Bummer....Killed 5 or more Discus on accident...

[Champion Discus]

Sad Sad day for me...Almost $300 + worth of fishes dead....

What turned out to be a normal water changed turned into a nightmare....

So I decided to clean out my small fish room 6x 40 gals 1x 90gal in the afternoon before heading off to college...
So i figure I can get 3 tanks changed before heading out, I ended up doing 50% WC on two tanks that housed bigger discuses and 100% (meant to do 50% but was side tracked until it was totally empty) on the other tank housing the smaller fishes. So i was short on time, so i ended up filling up the tank with smaller fishes with outside hose water (bad idea #1)...and while i was filling up their water I realize a whole colony of black ants where coming out of a crack (water must of awaken them)...and how much i hated ants...i ended up hosing them dead with WD-40 (since i didn't have a ant spray)....

everything seemed normal when i left until I came home...all the 10 (2-3.5" inches) discus (mix of WB & BD from kenny) were laid flat out on the bottom tank gasping for air and not moving..first thought was the temp..they must of been in shock...it was around 75-78 degree and they are usually in 80-84....so i quickly remove the alive ones (8 out of the 10) and place them into another tank with a warmer temp...after 20mins they seem to started moving and even 3 started to swim....

so i figure i'll just let them regain their energy and check up on them later...but bummer its 10pm now and only 2 are swimming and with a hard time doing so. By now the temp in the whole system is back to normal 84...

So i thought back what the heck did i do wrong:(:confused:!!!!:mad: then i just remember those freakin ANTZ...i remember they were climbing on the walls in the garage next to the tank (where the fishes were dying) so i hosed them with WD-40....maybe the spray had gotten into the tank...

so i came to the conclusion that the culprit was the WD-40...but i still don't know for a fact...but more likely than not....

thank you all for reading my rant.....

[Ryan]

A temperature dip into the high 70s will not hurt them. I always do water changes with cooler water.

Did you add conditioner (if you have chlorine/chloramine)? Did you see a film on top of the water? WD-40 should leave a nasty, oily sheen on top of the water.

There's also the possibility that the water you added had no dissolved oxygen in it. Sometimes water out of the tap will be saturated with CO2 and your fish will basically suffocate. It's why a lot of people age and aerate their water before using it.

There's also the slim chance you had a pH crash which can happen with soft water that lacks strong buffering capacity. It's something else to check.

[Bill63SG]

I agree with Ryan.I had done a wc off the tap,didnt realize my wife was doing laundry,and the tank was at 67.I don't think temp was a factor.

[Skip]

Have u filled up tanks with that water hose before?

And yes. . What water conditioner did u use?

[allan]

do you think that the wd40 ( a light oil ) formed a film on the water surface stopping oxygen transfer ?

[Second Hand Pat]

So i was short on time, so i ended up filling up the tank with smaller fishes with outside hose water (bad idea #1)...and while i was filling up their water I realize a whole colony of black ants where coming out of a crack (water must of awaken them)...and how much i hated ants...i ended up hosing them dead with WD-40 (since i didn't have a ant spray)....

Was that outside water hose a potable water hose or a regular garden hose?

[musicmarn1]

Have u filled up tanks with that water hose before?

And yes. . What water conditioner did u use?

great question Skip, did the hose have lead? but yes I know discus can be sensitive to foreign substances in the tank i dont know if wd40 is lethal but you probably got some in the tank from air dispersal

so sorry that happened, total bummer.

[Champion Discus]

I always do WC with the outside garden hose (water temp fluctuate during seasons) since my set up is in the garage. I don't recall seeing any oil build up on the surface or else i would of redone a WC.

The garden hose temp was pretty normal since the last time i did a WC...(75-78)...I left the heater on as well but had the sump off (so no aeration) but there should been plenty of oxygen since it was slightly cooler water....I only was gone for about 2 1/2 hrs.

after reading your guys response...i'm pretty much clueless to what might of caused it...

