Cleaned tank and few fish swimming upside down!!!!!!

Hi all. Help needed. I have my tank for about 2 and a half years. It's settled. However I cleaned my tank today. Replaced about 2/3 of the water which I normally do. Cleaned the glass. Rearranged some stones. Replaced the carbon in the filter. Added fresh water and water conditioner as per normal. Then about 2 hours later I noticed both my sharks and 1 tiger barb upside down. This has never occurred before and the only thing I've done different was replace the carbon in the filter. Any advice?

 

When that happened to me it was a too large temperature difference between the new and old water.

Could it be that or other water parameters? Like kH or gH?

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I check the temperature and it was practically the same. The 2 sharks died now. Really disappointed as I had them about 2 years and grew into really lovely fish. My cichlid is hiding in between the rocks which is very much unlike him and the tiger barb is swimming still upside down. I'm monitoring the other fish...... The only thing I can suspect is the carbon change in the filter.

 

Two things come to mind pretty quickly.

The first is a shock of some sort - either chemically or to do with temperature. A 2/3 change is pretty large, and the 66% of the water volume after the change is unlikely to exactly match that which is already inside the tank. Even if the temperature is the same, there may be other important differences, such as pH, kH, gH, even the nitrogen compounds in the water. Too much of a swing from one end of the scale to the other on these can shock the fish.

My other thought is contamination. Either in that the carbon product that you purchased may have some impurities, or something in the water you added was not right. Sometimes the water out the tap can vary from day to day, depending on the actions of the municipality. Such changes may be a swing in pH, or a whole lot of chlorine and/or chloramine added to the water supply, etc. The way to find out this would be to call the municipality up and ask. Sometimes you can smell if there is a bit too much chlorine in the water, but sometimes you miss it.

Is there any reason you do a 2/3 change on your tank, though? If this is the routine, shock to your fish may be more common than you'd like, even if it has been okay up until this point.

Regards,

 

Hi Salmonafrica. I need to edit my post as I meant I made a 1/3 change of water. I normally do a 1/4 change every 2 weeks and this has been fine since I have the tank running. The carbon I kept stored in a cupboard that contains some household detergents and this may have caused this contamination. If this is the case what do you recommend?

I was thinking about our tap water as I live in cape Town and there is rumors that due to the low dam levels our water may be contaminated. But if that was the case then it should have affected my tank long time ago already isn't it?

Lastly I noticed just before my second shark died it swam around very violently and almost attempted to jump out the tank.

 

Take out the carbon....it's whole purpose is to absorb chemicals....if it wasn't sealed it absorbed some of the ones it was stored with.

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OK then should I look at again replacing a portion of the water in the tank as well? Since the absorbed chemicals are circulating in the water now?

 

I would say yes....maybe someone more experienced can help!!

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The contaminant could have come from anywhere, either the detergents or from the water. I cannot say for certain as I can't see the fish myself, nor see the chemical parameters of the water.

As for now, go with the above. A small water change should help in theory, and if you can find a new source of carbon, use that to remove potential pollutants from the water. Maybe a friend/fishkeeper in the area? Or anyone you know with a water filtration system in their home, which often has carbon sachets or sleeves which have a similar function.

Regards,

 

Okay I removed the carbon. Unfortunately I'm only able to get new carbon tomorrow morning. Replaced a small portion of the water. Thanks for the tips. Now to monitor the fish........

 

I was told to never clean or change filters on the same day as doing wc. It sounds like that very case scenario but not sure if you did clean your filter as well. I get away with 2 weekly wc and only rinse my canister filter once a month.

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Cape Town tap water is getting pretty bad these days, chloramine is showing up.
I would recommend to let your new tap water to sit for at least a day with an air stone and treat it with Prime or similar product then get it to the right temperature.
Another thing that could have happen is ammonia release from a substrate disturbance or dead fish. Malaysian trumpet snails are good for aerating the substrate.
I actually use a purification system to avoid bad tap water. Expensive to buy but worth it.
Dip your new carbon before introduction in your tank.
Myself I don't use any carbon in any of my tanks.
Just remove everything added before the problem and do another water change, 50% or so then monitor.
Just make sure all the water parameters stay as before.
Do you test your water?

 

Dip your new carbon before introduction in your tank.
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How do I dip the carbon? So far no deaths in the tank since about 2 hours now. But the fish don't seem too happy.

Is it then a good idea to keep fish in cape Town with this poor water condition?

 

Dip the carbon in water out of the tank first.
If you don't already, run an air stone all the time. If yes double it.
As I said add Seachem Prime (or similar) to your tap water prior adding it into the tank.
Also check for dead fish and remove them quickly.
Do you check you water parameters? It's the most useful information.
Do you have plants in the tank? That's another good information.
Do you add anything as fertilizers or liquid carbon?
Tank size and filtration system?
The more you give details the more we can help.

 

In any conditions, if there's a will, there's a way. Many places in SA have tap water that is unsuitable for keeping fish, for a myriad of reasons. The place I just moved from not only had a near-permanent water shortage crisis (which not only meant questionable, murky water from the taps, but also frequent water outages... and power outages frequently due to failing infrastructure), but also the tap water was so contaminated with metals that it was highly recommended that humans do not consume it unless they had to. There appeared to be a bit of a correlation between this and the town's mental health, but I digress... even under these conditions, I've seen a host of particularly tricky fish being kept alive. People found a way. It all depends on if you're willing to do these things to keep your pets alive.

I'm unsure about the Cape myself, but there are many Cape users on this forum who can give you handy advice on how to work through it under those circumstances.

Regards,

 

I have just read through this thread and all the advice and opinions given above are good and sound however, there is one thing that sprung to my mind as i read your first post. :I rearranged some rocks"

How often do you do a gravel vac?
How often do you move your rocks to clean the debris that accumulates under?
If this is not done as part of your maintenance, disturbing the rocks and obviously the substrate in the process, could have released toxins accumulated underneath.

 

Ammonia release from the substrate, I did mentioned it. It happened to me before, that why it's a good idea to keep some MTS to aerate the substrate.

 

Yes you did.. as i said, all the above advice is good and sound
I expressed my opinion and the first thing that struck me from the first post.

 

I tend to rearrange the rocks about once a month or so and I do use one of those simple vacuum/syphon devices. I've never experienced anything of this sort, but I do recall when rearranging the rocks that there was a few big puffs of murk. This may have contributed to the problem as pointed out.

I've checked the aquarium now and the few survivors including the 2 ghouramis seem to be back to their old habits, scouring the tank for food, chasing each other etc. So fingers crossed it looks like the contamination may be contained now......

 

There is definitely something in your water that should not be there. People I know painted the one room where the tank stood and a drop of paint fell in the tank...it's like Armageddon in the tank, everything dead.