Flipping Lfs Killed My Tank

[deedles]

Ok here it goes!

I have had my tank up and running for about 7 months with no problems I had 5 scissor tail tetra in it all living quite happily well basically my O.H as a suprise went and brought me 6 harliquins (Rasbora Heteromorpha) , dont get me wrong i love them and thought well they would make a lovely addition to the tank and always had them with tetra before with no problems, well basically one died straight away within about 4 hours of being added and I put it down to stress etc (i had added stress coat to ease the transition too) well anyway woke up this morning to find all the fish dead! like the 10 that were left I tested my water before and after adding the fish and the levels were the same, it's a 100l tank so i dont think it would be over stocked by far

Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
PH- 6.5
Nitrate- 1.0

What can i do? can i go back to the shop demand they replace everything and start again (or like get store credit until the tank cycled and has started a fresh, I've always had harliquins never had a problem and the last group i had were 4 yrs before they started depleating?

any ideas greatly received

 

[*Fishkies*]

Did you by chance allow any of the water from the store into your aquarium? Another suggestion for next time would be to quarintine the fish you just newly buy before adding them into your tank, that way there is a less chance of something major happening.How often do you perform water changes?Sorry to hear about the loss. I've had that same thing happen to me before sort of.

 

[deedles]

I perform 10% - 20% every week without fail none of the water was allowed in I floated added my water every 10 mins floated for about 45 mins in total then fished out each with a net and added to the tank I do a 50% about once every 8 weeks but test and do the relevent when things start spiking

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Most shops have at least a 48 hour return policy...but I'm not sure if they will refund for the other fish you lost. I would definately at least try to find out if they had any bacterial infection outbreaks lately, or other customer complaints so you could at least get an idea of what happened.

 

[jollysue]

Deaths of all fish in 24 hours is very odd. Not many diseases would do that w/o some kind of symptom. The fastest disease I can think of right off hand is a virilent strain of columnaris and that doesn't happen overnight to the resident fish with the new fish. Maybe someone else has an idea. It sounds much more likely to be a tank problem.

 

[rarefish]

From what I can understand you added new fish to an existing tank. Since you added the fish to the tank, your lfs will most likely not replace the fish that were in the tank before you added the new ones. It is a possibility that you overloaded your tank by accident. When you've had only a few fish in a tank for a while there are a certain number of bacteria in there. When you add more fish there won't be enough bacteria to compensate for the larger number of fish. It takes time for them to build up whether you've added biological supplementation to the tank or not. Without these bacteria ammonia could have built up. But that's only one theory to your problem. It could have also been the fish you added (next time quarentine them). I'm not pointing my finger at you, but look at all of the options as to what could have happened before you point your finger at someone else . Good luck!

rarefish

P.S. Sorry about the fish .

 

[-germ-]

nowt....

 

[jollysue]

I have had new fish die and resident fish die later, but not the whole tank in 24 hours. That is one virulent bacteria. Presumably there is an incubation period for the bacteria.

I would be in big trouble with 50% water changes every 8 weeks. It is pushing the envelope. It can be a low oxygen level w/o ever having an ammonia/nitrite problem.

 

[-germ-]

Edit; Doesn't matter

 

[tttnjfttt]

I'm curious. Did the fish have any signs of physical illness? (torn fins, bloated, cottony growth?) Reading this almost sounds like something toxic got into the tank, rather than an illness. Especially since it sounds like the old and new fish died around the same time.

 

[Straydum]

i'm thinking due to low oxygen levels or high co2 levels. the cause however doesnt come to mind.

 

[jollysue]

Forgive me, deedles. I missed the 10-20% every week part. Definately my bad!

Nevertheless, I really don't know a disease that kills within 24 hrs of it's introduction to the tank. Of course I am not a fish disease expert.

 

[deedles]

They had one bubble disk and 1 air stone thats about 2 inches long also 1 piece of bogwood and 7 plants there is plenty of oxygen! I left my levels at the top, nothing was showing on any fish at all they just suddenly went belly up rapidly breathed and died

It is a possibility that you overloaded your tank by accident

rarefish can i ask how i managed to over stock a 100litre tank with 5 tiny tetra and 6 herleys? from what i have read on here people add lot more to a 100litre than that! infct they just add more than that to a 5 gallon tank!!!!

 

[The-Wolf]

as you didn't QT your new fish
it is highly unlikely the will replace your previous stock.
if they have a policy for such events they should replace what you purchased
and if they are nice they may offer you some kind of compensation for the other losses
but they are under no obligation to do so.

the only things I can think of that would wipe out a large amount of small fish that quickly are
systemic bacterial infection
unknown toxin in the water (acid/alkali, pesticide, deodorant, air freshener etc)

 

[KhaosInc]

Depending on the store, and the way you present your argument.. they might.

I know for a FACT petsmart will replace everything if you make enough noise. I dated a female that worked in the fish dept. for a while..