Aquarium Disaster

[Penny M]

We are an office building and have enjoyed a tropical fish display for some nine months - all was fine on Friday evening when I left but on Monday morning the whole group of fish were dead (30 or so). The filter heater etc were working ok and no power cut. Could a power surge create a problem like this? e want to start again now but do not know what went wrong?

 

[Meds081603]

We are an office building and have enjoyed a tropical fish display for some nine months - all was fine on Friday evening when I left but on Monday morning the whole group of fish were dead (30 or so). The filter heater etc were working ok and no power cut. Could a power surge create a problem like this? e want to start again now but do not know what went wrong?

What type of fish?
What size tank?
What is water temp?
What are ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels?
How often are water changes done?
How often are they fed?

We need many more details before we can help.

 

[Penny M]

Sorry if I seem a bit vague but we have the tank looked after by a chap who comes on a fortnightly basis and he told me the nitrates were high so we cut the feeding down to every other day and reduced amount. He changes 30% of the water and brings his own water to replace the changed amount. The temp is 80. Size of tank is Eheim 36"wide x18" deep x 15" tall with cut-off front corners. The fish were community fish - names may not be remembered quite right! They were gourami, tetra,hatchet, mollies, clown loach and plec (he was my favourite). We do not want to make the same mistakes or risk any more deaths. We had four gourami die first - I thought they has ulcers and we set up a small tank to move them from being attacked by the other fish but they all died in time. Was that connected? (about two weeks before). The fish carer does not know why they died - the ammonia levels were very high when he came as the fish had been dead for probably two days.
Penny

We are an office building and have enjoyed a tropical fish display for some nine months - all was fine on Friday evening when I left but on Monday morning the whole group of fish were dead (30 or so). The filter heater etc were working ok and no power cut. Could a power surge create a problem like this? e want to start again now but do not know what went wrong?

What type of fish?
What size tank?
What is water temp?
What are ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels?
How often are water changes done?
How often are they fed?

We need many more details before we can help.

 

[Davo86]

The fish carer does not know why they died - the ammonia levels were very high when he came as the fish had been dead for probably two days.

hi penny

sorry but anyone known as a "fish carer" should have known that if the ammonia was high, then you had a problem.

dead fish should be removed from the tank as soon as they are found, dead fish produce ammonia, ammonia being very toxic to fish.

it also sounds like the tank may have been overstocked, a common plec and a group of clown loach alone would require a bigger tank, than the one you have.

Lastly do you know what water he uses to do water changes with?

 

[Meds081603]

The nitrates being high is definately not good. I would not attribute high nitrates to a massive sudden death though. I would lean more towards the ammonia spike from dead fish. It sounds like your tank was overstocked as well. This can cause the nitrate levels to be high even with less feeding. Your clown loach and possibly your pleco did not belong. For a tank that size the only pleco you should have is a bn pleco. That is either bushynose or bristlenose pleco. The clown loach really needs a bigger tank as well and tankmates. They are social fish that prefer groups, however they get over a foot long and really need a MUCH bigger tank to be happy. If you all wanted to start over, we could give you some good reccomendations of fish to choose.

 

[Penny M]

Hi Dave,
I believe the water is distilled but not absolutely sure. The problem was I was away on business and when the staff came in after the weekend - all the fish were dead and FC (fish carer) could not come until Tuesday so they were left in the aquarium an extra day. Had I been here I would have removed them anyway myself.
Penny

The fish carer does not know why they died - the ammonia levels were very high when he came as the fish had been dead for probably two days.

hi penny

sorry but anyone known as a "fish carer" should have known that if the ammonia was high, then you had a problem.

dead fish should be removed from the tank as soon as they are found, dead fish produce ammonia, ammonia being very toxic to fish.

it also sounds like the tank may have been overstocked, a common plec and a group of clown loach alone would require a bigger tank, than the one you have.

Lastly do you know what water he uses to do water changes with?

 

[Penny M]

Hi,
Yes, we would like to start over and advice would be great. I do not know how many litres the tank is but could find out (anyway you probably know from my vague measurements). We had two loach (about 3" long), one pleco (black and about 5") and two to four of each of the others however the mollies had loads of babies - three times - and ate some of them!
Penny

The nitrates being high is definately not good. I would not attribute high nitrates to a massive sudden death though. I would lean more towards the ammonia spike from dead fish. It sounds like your tank was overstocked as well. This can cause the nitrate levels to be high even with less feeding. Your clown loach and possibly your pleco did not belong. For a tank that size the only pleco you should have is a bn pleco. That is either bushynose or bristlenose pleco. The clown loach really needs a bigger tank as well and tankmates. They are social fish that prefer groups, however they get over a foot long and really need a MUCH bigger tank to be happy. If you all wanted to start over, we could give you some good reccomendations of fish to choose.

 

[Davo86]

from the dimensions, the tank holds just under 160 litres, and a recommended stocking for this is about 42inches worth of fish.
(this is the adult sizes of the fish added together.)

You should be able to restart the stocking, once the ammonia and nitrite levels have returned to 0 and the nitrate is relatively low, (which will occur over a number of water changes)

 

[fourthtimelucky]

Oh dear, that sounds a bit grim.

It sounds as though part of the problem is that the fish guy was coming in every fortnight to do a 30% change (rather than doing a 15% water change weekly). The reason the nitrates were high is that they weren't being diluted frequently enough. Having a fortnight between each visit from the 'carer' (hmm) also means that health problems have that much longer to develop without being diagnosed & treated.

If you are going to take an interest, why not find out how much he was getting paid and undercut him?!? I'm sure the new fish would be much happier being looked after by someone who cared about them and you can get all the help you need on this site. Definitely do your research when it comes to loaches and plecs - they are sometimes known as 'tankbusters' and some of them get HUUUUGE!!!
Good luck!