Sudden Kill

[gm4363]

Within the last couple of days all my fish died. All seemed fine but found dead one, a day or two later they were all dead except a tomato clown and shrimp, and a couple of other fish. Moved them to a tank with new water, and they died. The symptoms were they lost their color, than the skin looked leathery. PH and ammonia were a bit high, but not radical.
I put the rock in new water, my question is, is it safe to start over with the same rock and live sand? the sand and rock are at least 10 years old.

 

[saxman]

Unless you've fed the tank recently, you should have NO ammonia in the water. When these kinds of things happen, and you want help, the first thing to do is have all of your parameters ready and post them because those are the first things anyone will ask for.
Help us help you...

 

[gm4363]

Not sure what you mean, the ammonia was a bit high as I said . This all happened in a couple of days as I said, although I guess one or two might have died before I noticed one. They are hard to find under and behind rock. I was just wondering if anybody thought this might be something still in the rock & sand or a chemical problem that could have been solved with a 99% water change.The sand and rock have been there probably 8-10 years and the tomato clown as long. Other fish added over the years. A couple of new fish added maybe a month ago. Maybe that's not enough info to form an opinion.

 

[meowzer]

What he means is
Give us all details of your tank
size, age, filtration EXACT water parameteres...(a little high means nothing to us) and test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, p.h.....temp
list tank inhabitants..fish and invertebrates..lighting...what you feed, when you feed, how much you feed
EVERYTHING you can think of

 

[gm4363]

Sorry, I was more or less expecting some opinions why fish would suddenly die after 8 - 10 years... all at the same time, and all with the same symptoms. I was hoping somebody would have an opinion whether rock & sand could harbor life threatening organisms or maybe it was unlikely . I'll just fill the tank, put the rock back, and try some inexpensive fish. Sorry to have wasted your time.

 

[siptang]

You were upgrading the tank? but you used the same sand and rocks right?
New water fill up completely or mix?
just want to make sure everything since you didn't specify everything.

 

[jerth6932]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gm4363 http:///forum/thread/386891/sudden-kill#post_3400515
Sorry, I was more or less expecting some opinions why fish would suddenly die after 8 - 10 years... all at the same time, and all with the same symptoms. I was hoping somebody would have an opinion whether rock & sand could harbor life threatening organisms or maybe it was unlikely . I'll just fill the tank, put the rock back, and try some inexpensive fish. Sorry to have wasted your time.
They weren't thinking you were wasting their time...... By no means..... They were trying to rule out symptoms of normal "quick" killers. Once you rule out those, then you move on to the "maybe's". The likelyhood of rock/sand harboring orginisms.... slim.... More then likely a contaminant of some sort or a spike that you might of missed.

 

[siptang]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gm4363 http:///forum/thread/386891/sudden-kill#post_3400515
Sorry, I was more or less expecting some opinions why fish would suddenly die after 8 - 10 years... all at the same time, and all with the same symptoms. I was hoping somebody would have an opinion whether rock & sand could harbor life threatening organisms or maybe it was unlikely . I'll just fill the tank, put the rock back, and try some inexpensive fish. Sorry to have wasted your time.
No worries, we are here to help you. Just let us know more about your tank so that we may better assist you.