I can't BELIEVE this!!!

[Dying for Discus]

:( I'm really sorry this isn't discus related...but I'm sobbing here and I'm absolutely crushed. A lot of you know me here so please give me some room...

I just looked at my 120 gallon Arowana tank. I had the most beautiful 18 inch silver arowana, 12 inch pleco and 3 silver dollars. I had algae problems with it for a while and I've been treating it with Algae Control. And I did a 50% water change yesterday.

Well I just looked at it-
The 18 inch silver arowana is dead. Floating head up. It was barely breathing. I put it in an Emergency tank, and it perished right there in my hands as I was trying to get it to breath again. The pleco is almost dead. It's twitching. And the three silver dollars are the only things left!! They show no signs of distress whatsoever.

And the worst part is, I think I might have killed them with my water change yesterday!! I never age the water for the 120 gallon since the fish in there are relatively hardly. They aren't discus! I loved that arowana. He took food right out of my hand and was absolutely gorgeous. He was so pretty and I bought the tank JUST for him! And now's he floating in the emergency tank. I can't even bother to bury him or get rid of him yet.

This SUCKS!!!

[tpl*co]

I'm so sorry :(. I don't think it was the water change though, I think it was probably the algae control. The dying algae could have set something off.

Tina

[phidelt85]

Man, I'm so sorry to hear that. Everyone here understands your attachment to your fish; there's no need for apologies on your part.

[Dying for Discus]

OK so I did a water test on it. This is 15 mins after I found him. Literally, right now.

Amm- 0, nitrites- 0, nitrates- 10, pH- 6.7, semi-hard water. completely normal!!

ugh, it just disgusts me to no end. I don't understand...I've done this a million times. He's been fine for over a year. And the silver dollars are perfectly fine! I just...don't even know what to say or where to begin. He has no signs of distress on his body, neither does the pleco. and now they're just...kaput! :( the pleco is still on the bottom gasping in the ER tank...but..agh!

I did the water change, and I didn't add any more algae control after it. The concentration would have been half- right??

I don't even want to use my water for the discus now!! oi vey.

but seriously...thanks guys. I'm just so crushed...he was the only fish I was taking with me on my military move because he was lucky. *sigh*

[Darren's Discus]

Sorry,
for your loss it does suck and it really cuts you up when something like that happens,keep your chin up contact your water board see if they have been doing any work and added extra chemicals ?


cheers

[Kindredspirit]

I'm just so crushed...he was the only fish I was taking with me on my military move because he was lucky. *sigh*


Melissa I am so very sorry about this....:( I thought you had gone already ~ It will be okay ~ I wish I could turn back the hands of time, babe...I really do!

Please hang in there and post back when you get settled! http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_2_104.gif


Marie ~

[Dying for Discus]

yeah...I guess that would be a good idea. I'm going to be so magnanimously irritated if they added copper, flouride or something else in crazy concentrations...GOD this is just sooo bad. :(

I'm not doing a change on my discus tank today AT ALL. I'm going to get some r/o water from somewhere and do it tomorrow.

[Dying for Discus]

hey kindred...yeah I leave mid july. I think I'm more upset about this because I'm selling my discus this weekend. I was going to take my arowana and that was it because he is SO hardy and probably would be fine on the move...

well, was hardy.

I can't even get rid of his body. I'm going to get my fiance do it...I can't even look at him.

[fishmama]

Gosh, don't know what to say except "So Sorry"...that's awful. Hope you are able to figure out what happened so at least you will have some knowledge gained out of this..

[Bainbridge Mike]

I'm so sorry to read your post. Could it be something in the algae control product you used? I know how you feel. Two years ago I did a water change straight from tap and killed my very best discus. He was a really big red melon with nearly perfect shape and almost no pepper. Best I can tell, it was the disolved gases in the tap that did him in. :(

[Dying for Discus]

could it have been dissolved gases?? what's the symptoms??

these fish literally just...went from alive to dead in 5 minutes. I did the water change 24 hours ago. They were fine ALL day today. I hadn't fed him since the day before. And then, all the sudden...blah.

I'm not doing any water changes on my discus until I get r/o from the local pet store. better they deal with a few extra ppms of nitrate than die of whatever was in the water, if that was what killed the arowana...

I've used the algae control for a loooong time. I always use less than what's prescribed. I dunno what happened...maybe something in the algae control compounded with something in the water and caused some kind of freak poisoning?? The nitrates are low so it wasn't necessarily the bio load...I'm gonna just call the local water facility tom. morn and see what's up.

It's algae control from Tetra. And I also used aqua safe. I've even used algae control on my discus tank with no problems. And the last time I added some was two days ago.

any input?? :/

[tpl*co]

Is this the stuff?:

http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=817

Did a general google search and can't find much info on it :(

Tina

[tpl*co]

found some info on the pond version:

http://www.backyardstyle.com/shop/index.php?page=shop-flypage-14309#longdesc

It said to use adequate aeration, was there plenty of water movement going on? Maybe using it right after a water change could have done something? I know this doesn't help though to bring your fish back :(.

Tina

[Dying for Discus]

Yeap that's the stuff!! I only have green algae in the tank. No cyano algae. No brown. Just that annoying green.

