Massacred fish! The horror!

[Nathans_Dad]

I am a bad bad fish daddy. I have a 65 gallon tank with cichlids in it. Yesterday I had about 15 fish in there of various sizes, some pretty nice. Today I have about 5 and everyone left is at the top of the tank, gasping for air.

I did my usual water change yesterday, about 60%. Drained out the old water, brought in the hose from outside and put in the chlorine remover. Put the hose in the tank and turned on the hose. Filled the tank. This morning, mass death.

I think what happened was the water coming out of the hose must have been VERY hot (it's 100 degrees during the day here) and I didn't realize it. I am thinking the hot water burned their gills and that's why the ones who are still alive are up at the top gasping for air. I expect most or all of them will be dead by later today.

Bummer.

Now I have to decide whether to just break down the tank and quit fish for a while or start over with new fish.

[Roosterrusek]

Had a similar thing happen with too much cold...the whole tank got ICK. Lost a few fish but not all....BTW we have a 55 gallon tank.

Suggestion from my bud who has 7 tanks including a huge 300 gallon saltwater tank. ALWAYS fill from the tub making sure that the water temp is mildly lukewarm. It takes longer but you just don't lose fish bro! Then add the water conditioner and follow those directions too.

For real man, my buddy KNOWS this crap and since taking his advice, never had any problem. The water temp is the most important....you shocked them to death! Lesson learned...

[Nathans_Dad]

Well the stupid thing is I was aware of the water temp issue during the winter and would add some hot water in with the cold water from the outside spigot to maintain a temp somewhere in the range of the aquarium temp. I guess it just didn't dawn on me that the water that comes out of the hose first thing in the summer is damn hot.

I feel pretty bad about the whole thing, not sure if I'm going to set up the tank again or just clean it out and sell it.

[Noah930]

Hot/warmer water also has less O2 dissolved into it. Would definitely explain why the survivors are gasping for air at the surface.

[Rusty Heap]

[Nathans_Dad]

The temp now is normal so it must be an injury issue or a shock issue. I've talked with the family and we've decided if anyone lives we'll consider restocking with freshwater fish. If they all die I may switch to saltwater.

[krystar]

u shouldn't fill from faucet anyway. should be going from faucet to bucket/second tank and letting it sit until it's room temp.

u can pick up an 5-10 gal on craiglist for less than 10 bucks

[Hugh R]

60% change out is a lot to me. My fish guy says 20% once a month. I fill the two 5 gallon carboys before the softener and let them sit in the sun for a while to get at least semi-warm.

I had an interesting experience at PetSmart yesterday. I bought some mollys and platys and got a receipt, it said if I took and an line survey (about 30 seconds) I'd get a store credit for $3. So I took the survey, wrote down the validation no on the receipt and went back to Petsmart for some dog food that I forgot to buy my first trip. I bought two fish for $1.50 each, gave them the validated receipt and they charges me nothing and gave me another receipt inviting me to take a survey and get $3 coupon again. I'll go back to PetSmart and try it again. Could be a way to fund your fish replenishment program.

[kycarguy 935]

I use to raise and collect many African Cichlids and have never heard of changing 60% of the water. I agree with Hugh at 20% a month, or even 10% should be fine. It should be room temperature also.

Sorry this happened to you and your fish.

[Super_Dave_D]

+1000 Never place a hose directly in the tank. Use the sink so you can get the temp pretty close and treat the water before introducing into the talk. I always change out 20-25%

Originally Posted by krystar

u shouldn't fill from faucet anyway. should be going from faucet to bucket/second tank and letting it sit until it's room temp.

u can pick up an 5-10 gal on craiglist for less than 10 bucks

[Nathans_Dad]

I was doing 20-30% changes and had issues with fish dying after 4-5 months. I looked online and saw several Cichlid keepers recommending larger changes, some even 80%! It was working great, my fish were growing well, breeding, etc. Then this happened!

[john70t]

I'd suspect there is some brewed rubber in there as well.
Tap water also has floride and other minerals, as well as clorine. Letting it sit for a while would let some of that evaporate.

[bell]

yea that sucks.....i used to fill my 7 tanks (nearly 1000 gallons total) from the hose, i'd first drain, then add declorinator, then run and adjust the temp of the water coming out of the hose first, then fill each tank/sump......worked well for many years and NEVER lost a fish......
i would do about 25% water change every 2 weeks, and the opposite weeks would clean my sumps/filters....
my hose/fill/drain setup was pretty elaborate....but all stored nicely at a utility sink in the next room.......

[Nathans_Dad]

Yeah, that was my procedure as well...except I forgot the adjust the temp part this time.

Family has decided to switch to saltwater. Should be interesting.

[Les Paul]

We had freshwater for 28 years. Probably had almost every type possible. Always wanted saltwater. Fell into a sweet deal on an 85 gallon saltwater tank a friend of mine had over 2,000 invested in. 5 years later well worth it.

