TRAGEDY – HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN ??

[aquaremo]

Hi All MFKers,

Newbie here.

I went through a TRAGEDY.
I have a 100 gallons FW Aquarium running from 01/01/2011, housing a Flowerhorn (9”) & a Blood Parrot (7”) in one partition and an Arowana(13”) in the other partition.
The Aquarium had Stones in it.

They were going on very well, till last day, I got this mere fascination of having sea sand instead of stones. bought a 20pound bag of sea sand. removed the stones from the aquarium and added the sea sand.
My SUNSUN Filter – priming got lost and so planned to switch it off for that night.

Don’t have exact pictures but please watch this video to get an idea of the tank before the tragedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbSXLQYQrXQ

AROWANA

Next afternoon, I see my Arowana (about 14”) VERTICAL instead of horizontal, but still found him breathing.

I soon took him out and transferred to another tank – BARE BOTTOM

He becomes back to normal – horizontal and swimming but does not eat a thing. I worry a lot.

Next morning, don’t noe the reason but he dies.

BLOOD PARROT

Next afternoon, my BP dies.


FLOWERHORN

Next afternoon, no probs. but I still transfer him to another tank.

after this arowana and parrot dies, I don’t take the risk for my fh and give him back to the LFS, before I loose him.

He is OK at the LFS now.

Wot I want to noe is, what actuallly happened by changing the substrate to sea sand, possible for fresh water aquariums ?
What happens to the pH when we add sea sand. does it go up or down ?
Planning to get more test kits to check water parameters next time I get an arowana. What are the main water test parameters I should keep checking other than pH and Nitrates ?

 

[m1ste2tea]

did you wash the sand before you put it in? what method did you use to put it into the tank?

you might have had an ammonia spike if you removed the stones and the sand dust clogged your filter.

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Sorry to hear it... Did you just dump the bag of sand in w/o washing it?...

 

[aquaremo]

did you wash the sand before you put it in? what method did you use to put it into the tank?

you might have had an ammonia spike if you removed the stones and the sand dust clogged your filter.

Sorry to hear it... Did you just dump the bag of sand in w/o washing it?...

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. First of all, sorry for my doubts but checked a lot on google and the net for wot happened, cudnt find the reason till now.

This Sand was already in my 40 gallons housing one oscar.
However, didn’t clean the sand when I put it into the 40gallon or the 100gallon.

Just removed the existing stones in the tank and added (or dumped) the sand when all those fishes were there. Is that a wrong way to do it ? coz I did the same, when I got the stones but there were no problems till now ?

When I removed the stones, the ammonia spiked meaning, the ammonia value increased ? if so, how can it increase ?

 

[cheon]

Ur sand has good bacteria on it and acts lik a mini filter. I have heard of this happening removing sand and having spikes across the board. If u could go back I'n time remove the sand slowly ,over removing all at once.

 

[shua71]

My SUNSUN Filter – priming got lost and so planned to switch it off for that night.

^ You shut off your filter for the whole night? Did you atleast run an airstone or sponge filter or something? Also after you shut it off for the whole night did you just turn it back on in the morning?

 

[aquaremo]

Ur sand has good bacteria on it and acts lik a mini filter. I have heard of this happening removing sand and having spikes across the board. If u could go back I'n time remove the sand slowly ,over removing all at once.

Do you mean sand or stones, you should be meaning the stones.
i.e., The stones had a lot of beneficial bacteria for the whole tank.

When I removed the stones, all the beneficial bacteria gone from the tank. The Biological Filtration in the External Filter also stopped.

So, can fish DIE of less bacteria in the tank.

Next time, I would surely be removing the substrate that way.

My SUNSUN Filter – priming got lost and so planned to switch it off for that night.

^ You shut off your filter for the whole night? Did you atleast run an airstone or sponge filter or something? Also after you shut it off for the whole night did you just turn it back on in the morning?

Its only the filter that got off. All Air pumps and internal filters were running.

External Filter was OFF the whole night. Actually speaking, I dint get the mood to go to my aquarium later and now also it is OFF.


... is there a necessity of keeping substrate, if so for wot ??

 

[BayArea_510]

also they proly died because they were all packed in a small arse tank

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Hi,
Just removed the existing stones in the tank and added (or dumped) the sand when all those fishes were there. Is that a wrong way to do it ? coz I did the same, when I got the stones but there were no problems till now ?

When I removed the stones, the ammonia spiked meaning, the ammonia value increased ? if so, how can it increase ?

I believe you taking out the stones and then adding sand affected the water's parameters a lot. It was alright to remove the stones, but adding the sand as a replacement while coming from a different tank introduced new bacteria. The sand was "conditioned" for the fish and set up of the 40g. It would be like adding too much fish at one time and the sudden change in bioload would cause the tank to "crash." Your idea might have worked if the fish wasn't present for the water to stabilize...

Ur sand has good bacteria on it and acts lik a mini filter. I have heard of this happening removing sand and having spikes across the board. If u could go back I'n time remove the sand slowly ,over removing all at once.

He was adding it into the 100g, not into the 40g. The fish were in the 100g.

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Do you mean sand or stones, you should be meaning the stones.
i.e., The stones had a lot of beneficial bacteria for the whole tank.

When I removed the stones, all the beneficial bacteria gone from the tank. The Biological Filtration in the External Filter also stopped.

So, can fish DIE of less bacteria in the tank.

Next time, I would surely be removing the substrate that way.





Its only the filter that got off. All Air pumps and internal filters were running.

External Filter was OFF the whole night. Actually speaking, I dint get the mood to go to my aquarium later and now also it is OFF.


... is there a necessity of keeping substrate, if so for wot ??

Of course there is. Why do you think tanks need to be cycled? So that beneficial bacteria develops for the fish. Sure, the hardy fish may survive, but your fish are anything but.

Your tank MIGHT have been alright if your filter was running, since the media on your filter carries those beneficial bacteria as well. When the filter stopped with the new substrate on there, it was like the tank was being cycled again(in addition to the outside/foreign bacteria from the other tank). Unfortunately, the internal filter wasn't sufficient enough for that big a tank.

It is more delicate than you think, if you make a big change, you drastically tip off the balance inside the tank.

P.S. I'm not sure if you know about having to stir the sand often, because if you don't stir it up, it builds up gas that is lethal to fish when released.