Here's the aeration I had:

AquaClear 70
Emperor biowheel
AquaClear 110 powerhead (it's like...550 gph or something like that)
1 air bubble curtain (it did get loose overnight and was at the surface bubbling all day)

The powerhead points upward and disturbs the surface of the water. The bubble curtain being at the top actually would help it, right, since its at the surface??

I just wish I knew what went wrong. The arowana is a top-layer fish, with all that surface movement there shouldn't have been trouble with the O2 at the top, right? I could see if the pleco alone died...but a 18 inch arowana? %#@@~!!!!

It's just so bizarre because both the pleco AND the arowana died at the exact same time. 24 hours after a water change, and 48 hours since I put in any algae control. Neither of them had been fed for 2 days. Water parms are fine. Temps were stable throughout...Its just, weird. Like some chemical reaction just snapped and boom, they died. Out of nowhere and at the exact same time. Unless there was something in the water, or something happened that cause organ damage in both of the pleco and the arowana gradually and its coincidece they died. But the silver dollars are just fine! I thought those were the least hardiest thing in that tank!!!!

The pleco died about an hour ago. It seemed to be recovering, but its gone. The silver dollars are just fine. No distress...and they seem very happy to have 40 gallons of space for each of them. So right now I have three 1 inch silver dollars in a 120 left...oh well...

[White Worm]

Cant say for sure but I dont like to add the algae rid products. I did it once and one of my discus happened to swim right through the area where I added it and he very soon was very ill. He recovered but I think from that day on, he was never mentally the same. Some say that algae stuff is ok but for me, I will just clean the tank the old fashion way.

[Dying for Discus]

Well I feel better after a few hours of sleep! Believe me...NEVER again!!

I guess the water was probably OK, since the silver dollars are fine. I did a water change the day before yesterday as well on the discus tank and they have been fine too.

Thank God I've always kept seperate equipment for both tanks tho- in case it wasn't something to do with the algae or the pleco. Ick!

[Bainbridge Mike]

When my fish was killed by the disolved gases, he flipped out, did a few death spirals and died in about 30 seconds.

[jack396]

When my fish was killed by the disolved gases, he flipped out, did a few death spirals and died in about 30 seconds.


How did you identify the cause???

[Clyde]

So sorry to hear about your loss, Silvers are awesome fish.

You didnt mention the temperature in the tank. is it possible the heater stuck on or off after the water change? High temperature combined with the algae control could be the culprit?

[Dying for Discus]

Well, when I checked it after the arowana passed it was its normal temp. It fluctuates gradually between 80 and 82ish. It was just about 82 when it died...And when I did the water change it was about 78-79 and went back up to 80 or so a few hours later. I just have a small heater on it (I think its a 200W) since its summer and not much heat is needed in my house!!

Maybe the heater broke, and gradually the sudden spike in temp did organ damage?? And that's why the arowana died later and not right after the water change?? But then maybe the heater turned itself off and worked after a while again? Can that happen??

I am still befuddled.

He was the coolest silver. :) He was incredibly gentle, he would take food right out of your hand. He wasn't psychotically nervous either! And he knew my fiance and I very well as he would greet us.

bummer.

[Dying for Discus]

The whole dissolved gases thing sounds feasible.

I literally walked into the kitchen, glanced at the tank, and everything was OK. Arowana watched me pass the tank and he did his usual back and forth feed-me-swim. I got some "pop" (as Cincinnatians say), took a few moments to get some ice, and walked back past the tank. And that's what I saw his head floating and him barely breathing.

The whole trauma must have taken...45 seconds to a minute!!

Grabbed him out, put him in my ER tank, gently rocked him to get his gills going again. He lasted about a minute and then died. Then I came back to the tank, and saw the pleco struggling. Grabbed him out, repeated the process, and then he died.

What in the world....?

[Bainbridge Mike]

How did you identify the cause???

It is just my best guess. The temp and parameters were fine. I tested the chlorine coming out of the tap and it was only trace levels. I can't think of any other cause and it happened during a water change.

Mike

[jack396]

It is just my best guess. The temp and parameters were fine. I tested the chlorine coming out of the tap and it was only trace levels. I can't think of any other cause and it happened during a water change.

Mike

And now you age the water????

[Graham]

Sorry to hear about this....this could be a poision but I watch and hear about ponders all season long kill 100% of thier fish with high water temps, Low DO and using !@#$%^& algacides, they suffocate thier fish....and it can happen fast.


Alagcides use tons of O2 and at 82* there was probably only 7ppm to start with...........:(

A good example..

http://www.aquascapeinc.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=9109

[Bainbridge Mike]

And now you age the water????

Yes--anytime I do a sizeable water change--50% or better.

Mike

[Dying for Discus]

Well...with all that beind said, I've decided to sell the 120. So if anyone's interested see my thread in the selling forum.

Thanks everyone for being there in my time of crisis!! I think it was O2 deprivation that caused the problems. :(

[kmuda]

I've seen many instances of unexplained deaths following use of an Algaecide... which, I guess, is indicative of a link between use of an Algaecide and fish death.

Algaecides are evil products and only treat the symptom, not the cause. Steer away from their use in the future.