Dead fish

[pmcsomething]

So my little brother just called me at work. All of his fish are dead or dying. I will not be home till later but I wanted to get this thread started so that when I do get home, I have some ideas what might have went wrong. Here are the details of his tank.

10 gallon planted (low tech, low light)
Regular gravel
5-15g whisper filter
10watt heater
A scuba man bubbler
Anuba (the bulbs you get from WalMart) plants that grow like weeds

Fish:
1 black molly
1 white molly
4 Neon Tetras
5 Cherry Barbs

He has been having an algae problem. So he changed his water, 50% change I think. They were fine after the change. Then a little bit later they started acting funny and then began floating. He told me his filter and bubbler was on, so lack of O2 is ruled out I think.

My only guess is that he put the fish in shock with a 50% change but, he had changed more in the past (once I told him that was bad, he didn’t do it again.) My question is why would 11 fish die all of the sudden maybe over the time of 30-45 minutes?

Any ideas are appreciated. I just talked to him; all of the fish are dead. I told him to leave everything, but from what he told me all of the water parameters looked fine. I will test ammonia when I get home.

 

[d3sc3n7]

I would question the water temperature of the new water he put in...and if he treated it first. If there is a large but very quick change in water temperature it will shock your fish instantly, easily killing them...I've done it to a few of mine when I first started keeping them.

 

[Dr_fish]

Yes it looks like maybe when your son cleaned out your tank he might of cracked your heater causing an electrical current to pass through the water killing all your fish. this happens alot with cheap/old heaters. I sugest to go check your heater.

 

[MadridKid]

yah, check the heater...also, when he did the water change, did he treat the water?

 

[iapetus]

Yes it looks like maybe when your son cleaned out your tank he might of cracked your heater causing an electrical current to pass through the water killing all your fish. this happens alot with cheap/old heaters. I sugest to go check your heater.

If you think this may be the case, unplug the heater before touching anything in the water! (Of course.)

 

[MalcolmV8]

I never would have thought of the heater but wow that makes sense. I would get a new heater anyways, 10 watts? I have a 50 watt in my 10 gallon and a 100 watt in my 20 gallon.

Get a visi therm Stealth heater. They have an internal aluminum housing and are covered in a nice thick solid plastic outer shell. You'll never break it or crack it.

As for the water change, where temps the same? did he remember to use some de-chlorinator?

Malcolm

 

[pmcsomething]

So I am home now and would like to clarify. This is NOT my son as Dr Fish mentioned, he is my little brother. Anyways back to the point.

I am thinking about what D3 said and I think he is correct. He did not treat the water. There is very little chorine or chlorides in our water. We both use the same water to fill our tanks. I do not treat the water either. There was no ammonia spike because the readings said zero. I can rule that part out.

I think it was the temp that killed them. His water is at 73 degrees. He did not add cold water nor did he add hot water. He tried to make a mix of warm water, around 73 degrees.

So here is what he has learned. When he wants to do a water change, he can fill up the bucket in the morning before he leaves for school and let it sit in his room so it has a chance to get to room temp.

I also told him not to do another 100% change. This would get rid of all of beneficial bacteria that he already has setup. I am going to supply a Buenos Aries to his tank to see if he can survive. That was there original home until I moved them into the 30.

I will keep you people updated. Thanks for the input.

 

[pmcsomething]

Something is not right with that tank and I am at a loss of what to do. I put my Gold barb in there, a 1 year old fish. We kind of joked he was going on a suicide mission...well he did. Turned up dead this morning. Should my little brother just drain the tank and start new? He has a mixture of dwarf Lilly bulbs and aponogeton bulbs and some horn wort. Would those 3 plants kill fish? I do not think so but just wanted to ask. Could changing the filter make a difference as well? Something is just not right here.

 

[MalcolmV8]

You said he did a 100% water change and did not treat the water. I think you have some chlorine in there. All the fish died and you put another in and he's dead too. There's something in the water killing the fish. Run an air stone in there for 24 ~ 48 hours or add some de-chlorinator before putting in any more fish.

 

[pmcsomething]

50% water change and he did add some dechlorinator after he put the water in. He is going to drain and clean the tank and start fresh again.

 

[cchase85]

You should do a complete water test in any case.