All my fish died

[stiver james]

Last night I turned off my lights on my 55gal tank and everything seemed fine. I have a diy co2 system for my planted tank at night I turn on a air pump for oxygen. I filled the tank to very top with water as it was low. I FORGOT TO TURN THE AIR PUMP ON LAST NIGHT. Well this am I got up and all my fish were dead. I lost seven discus, one blue ram and two plecos. This just makes me sick. All my water parameters are fine. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what happened? I believe with the pump off all my fish starved for air. I just set up a new fermentation set up for my co2 and it was running real good. Am I right in assuming that my fish suffocated? Please any help will be appreciated. Let this be a warning for anyone else to make sure their air pump is on. Saddened in Mich. Thanks, Jim

[marilyn1998]

Jim,

I am so sorry to hear about your fish. Nothing hurts more than to lose them like that.
I am confused though. I dont run an air pump at all. I only have my two hobs.
I have 11 plants in my tank. I dont do CO2. I cant comment on your problem, but sure am interested in the effect of the air pump.
It will take time, but I am sure you will figure it all out.

Marilyn

[RyanH]

It's certainly possible they suffocated.

I'd turn off the CO2 injector at night and fire up the airstone regardless.

Your plants don't require CO2 unless photosynthesis is occuring. And photosynthesis doesn't occur without light. They only respire at night. (Many don't realize this but plants respire just like animals. They will even use up small amounts of O2.) So the CO2 is not being consumed when the lights are off and O2 is not being produced. IMO, this could result in suffocation if no gas exchange is occuring at the water surface.

Also, when you run an airstone or have a filter that cascades water into your tank, you are breaking the water's surface and allowing gas exchange to occur, the CO2 will dissipate into the air very quickly. You are basically wasting your money by running CO2 at night.

hth
-Ryan

[hexed]

Jim,
I am so sorry for your loss :(

I agree with Ryan. I do not turn my air off at all, it stays on 24/7
again sorry for your loss :(
Frank

[Kindredspirit]

Jim~


I am so sorry to hear this ~ as Marilyn said you will figure it all out babe ~

It takes a special man to post this incident IMO ~ so you can learn and others as well ~



Hang in there okay!



Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_16.gif

[wolfbane]

Jim, I'm so sorry for what happened to your fish. That's heartbreaking for sure, after studying and learning so much, then they are gone.

Please, don't give up, take what you have learned and try again! I learn a little from every post I read, and I have lost a few along the way, poor things.
I couldn't stand not to keep these wonderful fish now, I'm hooked for sure!

[BIGFOOT]

This is exactly why I ran a pressurized system with a ph control when I had a plant tank. Imo Co2 needs to be controled 24/7 or it will get out of hand one way or another.

[AmberC]

Aww I am so sorry you lost all your fish! I have no clue.. so I cant really help but it really sucks! I hope you can figure it out

:(
Amber

[daverich]

sorry for your loss and best of luck with your next batch. David

[Cosmo]

Jim,

I'm really sorry to hear the bad news :cry:

It's a devasting experience ... they wouldn't want you to give up :)

Jim

[diablocanine]

I take it your surgery went well? Sorry for your fish loss. What kind of DIY system are you using? I believe it very difficult for a DIY Yeast CO2 system to get CO2 saturation over 30ppm in a 55 gallon. Some things to think about, IME, with O2 depletion due to CO2 saturation the larger fish goes first and the smallest usually survives until morning, especially plecs I have seen them surface breath. Did you just mix a batch? Are you sure none of the mixture entered the tank during the night? Has the tank been set up for a while? What is the name of that gas that hides in the substrate again? You have quite the mystery there, good luck figuring it out. Let me know when you are ready for some plants....DC

[Ardan]

Sorry to hear of your loss Jim.

I have seen others have problems with diy CO2 systems. Hard to control imo.


Ardan

[jim_shedden]

wow........sorry to hear about the loss

jim

[Kenny's Discus]

Jim - sry to hear this but don't give up raising discus since things like this do happens sometime.

Best of luck.
Kenny

[Green Country Discus]

Jim, that is a big bummer :( , sorry to hear about your losses. Live , learn and get some more Discus :D . Keep smiling!

[stiver james]

Thanks everyone for the comments and concern. I have been so bummed about this I haven't looked real carefully on what happened. Like I stated I have a diy co2 system that was just charged up a couple of days before this happened. I also filled the tank to the very top with fresh water as it was low. I run a filstar xp3 filter and have the spray bar pointing down. Like I said I left the air stone pump off that night. I have done this before and all the fish were OK the next day. The only test I have done so far is temperature and it was around 90 degrees. I don't normally keep it this high and don't know why it was this high yet. All my live plants are doing fine so I can't say some sort of chemical got in the water. I just tested for ammonia and it is 0 my nitrates were at 40ppm which is a little high but not deadly (never has been this high before) nitrites 0, gh 75ppm, kh 120ppm and ph was 7.2 which has been steady for a long time. So if I am right my water parameters are fine. Is there anything else I can test for? I can't chance putting more fish in this tank till I figure out what went on. By the way I have six juvie white-butterflies, a golden albino, six tangerine dreams (juvies) and two pair of adult discus in my fish room. I want to put more fish in my planted tank but all the juvies downstairs are my pride and joy and surely don't want nothing to happen to them. What is the best way to go about setting this tank up again. I know I should definitely make a 100 percent water change (or should I)? Then I probably should get a few tetras and put them in the tank for a few days to make sure that everything is going to be fine. Does this sound like the right way to go or does someone have any other suggestions? I don't want to lose another fish. Should I leave all my juvies where they are? I want to get something back in the planted tank. If anybody has any suggestions I am all ears. I soon (in the not to distant future) plan on setting up a planted 150gal tank with auto ph controller and co2 injection maybe I would be better off leaving everything the way it is until I get this system set up and then maybe move a few discus into it. I don't know I am to confused. Someone please shoot some ideas my way. Thanks again, Jim

[diablocanine]

Is it possible that your heater(s) malfunctioned? The higher the temp the lower the O2 level in water. A combination of high heat and low O2 maybe?....DC