Almost killed a tank full of adults

[rsawest@yahoo.com]

Hello,

Let this be a reminder to everyone not to be an idiot like me and forget to put in the dechlorinator when doing a water change.

Yesterday, I was moving along, doing my 80% w/c on my six tanks. Everything is going along fine, etc, I pump out the water, put Prime in, re-fill the tanks. That is until I get to my sixth and last tank. I fill it up, put my hoses away, but notice some of the fish are at the top.

Hmm, that's unusual, I think, but I don't do anything and begin to clean up and then go upstairs to take a shower. About 15 mins later, I come down and I go to turn on the tank lights.

I notice that almost every fish in that 75 gallon tank (all adults) are either gasping or lying on their side. It hits me, I didn't put Prime in the tank. Oh sh*t! This tank has about 8 adults in it, including my favorite big red turq!

I remember reading in Penang Discus that the cure (if there is one) for chlorine posioning is to put them in aged water (dechlorinated), give them lots of air, and use some acriflavine.

I scoop everyone out of that tank. put them in another 75 gal, already filled with adults too. I put in two powerheads and an airstone. (This is in addition to the two Aquaclear 500 filters). I put in three tablespoons of salt per ten gallons and crossed my fingers.

Well, it looks like it turned out okay. Although some seemed to be gasping a bit for air, everyone survived and seem to be okay.

Whew, that was a close one. So this is just a friendly reminder to everyone, to always double check to make sure you put in your dechlorinatior. And if this happens to you... this is what helped me save my fish.


Linda

[DarkDiscus]

Wow. Sounds like a very close call.

Glad they made it!

I think that your incident is one of many things that can go wrong during a water change - others being draining the tank completely, overflowing during refilling and double treating the tank with chemicals - if you get distracted or lose track of things!

John

[Alight]

Yes, when you do things often enough, that darned autopilot kicks in, and you can easily do something twice, or not do it at all. It's part of the reason I'd love to automate water changes--but then, technology tends to let you down at times, too!

[jim_shedden]

quick thinking..............good job

jim

[Jason]

I feel everyone should prep their water with carbon, it doesnt take much money or effort to install a couple of canisters at the source, under your sink, or even in-line on your garden hose or whatever you use to fill your tanks. you can buy a ten pack of 10" blocks for under $50 at most hard-ware stores. cheap insurance and you will be adding cleaner water to your tanks with less chemicals, chlorine, heavy metals etc.

[Kindredspirit]

okAY....jason...carbon? I thought no carbon...i am sure you mean in a different way and i am just crabby and clueless right now.....

could you please explain?


thanks...Marie

[PaintballFan07]

Good thinking Linda! Wat i always forget to do is replugg the heaters. One day i noticed that the fish are very skitish n i looked at the thermometer for some reason and saw that the temp was 79 so i just plugged the heaters back in and they are happy fish after the water is normal. I was lucky it happend during the summer and not the winter.

[Jason]

carbon blocks or GAC that you would use for household drinking water, the water passes through the carbon once, your thinking of carbon in a filter on or in the tank itself, thats different.

[Spices]

:D

I use no dechlorinator (most of the times since it is an additional expense that I can do without). BUT, HOWEVER, when I get fresh water from the tap, I wait it out to see if there are any discoloration and/or smell. If not and all is good, I deliver and fish don't seem to mind.

I use pails to deliver the goods to my 75-g. ;) Still haven't gotten around to get the barrel/container to hold water.

angie :bandana:

[cobaltblue]

Quick thinking Linda, and thanks for the reminders. I havnt had that happen to me yet, but i didnt forget that i was filling my tank and went downstairs to watch TV. I remembered about 15 minutes later and had about an inch of water on my living room carpet....wife not happy with me...bad Chris, bad.

[Kindredspirit]

Thought it was different....thanks for the picture, Jason!



Marie

[sam_y]

Linda -- I'm glad it worked out for you! Good job on saving them.

