Is my new aquarium killing fish?

[Gannon]

I recently revamped this 5.5g tank after the betta that occupied it died. I used some spider wood I found on Amazon, some old gravel in a baggie (it was still wet idk if this is important or not), rocks from the existing scape, and plants from the old scape. The filter was the same sponge filter that I used before for years so this isn’t a cycling issue.

I put some endlers I had on hand in there and within hours they were struggling like this guy in the picture. I put 3/4 of them back into the quarentine tank they were in previously and they are acting normal again this morning while the endler remaining is still struggling.

anyone know what might be going on? Is there potentially some kind of toxic thing that got in the tank or something? I’m extremely confused and worried about the fish and my beautiful scape potentially going to waste. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Ammonia: 0

nitrite: 0 

nitrate: 20

ph: 7.6-7.8

kh: 3.5-4

gh: 7

TDS: 344
 

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Gannon
solved

[lefty o]

gravel still wet in a baggie, probably growing some kind of mold or something.

[BETTA999]

no its the shock of the change 

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:28 AM, lefty o said:

gravel still wet in a baggie, probably growing some kind of mold or something.

Would that effect the tank now? Huge bummer. Didn’t see anything on it so figured it was fine.

[BETTA999]

and it also the gravel

 

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:29 AM, bettta999 said:

no its the shock of the change 

This is half of a day after adding them. When I put them back into the quarantine tank they immediately went back to normal in an hour.

[BETTA999]

🤔 maybe its different parameters

[Guppysnail]

Since they are at the surface they are asking for more oxygen do a 50% water change and add extra airstones. That might help. Best of luck. Fingers crossed for you and your little ☝️ ones

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:54 AM, Guppysnail said:

Since they are at the surface they are asking for more oxygen do a 50% water change and add extra airstones. That might help. Best of luck. Fingers crossed for you and your little ☝️ ones

I did this yesterday 😕

On 1/31/2022 at 9:30 AM, bettta999 said:

🤔 maybe its different parameters

They're different yeah, because when you make RO water i find it hard to get the same exact paramaters every time, but they are negligibly different

[Gannon]

UPDATE: the fish that was left in there died. I have drained and emptied the tank, the wood and stuff smells faintly chemically. This might just be in my head but it defienitly smells off in some way. What should I do from here. Do I need to throw everything out?

[Guppysnail]

On 1/31/2022 at 12:37 PM, Gannon said:

UPDATE: the fish that was left in there died. I have drained and emptied the tank, the wood and stuff smells faintly chemically. This might just be in my head but it defienitly smells off in some way. What should I do from here. Do I need to throw everything out?

If I suspected toxin or chemicals I would scrape everything not hard plastic or glass. If it was just bacteria I would say keep what you can boil and use hydrogen peroxide on but chemical may seep into wood I’m not sure. I’m cautious though and don’t take risks. Plants you might get away with 30 day quarantine but I’m not sure. 

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 12:55 PM, Guppysnail said:

If I suspected toxin or chemicals I would scrape everything not hard plastic or glass. If it was just bacteria I would say keep what you can boil and use hydrogen peroxide on but chemical may seep into wood I’m not sure. I’m cautious though and don’t take risks. Plants you might get away with 30 day quarantine but I’m not sure. 

Do you mean scrap? And as an update, I think the wood smell might not be a chemical and may be just normal wet wood smell and the filter sponges may be a similar story. I just can’t think of what this could be really

[Flumpweesel]

It's there a heater in there ? I'm wondering if stray current could be to blame.

Hard to detect but sometimes you can feel a faint tingle when you put your hand/arm in the water.

[Guppysnail]

On 1/31/2022 at 2:11 PM, Gannon said:

Do you mean scrap

Yes sorry for the typo. 

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 6:03 PM, Flumpweesel said:

It's there a heater in there ? I'm wondering if stray current could be to blame.

Hard to detect but sometimes you can feel a faint tingle when you put your hand/arm in the water.

This is what I guessed! I figured out that it wasn’t.

On 1/31/2022 at 6:46 PM, Guppysnail said:

Yes sorry for the typo. 

