Switching to Aragonite Sand is killing my tank !

[kmpoaquests]

I'm brand new here just joined to get some expert opinions of my possible screw ups . . . . bit upset over here so please bear with me

I've had fish for about almost 1 year now. I know about cycling a tank properly and have a rena xp1 for my 30 gallon tank.

I have

2 fire tetras , 5 scissortails , 5 neon tetras , 4 pepper cories and 1 blue german ram

So 2 days ago I felt like replacing the rock substrate with sand thinking it would be more cleaner and visually appealing... (god that's where all the f^k ups started)

So I bought aragonite carbsea sand 30lbs

1. Took it home
2. Removed my fish and placed them in a spare tank
3. Removed ALL THE GRAVEL and let the rena clean up all the sh$t that got released from gravel removal
4. Waited another 2 hours for rena to clean tank to decent level as it was before gravel removal
5. Washed sand like 10 times
6. Took out my curent fish in a spare tank and let them sit there for about 13 hours until the sand in my main tank settled and went from super cloudy/barley visible to slightly cloudy
7. I put the fish back into my main tank 2 hours later

I came home the today from work and saw 1 big fire tetra floating dead in one corner of the tank and was really shocked cuz this fish was the oldest and hardiest EVER. (It survived 3 bouts of ich breakouts over the year)

Then in the other corner I was even more pissed off when I saw my blue ram dead floating also in the same fashion.


So today I did some research and saw that the sand might have messed up the PH levels. So I attempted to do a 45% water change thinking it would lower the PH or help if there was sandy debris floating.

Just now 2 more tetras just dropped like flies infront of my eyes ...

As I'm typing this every single fish is on the surface swimming at a slightly bent fashion going in circles (small circles) , except the peppered cories ... they are coming up to the service every 5 minutes or so and coming back down.

I did some googling and it seems like whirling disease.

at this point it is sad and I'm thinking my tank is gone beyond repair . . .

I feel like not continuing this hobby if I do loose every fish that I have had for such a dam long time.
Please share opinions thank you.
/vent

 

[lauraf]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear about your loss - that's devastating. Couple of thoughts:
Even if you kept your filter media, by removing all your gravel you may have killed your cycle. Do you know your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
Does the sand you used have any additives like salt?
Do you happen to know what your pH was, and now is? What's your tapwater pH?
I'm assuming you treated the new water with a conditioner like Prime?

Laura

 

[kmpoaquests]

I don't think the caribsea aragonite sand has any salt in it because the petsmart guy helped me choose it. The guy is pretty reliable and knowledgeable since me and him talk alot on the side about fishes and stuff related.

I didn't have any readings since I haven't had chance to take my water to a local store. I'll prolly take a sample and bring it during lunch hour.

I know about the cycle and my water has been well for 3 months without problem. But removing gravel will break my cycle ??? I left the filter the same with the beneficial bacteria.

The fishes are still floating in a circular fashion.

If it matters much the temp are 79-81 F ... and I also added Aquarium salt that is suppose to reduce disease and promote fish health.

To answer your question yes I did use water conditioner ... API Stress Coat+ to be exact

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Uh oh...

Did some googling.

"CaribSea Aragonite buffers to the highest pH and delivers more calcium, carbonate, and trace elements than any other substrate. Little or no rinsing required, aragonite keeps aquariums healthier, longer."

This is a really informative article which will get to the root of your problem:
Myths of pH Shock

The "calcium, carbonate, and trace elements" increased the water hardness by a huge degree

More salt will = more dissolved solids, so it's not what you want right now.

The fish that survive should adapt to the change. Any new fish can be acclimated slowly to the new water.

What could help now is removing the fish into the spare tank you used earlier, with hardness levels they are familiar with, then slowly acclimating them to the original tank.

I'm sorry for your loss :/