Tank crashed

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SCZ28

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 10, 2008
21
0
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so cal
I did a water change in my african tank this morning as usual(about 40%) and everything was normal for like 15 mins then the fish all started acting weird. All the african in there are now dead which is about 20 of them but my pleco is still alive. I have no clue what would cause this and never seen anything like this in all my years of keeping fish. I am totally bummed :( Any ideas?
 
I have also had a couple African tanks crash on me...It seems to be a very unfortunate trend with them... But did you take care of all the proper water prep. Buffered the water, de-chlorine(make sure its not too old), made sure the water temp was around the same temp, did you change your filter as well with the water change?
These are my best suggestions... Good luck and do you have any plans for the tank now?
 
first question i would ask did you properly dechlorinate the water? Hernandezj11 pretty much asked all the basic question.
 
I did a water change as normal and matched the temp and aerated the water as it went into the tank. This isn't a new tank and was all adult fish, never had any issue with doing it that way. I did rinse the filters from my emperor HOB filter but didn't touch my Eheim canister.

As for how they were acting they were all normal right after and the few males were all jockeying over tank position as they always do after a water change but then they all were going to the bottom of the tank and not moving much. Most on theirs bellies and a few on there sides, a few minutes later some were on their backs.

My pleco that was in there is fine and actually one of my Hongi is still alive. I will probably repopulate it as African since one made it but not sure. I still have my large Midas in another tank so I don't think I want another SA/CA tank
 
You should test your water with all the test kits available to you. If your water supplier used alot more chlorine than usual your normal dose of dechlorinator may not have been enough. If they started using chloramine rather than chlorine some dechlorinators will cause a massive ammonia spike. Not enough info to tell if this could be a cause. Most good lfs will work with you and test your water for free. I would bring samples of your aquarium water and your tap water. We all have major setbacks in our life from time to time-don't give up. Sorry about your loss.
 
BUT DID YOU DE CHLORINATE THE WATER!? And why such a big water change? Only 25% should do.
 
Miguel4u2;3372570; said:
BUT DID YOU DE CHLORINATE THE WATER!? And why such a big water change? Only 25% should do.
Click to expand...

I disagree with this statement. I do 60-70% water changes two times a week with excellent results. Large water changes are almost always necessary with crowded rift-lake tanks if you want to maintain long term health with these fish. Alot of progress has been made to encourage hobbyists to do water changes to promote more ethical fishkeeping. There are plenty of people with dirty tanks out there-please don't try to persuade more people to do things this way. I am certain that the main problem was not because the water change was too large-unless water changes were done way too infrequently in the first place. 50% weekly is probably a good weekly routine.
 
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