Lost 2 Fish

silver105

silver105

New Member
Yesterday, I changed my tank water. It's a 40 gallon tank, I removed 10 gallons of water, and replaced it with r/o water. I used my vacuum pump to stir the gravel to remove all the waste. I also changed the carbon in my filter. Besides that I scrapped a lot of algae off the front and sides of the tank, I've done this procedure before and only once before have I lost a fish because of a tank change. The strange thing is that the fish were fine after the water change, they were lively however at 7 am the next day I turned on the light and my Royal Gamma and Black Saddle Back acted strangely and sure enough after I came back from work they were gone. Anyone have any ideas why this happened?
 
arvins

arvins

Member
Did you test your water today? Perhaps when you did the water change something got out of whack, especially since you said that you've lost fish in the past right after a cleaning...You said you replaced ten gallons with RO/DI water not saltwater?
 
silver105

silver105

New Member
Yea I just finished the test on the PH, the ph is at 7.8 and that's probably what did it, should be at 8.2
 
zmydust

zmydust

Member
It's good to let the new water mix with a small powerhead for about 24 hours before adding it.
Do your fish have places to hide in your rock work? I find when i do water changes mine always have their place they hide, I think maybe it cuts down on their stress?
Oh and I always turn off the lights when doing the changes to reduce stress.
If possible use a hose to siphon in out the water, keeps down the shock down, as opposed to using pitchers.
If your stirring up nastiness in the sand bed make sure your using a hose to suck it up.
 
V

vinnyraptor

Guest
any big change in anything can kill fish. be it PH, salinity, temp, etc. its likely that you stirred up some AMMO by vacuuming the sand. anytime you clean/waterchange vacuum gently as to not stir up the bottom of the tank and make sure PH salinity and temp all match or are atleast close.
 
silver105

silver105

New Member
Originally Posted by ZmyDust
http:///forum/post/3070172
It's good to let the new water mix with a small powerhead for about 24 hours before adding it.
Do your fish have places to hide in your rock work? I find when i do water changes mine always have their place they hide, I think maybe it cuts down on their stress?
Oh and I always turn off the lights when doing the changes to reduce stress.
If possible use a hose to siphon in out the water, keeps down the shock down, as opposed to using pitchers.
If your stirring up nastiness in the sand bed make sure your using a hose to suck it up.
What's a small powerhead? Yea I have plenty of rock work, and it was there for them to hide in, and yea I did stir up some ammonia but was pretty good about vacuuming in small areas at a time. I set the light to the side of the tank so that I could still see inside, otherwise I can't really see what I'm doing. I'm fairly certain that it was the low PH that did it.
 
arvins

arvins

Member
Small powerhead such as a Koralia #1 or something like that. Just a smaller version of whatever powerhead you have doing movement in your tank will work. We usually mix up the saltwater the night before, put in in the jug with a small powerhead until the next evening and test before doing the water change.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by Silver105
http:///forum/post/3070168
Yea I just finished the test on the PH, the ph is at 7.8 and that's probably what did it, should be at 8.2
7.8 is not a fatal pH. However, if you tested it after the lights have been on, it could have been much lower overnight. What are your readings on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, as well as alkalinity?
 
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