i lost 75 fish today and i don't know why.

[prettypleco]

Melafix is a natural antibiotic and is not supposed to interfere with the biological filter which is why i purchased it. I tested the water today and everything reads normal...no ammonia, no nitrites but very little nitrates. The melafix has done its job. All the fish are normal looking and the cory who had a small ulcer on his side is healed. Everyone is eating well and playing and the clown pleco has taken up residence under his bridge again.I always quarentine new fish though i think i'll wait a week or so before thinking about new ones just to be safe.Now that this 100 gal is under control i now have ammonia in the 55 hex. I always do 1 to 2 20-30% water changes every week while vacumming the gravel. This is a 4 year tank. It houses about 10 platys,4 cories, 4 large angels and a large chocolate albino pleco.It also is planted.I never overfeed. No clue what caused this ammonia spike.Everyone seems fine now. I hate to use ammo-lock as you get positive readings for ammonia after you use it.I have not medicated this tank as i lost the one fish who was sick and the others were fine. Although it was medicated with aquari-sol when this whole fiasco started with the 100 gal.Just a thought... my husband bought me a 100 foot python about 6 weeks ago.Prior to that i used buckets and a syphon. There is no way to dechlor while adding new water except to add as you put the water in. The instructions state that due to the water churning so rapidly it elimiates most of the chlorine. What are your thoughts on this ?

 

[FroggyFox]

I was scared to add tap water straight to the tank when I got a python...but I haven't had any issues since I started using it...I squirt some dechlor into the stream when I get it started...and then a couple more times while its filling. I think the only time this would be an issue would be if you have chloramines in your water that dont break down with surface agitation/time...but dechlor is supposed to work pretty quick. When you're filling the tank up you dont run water over your filters do you? Tap water coming into contact with your filter could cause some dieoff in the bacteria colonies and cause your spikes. How big of an ammonia spike is it in the 55?

My guess is that it had something to do with the aquarisol (in the 55 too)...who knows. The important thing is that things are getting stabilized and back to normal right?

 

[fishbrain]

Sorry to read of your losses, happy to read of your regained control. This is/was the kind of tragidy that we ALL fear most as fishkeepers & the kind that would make me call it quits (or atleast contemplate it). Congrats on staying strong & congrats to all those who helped solve the problems.

 

[prettypleco]

I rinse the filter material in aquarium water from the eheim. I toss the filters in the bio-wheels after a month. Everything appears to be normal now in the 100 gal.I bought a 65 gal tank today for my 2 orandas so i will now have a 30 gal sick tank once i set things up.The ammonia is darn near off the chart. I did a 30% water change and no feeding today.I did find a small dead platy. I did add some ammochips to the filter. I'm thinking that aquari-sol kills the biological filter. I picked up more bio-spira for the hex tank now.We'll see what happens. The sad part about all this is that i don't think what i had was ich. I think it was some bacterial or fungal outbreak.Also the aquari-sol does not tell you on the package that some fish [tetras, cories,plecos] are very sensitive to their product.I should have done my homework before using.After losing over 100 fish you can bet i'll pick every brain i can and research first.I really miss my fish.