Lost entire fish collection within 15 min. What cause it?

[strawberryblonde]

I have one of my oddball questions:

Did your wife add the salt when you asked her to? You said 1 tsp per 10 gallons, right?

If she did add the salt, it seems very odd that the pH was so low when you tested the water at 10:15 this morning. Could you have experienced a pH crash in the tank after you left for work? A crash can kill off a tank of fish in a big hurry.

[BlackComet94]

I have one of my oddball questions:

Did your wife add the salt when you asked her to? You said 1 tsp per 10 gallons, right?

If she did add the salt, it seems very odd that the pH was so low when you tested the water at 10:15 this morning. Could you have experienced a pH crash in the tank after you left for work? A crash can kill off a tank of fish in a big hurry.

-Yes, she added salt @ 1 tsp/ 10G
-I have no clues about PH crash but my PH always stay between 6.6 to 6.8

[mmorris]

I'm really sorry to hear. It must have been devastating.

[brady]

I will tell you this, Is was not electrocution. A heater glass can fracture and it won't affect the fish. They are not grounded. Example, birds sitting on high tension wires. But you my friend, if you put your hand in the tank . another story. I know. I would go with the majority of answers here, something chemical.
Jay W

[BlackComet94]

Before


After (took out DW)

[warblad79]

Thats very devastating

[Lenin]

What kind of salt

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[BlackComet94]

Dying then dead

[BlackComet94]

What kind of salt

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Aquarium salt

[a volar]

Spechless.........

[nc0gnet0]

Turning off your filter for an hour won't do that. I agree its not a good practice, but if the filter would have crashed that badly, your parameters would not have been fine when yoiu returned.

I answer lies with your wife. There is something she is not telling you, are maybe not even aware of. Something got in your tank, a toxin/poison of some kind. Most likely a household cleaner.

[jimg]

Turning off your filter for an hour won't do that.

I have to disagree, it is not common but it is possible and it is cause to some fish dying for no apparent reason. the bacteria reverse themselves trying to make their own o2 and in some cases the nitric acid they release doing so gets too high and causes sudden die back and acids to be released into the water. many times it don't get that bad but sometimes the nitrites will skyrocket and then by the time the aquarist checks it's near normal again. It is a rare occurrence for sure, but since everything else has been ruled out and this is possible, why doubt it. the only other thing I could think of to act that quick may be alcohol.
were they at the top gasping for air?

[ktm4us6]

so sorry for your loss.

[Donno]

It had to be chemical poisoning. Nothing can kill fish that fast other than poison.

Sorry for your fish, that had to be gut wrenching.

[nc0gnet0]

I have to disagree, it is not common but it is possible and it is cause to some fish dying for no apparent reason. the bacteria reverse themselves trying to make their own o2 and in some cases the nitric acid they release doing so gets too high and causes sudden die back and acids to be released into the water. many times it don't get that bad but sometimes the nitrites will skyrocket and then by the time the aquarist checks it's near normal again. It is a rare occurrence for sure, but since everything else has been ruled out and this is possible, why doubt it. the only other thing I could think of to act that quick may be alcohol.
were they at the top gasping for air?

He says they weren't gasping for air. Facultative anaerobes represent such a small portion of the biomass in the filter substrate do you really think they could multiply that fast by division to be harmful within an hour? I am not even sure the bacteria woud have depleted the oxygen in the container within that time frame. Granted, you could effectively kill all or most of the nitrifying bacteria in the filter by lack of oxgen by shutting it off for a length of time, but, if that was the case when he returned home he would have seen detectable amounts of ammonia and nitrite.

Is it possible? I suppose, but the odds against it are pretty high. My money is on a toxin.
Wifey was doing some cleaning in the house, maybe even cleaning the tank glass, and something got in the tank. Now she is too afraid to say anything, or she is not even aware of what she did.