Lost All Fish

[pallan]

Originally Posted by Sinner's Girl

What? How do you prevent this? I'm about to switch over, but I don't want to lose my tank in 2-3 years.
im not an expert by any means on this but to prevent something like this from happening i would assume you would need some sand burrowing creatures to constantly be allowing the gas to escape slowly rathar than an expolsion of sorts all at once years down the road.
Like i said not an expert, dont have a deep sand bed. but ive heard this story before as well. I just cant confirm or deny if its true

 

[thenewfish]

Nobody had added anything to the tank. I did not notice any of them near the top gasping for air, they seemed normal 1 day gone the next. No it is not the temp setting on the heater, there is actually a separate thermometer attached to the suction cup that holds the heater to the glass, it came with the heater and is part of the assembly but it is not connected in any electrical way to the dial that sets the temp.
I do not have any sand burrowing creatures anymore as the Puffers seem to like digging for them, but liek I said in previous posts there wasn't any thing really stirred up with a cleaning or anything.
I am thinking it was an O2 problem and to correct I have changed the setup a bit to make sure the surface of the water is adequately agitated and if needed I am thinking of making the powerhead blow some air as well, although I am not sure if I will/should do that or not.
Have not checked ph or alk.

 

[pallan]

Originally Posted by TheNewFish
I am thinking it was an O2 problem and to correct I have changed the setup a bit to make sure the surface of the water is adequately agitated and if needed I am thinking of making the powerhead blow some air as well, although I am not sure if I will/should do that or not.
Have not checked ph or alk.
check you PH that may surely be a problem or at least a symptom of your problem.
I would get a protein skimmer they are a nearly a requirment IMO, they remove tons of waste and aireate your water at the same time. if you use the power heads to put o2 in your water you will see lots and lots of bubbles in your water this can be rather annoying to the viwer and ive heard irratating/unhealthy for the fish.
Im not sure how to test for low o2 levels im sure there is a way.
im wondering how your nitrate level was before all this if it was low that could be a test for low 02 as the bacteria that would reduce nitrate thrive in non aerobic conditions i believe hense why nitrate is such a hassle to controll in most tanks as there is limited chance for thsoe bacteria to thrive.

 

[sinner's girl]

if you use the power heads to put o2 in your water you will see lots and lots of bubbles in your water this can be rather annoying to the viwer and ive heard irratating/unhealthy for the fish.
I see no bubbles...I use ph's for water movement and surface movement....no bubbles.
Also, did you test with more than one test kit? they do expire and go bad (or get contampatated). Trust me on this, they can give false readings. I always have lfs test my water, and get a second opinion if something is goofy (such as fish dying for no reason).

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Sinner's Girl
if you do more than 50% water change, wait a few days and test your water.
Could anyone have added anything to the tank?
How did the fish look and act before they die? if they need air they'll be at the top of the water gasping for it.
when was your last water change? did you use a new bag of salt? did you check ph and alk?
temps good at 78...

What? How do you prevent this? I'm about to switch over, but I don't want to lose my tank in 2-3 years.
Sinner's girl, this is off topic (and I appologize to "The New Fish" having the problem with losing all fish) but how do you quote parts of replies. I notice you are quite accomplished at this. I see it in alot of threads that you reply to. I tried doing it to a certain thread that was just filled with false info, but at bits at a time and I had to do a full quote and then edit parts of it out. Again I appologize to The New Fish who started this thread for crashing.

 

[sinner's girl]

sepulatian, look right above the box you type your reply in....see B I U, and other symbols? The last one is quote...(Wrap quote tags around selectect text)
copy (highlight (click your mouse and move over what you want to copy) then press, Ctrl + C), click the quote symbol, a pop up box will appear, click Ctrl + P to paste the info into the box.
Or type open bracket [ the word quote, close bracket ] what you want quoted, then open bracket [, backslash / and close bracket ] With out all the spaces....
[ quote ] copy what you want quoted here. [ / quote] . without all the spaces.
What you're doing is clicking the Quote botton at the bottom of someone's reply and quoting the whole reply.

 

[sepulatian]

Or type open bracket [ the word quote, close bracket ] what you want quoted, then open bracket [, backslash / and close bracket ] With out all the spaces....
seeing if it worked

 

[sepulatian]

Thanks sinner's girl!!!!

 

[thenewfish]

I do not currently use the powerheads to put O2 into the water for those exact reasons... I do not like looking at all the bubbles & when I first got into this hobby I read somewhere the little bubbles can be bad for fish.... So how else should I do it.... just agitate the surface will that suffice? I have a air hose in my freshwater tank, but I really wanted to keep the Saltwater tank natural without fake rocks, plants, little treasure chests, or scuba divers!!!!
Is the test for pH the same type of test as for NO2 NO3 etc or is it a different type of test? I have tested for pH in a swimming pool but never in my tank. I will be taking a sample of the water to the lfs when I am almost positive it is ok to restock to confirm, but want to get to that point.

 

[sinner's girl]

test ph and alk...something had to happen to kill them all...
when was your last water water, did you use a new bag of salt? I bring this up again because I got a bad bag of salt and that's what killed my urchins...took awhile to figure that one out....
take water to lfs now, have them test it, you need a second opionion.
Is the test for pH the same type of test as for NO2 NO3 etc or is it a different type of test? I have tested for pH in a swimming pool but never in my tank.
depends on the test, if it's a strip test yes, I think our saltwater master kit came with ph and the others... and you can use the same test you use for the pool...you want your ph around 8.2-8.4....if that'll show up.
Thanks sinner's girl!!!!
no problem, glad to help, maybe others will learn also, it's annoying seeing a whole post quoted, but at least I know why some do it....