Dead Stock / Algae? Mold?

[PhantomCarp]

So I’ve been running a 10 gallon since early January. In early February I added a Dwarf Gourami to the tank and not much happened until the end of April when the DG passed from an unknown cause. On May 1st I decided to try guppies and bought a trio just for them to pass within hours of adding them to the tank, I also added some seeds to the tank. I checked my parameters and nothing was out of the ordinary so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on why they all died??? I also added some cherry shrimp that also died within hours of getting them. I noticed one of the guppies acting crazy swimming crazy like before coming back to all of them dead.

Kinda of a second question is I’ve noticed this white stuff in the tank that u will send pictures of and I was wondering if anyone knew what it was and if it was harmful how to get rid of it. It has only popped up within the last week or so.

 

[itiwhetu]

Can you post a picture of the whole tank? And what are your water parameters please?

 

[PhantomCarp]

Can you post a picture of the whole tank? And what are your water parameters please?

Ph: 6.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5ppm

 

[itiwhetu]

For the fish you are trying you need to have your tank more heavily planted and with some floating plants. Aim to have between 30-50% of the volume of the tank in plants.

 

[PhantomCarp]

For the fish you are trying you need to have your tank more heavily planted and with some floating plants. Aim to have between 30-50% of the volume of the tank in plants.

Thanks but I don’t think that would kill them within a matter of hours

 

[itiwhetu]

What sort of wood is in your tank

 

[PhantomCarp]

What sort of wood is in your tank

Not sure but it wasn’t the wood. The wood has been in the tank since I’ve set the tank up and the DG lasted for two months, I’m more concerned about the white stuff. Do you think it could be mold?

 

[itiwhetu]

Not sure, it could be decomposing food. Your ammonia level suggests it is not that. Is there anything still alive in the tank?

 

[PhantomCarp]

Not sure, it could be decomposing food. Your ammonia level suggests it is not that. Is there anything still alive in the tank?

Nope

 

[itiwhetu]

So, I would now strip the whole tank and re-set it up. The filter will be fine. Wash the gravel wash everything else. Get some more plants, leave it running for ten days or so, test your parameters then add a couple of fish.

 

[Rocky998]

So, I would now strip the whole tank and re-set it up. The filter will be fine. Wash the gravel wash everything else. Get some more plants, leave it running for ten days or so, test your parameters then add a couple of fish.

Make sure you have at least a few fast growing plants to soak up the ammonia if you completely reset and add fish immediately.

This may be a dumb question but did you add any sort of dechlorinator to the tank @PhantomCarp?

 

[Colin_T]

On May 1st I decided to try guppies and bought a trio just for them to pass within hours of adding them to the tank, I also added some seeds to the tank. I checked my parameters and nothing was out of the ordinary so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on why they all died??? I also added some cherry shrimp that also died within hours of getting them. I noticed one of the guppies acting crazy swimming crazy like before coming back to all of them dead.

What are the seeds you added to the tank?

When fish die within a few hours or less, of being put in an aquarium, then something in the water or the aquarium is poisoning them. In this case, the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are good so the filter is not an issue. But the white stuff coming out of the gravel and growing on the wood, is fungus and is probably the cause.

The seeds could also be coated in something that poisoned the fish and shrimp.

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I would remove the wood and leave it out. Then flush the tank out and set it back up.

The filter is probably ok but give it a rinse under tap water to remove any poison that might be in it.

After that, set the tank back up and add some live plants. Wait a few days and add a couple of cheap fish. If they are good for a week and there is no ammonia or nitrite, then add some more fish.

 

[Lynnzer]

They've definitely been poisoned. Whatever the poison is it must be a recent addition to the tank. Even if it were the mould it wouldn't necessarily take over the tank in one foul swoop.
Given that the initial DG death was in April I suggest you put your thinking cap on. What had been added, what changes were made within a few days before the first death? What water additives were used?
How often did you change the water from then on? Did you change it all? If the water was changed in sufficient quantity and the problem continued then the cause seems likely to be something associated with the wood leaching out some sort of poison, or maybe even something leeching out of the lower substrate.
The bloom of the white stuff is a problem of course but my own experience is that the white stuff is associated with the wood leeching out nutrients and stuff. I had it on one of my own tanks and posted about it but I scrpaed away as much as I could and the shrimps ate the rest.

Cleaning and restocking the tank is the only way forward now, though if the problem is associated with the wood then it'll persist with the new setup.

 

[PhantomCarp]

Make sure you have at least a few fast growing plants to soak up the ammonia if you completely reset and add fish immediately.

This may be a dumb question but did you add any sort of dechlorinator to the tank @PhantomCarp?

Yes to dechlorinators

What are the seeds you added to the tank?

When fish die within a few hours or less, of being put in an aquarium, then something in the water or the aquarium is poisoning them. In this case, the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are good so the filter is not an issue. But the white stuff coming out of the gravel and growing on the wood, is fungus and is probably the cause.

The seeds could also be coated in something that poisoned the fish and shrimp.

------------------
I would remove the wood and leave it out. Then flush the tank out and set it back up.

The filter is probably ok but give it a rinse under tap water to remove any poison that might be in it.

After that, set the tank back up and add some live plants. Wait a few days and add a couple of cheap fish. If they are good for a week and there is no ammonia or nitrite, then add some more fish.

The seeds were just a bag of a variety of seeds, I don’t actually know what plants they are. After leaving the wood out do you think I could put it back in once the poison is off it? And what do you mean by flush out? Also will the fungus just go away?

They've definitely been poisoned. Whatever the poison is it must be a recent addition to the tank. Even if it were the mould it wouldn't necessarily take over the tank in one foul swoop.
Given that the initial DG death was in April I suggest you put your thinking cap on. What had been added, what changes were made within a few days before the first death? What water additives were used?
How often did you change the water from then on? Did you change it all? If the water was changed in sufficient quantity and the problem continued then the cause seems likely to be something associated with the wood leaching out some sort of poison, or maybe even something leeching out of the lower substrate.
The bloom of the white stuff is a problem of course but my own experience is that the white stuff is associated with the wood leeching out nutrients and stuff. I had it on one of my own tanks and posted about it but I scrpaed away as much as I could and the shrimps ate the rest.

Cleaning and restocking the tank is the only way forward now, though if the problem is associated with the wood then it'll persist with the new setup.

No changes made to the tank until the Gourami died. I had the same setup, and did water changes every 2-3 weeks the only change I made was adding the seeds when I got the guppies

 

[GaryE]

When you put fish from the store in and they die, poison isn't the first thing I worry about. I think pathogens from the pet store brewing in the fish and taking them out because of stress is far more likely. @PhantomCarp is in this universe, a good thing, but if the place they're located in has large impersonal chains as fish sources, the fish are often ill when they're bought. Guppies are especially fragile these days.

The shrimp complicate the picture, but.

The white stuff is probably just biofilm, a normal part of the 'adding wood' process. A lot of fish will eat it.

What to do? You are there, and can either strip it all down, wait, or decide it may have been a bad batch of inhabitants. I would never add seeds without knowing what process I was starting. How do you nurture any resulting plants, etc. But you did it and you might want to leave the tank fishless for a couple of weeks to see what you did there. It could be good. It may have started badly and killed the fish, but since it was started...