Poisoned tank, what should I do?

ZippyFish

New Member
In the last 3 days, I have lost 75% of my fish. I'm pretty sure I accidentally poisoned them as I've never seen that many fish die so quickly. The weird thing is the invertebrates are fine.

I think I got corroborator cleaner over spray in the bucket I use to do my water changes with. I did a water change the day after I did a brake job and the following morning half of my fish were dead and more to follow in the following hours. I was using the spray in my garage with the door closed and my fish bucket was within 5 feet of where I was spraying.

So, the question is, can I just do a mass water change or do you think the corroborator cleaner has leached into the rock, sand, silicon seams making my tank a death trap?

I did a test and bought 3 damsels and within 24 hrs they all died. The unaffected fish are 2 green chromis, yellow goby and a gold headed goby. My cleaner shrimp, urchin, snails, and crabs seem ineffected.

So is my tank doomed? Will the corroborator cleaner dissipate over time?
 

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I would expect inverts to go as well if there was a toxin in the tank. When was the las fish added.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
It does seem rather coincidental. Carburetor cleaner has quite a few nasty chemicals in it.

Either way, a series of small water changes wouldn't hurt. If you can run some carbon that would help with any potential chemicals if that was the trigger.

But no one don't think the tank is screwed in the long term.
 

ZippyFish

New Member
I agree, the inverts should have died first.... it's weird that whatever it is only kills the fish. Usually fish get the typical ick signs, scratch on rocks, etc before they die.... This kills them in matter of hours... they act fine and then bamm... belly up.

The last new fish was an order from here, lavender tang and the yellow goby (they were in the tank for about 2-3 weeks before this happened). The goby is still alive. I lost the tang, anthias, 2 clowns and 5 damsels.

I did a 10% water change this evening, hopefully the 4 remaining fish I have make it.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Depends on the chemicals and toxicity exposure limits of different invertebrates.

I had a bad experience with a medication treatment that wiped out all of the sensitive fish but most all of the micro fauna and inverts still survived.

In my case I think it wasn't the chemical itself as much as it was the depletion of oxygen in the tank the chemical caused which triggered crash.
 
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