Help!

[lozronz]

Help! I just went to clean out the tank at the club and found the big Angel Fish and a Penguin Tetra dead and the whole tank lightly layered with a kind of white specked goo.

Its not that noticable unless you look quite hard but it was like a film over everything, the plants especially.

I wiped away what I could reach, did a 40% water change, changed and cleaned the filter and put some more plants in (In my head it might be an algea so the plants might use up the algae's resources- Total stab in the dark!)

What Is the goo? And whats the next course of action?

I hate doing this tank now, I kind of said I would maintain it at mate rates because he was doing such a bad job (even though he assured me when I set it up that his daughter had fish tank and he knew what he was doing), but I'm getting torn between the fact that I'm really only being paided half an hour a week to look after it and I'm spending usually a couple of hours and being called in whenever there is a rogue snail or a little body floating and the fact that I don't want any ill to come to the fish... Damn it! AAAhh! thats better strop over!

Any help greatly appeciated, cheers

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The "goo" is from the de-composing fish, how long were the fish left dead in the tank for? Do you literally just come in and clean the tank once a week or do you see the tank daily? How did you go about cleaning the filter?
Depending on how exactly you are going about cleaning the tank, it could explain some of the deaths, so if you could explain in all detail how exactly you go about cleaning the tank on average and how often that would be of much help to understanding why the fish are dying.

 

[lozronz]

I was assured that the angel was seen two days ago and they are usually quite good at getting in contact if there is any problems but they could have missed I suppose.

I don't think there has been a long runnig problem with the tank it all seemed really healthy until this inccident I even achieved pearling somehow, which I have never managed on any of my home tanks.

My weekly routine goes-

Head count

Magnet clean the glass if it needs it

Hoover Gravel, about 2-3 buckets worth of water change or roughly 20%

Leave filter to suck out disturbed muck for about 20mins

The filter is seven sections held in two containers I usually clean half leave the other half and rotate every few weeks, replace the cotton stuff on the top every week and every other week replace the carbon section.

Refill the tank with two buckets of water I leave standing the week previously to dechlorinate.

Occasionally add a little aquatic plant fertilizer

Pick off any dying leaves.

There was some road works being done on the water pipes at the end of the road I did wonder if it might have messed up the water a bit but I live literally doors away so I would have thought my tanks would have been affected to.

So if the slime is from the dead fish does that mean that now its been removed and had the water changes and stuff the slime will go away or should I do anything else??

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you wash the filter sponges in tap water or old tank water removed from the tank? Carbon is not nesarsary in the tank unless you are trying to remove something like meds from the water; leaving water to sit will eventually evaporate the chlorine, but there is more to tap water than just chlorine- harmful heavy metals are often present in tap water which cannot be evaporated, and are harmful to your fish unless you properly treat the water properly.
You should buy some water conditioner/dechlorinator for your tanks as it removes much more than just chlorine.

Also, what do you mean when you say you acheived "pearling"?
If you have algae issues in the tank, there's no need to use fertilisers in the tank as these will just fuel the algae problems- if your plants are shedding leave's a lot, you should check for other problems like inadequate lighting or unsuitable habitat for your plants.

If the hadn't been seen for 2 days, its almost imposible to say what it could have died of now, however you should test the water quality for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to see what the current situation is as far as water quality is concerned.

You should clean up the go as this could spread desease if it is left to futher rot in the tank.

 

[lozronz]

Sorry, Im not sure I made myself clear in the question, I wasn't asking why the fish died, as it happens I just found out from one of the barmaids- The cleaner took out the plug for the heater and filter to hoover and forgot to put it back in again for days and was too embarassed to tell me (I'v taped it up now.)

I was asking, other than the process I mentioned on opening the thread- Water Change, scrubbing down, etc.
Is there anything else I should do?

 

[Marshall..]

Sounds like you have the problem solved. It might be worth adding a bit from your filter at home in case most of the bacteria died when the filter was switched off. put a little sticker on the plug to remind the dozy cleaner to plug it back in next time.