Okay! Replaced the gravel and put the fish back in and they are doing fine. So so so bizarre. How was the gravel so foul if there was no ammonia or anything in the tank?

[Guppysnail]

On 1/31/2022 at 7:46 PM, Gannon said:

This is what I guessed! I figured out that it wasn’t.

Okay! Replaced the gravel and put the fish back in and they are doing fine. So so so bizarre. How was the gravel so foul if there was no ammonia or anything in the tank?

If you stored it wet nasty bacteria is my guess. The extra large water change with gravel change may have diluted it enough. But that’s just a guess. 

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 6:51 PM, Guppysnail said:

If you stored it wet nasty bacteria is my guess. The extra large water change with gravel change may have diluted it enough. But that’s just a guess. 

But the fish really didn’t get sick persay. They immediately got better when I put them in a quarentine tank, so much so that they bred. 

On 1/31/2022 at 6:52 PM, Gannon said:

But the fish really didn’t get sick persay. They immediately got better when I put them in a quarentine tank, so much so that they bred. 

I also did a huge water change when they were in that last last night and it did nothing

[Patrick_G]

I’m glad you figured it out! 

[Gannon]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:28 AM, lefty o said:

gravel still wet in a baggie, probably growing some kind of mold or something.

This ended up being the answer somewhat. Confused by the fact that the fish are perfectly healthy immediately when moved out though. They didnt and currently dont seem to be sick, but can the gravel still have this effect?

I refilled the tank and set it up with new gravel and everything is fine. 

[lefty o]

hard to say what exactly it could be, but damp environments can grow lots of nasty stuff. when storing fish tank items, always make sure they are dried out before sealing them up in a container or baggie.

[Gannon]

On 2/1/2022 at 12:40 PM, lefty o said:

hard to say what exactly it could be, but damp environments can grow lots of nasty stuff. when storing fish tank items, always make sure they are dried out before sealing them up in a container or baggie.

Yup big lesson learned whatever this was. Honestly had thought it had all dried but I suppose not. I’ll have to find a better way of drying it out next time I need to store substrate. Just at the time of using it figured it wouldn’t be so bad since substrates like eco-complete are sold in bags and wet.

[Torrey]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:37 AM, Gannon said:

UPDATE: the fish that was left in there died. I have drained and emptied the tank, the wood and stuff smells faintly chemically. This might just be in my head but it defienitly smells off in some way. What should I do from here. Do I need to throw everything out?

Had you ever used the spiderwood in any of your tanks before?

On 2/1/2022 at 11:42 AM, Gannon said:

Yup big lesson learned whatever this was. Honestly had thought it had all dried but I suppose not. I’ll have to find a better way of drying it out next time I need to store substrate. Just at the time of using it figured it wouldn’t be so bad since substrates like eco-complete are sold in bags and wet.

Eco complete is sold with controlled beneficial bacteria being added to a clean substrate. If you want to keep beneficial bacteria cultures in stored gravel or substrate, keep the substrate in a bin with an airstone running in it, and remember to feed the bacterial culture. If I know that I am going to reuse substrate in the next month or so, this is my approach. 

If I don't have plans to reuse, I dry it under sunlight (now that I live in an apartment, I use a sunlamp with UVA & UVB rays). Once the substrate is dry, it can be bagged or tubbed and stored.

Anaerobic bacteria won't show up on a water quality test, and can still cause problems with fish.

[Gannon]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:32 PM, Torrey said:

Had you ever used the spiderwood in any of your tanks before?

Eco complete is sold with controlled beneficial bacteria being added to a clean substrate. If you want to keep beneficial bacteria cultures in stored gravel or substrate, keep the substrate in a bin with an airstone running in it, and remember to feed the bacterial culture. If I know that I am going to reuse substrate in the next month or so, this is my approach. 

If I don't have plans to reuse, I dry it under sunlight (now that I live in an apartment, I use a sunlamp with UVA & UVB rays). Once the substrate is dry, it can be bagged or tubbed and stored.

Anaerobic bacteria won't show up on a water quality test, and can still cause problems with fish.

Makes sense. Thanks!