Established tank all fish died

[Jbsteel87]

I have a well established 32 gallon biocube with 18 tetras, 2 catfish, and 2 small plecos. On day 1, one of the catfish died. The next morning the other was gone. Both had a white film on them. Tested the water, ammonia was slightly up, nothing else showed different. Treated with ammo-lock and it steadied out. By the 4th day. However the fifth day I noticed white spots and damaged fins.on many of the tetra. Treated for ice. The morning of the sixth day I woke up and everything wes dead. They all had same white film covering them. Trying to figure out what happened. The water never got cloudy. Stayed clear

 

[Jbsteel87]

I have a well established 32 gallon biocube with 18 tetras, 2 catfish, and 2 small plecos. On day 1, one of the catfish died. The next morning the other was gone. Both had a white film on them. Tested the water, ammonia was slightly up, nothing else showed different. Treated with ammo-lock and it steadied out. By the 4th day. However the fifth day I noticed white spots and damaged fins.on many of the tetra. Treated for ice. The morning of the sixth day I woke up and everything wes dead. They all had same white film covering them. Trying to figure out what happened. The water never got cloudy. Stayed clear

I also have a 6 gallon quarantine tank and noticed that it has white film covering the plants and decorations. ???

 

[foxgirl158]

Now, I’m pretty new to this, but I’m pretty sure that when you have ammonia, you do a water change and don’t add chemicals….? Correct me if I’m wrong. Also, I’ve been told that when a fish gets sick or dies unexpectedly, you immediately A: Test your water, and B: Do a water change.

How long have you had all your fish? Did you recently add something new? Can we have the exact parameters? Thanks

 

[Wills]

Ah that sounds rough! What Tetras, Catfish and Plecos are they? Quite broad categories - eg tetras could be neons which could indicate a disease specific to them or serpae tetras which could have nipped each other constantly leading to fin rot etc.

Which type of ammolock did you use? Sometimes you get an ammonia spike for simple reasons such as underdosing dechlorinator or a bunch of plants dying or too much waste building up in the substrate. Some ammolock products claim to make it into a form that can feed the bacteria but non toxic for the fish others make it something the bacteria cant process so the colony dies off.

Adding chemicals to the tank like ammolock and medication can also reduce the oxygen in the tank which could have led to the fish deaths too.

Like the post above says though, could you let us know how long the tank has been set up and also what the last thing you added to the tank (fish, plants, decor, live food etc) and when?

Wills

 

[Jbsteel87]

Ah that sounds rough! What Tetras, Catfish and Plecos are they? Quite broad categories - eg tetras could be neons which could indicate a disease specific to them or serpae tetras which could have nipped each other constantly leading to fin rot etc.

Which type of ammolock did you use? Sometimes you get an ammonia spike for simple reasons such as underdosing dechlorinator or a bunch of plants dying or too much waste building up in the substrate. Some ammolock products claim to make it into a form that can feed the bacteria but non toxic for the fish others make it something the bacteria cant process so the colony dies off.

Adding chemicals to the tank like ammolock and medication can also reduce the oxygen in the tank which could have led to the fish deaths too.

Like the post above says though, could you let us know how long the tank has been set up and also what the last thing you added to the tank (fish, plants, decor, live food etc) and when?

Wills

10 neon T, 6 black TV, 2 glowlights, green Cory's, and rubber nose plecos. Ammo-lock is api I think. Tank has been setup since December. Four weeks since I added the blacks, three since water change. I have a plastic cave, drift log and a hollow stump. I have 2 small plants, anubis. I did start giving the Cory's a wafer(shrimp wafer)

 

[Wills]

Sorry not familar with Black TV? Are they Black Widows or Phantoms or Black Neons etc?

I'm not sure if this is a disease tbh the white film the fish had on them could just be them decaying by the time you found them. You said that ammonia was slightly up - what was this registering and which test kit were you using?

What was your nitrate and nitrite readings for the tank too?

Wills

 

[Jbsteel87]

Black neons. Api dip sticks the pad was slightly discolored. Nitrate pads stayed white. So 0

 

[Jbsteel87]

Black neons. Api dip sticks the pad was slightly discolored. Nitrate pads stayed white. So 0

Black neons. Api dip sticks the pad was slightly discolored. Nitrate pads stayed white. So 0

Sorry not familar with Black TV? Are they Black Widows or Phantoms or Black Neons etc?

I'm not sure if this is a disease tbh the white film the fish had on them could just be them decaying by the time you found them. You said that ammonia was slightly up - what was this registering and which test kit were you using?

What was your nitrate and nitrite readings for the tank too?

Wills

Ammonia was .25 on the chart

 

[foxgirl158]

Black neons. Api dip sticks the pad was slightly discolored. Nitrate pads stayed white. So 0

What about your nitrite?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Tested the water, ammonia was slightly up, nothing else showed different. Treated with ammo-lock and it steadied out. By the 4th day. However the fifth day [...]

Wait a minute, are you saying that when you noticed the raised ammonia, you added ammo-lock to the tank, and saw the ammonia levels slowly drop over the next four days? You didn't do a water change or anything?

Then five days after the first ammonia spike you noticed and adding the ammo-lock, the 'disease' broke out? And it's been three weeks since the last water change?

I just want to make sure we understand how this played out correctly

 

[Slaphppy7]

Wait a minute, are you saying that when you noticed the raised ammonia, you added ammo-lock to the tank, and saw the ammonia levels slowly drop over the next four days? You didn't do a water change or anything?

Then five days after the first ammonia spike you noticed and adding the ammo-lock, the 'disease' broke out? And it's been three weeks since the last water change?

I just want to make sure we understand how this played out correctly

Yep....

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yep....

I suspect we know the cause of death then...

Any idea how long the API ammo-lock is meant to detoxify ammonia? And whether it binds nitrites the way prime does? Because I think even Prime only binds them for 24 hours or so, if I remember rightly.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I suspect we know the cause of death then...

Any idea how long the API ammo-lock is meant to detoxify ammonia? And whether it binds nitrites the way prime does? Because I think even Prime only binds them for 24 hours or so, if I remember rightly.

I have no clue, because I've never tried it before....there's a better, proven way to handle ammonia spikes than throwing more chemicals (or whatever "ammolock" is) into a tank: water changes, as needed, with a good quality water conditioner.

Then, weekly WC's when ammonia and nitrIte are no longer present

 

[Jbsteel87]

Wait a minute, are you saying that when you noticed the raised ammonia, you added ammo-lock to the tank, and saw the ammonia levels slowly drop over the next four days? You didn't do a water change or anything?

Then five days after the first ammonia spike you noticed and adding the ammo-lock, the 'disease' broke out? And it's been three weeks since the last water change?

I just want to make sure we understand how this played out correctly

I added the ammo-lock in the morning. Came home from work and the levels were back at zero. No change the next 3 days. In fact I tested the water after getting all the dead fish out and still zero. 16 days since last water change.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Get a good quality water test kit, and you may find that you do have ammonia, after all: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit