Fish ate part of my filter!!

[mesogosu]

Ok so they didnt eat my filter but... I was doing a water cycle and I decided to adjust my filter because I felt it wasn't placed in their properly. As I adjusted it some weird goopy stuff came out and into the tank

now the sad part... my two bala sharks of 8 months ate some of this slimy stuff and they same around like crazy and like they had no sense of up or down left or right and died within 4 minutes literally.

I thot that goopy stuff was good bacteria? or just good for everything else but fish? never thot id feel so sad to lose a fish lol

 

[OrangeCones]

I can't think that anything the minnows ate would cause them to die in 4 minutes.

What sized thank were they kept in? Are there other fisn still in the tank? If so, now are they acting?

You said you were doing a 'water cycle'...do you mean a water change? If so, how much water were you changing, and what is your water change schedule (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)? Was the new water being put in dechlorinated and the same temperature as the tank's water?

 

[mesogosu]

its a 30 gal tank( i know i woulda needed bigger eventually)

I meant to say water change and i usually do 25%...i dechlorinate with a bottle called aquasafe .... ive never got the temperature the same but in the last 8 months that never killed them :S and i do a water change once per week

I also had 1 blue crayfish in there and I'm watching him right now and I feel like he's not gonna make it either

...so frustrated, ive done nothing difference except move the inside filter and goopy stuff came out...

 

[Thyra]

What are the chances that the filter sucked up a dead fish or some fry or even a larger insect that rotted? Did you use any lubricant on anything attached to the filter in anyway - probably a dumb question - but sometimes people use it to help fit tubing etc.

 

[FreshyFresh]

What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings?

 

[mesogosu]

What are the chances that the filter sucked up a dead fish or some fry or even a larger insect that rotted? Did you use any lubricant on anything attached to the filter in anyway - probably a dumb question - but sometimes people use it to help fit tubing etc.

well i did buy a small white crayfish and that disappeared in one night about 5 days ago .... so would that be a likely scenario? the some of the crayfish parts rotted in the filter then my balas ate that rotten stuff and died?

What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings?

sorry i dont keep much track of that....i know i know i should but im pretty novice and my thinking was if im doing 25% cycles per week 2 balas and a crayfish cant mess up a tank that much :S ... but i know i should go out and buy a kit tho

 

[Thyra]

I suppose a white cray fish could get sucked into a filter and look like goop, but I really don't know whether it would become deadly. If a decaying fish gives off ammonia, I suppose so would a cray fish and eating ammonia can't be good - but I am certainly not an authority on that - its just an idea.

 

[FishDad]

I think slime can build up on the filter from high nitrates. But I don't know if that toxic to fish.

 

[mesogosu]

thank you all for the replies... my crayfish so far is living ( this incident happend about 15 minutes after my first post) so im just going to assume the bala's ate rotten white crayfish parts =S

i wish now that i coulda tooken a video of the balas after all this stuff were floating in the water... they just had no sense of up or down or gravity and zipping all over the place...

i actually took a bala out and put it in a goldfish tank i have, but all it did was just float to the intake of the filter sideways not moving.

R.I.P. bala sharks ='(

 

[FishDad]

Well, make sure you get a test kit bud. Those results are the first thing any one needs to know when diagnosing a tank. Its like going to the ER and the first thing they do is take your BP.