Don't know what just happened!

[KMW1954]

30gal tank doing very well, almost 2 years with Gourami,, tetra, pleco, and a golden algae eater. About 4:45 wife fed them as usual and 20min later every one of them was dead! Took all of about 15 min

 

[GaryE]

Any info on the routines for maintenance, the tank size, possible airborne poisons, etc?

 

[Ichthys]

Anything on your wife’s hands?

 

[powerdyne6]

Was just going to say hopefully her hands weren’t full of perfume, lotion and other chemicals

 

[KMW1954]

She was preparing dinner, hands washed. Been feeding the same food since new and been feeding from this same container for weeks. Fish behaved normally when fed. 9 fish dead within 15 min. of being fed.

Whatever it is, has to be toxic. Food is Tetra Tropical Flakes in a 200gram container. It is fed directly from the container.

 

[Colin_T]

Did you do a water change or have visitors that day?

If you have used that container of food before, then it wasn't the food unless it has been sitting around a while and has gone mouldy.

The most likely cause was something on your wife's hands, possibly residue from whatever she used to wash up with before feeding or something from the food she was preparing.

Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

If there's any fish left alive, do a massive water change and gravel clean to dilute anything that might be in the water.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Hm, hard to say! Obviously something toxic got introduced to the tank somehow. It might have been something on your wife's hands from making dinner, or maybe the soap wasn't rinsed off...but I doubt that's it. Just feeding the fish would have introduced a minuscule amount of soap or food residue, if any.

It might have even been unrelated to feeding. Do you have kids? Is it possible that someone "helped" with the fish somehow when you weren't looking? Or is there some other way that something toxic could have gotten into the tank? Cleaning supplies are a common cause of things like this. It only takes a moment. Aerosols can be introduced through filters or aeration systems.

Is it possible that something toxic got introduced into your food supply somehow?

 

[KMW1954]

Did you do a water change or have visitors that day?

If you have used that container of food before, then it wasn't the food unless it has been sitting around a while and has gone mouldy.

The most likely cause was something on your wife's hands, possibly residue from whatever she used to wash up with before feeding or something from the food she was preparing.

Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

If there's any fish left alive, do a massive water change and gravel clean to dilute anything that might be in the water.

Water change and gravel cleaning was done about 4 weeks ago.
The food is fresh a couple weeks ago and we have been using this same brand and container size for over a year. The food is shaken out of the container and never touched. It is not scooped or picked up by the fingers.

Fish were all in normal form and activity. They all came to the surface to eat and within 10 minutes they were all disorientated, the largest one was having trouble swimming and staying upright. then one by one all followed. Not a single fish survived. We have two other tanks operating, all treated the same but both are being feed a different food. They both are still fine!

 

[Lcc86]

Is all the equipment in the tank still functioning? Seems really unusual but am just wondering if something suddenly broke and caused a spike of electricity or something like that?

 

[Sanityassassin]

If there was something toxic on your wife's hands which wiped all your fish out, all I can say is......DON'T EAT YOUR DINNER!!!

 

[Magnum Man]

I’m guessing the heater, or power head, or filter motor or something electrical that’s in the water, perhaps a sealed motor lost seal

 

[Colin_T]

Did your wife feed the other fish tanks as well?
If she did and she used a different food, then it's probably the food.

Do you have any pictures of the dead fish?

Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and post the results in numbers here. Check all the tanks too if you can.

Make sure the filter and everything is working.

 

[Wills]

Did the food have a sachet of some kind of dehydrator in? Some foods do to keep it dry in the pack, I wonder if this could have split or if the bag fell in the tank and the fish somehow got in? In the bags they are meant to be harmless but if ingested toxic.

Wills

 

[KMW1954]

Yesterdays routine was no different than any other days routine. Fish were al behaving normally, took their food the way they always do. Wife was in the kitchen peeling potatoes and loudly called in. We could watch them deteriorate in front of us. First the largest, the Golden, then the Tetra's and lastly the Gourami. Tank heater is still working. No electric shorts as she put her hand into the tank to remove the decor so as to find the pleco after we had already removed the rest in a net..

 

[Ram419]

I don't know but sounds to me like the food is contaminated. I wouldn't trust it tbh. Better safe then sorry but I suppose you could try feeding it to a single fish and see what happens to know for sure?