Be sure and thoroughly rinse new sand

[James McGuire]

Yesterday I did a VERY foolish thing. I added sand to my 240 tank without rinsing it. Long story short: currently six dead discus, and still not out of the woods yet.
When I realized what was happening, I increased my constant drip to wide open (maybe a gallon a minute) and called Kenny. He recommended a 90% water change, which I did.
So yesterday I lost 2, and this morning another 4. 2 or 3 more aren't looking very good.
Painful lesson learned.:angry:

Pat

[Altum Nut]

Sorry to hear about your loss Pat.
Did you add sand while this fish were in the tank?
Was the sand new and what type...pool filter, play sand etc. ?
I would say that is one painful lesson for sure.

...Ralph

[YSS]

It is very odd that adding sand without rinsing killed the fish. If not rinsing would have killed the fish, I am not so sure that rinsing would have made the difference. I am also very curious what kind of sand you used.

[Discus Origins]

Pat, many threads on here about what kind of sand and process of adding to tank. Sorry to hear about your loss but lots of info on this forum, just have to take the time to read and learn.

[Skip]

ouch.. bummer!! :(

[moon_knight1971]

I'm thinking it was sand from used in another tank? Sorry for your loss...

Joey!

[Discus-Hans]

Yesterday I did a VERY foolish thing. I added sand to my 240 tank without rinsing it. Long story short: currently six dead discus, and still not out of the woods yet.
When I realized what was happening, I increased my constant drip to wide open (maybe a gallon a minute) and called Kenny. He recommended a 90% water change, which I did.
So yesterday I lost 2, and this morning another 4. 2 or 3 more aren't looking very good.
Painful lesson learned.:angry:

Pat

Pat,

I also like to know what kind of sand you used.

We add sand (Pool filter sand) to our wild tanks all the time, after each vacume we loose some, heck when I put it in the first time, there were Discus in the tanks. I've never rinsed the filter sand???? Just dumped it in, tank cloudy for an 1/2 hour but never a problem.

Wish you would have called me because I would have taken all Discus out and put them for the time being in an other tank. A big water change takes the water out but not the source of your problem,

Hans

[kent1963]

I recently had a similar problem with sand. I had set up a 75 with play sand ( white pure silica claimed nontoxic) . I used completely cycled sponges from the same tank the fish came from. Sand was well rinsed but within 24 hours all the fish were extremely ill. I did a large wc which perked them up but they but they went down quickly. I ended up pulling them out and returning to the original tank. It took 2 weeks to get them "right" again.I can only conclude something with the sand was toxic. After I removed the sand and drained the tank I used it with no problems.

[James McGuire]

Thank you Hans,
Yes what I expected was some cloudy water for a little while and nothing else.
Kenny feels, and I concur, based on their symptoms, that there was a toxic substance on/in the sand and that the fish were poisoned by it. All I can do now is wait it out.
All toll, I lost nine discus, but it appears that I'm out of the woods.
One began eating (YAY!!:)) and 2 or 3 others are picking at the bottom a little.
I'm still running my constant water change system at about 4 gallons an hour, and dumped some more salt in.

[James McGuire]

Oh and one more thing. I originally changed my black colorquartz sand out with this white quartz sand about 3 months ago. I rinsed and rinsed to get the water to run reasonably clear from the bucket. Even then the tank was hazy for a day or 2. But that was 3 bags. The wife had been nagging me to get rid of this 4 bag, so I just dumped it in.
I'll NEVER do that again!

Pat

[Discus-Hans]

I recently had a similar problem with sand. I had set up a 75 with play sand ( white pure silica claimed nontoxic) .

Play sand has a kind of clay in it to keep it more together when children make it wet and play with it.

Normal, pure sand, doesn't stick together.

Pat, was it pool filter sand??? It must have been something else, I can't imagine something toxic in pool filter sand, what we normal use on a POOL???? Toxic???

Hans

[James McGuire]

The sand was not pool filter sand.
It is a quartz based sand the pool construction companies use to color their mortar.
I noticed that this one bag was damp when my wife brought the 4 bags home 4 months ago. Since it was raining at the time, I assumed it was wet from rain. I still don't know that it wasn't wet from rain water; However this sand did come from a pool construction supply company that I'm sure stores all those chemicals.
What I do know is that I put the original 3 bags in without any problem. The fish were as stressed as any fish would be after having their substrate replaced, but there was no loss or illness.
The only difference is that the original 3 bags of sand were heavily rinsed and the 4th one wasn't.

I began this post as a caution to those members that use or plan to use any substrate in their aquariums.

Thanks

Pat

[Lulu]

The sand was not pool filter sand.
It is a quartz based sand the pool construction companies use to color their mortar.
I noticed that this one bag was damp when my wife brought the 4 bags home 4 months ago. Since it was raining at the time, I assumed it was wet from rain. I still don't know that it wasn't wet from rain water; However this sand did come from a pool construction supply company that I'm sure stores all those chemicals.
What I do know is that I put the original 3 bags in without any problem. The fish were as stressed as any fish would be after having their substrate replaced, but there was no loss or illness.
The only difference is that the original 3 bags of sand were heavily rinsed and the 4th one wasn't.

I began this post as a caution to those members that use or plan to use any substrate in their aquariums.

Thanks

Pat

We own a pool construction company and the quartz based sand is actually calcium carbonate which could have easily caused a ph crash in your tank... Just a thought...

So sorry for your loss, what an aweful thing to go through :(