Absolutely Devastated NEED HELP PLZ

[Brent Shaver]

I just got home from camping, only been gone since Friday afternoon and I walked in and my 110 was a milky color and every one of my cichlids were dead, well with the exception of about 6 fry and 2 adults and somehow my 11" pleco made it.

I am doing water changes like crazy and trying hard to keep the rest alive.  I have pulled all the rock, all the dead fish     I did move the fry that was alive to my other tank as I dont have a hospital tank, hope I didnt just transfer the problem but couldnt want them die.

My best guess is I lost approx 26 fish and IT DOESNT MAKE SENCE!!!

If I can solve this which I have my doubts I will be left with only my fry and 2 cichlids, and my pleco and he has what looks like a white film on him as well so pretty sure I am going to lose him as well.

If anyone has anything that can help me solve this could you please give me a call as I am aobut to lose my mind.

Please only call if you can help as I am busy

My cell is 613-862-6757

Thanks Brent

[Brent Shaver]

So far

2 - synodontis multipunctatus 4-5"
3 - Pseudotrophis Socolofi 3-4"
1 - Red Fin Zebra 5"
8 - Bumble Bee 2m/6f 4-6"
2 - Red Zebra 5"
4 - Yellow Labs 6"
1 - Pseudotropheus sp Acei Ngara 4"
2 - Pseudotropheus Acei 6"
5 - fry

Now the only living fish is one hybrd cichlid and my pleco, I am thinking I will be able to correct the water enough to save hiim as they are pretty strong and hardy but this has just drained me completely, I have never felt so useless in my life....

[salvini55]

sounds like a bacterial bloom. Havent really ever seen one in a freshwater tank that will turn the water white, usually green algea bloom. Look up "culminaris bactor" sp? it will claim the lives of the fish usually within 24 hours. I suggest 90-100% water change

[Brent Shaver]

Well I am already on the 5th 50% and now I know for sure that I have all the fish that died out of the tank, unless there is a couple fry I just cant see.  I am now just murky and is getting better with the water changes.

[Brent Shaver]

Sorry yes I will check that out, and thanks for the info.  Just not thinking straight right now.

[dan2x38]

Brent sorry for your loss!!!  No answers for you if not algae bloom maybe a fish dies and fowled the water then created a chain reaction.

Were you able to do any water tests? Had you recently done a water change? We've had a lot of rain lately that creates some nasty run offs. 

My Africans some times spawn. I never try to catch them just leave them. If they do I wil grab them and pass them on if you like. Hope you can save the last of them.

[Brent Shaver]

I did a 50% water change Thursday night knowing I was going to be away.  The water tested fine, no problems that showed.

As I was removing the rock it was too hard to tell which fish was where but possibly when that quake hit there was a minor (understatement) avalanche I didnt notice and a fish got trapped.

As for testing the water when I got home, cant say I did, I was in a panic to get the dead ones out and try my best to save anything alive.  Still working on the tank and going to boil the rock before i put it back and like I said there is only the pleco and one hybrid in the tank right now and I believe it is going to stay that way for a while.  This type of loss is not something I even considered unless I came home to my tank broke and them on the floor.  Once I get the water right I will move the fry back over.  In the meantime I am going to do hourly water tests on the other tank till I am sure nothing is going to go screwy there.

I am so glad I didnt pick up my black acei's yet.

As for the fry Dan, I appreciate the offer but I am going to hold of on adding anything more to this tank for a while and then I am not even sure what I am going to do with it, as I said I have a couple black acei's that I am going to be getting and I really have to rethink quanity and types before restocking...

[ciaus]

Brent, I am truly sorry to hear of this loss.
One thought has occurred to me,  If the water is a milky white, it is probably bacterial, and i have seen it before, usually when the existing "good Bacteria" is being stressed to the maximum.  Usually if it is caused by the migration to a larger tank, the system will self adjust in a few weeks...If on the other hand, the tank crashes you will see a much more opaque milky color.  There are only two ways to correct the crash, massive water changes unitl your system can rebuild itself, you will be doing a complete cycle with fish inhabiting the water column.  The other way would be to add a UV filtration system to take on the bacteria causing the the milky color...either way is not a good outcome for the existing critters as it is very stressful, on them too.

As to what caused it?  I would speculate two things contributed to it....an over aggressive water change on the Thursday, before you left, weakened the "good guys", this combined with the newly added bioload of your new inhabitants, ( cherry shrimp spawn) were enough to crash the the tank, and you just weren't there to intervene.  Back luck.

HTH

Ciaus

[Brent Shaver]

Shrimp and cichlids are in 2 different tanks.

Still at a loss why, but the loss is substancial just the same.  Did some reading and it seems it is bacterial related, and a 50% water change shouldnt have shocked anything in the tank, I had about 100 lbs of rough rock in the tank.

