# help please



## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

hey guys i moved some fish around after last time posting and getting some of your guys input. 
i moved all my fish from 29 gallon bowfront which was 5 demasoni and 7 yellow labs
after i emptied the 29 i took everything out and reused it for the 55( sand,rocks,filter, heater, powerhead)

the fish immediately seemed much happier in there new home
when i woke up this morning 4 labs and 3 dems where laying belly up dead

i did water tests and both tanks where very close on all readings

any input idea what could have happend?

thank you


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I'm sorry for your loss. Did you forget to use a water conditioner when you treated the new water?


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## Ten Tonne Tomahawk (Apr 24, 2015)

Both tanks were close in readings, but what were the readings. If they were bad, then the bad water combined with the stress of the shift could have been responsible.
How did you prepare the 55?
What did you use to clean it? Did you clean it? Did you rinse it after you got it?
If it's not the water parameters, that mortality rate suggests an overdose of chemicals.
Chemicals are found in cleaning agents like bleach or trigger pack domestic glass cleaners that may be used by a well meaning, but ignorant cleaner. They are also found in water treatments and/or medications.
Have you recently cleaned the new tank? Did you overdose a conditioning treatment?
I believe the answers are there.


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

i didn't use any chemicals, or conditioner.i cleaned the tank with only warm water, i believe i jumped the gun with adding the fish to soon even though i used media from another tank with bacteria , i didnt give it enough time to "spread out" in the new tank. my stupid mistake was very upsetting


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If that were true, it would have shown up as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates on your test results.

What about dechlorinator?


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## Ten Tonne Tomahawk (Apr 24, 2015)

deddy89 said:


> i didn't use any chemicals, *or conditioner*.i cleaned the tank with only warm water, i believe i jumped the gun with adding the fish to soon even though i used media from another tank with bacteria , i didnt give it enough time to "spread out" in the new tank. my stupid mistake was very upsetting


I beleive that is your issue.
A chloride test would confirm, or it is possibly copper, but this is an outside at best.


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> If that were true, it would have shown up as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates on your test results.
> 
> What about dechlorinator?


no dechlorinator either,


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Chlorine will kill fish within 24 hours and won't show up on the things we usually test for.


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> Chlorine will kill fish within 24 hours and won't show up on the things we usually test for.


oh that's terrible. must have been the case than, loosing so many fish in such a short window.
ill never make that mistake again


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Dechlorinator is only needed if you have municipal water. If the OP has a private well, it is unnecessary. However, wells have a way of being unpredictable as to their composition, especially with changes in the weather.

So, are you on city water or a well?


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

Mr Chromedome said:


> Dechlorinator is only needed if you have municipal water. If the OP has a private well, it is unnecessary. However, wells have a way of being unpredictable as to their composition, especially with changes in the weather.
> 
> So, are you on city water or a well?


 im on city water


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## Ten Tonne Tomahawk (Apr 24, 2015)

....and the culprit is Chloride. Thanks city water!!!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What I don't understand is if you had the fish in a 29G for some period of time and they were fine...why did they die when you moved them to the 55G?

Were you using dechlorinator for the 29G?


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## Ten Tonne Tomahawk (Apr 24, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> What I don't understand is if you had the fish in a 29G for some period of time and they were fine...why did they die when you moved them to the 55G?
> 
> Were you using dechlorinator for the 29G?


New tank, new water? I'm assuming he didn't transfer the 29G across with the fish.
The 29 may not have been African from the onset, it may have been established a while and the chloride had become minimal?

It is 100% an impurity in the tank water. (unless all the fish were diseased, which is highly unlikely)
It could be what the tank/substrate/rocks were cleaned with before immersion. Were they stored near any chemicals that could have potentially spilled on them. Some folks clean white rock with bleach. some folks clean the tank inside and out with detergent. Any of these can have adverse reactions to the fish.

You never told us the test results that were similar either, what were they?
You also said you transferred filter material from one filter to another. I have not heard of this being done before. Was this done correctly? The bacteria doesn't take long to die out of water. Even in a power out, you can loose bacteria if the water gets too cold, or stops flowing through the filter for long enough. If you have inadvertently killed the live bacteria, you have added a huge new ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle issue.

Look, I lost 12 out of 14 C. Moori over night after they were added to a tank that hadn't had enough time to get ready. I wasn't fortunate enough to have all the test kits I have today, so I never knew the real reason. It will reveal itself to you, with the right test. It is simply a matter of working through every possible thing you may have done wrong.


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

Ten Tonne Tomahawk said:


> DJRansome said:
> 
> 
> > What I don't understand is if you had the fish in a 29G for some period of time and they were fine...why did they die when you moved them to the 55G?
> ...





DJRansome said:


> What I don't understand is if you had the fish in a 29G for some period of time and they were fine...why did they die when you moved them to the 55G?
> 
> the 29G was an african tank since day one, it had yellow labs and demasoni.
> the substrate was all cleaned by very hot water and repeated rinsing. as for the transferring of filter media, i took 1 bio wheel from a penguin 350 out of a cycled tank and put it in the new penguin 350 in the 55G. it was only out of the water for maybe 2 minutes, just enough time to walk downstairs and install. Sadly i didnt record the water results. i only used two 5G buckets of water from the 29G when filling the 55G, the rest was new water.
> ...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Dechlorinator and cycling are two different things. If you did 50% weekly water changes on the 29G with chlorinated water, I'm surprised the fish in the 29G did not die as well or before they ever had a chance to move to the larger tank.


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> Dechlorinator and cycling are two different things. If you did 50% weekly water changes on the 29G with chlorinated water, I'm surprised the fish in the 29G did not die as well or before they ever had a chance to move to the larger tank.


i agree with that. i have had only 2 other deaths using the same water source. i'm still unsure of the reason for the sudden deaths, i understand dechlorinator and cycling are different things.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would start using dechlorinator in all tanks.


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## deddy89 (May 8, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> I would start using dechlorinator in all tanks.


ok i will do that


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