Lesson learned: pay attention to your tank

[chris_todd]

Last night after dinner I was watching the 65g mbuna tank in my kitchen and I saw several fish "flashing"; that is, scraping their sides on rocks or other tank equipment. I'm no expert, but I understand that's usually a sign of a parasite of some kind.

So I did a 50% water change and dropped in some Jungle Labs Parasite Clear Tank Buddies, little dissolving tabs of Praziquantel.

This morning, my wife wakes me up at 6:30 with "Honey, we're having a tank die-off in the 65". Oh, crap. Four fish corpses were lying on the bottom (three Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos 'Maingano' and one Rusty), and all the other fish were gasping and seriously sluggish.

A quick glance at the tank revealed that the airstone had fallen out of the tank, and the big Koralia power head I use to seriously agitate the surface had not turned back on after the water change (it was plugged in, but sometimes the impeller seems to get stuck). Between those two things and the medicine, the dissolved oxygen must have dropped precipitously. So instead of making myself coffee and breakfast, I did a 70% water change, fixed the air stone and Koralia, and made sure the surface got seriously agitated during the water change. 10 minutes after the water change was done, all the fish seemed back to normal.

So lesson learned: always check every piece of equipment after a water change.

 

[F8LBITE]

Sorry about your fish man. I just noticed last night my FX5 had gotten unplugged when I put a new heater in another tank on Sunday. fortunately it wasnt the only filter on that tank.

 

[jonclark96]

Sorry about your losses Chris. Hopefully everything else in the tank recovers.

 

[chris_todd]

Thanks, guys. Yeah, everyone else is fine now. Serious bummer about the Melanochromis, though, I love those fish. You wouldn't think a black and blue fish could be "vibrant", but these were. I still have three left, but I hope I can replace the ones I lost.

 

[Andrewtfw]

I have had similar experiences with the Koralia. Fortunately I did not lose any fish and added a sponge filter after that.

 

[Ophelia77]

I forgot to plug a heater back in once - good thing the house is at 75 and the water temp didn't drop too low!

 

[SubMariner]

Yes, always check every piece of equipment after a water change!

It happens to the best of us Chris so sorry to hear about your losses my friend.

 

[Tony]

Yeah, bummer Chris.

Glad the issue was easily id'ed though.

 

[Jigg's]

Ya I used those jungle tabs in a small tank thank god I was going back to the tank an checking every once an awhile. Buft when I can back for the third time I noticed my pleco swimming like he was drunk and flaring upside down. So I changed water and put carbon back in. im pretty sure I was over dosing my fish.buft after I did that they were back to normal. So that's what probably happened cause the air stone was not on and working in the tank and plus the water flow was not floeing cause your air head. Im sorry and yes I hope u can find beautiful fish like u had but u nevrr can replace the same fish with that personality. U kno . : )