Mass Extinction Event In Tank

[dsiegel13]

Over the weekend I lost 80% of my tiger barbs in a span of about 30 seconds. I was doing weekly maintenance on the tank, adding my weekly dose of Prime and then it happened. After adding the Prime, there was an incredible smell of rotten eggs (ammonia)and within 30 seconds 4 of my school died, just dropped to the bottom of the tank like stones dead. I really liked those barbs, had them for over a year and they were big ones... now I have only one lonely barb looking around for his tank mates.

The water levels were fine two days prior, and there was no change in the tank since a small ammonia spike I had one month back.

Anyone ever hear of this happening before? What should I do with my last barb? If I introduce new barbs, they will be much smaller and he might beat them to death or they may team up and alienate him... what to do.

All advice appreciated.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Sorry for losses, its horrible seeing multiple fish keel over within seconds, had it happen to me when I introduced some Microsynodontis polli to my 620T (only 1 of 6 survived and is still with us) after a lengthy drip acclimitisation following their courier arrival.

How were you testing the water, test strips or liquid test kits?

 

[m_attt]

do you have deep sand?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Ahh I see where youmay be going there matt.

I've got nothing to help you but I just wanted to say that I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[fluttermoth]

Can we ask for a few more details?

What substrate do you have, and what exactly were you doing with the Prime? Do you add it after the new water or before?

I can put your mind at rest about adding new barbs, once you've solved this little mystery. As long as you add a decent number (six or more) they'll integrate into a new shoal quite happily.

 

[deftuch]

seems like you must have added unwanted chemicals into your aquarium. perhaps chlorinated water ( did not add enough tapsafe ) chemicals from your hands ( did not clean hands before putting into fish tank ) bleach/ chemicals ( did not use a clean rinsed bucket/container to add new water. a rotten egg smell is typical of a badly maintained aquarium but on a huge scale. lack of care over the period of upto and over a year creates that smell. ive read about it before but cant tell you the exact gasses that create the smell. i hope its none of these anyway

 

[robertsskippyj]

This Might not help but Ammonia isn't known for smelling like rotten eggs that is more known as the smell from many compounds of Sulphur such as Sulphur Dioxide a gas that can be absorbed by water and Sulphur Hydroxide a liquid, for example so there maybe another problem there. Ammonia is more commonly described as really really really really strong smelling pee that makes your nose burn when you smell it.
I believe deep sand substrates can produce this gas and trap it in pockets in not often disturbed parts then releasing it when disturbed.

 

[robertsskippyj]

Sulphur Dioxide disolved in water would be toxic to your fish in a decent concentration.

 

[Xraymark]

Prime it self smells like a bad fart. So the smell may be misleading to the cause of your fish death.

 

[dsiegel13]

Sorry about the lack of details. Here we go.

I have a clay substrate, Flourite Red, been in there for almost a year now. I haven't vac'ed the bottom in awhile cause the amount of plant coverage makes vaccing impractical. I add the Prime whenever I change the tank water, just changed 30% of tank water before adding Prime (Xray is right it does smell like a fart, I chucked the stuff just in case). I don't add detox chems to the water, I use spring water from a bottle.

Edit: Forgot, my Gouramis came thru with no issue, so did my Loach... only the barbs died.

I never stick my hands in the water, haven't in almost a year, I'm allergic to the water or the chems in the water and break out in crazy rash if dunk my hand in the water. I either use a aquarium glove from pet store or aquarium tongs/clippers for plant maintenance.

In hindsight should have seen this coming, my crypts have melted a bit for the past week, just thought that was normal, and my anubis were browning out. Took a closer look this evening and noticed these brown/black circles growing around the tank on the glass and plants... algae I think... no nitrate or nitrite problems, and only leave the tank lights (T5) on for 6-7 hours/day. Could the algae mix w/ the prime and cause a chem reaction?

Very sad day. Kids and I buried the buggers in the backyard.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

 

[fish_r_great]

Its possible you just released a bunch of toxins from gravel into the water when you did your waterchange. Depending on how soon you tested water the algae could be masking a problem. Feeding off of the nitrates and resulting in low readings. I'd guess with dying plants either your bulbs went bad or you were just overdue on maitenance. Could have been something with the new water but even city water doesn't usually instantly kill fish. I'd do your next water change sooner than normal as well as some pruning/removing dead plants. If the trend continues and the tank is definitely clean then obviously its something goofy going on.