Possibly my worst mistake yet...

[connorlindeman]

Yesterday I was water changing and rescaping my 20g aquarium. When it came time to add dechlorinator, I added it in and started refilling.
Fast forward 30 minutes I go to look at the tank and notice something isnt right. The fish look stressed. I looked closer and saw some dead fish. I decided that the dechlorinator must have gone bad. It was the same one that I used in my outdoor pond the day before all the fish died. I didnt tie it to the outdoor deaths. I thought it was just the freezing night that killed them.
I immediately did two back to back 75% WC's to try to get rid of as much chemical as possible. The bad dechlorenator was the only one that I had. I decided to add ammo lock instead sense that does detoxify chlorine and chloremines.
Thankfully the fish started to look better. Today the survivors are doing fine.
In total, I lost:
3 Neon Tetras
1 Corydora (leaving only 1 left)
1 Red Eye Tera

The dead fish almost seem to be bleeding internally. There is red all over the belly of the fish.


Could the dechlorentor have gone bad from me leaving it outside a few days? I probably shouldnt have used it at all. It was really stupid of me...

 

[Rocky998]

Oh man! I'm so sorry that happened Connor...

 

[connorlindeman]

Oh man! I'm so sorry that happened Connor...

Thanks... The other day I accidentally added ammo lock instead of dechlorinator to my killi tank. Had I added the current dechlorinator its likely they all would have died. Yesterday I was also going to do a WC on my cichlid tank, thank God i didnt.

 

[Slaphppy7]

How big is the outdoor pond?

You use the same dechlor for an outdoor pond, and indoor aquariums?

And the obvious question, which dechlor?

 

[connorlindeman]

How big is the outdoor pond?

You use the same dechlor for an outdoor pond, and indoor aquariums?

And the obvious question, which dechlor?

Its just a little 20g hard pond liner. Is is a problem that I just put API Tap water dechlorenator?

 

[Colin_T]

The dechlorinator should not have poisoned the fish even if it had been left outside.

It's possible the water company increased the level of chlorine/ chloramine in the water supply after doing work on the pipes or for some other reason, and you poisoned the fish with chlorine/ chloramine.

It's why you should always dechlorinate new water and aerate it for at least 5 (preferably 30) minutes before adding it to the tank.

 

[connorlindeman]

The dechlorinator should not have poisoned the fish even if it had been left outside.

It's possible the water company increased the level of chlorine/ chloramine in the water supply after doing work on the pipes or for some other reason, and you poisoned the fish with chlorine/ chloramine.

It's why you should always dechlorinate new water and aerate it for at least 5 (preferably 30) minutes before adding it to the tank.

You think that would kill them in less than 30 minutes? It was left outside in the sun and heat for about 3 days.

 

[connorlindeman]

The dechlorinator should not have poisoned the fish even if it had been left outside.

It's possible the water company increased the level of chlorine/ chloramine in the water supply after doing work on the pipes or for some other reason, and you poisoned the fish with chlorine/ chloramine.

It's why you should always dechlorinate new water and aerate it for at least 5 (preferably 30) minutes before adding it to the tank.

The water change seemed to remove whatever the problem was... if it was the actual chlorine and not the dechlorenator, why did the problem get fixed?

 

[Slaphppy7]

It was left outside in the sun and heat for about 3 days.

That could have degraded the product

I'm guessing that's not the proper storage, if you read the label

 

[Colin_T]

Chlorine/ chloramine poisoning normally occurs immediately after you add new water. The fish start gasping at the surface and depending on how much they have been exposed to, they can literally die within minutes of adding the chlorinated tap water.

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A dechlorinator left out in sunlight might poison the fish but normally when chemicals like medications are exposed to high temperatures, the reagents start to break down and simply don't work. Chemical poisoning will cause the same symptoms to chlorine/ chloramine poisoning except the fish might act nervous at the same time they are suffocating.

How hot was it outside when the dechlorinator was out there?

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If the water company added extra chlorine/ chloramine to the water after doing work or for whatever reason, the hyper chlorinated water will eventually be used up by other people and then you get water with a normal chlorine/ chloramine level.

The other possibility is there was something in the hose you used to fill the tank or you had something on your hands when you worked in the tank.

If you used a garden hose to fill the tank, these contain a softening agent that stops hosed from kinking. Hoses that don't kink for x number of years have more softening agent than cheaper hoses that start to kink after 6 months. But they can all leach the softening agent into the water that is sitting in the hose, and when you put that water in the tank you can poison the fish.

Turning the tap on and running water through the garden hose for 5 minutes will get rid of anything that has leached into the water. I used to water the garden before filling my tanks and holding containers with the hose.

The softening agents leach more in hot weather and less in cold.

 

[connorlindeman]

How hot was it outside when the dechlorinator was out there?

I was ranging from 60 at night to 80 during the day. I used my python for the tank inside, and the pond outside I used the garden hose.

 

[connorlindeman]

Chemical poisoning will cause the same symptoms to chlorine/ chloramine poisoning except the fish might act nervous at the same time they are suffocating.

These fish were floating around head higher than the tail. The corys were the most nervous of all. They were twitching around.

 

[StevenF]

It the bottle got hot in the sun some the water in the bottle may have evaporated concentrating the chemicals int the bottle. So you hight have overdosed it.

 

[Colin_T]

I was ranging from 60 at night to 80 during the day. I used my python for the tank inside, and the pond outside I used the garden hose.

I doubt a temperature of 80F would have changed anything in the bottle. However, if it was in full sun, it might have been hotter than that.
Do you lot get the temperatures from the shade or in the sun?

These fish were floating around head higher than the tail. The corys were the most nervous of all. They were twitching around.

That is typical for poisoning. As to what the poison was, it could be the water, the hose or the dechlorinator. But I doubt the dechlorinator would have been hot enough to change anything in its chemical composition.

I had bottles of dechlorinator in my fish room and it regularly sat on temperatures higher than 30C (86F) all summer and the fish were fine. However, my dechlorinator only contained sodium thiosulphate whereas yours might have other stuff that did break down.

Have you contacted the manufacturer and asked them if the dechlorinator is likely to degrade or break down if left outside at 80F?

 

[connorlindeman]

Do you lot get the temperatures from the shade or in the sun?

I honestly dont know Whatever weather.com says I believe

Have you contacted the manufacturer and asked them if the dechlorinator is likely to degrade or break down if left outside at 80F?

No I haven't. Maybe I should do that...




I use API Tap Wate Conditioner. I am not sure of the ingredients. Does anyone else know?