Help! I Killed All My Fish

[BarryWilson]

If I have posted this in the wrong place, I apologize, but this is the closest topic to my problem I could find.

As long as I've been keeping fish (off and on for 40 years) I should have known better, but, alas even experienced hobbyists mess up sometimes.

My 15 gallon tall (10 gallon footprint) has been set up for a couple of years and all of my fish were about that old. I had allowed a good bit of algae to grow on the inside of my glass and decided to wipe it out. The old sponge I had been using for this job for many more than two years was getting old and worn out so I asked my wife to pick me up a sponge at the grocery store. She kindly brought me a package of 4 sponges and I took enough water out of the tank to make room for the displacement caused by my arm. I got the tank all nice and clean, added some fresh water, and went about my business.

A few hours later when I went to feed my fish, most of them (mostly ghost cats) were dead. Eventually I examined the package the sponge came in and the first clue I had messed up was the word "Lysol" on the package. On the back, in fine print, were the words, "Do not use in aquariums." It seems that these sponges were embedded with a chemical designed to prevent odor.

The next day I emptied MOST of the water out of the tank and put in fresh. I let it sit for a week and tested the water for Ph, nitrates, nitrites, etc. and it was all good (or so I thought). Then I changed the filter media and put a couple of platys in the tank and they seemed to be fine. A week later I repopulated the tank with 20 neon tetras and a tiny cory. All seemed to be well, but 4 days later the neons started dying. Today is the fifth day and there are only 2 neons and the cory still alive. Soooooo...

Question. Do I need to take this tank down, give it a good cleaning, including the gravel, and start over?

Question. Did I need to recycle the tank?

OR, should I just tear it all down and get rid of it?

Many thanks for your help.

Barry

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, how awful for you, what a terrible experience

You need to recycle the tank; the bacteria that keep a tank cycled live mostly in the filter media, so when you threw that away, I'm afraid you'll have lost most of them.

Big, big water changes are the best thing, as long as you make sure the new water is warmed and dechlorinated.

Do you have a test for ammonia? You need to watch out for that and nitrite most of all; anything over 0.25ppm of either of those can be fatal to fish.

 

[Byron]

In addition to the cycling, there is the possibility that various things have absorbed some of the toxic Lysol. Wood is bad for this, some rock will, filter media certainly, maybe even substrate. I would certainly replace all filter media, as this is specifically designed to pick stuff up. Wood is probably the second thing to watch out for.

This is why for example bleach should never be used to "clean" filter media (the external housing is OK if well rinsed and air dried), wood or rock. Porous things can retain and then leech out toxins weeks even months later.

 

[BarryWilson]

Oh, how awful for you, what a terrible experience

You need to recycle the tank; the bacteria that keep a tank cycled live mostly in the filter media, so when you threw that away, I'm afraid you'll have lost most of them.

Big, big water changes are the best thing, as long as you make sure the new water is warmed and dechlorinated.

Do you have a test for ammonia? You need to watch out for that and nitrite most of all; anything over 0.25ppm of either of those can be fatal to fish.

 

[BarryWilson]

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[Colin_T]

As stated above but do a 75% water change each day to dilute any residual chemicals from the sponge and to prevent any ammonia build up.

Always use plain cheap boring sponges and wash them 3 or 4 times with non perfumed soapy water and rinse out really well before using in or on an aquarium. This gets rid or chemicals and dyes in the sponges. $2 shop or plain brand sponges are generally safest because they don't add things in an attempt to keep the price down. But always wash and rinse first.

I assume you have fish only buckets? If not then get some new buckets and wash them out with soapy water and rinse well. Then use a felt pen (permanent marker) and write "FISH ONLY" on them. And keep them with your gravel cleaner and other fish keeping equipment. And tell the other half not to touch under threat of divorce (well maybe not that bad) but you get the idea

 

[BarryWilson]

Do you think I need to remove all my gravel and clean it???

 

[BarryWilson]

I'm so frustrated with it I'm thinking seriously about just tearing it all down and doing without a tank.

 

[Colin_T]

water changes and gravel cleans will dilute the chemical.
If you add some activated carbon to the filter and replace it every couple of days that will absorb any residual Lysol.

What did the neons look like when they were dieing?

 

[BarryWilson]

I don't really know what they looked like when they were dying. I just found corpses.

 

[Colin_T]

sorry I meant did the neons have any unsual signs when they were dead. eg: where their mouths open, gills flared, faded blue or red line, cloudy eyes, etc?

it's interesting that the cory is alive, they are scaleless and don't normally do well in water that has been poisoned.

The neons might have an infection. They sometimes come into the shops with a bacterial or protozoan infection and wipe pretty quickly. Or it could be ammonia, nitrite or Lysol, but I would have thought if there was any of that in the water the cory would die too.

I would just keep doing water changes each day and see how the tank goes over the next 2 weeks. Do not add any more fish, just let things settle down and see what survives. If the remaining neons and cory die, then flush the tank out really well with fresh water and start again. But if they survive then wait a month and get some more but quarantine any new fish before adding them to the tank.

Try not to be too disheartened, You just got unlucky. Sometimes that happens, but when things settle down you can try again If it's any concillation I lost $18000 worth of fish in 2006

 

[BarryWilson]

Thanks for the detailed advice, Colin. I'll give this plan a try.

 

[stanleo]

You experienced my worst fears. I’m kind of a clean freak about my house and I fear every time I clean it that I will forget to wash my hands and arms before touching the tank or that I will spray something to close to the water and kill everything. I’m so sorry this happened to you.

All the advise on here is worth a try certainly but I know if it were me, I would get rid of everything not man made like the gravel, wood, rocks, plants and filter media. Clean everything else with a mild soap and let it all bake in the sun for a week. Then start an all new tank. But again, that’s just me and I’m kinda wierd.

 

[Colin_T]

But again, that’s just me and I’m kinda wierd

yes you are