fish dying

[miturne]

I have a major problem! I just did a 30% water change and now my fish have died. I did the water change because the nitrite was high. I had the water retested and it was perfect but the fish died. The crabs and aneome are still alive. I don't know what's killing them. What to do?

 

[stapler]

Sorry to hear about your loss....as jwtrojan said, we will need more info to help you out.
By the way...welcome to the board!

 

[beaslbob]

Sorry about your loss.
I assume your nitrItes were high because you had just added fish or possibly done something like changing filter pads that upset the bilolgical filtration.
First of you your experience is why I do not do water changes. In my opinion it is much more important to have an excellent and slowly changing environment then absolutely perfect parameters. I highly suspect that some value of something changed stressing the fish.
Additionally, I have seen nitrItes that peg the test kit for weeks and fish have lived through that. Not recommended for sure and get the nitrItes down, but better that then shock the fish with a water change.
What I would recommend if the nitrItes do trend up again is simply not adding food until they come down again. that should only take 3-4 days and will not stress the fish as much as a water change.
And of course I highly recommend establishing a thriving plant growth. One result of a thriving plant growth is to prevent the ammonia and therefore the nitrItes spike to begin with.

 

[stacyt]

I doubt the water change killed your fish. More than likely there is something wrong with your water to begin with. How long has the tank been setup, and what changes have you made recently? How did you prepare your water for the water change? Give some more info on your tank setup?

 

[cimpow137]

the person i am buying my tank from killed quite a few fish cuz he did a 50% change and forgot to add salt...

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by cimpow137
the person i am buying my tank from killed quite a few fish cuz he did a 50% change and forgot to add salt...
Absolute classic!!!!!!!
And not a unique as you might think. An LFS here told me they get people in all the time who are cycling and come in for tests. Only to find they have not added salt. And even a thread here indicated one person did some water changes without adding salt.
things the experienced hobbiest take for granted, shouldn't be automatically assumed to be correctly done. Like water changes and salt.:thinking:

 

[dreeves]

If your water had a very high Nitrite content...that probably killed your fish, or at least stressed them to the point of death...they the sudden influx of "clean" water probably finished them off..as a 50% water change will usually damage your bio-filtration in varying degrees.

 

[dburr]

Yes, more info.
Did you check the SG before putting the NSW in? Did you make sure it was the right temp?
How high was the nitrate? I don't think it was the nitrate at all. High or low or the change from high to low. 30% wont change it alot anyway, and not the biological filtration. If at all it will be better.
Has this ever happened before? What type of salt? IO had a problem with their's a while back. They recalled it but I don't think they got it all. (Why do you supose the changed the bucket?:nervous: ) Back on topic,, can you tell us how you changed the salt? Is the bucket dedicated to the tank? (meaning, nobody will mop the floor with the same bucket, that would be very bad.:yes: )
Dan

 

[miturne]

Well to start, I have a 55 gal tank. The reason for the I feel major water change was that I had a crab to die so I had the water tested at the pet store. There they said my nitrite was haigh and to do a 30% water change I've had the tank for about 4 months. After the water change that's when every thing went south. Withih a couple of days my angle die and that night so did the clown. The water tested fine so a week later in put in 3 damsels and within a couple of day 1 died and last night the other 2 died also and the water was tested and was ok. The crabs and anenome are still living. But the anemome stays closed up alot. I was told just not do anything and wait for abotu a month and let the tank run it's course

 

[dreeves]

Letting the tank runs its course is probably good advice for you. Good luck.

 

[ivanfj]

Letting the tank runs its course is probably good advice for you.
:yes: :yes: I would slow down a bit for a while. It sounds like your tank is gonna crash or something. I guess you added too many things too quickly and your nitrite never comes back down to normal.
Sorry for your loss. I would wait at least 3 to 4 weeks before doing anything else, but of course do your regular maintainence, like small amount of water changes etc etc. I would recommend you get some test kits as well, so you can check it every couple of days and monitor your level closely.
HTH