tank of death :(
- Thread starter kallmond
- Start date
Tank water temp?
I only ask cause I had a similar problem with a small tank like this and the first time it was something with the substrate changed it and after I set it up again I forgot to plug in the heater so water temps would drop as the lights went off the house got colder the water temps would drop and fish would slowly die off. My tank was also planted with pond snails like yours that had no problems thriving. I finally realized what was going on when I stuck my finger in the tank and checked the thermometer I had tucked in the back corner.
I only ask cause I had a similar problem with a small tank like this and the first time it was something with the substrate changed it and after I set it up again I forgot to plug in the heater so water temps would drop as the lights went off the house got colder the water temps would drop and fish would slowly die off. My tank was also planted with pond snails like yours that had no problems thriving. I finally realized what was going on when I stuck my finger in the tank and checked the thermometer I had tucked in the back corner.
im baffled the play sand seems like its ok for fish since alot of people use it with out a problem. dont kill me if im wrong, but i remember reading that snails produce infusoria, especially pond snails. i no infusoria are good for the water, and provide food for small fish, but maybe the snails produce a type of micro organism that is bad for the fish and that ur tests dont pick up on. again, this is just a theory and i dont remember where i read that snails make infusoria. but if the fish deaths do continue, just use it as a snail farm for ur loaches. lol sorta a win/win o and i dont think the fish are choking on small snails b/c i have some small snails in my tanks and their shells are really squishyyy and i think the fish should be able to chew these up
I've seen ammonia spike to .25 as the highest, when I put the last group of fish in it was 8 total, and the next day it was 0.25. I did a 25 - 30% water change and brought it back down.
Even if my test was off and the ammonia was .5, that shouldn't have killed some of the hardier fish iv'e tried in 3 days or less. (Some of them die within hours).
At this point I think I'm going to pick up a new tank for the kids room.
Even if my test was off and the ammonia was .5, that shouldn't have killed some of the hardier fish iv'e tried in 3 days or less. (Some of them die within hours).
At this point I think I'm going to pick up a new tank for the kids room.
Maybe since some of the snails are so small they could be getting into the fishes gills and killing them... I'll be honest I just made that up off the top of my head. Thats the only thing I can think of since the snail concentration is so high in that tank.
I've got nothing so far so I'm just going to babble. Often times, weird ideas can inspire other thoughts that will lead to the solution.
Some parasites require snails in their life cycle. (Not the issue here because the effects should take weeks rather than days or hours.)
I'd add a single fish to the tank from the 30g, and do nothing else. Give it several days and see if it lives. If it makes it to a week, then add a second fish. Keep adding them to see if you were just adding too many too soon.
Petsmart. That brings back memories. They weren't responsible in the following story , but rather their supplier. I couldn't keep fish from them alive much past their kill date...I mean warranty. Fish from the Mom & Pop shop had no issues, as well as from *Walmart*. (Did I just admit to buying fish from Walmart?
) I suspected that Petsmarts supplier was overdosing the tranquilizers that are frequently used in shipping fish. I asked one of the clerks that I had a good relationship with, but she hesitantly said that they didn't have anyone else with problems (default answer passed down from management) and they didn't have problems in their tanks (another default answer). I showed up shortly after opening one morning and there were tons of dead fish in their tanks. The girl then said she wasn't allowed to say that they were having problems with their fish.
Some parasites require snails in their life cycle. (Not the issue here because the effects should take weeks rather than days or hours.)
I'd add a single fish to the tank from the 30g, and do nothing else. Give it several days and see if it lives. If it makes it to a week, then add a second fish. Keep adding them to see if you were just adding too many too soon.
Petsmart. That brings back memories. They weren't responsible in the following story , but rather their supplier. I couldn't keep fish from them alive much past their kill date...I mean warranty. Fish from the Mom & Pop shop had no issues, as well as from *Walmart*. (Did I just admit to buying fish from Walmart?
) I suspected that Petsmarts supplier was overdosing the tranquilizers that are frequently used in shipping fish. I asked one of the clerks that I had a good relationship with, but she hesitantly said that they didn't have anyone else with problems (default answer passed down from management) and they didn't have problems in their tanks (another default answer). I showed up shortly after opening one morning and there were tons of dead fish in their tanks. The girl then said she wasn't allowed to say that they were having problems with their fish.