thanks local water department

[chesterthehero]

just did a nice big waterchange on my planted tank "just cuz".. my congo tetras and corys have been ackting "frisky" so i figured i would drop the water level down for a lil while and then give them a nice big water change and make them happy and maybe ill get some breeding....

so i pulled somewhere around 30 gallons out of the 55.. filled my tubs with fresh.. treated with prime and let it sit for a bit while i watched the fish... everyone was very excited being happy, healthy and active like normal...

.........then i refilled the tank....


filled the tank... turned my back to put the hoses up so they dont drip all over the floor.. bent down to turn on the pump and noticed one of the congos was gasping at the surface.... this is not unusuial.. one or 2 of them usuially manage to get themselves stuck in a plant and freak themselves out... "no big deal"..... so i go and sit down and find something to watch (turner and hooch is on YAY)... i looked over at the tank again... i see a congo stuck to the overflow... also not that unuauial.. but i dont want his fin to get messeed up so i give him a poke and away he swims... doing barrel rolls the whole way...
i then noticed 3 others on the bottom of the tank and see my L239 (blue panasomething) sittin ontop of his driftwood... hes never ontop always under... he then starts swiming around the tank bumping into stuff.. i notice a dead oto on the bottom... hes all bent up like a boomarang (never good)..
i move my L239 to another tank... my gf tests the tank water as well as the tap water...

all my corys were freaking out.. my otos were freaking out... 5 out of my 7 congo tetras were either barrel rolling around the tank or belly up in the plants.. the L239 (in the other tank) is upside down and bellyup in the plants... oddly my balloon ram was swiming around munching on stuff giving me a look of "im the most delicate fish on the planet... wtf is wrong with these guys"...

both tap and obviously tank both tested at 1ppm for ammonia..
when i first cycled a tank the highest i ever allowed my ammonia to get was 1.25..

i pulled 20 gallons out of my planted tank and added 20 from my 75.. added even more prime...

at this point 2 congos and atleast 1 oto are dead... the oto was all hemmoraged and i havent looked at the congos yet but i know they were stiff as could be....

i then held the L239 infont of the powerhead for a while till he started munching on my hand.. he was ok for a while but then he started crashing around the tank again so my gf took over holding him infront of the powerhead...
2 of the congos were still alive in the plants so i held them infront of the spraybar for a while... one of them improved and took off.. he was nose up at the surface for a while but now hes doing "alright"?
the other i put in the plants infront of the spraybar.. he eventuially ended up on the bottom... i just moved him infront of the spraybar again. hes now nose down in the plants ... who knows... 2 of the congos are a pale blue.. the others are super red which ive never seen them do before...

death count so far... 2 congos 1 oto...
expected death count.. 4 congos, 3 otos, possiably 1 L239, possiably some corys since i have not found them all yet


so much for a "happy water change to make the fish happy"

 

[tcarswell]

I dont understand. The water from the tap had 1 ppm of ammonia ?? Thats flipping insane! Whats your PH?? Doesn't prime have ammo lock or something in it ?

 

[chesterthehero]

yeah 1ppm straight out of the tap..... 1, 0 , 20, 7.5


my tap is usuially 0, 0, 20, 7.5
my tank water before a water change is usuially 0, 0, 15, 6.5-7

i think my L239 is munching on the glass... i dont want to scare him by walking up to te tan.. but this looks focused not just prebarrelroll..

like 2 weeks ago there was a thread about overdosing with prime and i realized how much money i was wasting... so i decided to conciously only double dose.... grrrrr...

my gf has been doing some research.. aparently theres a chance its not so much the ammonia thats doing it but some sort of something with the chlorwhatever breaking down or something... she was just sorta yelling from the other room.. .she wont come back in here cuz she does not want to see her fish dying...

 

[tcarswell]

yeah 1ppm straight out of the tap..... 1, 0 , 20, 7.5


my tap is usuially 0, 0, 20, 7.5
my tank water before a water change is usuially 0, 0, 15, 6.5-7

i think my L239 is munching on the glass... i dont want to scare him by walking up to te tan.. but this looks focused not just prebarrelroll..

like 2 weeks ago there was a thread about overdosing with prime and i realized how much money i was wasting... so i decided to conciously only double dose.... grrrrr...

my gf has been doing some research.. aparently theres a chance its not so much the ammonia thats doing it but some sort of something with the chlorwhatever breaking down or something... she was just sorta yelling from the other room.. .she wont come back in here cuz she does not want to see her fish dying...

Chloramines you mean ? Im not too experienced but im sorry for your loss chester

 

[freshwaterfishing]

awww man im sorry that sux and thats just insane on the level of annmonia!

 

[Mr Pleco]

Man so sorry to hear that.. I had a similar problem with tap water. Now all tap water is stored, treated, heated , carbon filtered , 48 hours before placing in my tanks.

 

[chesterthehero]

yeah thats the stuff...

thanks bro

the L239 is doin better.. he munched on wafer for a bit... hes still breating hard but his eyes are prettymuch back to normal... hes hangin out with this look of "wtf was that.. and wtf is this stuff on the bottom of the tank.. is this sand.. i could make a serious mess with this.. its much nicer than the flourite stuff in my tank"

so ticked... the 2 congs that died were the 2nd and 3rd biggest and best looking.. the biggest one is struggling but nose up is better than bellyup..

 

[chesterthehero]

Man so sorry to hear that.. I had a similar problem with tap water. Now all tap water is stored, treated, heated , carbon filtered , 48 hours before placing in my tanks.

if i had the room to do this i would..

another congo finally died.....

i added some carbon to the tank just cuz its not going to hurt....
the 75 i stole water out of could really se another 20 gallons right about now... the 2 ac110s on it have my livingroom sounding like its at the base of a waterfall...

 

[angelo21]

sorry for your losses man....

 

[Thedaniokeeper]

Dude, MY skin can't take 1ppm for some reason...
My hand hurts when I take It out of my tanks...
Poor fish!