I Can't Believe This Product.. Almost Killed All My Fish

[Bella]

I added clear water and.. to make a long story short.. mark called me at work and told me to get home now.. some of my fish are dead and the rest look like they don't have much longer to go...

I ended up moving everyone into the 29G tank... and am draining my 90G right now.... I lost two mollies and one is not looking very good... lost lots of babies due moving the main tank into the small one before trapping the babies... had to move my fish asap did not care how many babies i would loose... I cant belive a product that says harmless almost killed all my fish.. the molly i lost was my mama and another fav... all my fish are my favoriates... I have two plecos. had 5 mollies, 3 platies three swordtails and five bloodparrots..my 29G was my baby tank.. I ended up scooping the babies once I got all my fish moved into there. saved about 60 or 70 babies

Since all my fish are crammed into a 29G... it looks so crouded but they are already comming back to life and swimming around a lot more.. If i would have not left work early they would all be dead

My blood parrots look like they're peeling... like a mild sunburn. My poor blood parrots.... chemical burn. I even doubble checked the bottle and it is not expired and i did use the correct amount.. even a bit less.


oh yes and the product is Pclear particulate... made but nutrafin HAGEN.. I am not using any more of their food or any other products made by them.. In fact tomorrow i am buying new flake and throwing out everyting made by them. I am banning their products for good. I've even wrote them an e-mail inregards to their s#^%&( product.

 

[WILDER]

R.I.P.
The 90 gallon when are you setting it back up.
Must of been a nightmare. What do you think happened, was the product toxic.

 

[Colin_T]

I was going to suggest you contact the supplier/ manufacturer. But you have already done that and probably not in the nicest possible manor, (fair enough under the circumstances). Sometimes they come to the party and send you a stack fo freebies to keep you happy.
You might have had a bad batch. If you have any left, I would send it back to them and have them test it.

The fish with the sunburn (white skin peeling off), is shedding excess mucous due to the stress from the chemical you added. Adding something like Aquatan or anything that encourages the slime coat on fish, will help reduce the stress.

You should be able to put the fish back into the main tank after you do a really big water change on it. That would help reduce stress from being in a small tank.

 

[Athena]

How much of the P Clear did you add to the tank?

Hope your rescued fish will be ok!

Athena

 

[Bella]

I added 4 caps for the 90.g

i came home last night moved all the fish then drained the tank completly and refilled it.. I didn't want to take any changes with a product like that in the water. My fish a cramed in a 29g but that will do for a bit. I left the filter alone and have it running. I will transer water from the 29G into the 90G 50% at a time to help get some cycled water into the main tank. I was up quite late last night getting everything done and slept in today

I'm lucky my work understand how I love my fish and needed to go home right away.

 

[Athena]

Yes, must be very stressful - good thing they are nice employers!

Well the dose seems fine for 90g. Do you have much in the way of tank ornaments, rocks, wood etc in the tank?

Only reason I ask is that some tanks have such a lot in them that the actual water quantity is much less than what the tank actually holds, as much as a third less - and in that case medication dosages need to be in proportion to the actual tank water volume, not tank size.

I'm sure you know this anyway, but it doesn't hurt to mention it, just in case.

I don't think it's absolutely necessary to transfer water from the other tank into this one as there are no beneficial bacteria in the water - those are in the filter and substrate. If your filter is fully cycled then you should be able to just add fresh dechlorinated water to the tank and let it reach the correct temp before putting the fish back. So long as you have kept the filter running this whole time, the bacteria would not have died off and will just continue to do their job.

Unfortunately, if there have been high levels of toxins from that stuff you added, it could be that some or all of your filter bacteria have been wiped out.

You will need to keep a close eye on things for a while - maybe do some regular testing of the new tank water once the fish are back in after a couple of days - just to check that the filter is working properly and you're not going to end up going through another cycle.

Let us know how you get on - Athena

 

[Bella]

I always do regular testing.. so it wont be hard to keep that up. . I do have an old filter running on the 29G that i could run with the reg filter on the 90G. so that would help. The reg XP3... I emptied the water out of it but filled it back up right away and ran it right away.. I just wanted to get as much water with the product out. I didn't rinse the filter media becuase i wanted to preserve the benifical bactiria as much as possible. I drainned the tank to the rock line. I have a spare filter I ran on the back of the 90G just for oxygen flow into the water and that one has a bio wheel I but it on the 29g when i move all the fish and that one will be going back to the 90G . So I hope the cycle will not be too bad for them. I am planning on moving them back tonight or tomorrow.. Well see... I really feel bad for all the stress they are going through with the chemical to the moving back and forth.

It should have been 4 1/2 caps for 90G but i put 4 caps and not even full caps to the top so i don't think it was too much added....

I'm still quite upset that these poor little fish depend on me to take care of them and a product i added almost killed all of them and did kill two.

 

[nosoup4you]

So long as you have kept the filter running this whole time, the bacteria would not have died off and will just continue to do their job.

If the OP removed most of the water and all of the fish, there will have been some die off. You need to either move the filter to the smaller tank or get the fish back into the 90 ASAP to keep the filter bac from dying off completely.

 

[Bella]

I'm going to add them back in first thing tomorrow morning. I just came home from work and it's 2 30am. They all looked quite happy when i came home... bounced right back. lol. Quite the scare.. now I hope the transfer back go's ok.

oh yes and thank you all once again with your help... I prob would have waited much longer to move them back.

 

[Bella]

they are all moved back and all are doing great .. I'll post what the company responds back once they respond.. very ironic this happened because i am taking chemistry and just cant figure out what happened... I'm actually writting an assay in concentration solutions... how odd is that for an assignment at this time. lol. should be about a week for them to respond.

 

[WILDER]

That's good news then.
Good Luck.

 

[Bella]

I still think it is the product because my fish reacted within 15 min of the product being added in and I did a 20% water change to dilute the product only to find dead fish a few hours later and having to drain the tank and move the fish out asap......



Dear Michelle ,

We have received an answer from our Laboratory Director. The results are within our product specifications. The product, Nutrafin P-Clear particulate water
clarifier (exp. 02 2011 F9), was tested on a colony of fish (giant danios, corydoras).

Our test for acute toxicity was done in a tank at 5 times the dose (26 mL in a 76 L). There were no measurable effects on this colony of fish after 7 days.

Therefore, we believe it is not possible that Nutrafin P-Clear particulate water clarifier contains any substances capable of causing toxic effects on your or any fish if used at the prescribed dosage that we recommend, or even slightly overdosed.

We are very sorry for this unfortunate incident, but due to the above we must believe that there were other factors at work that are so far unidentified may have caused the problems you encountered.

Sincerely,

Diane Lamontagne
Consumer representative
Rolf C. Hagen Inc.

 

[B13]

I'd write back to them and ask them to explain exactly what other 'factors' they are talking about, considering the fact that before you added the product, your fish were fine but 15 minutes after adding it and doing nothing else to the tank, it's inmates or the water, the fish started dropping like proverbial flies.

I'd also mention that you are an experienced fish keeper, etc.

Companies try very hard to wriggle out of complaints. They say they have run tests, but that's only what they tell you, you weren't there to see it. Chances are, they've done b*gger all.




Very sorry to hear about your poor wee fish...

 

[three-fingers]

Why were you using the product in the first place? Could solve the mystery as to why they died?

 

[Truck]

did you check the heater was functioning? water stats?