If you have used a water conditioner, chlorine should read zero. That's why we add water conditioner, to remove the chlorine or chloramine added by the water provider.
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Help with identifying why fish died in new tank
- Thread starter ctpan
- Start date
When using the test strip, tank and tap water chlorine both read 0. I was expecting a non zero reading from the tap.
Yes, there should have been a reading from tap water. Are the strips in date? It is not unknown for stores to sell products past their use by date.
Did you test the tap straight away or after several hours (when it could have gassed off)?
Expiration says 2024.
I tested the tap water right away.
What's the treatment for chloramine?
Lots of good discussion and thank you for all the suggestions.
It doesn't sound like there was consensus of what actually caused the issue. I believe ph level has been ruled out. Differing opinions on the salt but I can take that out of the equation with water changes.
The other was not doing a water change prior to putting fish in.
I guess the question is could salt and not doing a water change prior have caused the fish to die in such a short amount of time.
Anything else others can think of?
It doesn't sound like there was consensus of what actually caused the issue. I believe ph level has been ruled out. Differing opinions on the salt but I can take that out of the equation with water changes.
The other was not doing a water change prior to putting fish in.
I guess the question is could salt and not doing a water change prior have caused the fish to die in such a short amount of time.
Anything else others can think of?
Chloramine must be detoxified with a conditioner. Most will handle chlorine or chloramine, I recall one or two years ago that didn't deal with chloramine. But it ill say on the bottle. Chlorine can also be negated with a conditioner, but it can also dissipate out over 24 hours, especially with brisk agitation. This will not affect chloramine.
Diagnosing fish disease is extremely difficult unless you are or have a biologist/microbiologist that can see the fish and perform a necropsy. Most of us do not. Experience will teach us over time if we deal with this or that disease, but you are still facing the issue of having to diagnose it in order to know it.
Prevention is always better than having to cure something. This is why many of us advise against using salt, or some so-called "cure all" substance. These do without doubt cause stress to fish, and can weaken them further if it is not going to do any good to begin with. Knowing the maintenance schedule, water parameters, methods of introducing new fish, etc, can often identify an issue or allow us to assume it was not "x" or whatever.
And, there is always the possibility that the fish were diseased or affected in some way before you got them.
Tetras are a shoaling/schooling species, and need a group of around 10 or more, and these should always be added together at the same time. This allows them to settle in much faster, which means less chance of something like ich. This species is also feisty, making this even more crucial. I'm not saying that is what killed them, but it is a possibility. Which can be exacerbated by the stress of the salt, or a drop/rise of more than 1 degree in pH, and so forth. Everything works together, good or bad.
It very much sounds like your fish died from pH shock. When floating new fish in an aquarium, first float the bag long enough for the temperature to equalize, then add 10% of the new tank water to the floating bag every 10 minutes or so. This is done so the pH and water parameters of the new tank water are mixed into the floating bag. This enables the fish's system to adjust to the new tank's water parameters gradually. Otherwise, if you just put your fish into the tank without mixing the water, you take the risk of shocking them severely and killing the fish, especially from pH differences and salinity.
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