Whole Tank Died Over Night! :( :(

[RobGoldsmith]

Woke up today and everything was dead other than siamese fighter and my plattys

Only thing i did yesterday was add some weed. I did stir up the sand on the bottom and there was a horrid smell from the plant routes. I do wonder if it was to do with the "no planeria" overdoes a few weeks ago, perhaps it was in the sand or something?

Truely gutted!!!!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Sorry for your losses. Not on the same scale, I've lost three fish in the last week and I've no idea what killed them, they all looked in good physical shape and one of them did not even give me at least 24 hours notice that they were ill.

I gave the 5-footer a 75% water change over the weekend, just in case something toxic what in the water (not ammonia or nitrite, both zero) and I'm crossing my fingers I do not have an disease epidemic on my hands.

 

[RobGoldsmith]

Yeah i lost 2 cory cats and thought something was a little odd then suddenly within 6 hours of being asleep the whole tank went down! Going to switch from sand to gravel for a bit and see if that helps with the smelly routes.

 

[emma12321]

sounds like anerobic gasses released from he sand when you pulled roots out. sand should'nt be any deeper than an inch and should be stirred regularly to prevent gasses building up sorry for your losses.

 

[kevinjames]

dont be too discouraged by sand, all it takes is a quick sift through with ur fingers when doing ur water changes. Also some research has shown that in a well oxygenised tank these harmful gases are decipitated instantly.

 

[RobGoldsmith]

I was told by people on here that the whole sand and gas thing was just a rumour and isnt true! - Boy have i learnt the hard way
Shame i cant find the thread where people told me to ignore it as a wives tale

 

[ian]

it has been discussed many times on the forum and people will still believe that the noxtious gases with cause fish death...

Sulfate / Sulfide - Sulfide ions may be produced in a low redox environment; however, these are rapidly oxidized to non-toxic forms. Iron will also react with sulfide compounds to form non-toxic FeS. Sulfides are oxidized to sulfates by free oxygen which exists in the top half inch or so of the substrate and are never present in oxygenated water. The concern over hydrogen sulfide formation in organic substrates seems to be greatly exaggerated. Aquatic plants have adapted to protect their roots via the oxygen conducting channels, the aerenchyma tissues. An established aquarium substrate may be so filled with roots that no regions have sufficiently low redox potential to cause sulfide formation. An aquarium with insufficient light or conditions necessary for photosynthesis may suffer oxygen deficit and hydrogen sulfide formation may result.

taken from here
http/home.infinet.net/teban/substrat.htm#Low_Fertility_Substrates
referenced by some of the top people in the aquatics circle.

It just doesn't happen.

The best thing to do is to, go through things step by step. If i remember rightly Rob, do you have one of those wall tanks? It's not got many litres of water

my guess is that the system crashed, what is/was your stocking?

 

[RobGoldsmith]

i had 2 small rams a couple plattys and 2 mountain minnows. Yeah is a 30l wall aquarium, moving the sand is very hard as it is on the wall and you have to take the stones out every time as they cant be moved back and forth, also the weed then all comes out and floats around.

Rob

 

[ian]

for a 30ltr aquarium that's quite heavily stocked IMO, Rams are quite messy, so there is also a Betta in there. We don't know about these kinds of aquariums and there filtration systems, but i can imagine that you filter probably crashed due to the stocking. Obviously i cannot be 100% sure. If this was my tank, i would probably just have the Betta and get some pygmy cory's, maybe a few amano shrimps.

 

[RobGoldsmith]

six months of it being fine then everything gone in 6 hours! seems very strange

 

[RobGoldsmith]

I think i will switch to gravel for the time being, i need an easy life until i get a bigger tank. So sad

 

[ian]

it will normally take the fish to reach full maturity by then. Like i say i'm not 100% sure, but it has been proven in an 'aquarium' setting these gases release and cause no harm. Links may be provided to other places regarding the build up of gases, but they are all in national waterways setting, not in an aquarium. Our eco systems are very different.

 

[moochy13]

ive not stirred my sand since october (when i started the tank), no fish deaths caused by it. my tank is heavily stocked, and my water isnt overly oxygenated. the way i see it, if you disturb the sand and bubbles rise, they pop at the surface. where the gas is released into the air above the water.

 

[RobGoldsmith]

I think y problem was that i overdosed on the no planaria chemical a few weeks ago, the tank balanced out ok again after this but perhaps moving the sand around yesterday released it all into the tank? Or perhaps there was a build up of dead planaria there

 

[karin]

Are you testing the water? This really sounds like ammonia or nitrite poisoning which can be produced by rotting plants. The test kits are essential for fishkeeping and water management IMO.