This Isn't An Emergency, Since All My Fish Have Died.

[mrkent75]

I'm new to this forum, but not to fish-keeping. I have been keeping fish since 1974, when I was a highschool senior. The problem I am having is that 4 months ago I set up a 30 gal cube aquarium in the waiting room at work. I can't keep fish alive in it. I got through the new tank syndrome, with the ammonia and nitrite going to zero, but then the fish started going downhill. Several went home to my 55 gal, and most perked right up and have done fine.

As I continued to add fish, the ammo went back up, but eventually I got it back to zero. The fish kept dying.

I started trying to eliminate anything different at work, from at home. I have an undergravel filter as well as a power filter. I have a mix of live and plastic plants, with the intention of eventually removing all of the plastic. I noticed that the water at work tasted bad, so I even replace about 90 percent with water from home. After being sure that the ammo and NO2 were at zero, I took 3 healthy fish from home and they all died over the weekend.

I also keep having algae blooms, and the algae control products I have tried have not worked very well.

PH at home and at work is usually 7.5 - 8.0. My fish at home are fine with that, so I figure they should be at work as well. These are all community fish, ie platies, tetras, gouramies etc.

I wonder if I am overlooking something obvious. Any suggestions or questions would be welcome.

Thanks.

 

[tttnjfttt]

You mentioned that it is in a waiting room. Is there any chance something happened to get into the tank? Can people add stuff to the tank? Would the cleaning crew sprayed anything around the tank, perhaps cleaning the glass of the tank?

 

[mrkent75]

You mentioned that it is in a waiting room. Is there any chance something happened to get into the tank? Can people add stuff to the tank? Would the cleaning crew sprayed anything around the tank, perhaps cleaning the glass of the tank?

Nope, I already asked about that.

Thanks.

 

[demonmagus]

long shot but it could be stress, but I don't know really

 

[tttnjfttt]

this is hopefully obvious, but is there any chance your heater is malfunctioning?

What exactly do you notice about the fish's behavior and appearence before they die?

 

[timmystood]

NitrAte's? - I know you metion that everything has cycled but possibly the water from work contains lots of NitrAtes???

 

[tttnjfttt]

NitrAte's? - I know you metion that everything has cycled but possibly the water from work contains lots of NitrAtes???

I doubt that would be the problem, especially since he said that he filled the tank 90% with water from his established tank at home, and still had the fish die.

 

[chrismr]

Were all plants and decor thoroughly rinsed prior to putting them in the tank?

What did you use to clean the tank with prior to filling and putting fish in? did you rinse the tank thoroughly?

 

[haplover]

What are the Phosphate levels like? I had a problem similar to that in one of my tanks and when I tested the water I had lots of Phosphates. Any chnace that someone in the waiting room added anything at all to the tank?

 

[annka5]

The water at work tastes bad, but at home is fine. So is the tap-water at work not likely to have had some kind of additive, then? Certainly our office, you can't drink the tap-water.
I know you replaced 90% with water from home, but the stress of such a big water change and/or damage already done to the fishes' health through exposure to ammonia, nitrite (when cycling) and whatever is in the tap-water (before adding water from home) could have caused that round of deaths anyhow.

 

[mrkent75]

The heater is fine. The plants, decor and tank were all rinsed in water. I assume the nitrates are fine since I have done frequent water changes.

I had not considered phosphates.

Clarification: the 90% water change I did was tap water from home, not tank water from home. There were no fish in the tank at work when I did this change.

 

[Torrean]

Get a report from the water company about what's in your water. This may have been asked but are you using dechlorinator? I bet something just got into the tank, or the water is Really Foul out of your tap. My sis's fish can't live in her tap water. Like I said see if you can get a report on your water and if that checks out consider a complete breakdown and scrub with 1/20 bleach and water solution. Clean everything but the gravel with that then rinse well in HEAVILY dechlorinated water 4-5X normal dose. Throw out the gravel and buy new. Wait for someone else to comment on my post before doing anything drastic though. Good luck

 

[OohFeeshy]

Most likely the stress of cycling with fish... IE, spikes of ammonia, nitrite etc.

 

[mrkent75]

Get a report from the water company about what's in your water. This may have been asked but are you using dechlorinator? I bet something just got into the tank, or the water is Really Foul out of your tap. My sis's fish can't live in her tap water. Like I said see if you can get a report on your water and if that checks out consider a complete breakdown and scrub with 1/20 bleach and water solution. Clean everything but the gravel with that then rinse well in HEAVILY dechlorinated water 4-5X normal dose. Throw out the gravel and buy new. Wait for someone else to comment on my post before doing anything drastic though. Good luck

I ended up doing as you suggested last week. I got the tank up and running over the weekend, and used 5 gallons from my 55 gal at home. I am pretty sure the tap water was not the problem.

I also added some filter material from an established tank to jump start the bacteria population. I added one betta today, to start the cycling process.