What the hell happened?

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CaspianRain

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 6, 2009
25
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USA
This isn't really a lesson learned...yet.

I changed my filter from a Tetra Whisper I've had running for years to a Fluval 405 (used but cleaned out). Everything was working perfect yesterday, water was crystal clear.

Over the night, I heard crazy splashing. I woke up and found 6 of my fish dead. They are all peaceful community fish that I've had for almost a year now. The water was also cloudy, unlike yesterday where it was clear.

I'm about to test the water right now.

WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
 
you took out all of the biological filtration
 
most new aquarist's think of a filter as just something to pull the poop out of the water so its clear. Yes the filter does this but more importantly, it provides a place to grow nitrifying bacteria that converts the waste(ammonia) into less toxic forms of waste. after ammonia comes nitrites then nitrates. Then you remove the nitrates when you do your water changes. If you remove all of the filter media(the thing with all your beneficial bacteria) then you dont have any bacteria and the waste stays and accumulates as ammonia killing your fish.
 
Acclimating your new filter for a few weeks while the old filter was still running is the proper way to avoid future problems. Also 2 forms of filtration is always a good thing to have.

Sorry for your loss.
 
Did this happen overnight, all in one day? If so, it wasn't from removing your bio filtration, as ammonia won't spike that fast to cause a problem. The cloudy water you mentioned makes me think something else was up with that filter. Maybe something in the lines? Or in the canister? Who knows.
 
jcardona1 said:
Did this happen overnight, all in one day? If so, it wasn't from removing your bio filtration, as ammonia won't spike that fast to cause a problem. The cloudy water you mentioned makes me think something else was up with that filter. Maybe something in the lines? Or in the canister? Who knows.
Click to expand...
i agree
 
Idiotic move on my part, and lesson learned. I knew I should have kept the old filter in there as well, but for some reason, I didn't. :(

I did a water change and bought a bottle of nitrifying bacteria to help accelerate (or in this case restore) the bacteria lost. The fish seem fine now & the water levels are better. I am lucky to have half my fish still alive!
 
You didn't answer my question ;)
 
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