All Fish Died Within 2 Hours Of Cleaning

momo

New Member
I have had my salt water tank for two months. My fish were Tangs,Butterfly,Clowns and Humu all fish seemed to be doing well. Decided to claen tank because I seem to have ALOT of greem hair algie growing over everything in tank Change all filter and rinsed out filter in my Fluval FX5 Changed with Purigen PHos and so forth. Cleam most of hair with tooth brush. Replaced 8 gallons of water (i have a 125 G tank) with tap condition with Prime. I have done this all before except cleaned out Filtration Tank. Withen 2 Hours all fish died to include my anemone. Anyone have any ideas on what happen. Do I have to start over?? If I do I still have alot os Alg. ie on my live rocks. And how do I get rid of it. Even the sand has algie growing on top. I also added a Algie prohibiter. Should I start over ??
Any suggestions would be grateful.
Thank You
 

lizjane01

Member
Sorry for your lose. I have read that other people have stirred up their sand bed too much and killed all of their fish.
 

momo

New Member
I did do this when I was trying to clean all the algie from the sand. Never heard by stirring up the sand could do this.
 

creekchub

Member
Originally Posted by momo
http:///forum/post/2896158
Cleaned outside of glass with Windex
That might be your cause..... Household glass cleaners and fish tank don't mix.
The vapors get airborn and make it into your tank, and that's it, end of story.
 

erock412

Member
yeah man, if you disturb your sand too deep, it will release all the detritus that is trapped where your CUC cant get it. the detritus that is caught deeper in the sand bed turns to ammonia, trites, and trates, which are also released when the sand bed is disturbed too much. the windex could have played a part in it, too, if you sprayed it directly on the glass. what i do is spray the cleaner on a paper towel, at a good distance from my tank, that way there's no mist that could end up on the surface of my tank water. sorry to hear about your fish momo.
 

jthomas0385

Member
I would say it was something you added to your tank. If you stirred up your sand bed good enough you may have had a huge nitrate spike, causing the fish to die. However, I don't think that a nitrate spike due to stirring your sand bed would kill the fish that fast.
What size tank do you have?? Have you tested for phosphates or nitrates?
 

momo

New Member
I am having the water tested tomorrow from my fish supplier to see if anything is amiss
 

9supratt4

Active Member
Could it have been the additive he added to kill the algae?? I didn't think they made a product for Saltwater to kill algea.
What is the name of the product you used??
 

aztec reef

Active Member
1. Your water source contains impurities that fuels the algea.. Waterchanges are pointless..Especially partial ones.. Youll need ro/di waterchanges in order to see some progress..
2. You nuked your fish with a Toxic Nitrogeus-gas bomb..
 

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
http:///forum/post/2896247
1. Your water source contains impurities that fuels the algea.. Waterchanges are pointless..Especially partial ones.. Youll need ro/di waterchanges in order to see some progress..
+1....

...and I think the Windex played a part. Don't ever use any household cleaners within 3 ft. of a tank. Not sure what that additive was either that you put in, but that could have been the culprit as well.
 

sepulatian

Moderator
I do not think that stirring the sand in a two month old system wiped out your entire stock in a matter of hours. Something very toxic must have entered the tank. Did you have chemicals on your hands when you put them into the tank? What kind of toothbrush did you use? You didn't by chance use a new household sponge in the tank did you? Spraying windex right on the glass would cause a problem but unless a good amount got into the tank I don't think that the death would be that quick. Do you have a well or public water? If it is public then the city may have just treated the water.
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2896298
Do you have a well or public water? If it is public then the city may have just treated the water.
can you explain what you mean here?
 

t316

Active Member
I have a well (but use RODI water), but I paid the bills for a non-profit down the road for several years not long ago, and they used city water. I could not tell you how many times I received notices in the mail from the county that they had failed "this" test or "that" test, or "we have something in the water over the next few days". It was always something. So I don't trust city/county/public water AT ALL for a tank.
 

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2896334
I have a well (but use RODI water), but I paid the bills for a non-profit down the road for several years not long ago, and they used city water. I could not tell you how many times I received notices in the mail from the county that they had failed "this" test or "that" test, or "we have something in the water over the next few days". It was always something. So I don't trust city/county/public water AT ALL for a tank.
Yep. My cousin lives about a mile from me. She has public water, I do not. Sometimes you can just smell pure bleach from her water. I am not talking about a small amount either. She has fresh water fish and has had a lot of loss.
 

aztec reef

Active Member
Good points sepulatian..
However, we're talking about a two month old tank that has been running on Tap..Also the sandbed is inefficiently set up with humus tangs and butterflies..Those whom are erradicators of beneficial sanbed fauna..thus making the sandbed a one-way street for Nitrogen/nutrient storage..Theres plenty of toxins accumulated in such beds..(coming from water source , fish waste,chemicals,additives, to say the least)..
Also Tap water does not only have bleach, it also contains other compounds such as chloramine(chlorine+ammonia) for tasting & disinfecting pourposes.. As we know Chloramine takes weeks -months to break-down. In return the end product is more ammonia in water column not to mention accumulated within the sandbed ..Also, Ammonia is directly or indirectly the precursor to most nitrogen-containing compounds...
I dont think it was the windex, unless it was sprayed directly into water column..
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Any chance that during this 2 hours, the pumps and powerheads were off? I'm wondering about oxygen deficiency...
 
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