[c.megalodon]

i have a bunch of Malawi cichlids in a 75 gallon, had them almost a year, did a water change and now they're all sitting at the bottom of the tank gasping, basically they're all dying!

i did another 50% water change and that hasn't helped, there are alot of small bubbles in the water too. I've never had this problem before, but there is 0 nitrite, and ammonia is normal.

help!!!

 

[c.megalodon]

well no longer an issue, one by one every last fish died.. about 26 including fry. I have no reason why.

very depressing

 

[yogurtpooh]

conditioner?

 

[hollyfish2000]

Oh, so sorry. That sounds very rough. I've heard others tell somewhat similar stories from time to time. It's very scary. Usually it's either someone has forgotten to use declorinator or there's suddenly something unusual in the water, which then makes the second water change no help. While this has never happened to me, I do keep about 10 gallons of RO "Drink More" water in two 5-gallon jugs in the house. If I ever suspect my water is suddenly problematic, I can do at least a small water change with the 10 gallons. I also never do more than a 10 gallon at a time water change on my 60 gallon, as I like smaller, more frequent water changes. I also figure that if there's something suddenly wrong with the water, it's would be somewhat diluted.

 

[cichlidaholic]

Did you use a good dechlorinator (one effective against both chlorine and chloramines) with the water change?

If so, you might check with your water company and see if they've done anything unusual.

Kim

 

[BillD]

When you say ammonia is normal, does that mean 0? I have never lost fish to a water change (yet), even when doing 90% ones, so I can't offer much help. It must be disheartening to have a catastrophe like that.

 

[c.megalodon]

Did you use a good dechlorinator (one effective against both chlorine and chloramines) with the water change?

If so, you might check with your water company and see if they've done anything unusual.

Kim

i always use Prime. I'm still in complete shock this happened.. and without being too dramatic, I'm not sure if I want to start over.

only things I can guess that happened were in my area we had ridiculous amounts of rainfall the last few weeks (Northern VA) and maybe this had something to do with the tap water. Also I was at the bottom of my bottle of Prime, maybe the remaining amount was extra potent? Again, my ph was normal, good on ammonia, nitrites were almost zero, tank had been cycled forever. I'm at a loss.

 

[cichlidaholic]

I don't think you could overdose with Prime, so I'd rule that out, but the excessive rainfall may have played a part in it. I've heard of this happening to others before and rain has been mentioned.

I just want to stress that you know ammonia should be zero, right? By you saying your nitrites are "almost zero", that kind of worries me. In a well established, well maintained tank, they should be positively zero, as well.

Kim

 

[c.megalodon]

hi Kim-

yes, the nitrites were zero.. color matched perfectly. Ammonia was very close to zero. The more I think about it, it was probably chlorine or something due to all the rainfall.

 

[cichlidaholic]

What is your normal tank maintenance routine? Do you do regular water changes? Had you slacked off recently?

What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? How often do your churn it?

Ammonia level should be zero, without a doubt. If you're getting any reading at all, that's something to investigate.

Kim

 

[hollyfish2000]

I'm in Maryland (DC suburb) and have had no water issues from the rain. We have a number of posters here from Northern Virginia. Might be interesting to do a quick poll and see if anyone else had problems with the water this week.