Make sure you read about it and join some forums first. Find the best place in Dallas and visit it several times before you buy anything.

Do you want corals? Very cool critters. Or fish only? Some fish are compatable with corals. Not really the ones that stand out but beautiful fish.
The main thing is salt concentration, keeping you nitrate level in check by not overfeeding and of course temp. The best lights are metal halide for corals. Very high dollar but worth it.

Water changes are simple. Luckily we have an unused bathroom. It is the mix room. We have a 30 gallon trash can in the tub. Use demineralized water and have a powerhead at the bottom that keeps the salt mixed. Also several heaters to keep the temp at 80. Use
5 gallon buckets for water changes. I use an inline heater that is upstream of the sump which is a bio-ball. I do water changes about once a month.

It's a great hobby. Far more involved than freshwater but worth it.

[id10t]

Fortunately my well water is *perfect* for cichlids, and comes out at 72ish year 'round. When I run the hose I do wait a few min to make sure the temp has stabilized.

[Normy]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

That is awesome dude! I have those things behind my house in Fort Liquordale!

N!

[Normy]

Yeah, I had fish for years as a kid. Killed a few via temp shock as well, it happens. My favorite pet fish? Piranha. Mine was 6 inches long, and kept alone in a 10 gallon tank. It ate goldfish and hot dogs. Believe it or not, it was actually very timid- I had a plant at the bottom of the tank, and occasionally it would knock it loose, so I had to put my arm in there and put it back down into the gravel. It tried to swim into the corner, obviously afraid of my hand.

-Trust me, I had a eye on him whenever my hand was in that tank! The teeth on that thing were unbelievable- they were literally like the cartoons you see!

N

[Nathans_Dad]

LP,

Probably going the mostly reef route with only a few fish. I'll have to look into upgraded lighting but it sounds like I would be a couple months from actually adding corals so I have time

[Rusty Heap]

to the OP, take a deep deep breath before you just "jump into" saltwater because the family says so.

Expect to spend 300-400 percent more than what you're presently even to keep salt fish only no corals. Ready to buy a $300+ hundred dollar protien skimmer, crushed coral sand substrate, and $200-500 lighting? Have you ever tested for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates? Bought $100 in test kits alone? $65 for 200 gallons worth of salt mix if you're buying a 5 gallon bucket size and not tiny bags of it? Ready to drop $5-8-$10 a POUND for live rock? I've got 200-250 pounds of rock in my tank, see the photo at the bottom of this post.

Fresh water fish are dirt cheap, you ready to spend on average $20-50 dollars EACH per saltwater fish? Yes you can get Damsels to cycle your tank, but those are even ~$5 each.

As a scuba diver/instructor, and world traveler/diver, I honestly have the native collected fish health in mind as a concern, as if you can't keep Cichlids alive (very hearty fish) then I honestly don't know if you're ready for salt water..........not many Salt fish are captive bread, 95% are native caught, with less than 30-40% survival rate once they get to your viewing at the Local fish store.

Read REad and READ more about saltwater care. I've kept a 135 gallon Salt / Reef tank for over 15 years, and used to be a wholesaler in the biz.

Couple of links to over-saturate info level. VERY GOOD info here:

Reef Central Online Community

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/



Not trying to scare you off at all, but educate. As people getting into salt / reef tanks 99% of the time buy cheap crap equipment, kill lots of fish, say "oh well bummer" then buy the right equipment on the 3rd or 4th try after thinking the $89 protien skimmer the size of a 16oz coke bottle will work fine on their tank.......

READ up on those links I sent............. TONS of lessons learned on there! I know I've made tons of mistakes over the years........so learn from the experienced......for the fishies sake, and for your wallet.

Pics of my 135 gallon reef, two foot high, six foot long. Not stellar awesome, but it's my mature 15 year old slice of the ocean, and the less I mess with it, the better it does........

In the lower picture, 3 x 250 watt metal halide bulbs, about $650-700 in lighting equipment there. I go through ~$150 in bulbs alone a year. Upper Pic is under 4 x 96 watt power compact flouresent bulbs. They run much cooler, I didn't want to drop $600-700 on a chiller unit to keep the tank cool with MH bulbs. You think your Cichlid tank/water was temperature sensitive? Reef tanks have to be kept max 82-83 degrees, 84-85F corals are stressing, 86-87F they're dead. And there goes a $50-100 coral for just one. And unless you're keeping soft corals that can be aquacultured and frag'd traded, 99% of all corals are chisled/chipped from the reef. Try and buy aquacultured whenever possible! check into any local reef clubs you may have in your area. GREAT chance to buy used equipment and/or corals people are thinning out/trading from their tanks.


you just can't say "cheap" and Reef Tank in the same sentance, breaks all laws of physics. Just trying to help you out.........