After WC i did use water conditioner, (API, the extra strong dose 5ml for 30gal) been using it for last few months..
Ph crashing maybe...i'll have to double check...but my water is usually pretty hard above 7.5-7.8 (the fishes seems to thrive)
I still believe that it was the WD-40...because they do give off a strong fume and even by the littlest speck which could of been in the water without me knowing would of cause some sort of discomfort or toxic poison.

because remember. i left the house without the sump running. that's why only that tank was affected...but what got me thinking it could be something else is that, i didn't thoroughly clean out the infected tank, only did a 10% WC (i was shocked and was doing everything so quickly) i also moved the fishes into the other tanks since it was warmer and i turned on the sump which all the tanks share.

But this morning, i figure if it was something in the water all my fishes would be dead. but as it turns out all of them are alive..(besides all 6 beautiful WB, 1 altum, 1 BD, 2 giant blues that were from the infected tank)

but the craziest thing it that, the smallest fish (stunt barely 1/4 size but is actually around 4 months old) is still alive too, and it was also in the tank with the other fishes that died. So i thought again maybe they were poison, the little one survived since it need less oxygen and took in less water through its gills due to its size.

mmmmmm....

please comment...really would like to get to the bottom of this

[Ryan]

So was there no filtration in the tanks after the water change?

[Champion Discus]

No there weren't any filtration, or aeration just heater...I left the house without turning on the sump...i figure by doing this the water in the individual tanks would heat up faster...

[Ryan]

My bet is that your fish suffocated. It sounds like your source water doesn't have much dissolved oxygen in it, and without strong surface agitation or water turn-over from a filter, the water was not being oxygenated.

[rickztahone]

agree with Ryan. Surfact agitation is very important, and leaving it off can cause these type of deaths. I'm sorry for your loss.

[kris2341]

yup, definitely sounds like suffocation, the tap has very little dissolved oxygen and oftentimes A LOT of dissolved CO2, when doing a water change right from the tap, it is VERY important to start up aeration after it is full, I mean it only takes a second to power everything up right? or were your overflows not primed?

smaller fish last longer in oxygen poor water because well... they dont need as much of it. in this kind of situation, it generally is the biggest fish that dies first.

[DC Discus]

Remember that WD40 has oils in it but its really the aerosols that get in the tank and with aeration to out gas them, the fish didn't have a chance. I heard a couple stories of free-breeze poisoning reef tank, most likely the aerosols actually getting in the tank.

Just a couple other thoughts I had; Remember also as water warms up it has less capacity (partial pressure) of oxygen in it. Tap water has very little oxygen initially in it too. Another thing to check is if your cities water is treated with Chlorine or Chloramines. This is great video on the subject;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHHaR1PHYoA&list=UUcJv2rQDivg8NwXIxydJ86A

Chlorine cause tissue death especially in the gills, which are the most delicate tissue in Discus, thus explaining the suffocating you saw. I'm assume that you usually have the WC water going through the filter, which would out gas the Cl- quickly.

If you're going to use a hose directly I'd look into passing that water over a carbon block tailored to your water (cl- or Chloramine) and use water conditioners first in the tank. I always age my water in a brute can before adding if I'm using tap water. Also conditioners like Prime (not sure on the API) can get over dosed quickly, which won't help in the fish's recovery.

Really sorry to hear about your loss, I seem to remember you had very nice fish. Hope some of the info above helps.
Cheers,
DC

[musicmarn1]

No there weren't any filtration, or aeration just heater...I left the house without turning on the sump...i figure by doing this the water in the individual tanks would heat up faster...

oh no ! :sick2:

[tvoydan]

I learned a long time ago no to make changes and then leave. Especially if I'm in a rush. Many years ago I added a new heater to a tank and went skiing for the day. Heater stuck on and cooked the tank. Lost half the fish I had. What a nightmare. Hard lesson learned.

Sorry for your loss.