishsoap....that explanes the death in the new 40 gal tank, but it does not explane why i killed 20 some gold fish in my 100gal tank, some of them had been my pets for years......

I didnt clean my 100gal tank....
i just drained the water and added more....

 

[kumdoalan]

Was the hose or tube used to fill the tank(s) used for anything other than water?
?

ahh,,,here is something, here is a question that brings up something i did not think of.....

The aquariums that had the die-off are in the basement, and the 40 gal is on the floor, so to drain the water I have to pump it out with an home-style sump pump.

I drop in the big home style sump pump and attach it to a garden hose..
While I can see that if there is now something wrong with this sump pump that it could explane all the death...I dont believe anything is wrong with it.
I dont see any oil leaking from it that the outer case looks fine.

 

[kumdoalan]

QUESTION....
Lets pretend that the sumppump is cracked and is leaking whatever type of oil is in them things...

Would that explane the deaths?
Would that not be easy to see the oil...
Would oil in the same garden hose used to work with both tanks cause the fish to die?

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

Well, I don't believe that there is a water test for chloramine. It's a big fish killer. I remember when they first added that to our water, a lot of owners with frogs and newts kept having them die because, unlike chlorine, chloramine doesn't disappear with time. I've had a tank of feeders die after a waterchange because I added conditioner for chlorine and not for chlorine and chloramine. Hope that's the problem so at least you know why they keep dying. The Doctor.

 

[kumdoalan]

Well, I don't believe that there is a water test for chloramine. It's a big fish killer. .

Heres the deal...
It's getting warmer here and, (although i dont know for sure) I'm guessing that at some times during the year the people that pump me my tap water might need to add different things to my water to kill what might be in it.

IF, if this is the case and if I now have tap water with some things in it that have killed my fish, Whats the answer?

What do I do next time?
(This is a big question for me because I am just about to fill my indoor pond with water and add my big Koi from my 140gal tank to it.
I do NOT want to kill them!)