TRAGEDY – HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN ??

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
beneficial bacteria resides in the filters, and substrate.

- when you removed the stones, the bacteria under the stones was disturbed and waterborne, causing a spike in ammonia
- when you stopped the filter, the bacteria in the filter could no longer process the ammonia that was in the tank
- when you dumped in the sea sand, the PH rose quickly, causing PH shock. not cleaning the sand is also a factor.
- the toxicity of ammonia increases relative to PH, so as the PH shot up, the toxicity of the ammonia also shot up.
- a 65G tank for a 13" arowana, 7" BP, 9" FH, 2 african cichlids, is too small. their bioload is high meaning that they produce a lot of ammonia, especially in a smaller tank.
- stress caused from environmental changes (stones to sea sand)

so, stress from all the changes, plus a high bio-load from the fish, plus more bio from substrate disturbance, and no beneficial bacteria to filter the bio-load, plus increasing toxicity from the PH, plus PH shock are the likely reasons your fish died. by the time you moved your arowana it probably already had ammonia poisoning which is why it died the next day in your hospital tank.

next time, make any changes with your tank incrementally. and make sure to have your filter running at all times. that is probably the only thing you should not put off. you can procrastinate feeding, water changes, substrate changes, a broken heater, a broken light. but do not procrastinate a malfunctioning filter.

(also, when you turn off your filter the beneficial bacteria will go stale in your filter after a few hours).
 
Was the sand moved directly from the 40g to the 100g tank, or did the sand set in a bucket unused for a extended amount of time?
 
wtf...you have an oscar in 40 gallons? you have flowerhorn in that SMALL space? wtf man...
 
Ah, I had the exact same thing happen to me actually. I switched from white to black sand, by changing it all at once. Over the next few weeks everything slowly died. Except my bichir, bless his durable little heart.
 
Kayarisha said:
Ah, I had the exact same thing happen to me actually. I switched from white to black sand, by changing it all at once. Over the next few weeks everything slowly died. Except my bichir, bless his durable little heart.
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Oh,,, so there are other people also with the same story......
atleast i m not alone....
nywy,,,, thanx for the company.....
 
jlnguyen74 said:
A couple of issues:
1) Sea sand raised pH. That could cause shock to arowana and blood parrot, and killed them. Funny thing about flowerhorn, some like high pH
2) You may cross contaminated when you moved sand from one tank to the other tank without washing off debris and waste. To make it worst, you shut down your filter. You took away filtration, while you increased contamination.
3) If you have not turned the filter back on, make sure wash it thoroughly. When you shut down filter for a long time, the bacteria may died off. If you run it, without removed the old water in the filter and wash it off, you may pollute your tank


Save it! :screwy: They've been in that tank, not just moved to that tank.
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You are perfectly right over there.....
however,,,, i have lost interest in this tank.....
sooon,,,,,, planning to get another bigger tank..
and then continue the hobby......in a doubt of whether to keep sand as the substrate or gravel....
would keep u updated on the new setup......
 
aclockworkorange said:
The issue isn't using aragonite sand, it's a SUDDEN change in ph/kh that can stress fish, which will happen if you introduce a large amount of it in a tank with a much lower ph/kh. I use aragonite in all my CA Cichlid tanks.
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is it that,, its a bit more dangerous to use the sand as a substrate as a whole....
 
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