All Fish Dead After Water Change

[paranoid1123]

Thanks John Im going to build a carbon snake when I have the funds.

[fshfrk]

I just added a 29ft 2" section on to my 15ft 1 1/2" carbon snake. For a total of 15 gallons of carbon. With a 44ft long pass. I feel like the carbon will protect me to a degree. I know it filtering out all sorts of nasty stuff too. Any tank that does not have a canister on it I always add a floating power head with a air venturi on it when I do a w/c. The canisters splash when they return water so they add oxygen. you can not trust your water company and everyone needs to call them. With this conversion to surface water if you live in the suburbs and keep fish it's scary. Chloramines and ammonia are deadley to fish. Paranoid it was your water company that killed your fish. Good Luck. John

[stevew14]

Last year, on Christmas day, I had a similar loss. Same as you, I had done the WC exactly the same as always. I also use Prime, and had been using twice the dose. I took a sample from the tap right after, and it tested at almost 10ppm! Even a double dose of Prime couldn't handle that, and all but a few died very quickly. It was the chlorine. Water company screwup! Same thing happened about eight years ago in the same house, which is why I started double dosing. Now, I filter my water first with the carbon snake that Fishfreak helped me build. My water company has not started using Chloramines yet, but even with the carbon snake, I have begun using the Prime again, just in case.

Sorry to hear that it happened to you. It seems to be more common lately. I would check with your water company and see if you are getting Chloramines yet. If so, make sure you are using the appropriate amount of conditioner and as others have said, maybe add alot of aeration during the change.

[paranoid1123]

The action of the fish sounds like chlorine or chloramines. Was the purigen new or reactivated?

it was new but this was the 1st water change ive done with it in.

[Darbex]

The action of the fish sounds like chlorine or chloramines. Was the purigen new or reactivated?

[imagirlgeek]

A couple of years ago, I had a bright idea to bleach a large piece of holey rock. I soaked it for a while, then rinsed it really well, and let it dry. Well, it hadn't dried in all the nooks and I ended up introducing the bleach into my tank with my fish. Almost immediately they were all laying on the bottom of the tank gasping. I did a huge water change and dumped a ton of Stress Coat in. The fish that looked the worst, I pulled out and put in a bucket with an air stone. I didn't lose any fish, but if I hadn't noticed when I did, it would have been a catastrophic loss.

Bleach = Chlorine

You'd see the same effects if your tap water was over treated by the city. I'd call them and ask if they've been doing anything different.

Also, the way Prime works with Chloramines is that it breaks it down into Chlorine AND Ammonia, then it binds with the ammonia until it's filtered out. The ammonia is supposedly made to be non-toxic by the Prime.

[Suelovesfish]

True, the fish did come to the top looking for air in my case. But, only had the energy to do this once until they all went to the bottom. I just don't think Purigen had anything to do with it if it had been in use for a week? I also find it more hard to believe the city water quality was that poor to casue such a sudden crisis on the fish?

I guess we will never know for sure, but must have been poor oxygen or some form of chemical picked up 1or huge Temp. variation most likely the casue imo.

[wesleydnunder]

The only thing that doesn't make sense about the oxygen theory is that when oxygen is low, fish come to the top of the tank looking for air, not the bottom. (Unless yours came to the top of the tank initially, them collapsed to the bottom). I just wonder if the heavy rains didn't introduce a contaminant into the water supply. (Makes you feel real safe about drinking it, doesn't it)?

Terry

I was wondering the same thing. For them to all get knocked down that quickly...
But Jesper also makes a good point. A chemical poisoning generally shows up in inverts right away, yet the lobster lived. I'm stumped.

Mark

[Terrybo]

The only thing that doesn't make sense about the oxygen theory is that when oxygen is low, fish come to the top of the tank looking for air, not the bottom. (Unless yours came to the top of the tank initially, them collapsed to the bottom). I just wonder if the heavy rains didn't introduce a contaminant into the water supply. (Makes you feel real safe about drinking it, doesn't it)?

Terry

[Suelovesfish]

I had the same experience with Amquel. Amquel/Prime? in some for of chenmical reaction deltete oxygen very quickly. When a tank that is hotter than usual due to Htown hest. the warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold per voulume. I know and researched this as I too lost some fish this way. Luckily, somwhere I remembered reading somewhere that this can happen. So, once fish showed strsss, i dumped the low oxygen water and added pwerehead at surface line to get air in tank. Most fish recovered almost immediately.

So now, I use huge air pump and pwereheads when doing water changes. I doubt your answer is the Purigen since you had been using it for a weeK? It is either this or somehow bleach or some other toxin gout introduced to tank. Aeration is vital with W/C's.

[PhishPhreek]

I've been burned more than once by the water company. If they have a problem (like an algie bloom in the summer heat) they add more chemicals. More chemicals make it safer for you and me but not so much for the fish. Thats why I put my tap water in a 55g drum, treat it and circulate it for a day or more before using a submersable pump to do a water change. Don't assume the water out of the tap is the same as last time. Test it. At the very least, test it after you treat it.

[Tall Len]

What do you use for the water change? a hose? a bucket?
Any way something could have contaminated them? It sounds like something more than just lack of oxygen.
I feel for you.
I lost a couple during a water change, but never the whole tank.

[Zulaab]

Prime will take the Oxygen first before the fish do, so what you are seeing is the fish on the bottom are gasping for air because Prime has taken it all.
To make a simple explanation of how Prime or any other detoxifiers.
If there is only Chlorine in the system, prime converts the chlorine into a couple of harmless chemicals.
Chloramine on the other hand, prime breaks down Chloramine first into Ammonia and Chlorine.
Then prime needs to convert the chlorine and ammonia into chemicals that are harmless to the fish.
Each conversion, uses oxygen to make the conversion. So with Chloramines in the water you have to make 3x the number of breakdowns than you do with Chlorine. This is why its really important that when you have Chloramines in the water that you make sure you use the exact numbers which the bottle tells you. Chlorine is easy to break down. Chloramines are not easy at all to break down because you are breaking down several chemicals to make the water safe.. The fish you said that survived are Pleco's and Lobster. Both are fish that can live in low oxygen water.

[Dow]

:( I'm sorry!

[paranoid1123]

I would increase the amount of Prime, and I would add a ton of aeration to the tank. Prime needs oxygen to do its magic.

wish I knew that earlier.