I am starting to think that with the bacteria and the possiblily of me missing a fish that got caught in the rock work after that quake.. Who knows, just very expensive and extremely depressing as this was my pride and joy, the other tank was nice but this one was #1 to me.

Live and learn I guess.

[markw]

Brent, Don't get misled by the white water. They may have died a few days ago and just left the slime residue to taint the water. Any chance your filter crashed, or lost all its bacteria? Usually massive deaths occur when temperatures go extreme, a toxin enters the water or the ammonia levels become toxic after a filter crash. A disease will usually kill fish slowly, and even one or two dead ones will effect nitrate levels but it would take a while to kill off the whole tank.
If you want to "change lakes" I can give you a bunch of my Tanganyikan fry to get you going again when you're ready.
Three years ago I lost over half my stock(350 w/c adults) when I had a big problem with my central system. I posted my story here on OVAS and 2 of the nicest guys from Montreal offered to give me a bunch of their fish to help replace mine. I'll never forget their kindness and the fact that thats what makes the hobby what it is. So please let me know if I can help you out and whenever you're ready let me know.
Good luck and sorry for the loss.
Mark

[charlie]

Hi Brent sorry for your loss,good luck in your restocking.
Regards

[bitterman]

Brent, I wish there was something I could say to help

Good luck and I have some fry for you if you decide to go frontosa.

Bruce

[Jeff1192]

Brent,

That's a tough loss. I definitely agree with Mark on this one. Something happened here more than just a dead fish causing this and I really don't think it's the water change. I do at least 50% changes every Saturday on my 90 gallon. I too would tend to think that something happened to your filter or a toxin got in the tank. Pretty tough to explain that large of a die-off in such a short time any other way.

Jeff

[Brent Shaver]

Thank you all, and I agree it is a mystery.

Thanks everyone that has offered to help restock my tank, as of right now I think I am going to work on this to keep the couple I have left alive and go from there.  Greatly appreciated and wont be forgotten.

Now I am going to go fall into a bottle of rum and try and wash this day away.

[Fishnut]

Oh dear!!   I'm so sorry to hear that Brent. 

I think you're right in the fact that you must have missed a fish that got trapped in the rock slide, or like markw said, maybe your heater decided to make it into a discus tank temperature wise .  The water change, as most have mentioned is ok, so don't beat yourself up over it.  With all those dead fish in the tank, I'm not surprised that it was all cloudy...and it would have been useless to test the water after the fact because of there are that many dead fish in the tank, there is going to be a very high level of toxins.  There's no way you would have been able to determine if there was an increase in toxins before they all died. 

You've done everything you can do.

I'm not an african cichlid person so all I can offer is a stable tank to keep the remaining fish in...if you want to keep them at my place for a bit.  I have a 40 long that inhabitants are being moved out of.  Their quarantine is over and they're healthy.

Hug...you sound like you need one

[salvini55]

be careful if you decide to boil the rock! I highly suggest boiling water and pouring on the rocks. My point being that sometimes there are pockets of trapped air inside the rock that when heated, will expand and the rock will explode possibly causing you harm. Just a caution

oh and +1 on the rum! Hang in there

[FishBuddy]

Hey Brent,

Very sorry to hear your misfortune   I know how it feels as I've been there before.. 
Anyways, there's always light at the end of the tunnel...  I am willing to offer you the following to help you get started again:

1)  2 ps. acei 'luwala reef'; around 3.5' each.
2)  a pair of a. nayase 'tangerine'; 1M/1F around 3' each; these are beautiful fish.
3)  a pair of a. stuartgranti; 1M/1F around 2.5'each; nice colors

Let me know when you would like to pick it up and it's yours.  I was going to sell them initially but what the heck; we have a hobbyist to save now

So far

2 - synodontis multipunctatus 4-5"
3 - Pseudotrophis Socolofi 3-4"
1 - Red Fin Zebra 5"
8 - Bumble Bee 2m/6f 4-6"
2 - Red Zebra 5"
4 - Yellow Labs 6"
1 - Pseudotropheus sp Acei Ngara 4"
2 - Pseudotropheus Acei 6"
5 - fry

Now the only living fish is one hybrd cichlid and my pleco, I am thinking I will be able to correct the water enough to save hiim as they are pretty strong and hardy but this has just drained me completely, I have never felt so useless in my life....

[Nerine]

Sorry to hear of your loss

[RoxyDog]

So sorry to hear Brent.    I only have a reef so cannot offer much help, but there are some great fish offered here and hopefully you'll find inspiration in that and build up a great tank again.

[Blackstitch]

Sorry to hear of the whole tank crashing. I'm not exactly sure what I would do if I lost my cichlid tank, seeing as to I have rusty cichlids in there, and I'd like to keep them even though they are all brownish in colour.