Jason -- what carbon blocks do you use? I find that mine depletes too quickly (after about a month of moderate use), so I'm looking for some better ones.

[Sandfish]

Hello my on line friends. Can anyone suggest something.

I have 2 adult discuss which i got yesterday. I have quarantined them in the water from there original tank. Seemed happy but then this afternoon i picked up a nitrite spike. Ii am hoping i have done the right thing and done a 30% water change and put them into another tank which i have been running for 5 weeks. Now it seems like they have the bends. They are gasping for air at the top or lying on there sides at the bottom. The w/c has helped bring the nitrites back but the fish are not happy. Can anyone assist.

This is suppose to be my first breeding pair and i would hate to lose them.

[rsawest@yahoo.com]

Sandfish,

Does the water have chlorine or chloramine? Did you add dechlorinator or some kind of conditioning chemical? Is the new tank cycled?

Are you getting an amnonia spike? Is the ph drastically different than the original tank? Is the water temperature drastically different?

Those are the only things I can think of. I hope things work out for you.

Linda

[Sandfish]

Dear Linda,

I used the water from the tank where i bought the fish about 50 litres So there wasent a problem there. No ammonia spike only nitrite. Something happened in transit, as i picked up the rest of the tank today and the water is still fine. The water that we used for travelling we left the fish in but within 24hours it smelt very bad. Nitrate level according to the test kit was sitting 0.8mg/L.
No ph difference between the tanks. Original tank vs new set up vs a thrid tank which we have a ghost-knife fish in with some other small fish.

The only other thing i can think of is the new tank was a basic fresh set up. New filter/heater everything, except the water.

The w/c i put the Tetra de-chlorinator. Something i have always used.

So im thinking that the new set up may be the problem. No bacteria in the filters to assist the biological agents. Temps have remained the same barring the loss of heat during travel. This was only about an hour. Cant think of anything else. One has died so we can only hope right now the other makes it trought the night.

Any other thoughs i would be happy to hear from you.

[rsawest@yahoo.com]

Sandfish,

I'm not a water chemistry expert by any means, but it may be that the new tank wasn't completely cycled. It sounds like the new tank you originally planned to put your discus in wasn't cycled so that is why you used 50 litres of their original water?

Or somehow the beneficial bacteria in the transporting water died off, which may explain the smell.

Maybe others can give you more ideas.

I'm sorry about your fish loss. Hopefully, you can save the other discus. If not, you may have to chalk it up to a learning experience :confused: and try to start again.

Linda

[Jason]

Hi Sam,

by depleted do you mean it get clogged or doesn't remove chlorine?

I think the brand I use is rainfresh, comes in 10 packs at home hardware.
For my 20" cans I have re-fillable cartridges that I fill with gac that I buy in bulk, 20lb bags.

[sam_y]

Jason, thanks for your reply! Sorry I didn't see it earlier. I use Rainfresh as well (from Canadian Tire). Actually, I find that even when first installed the carbon isn't removing enough of the chlorine/chloramine. I noticed that the discus slime coat sloughed off if I used the water directly after going through the carbon filters. I always have to use Prime to avoid this...so I'm not sure how much the carbon is doing even at the best of times. Do you do anything to your water after it passes through the carbon filters?

[Jason]

chlorine they will remove, chloramine very little.

if its not chloramine then I would suspect a de-gassing problem, try spraying the water into the tanks, see if that helps.

[sam_y]

Cool, thanks Jason!

[Willie]

Sandfish;

I agree with Linda. Your filters are not cycled. Nitrite can only spike when the nitrogen cycle is not working. Keep up with large water changes and hope for the best. In the future, keep multiple sponge filters in your existing tanks. When you get a new tank, just pop in a cycled sponge.

Willie

[discus2010]

hello everyone,
I have a 20 communitytank, 20 cichlid tank, 10 guppy tan i have had these tanks for 2 years and i have never added dechlorinator to my water before or after w/c and take my water straight from the tap. i have even made big 80% w/c in my twenty w/ discus and have had no problems why?

thanks for replies