Lost almost all my fish in a few hours :(

[paulcy82]

I have a question that I am desperately trying to get an answer to. I noticed a few weeks back white feces in 2 of my fish. I started a course of parasite meds. First up was general API 2 weeks ago. All went well, everyone eating and acting normal. I did a water change yesterday, added prime, and started the 2nd round of treatment. This time I used paracleanse due to being out of general API. Within a few hours, my tank clouded. I did an immediate 25% water change and they seemed ok for about an hour and then the water clouded again and the fish were at the top gasping for air. I lost 70% of my fish before I discovered. ☹ I noticed that some of the fish(angel) had very red color right were their pectoral fins connect.

 

All was fine with the first treatment. I added a sponge filter with airstone to the tank a few weeks back since the parasite meds need more oxygen. I tested my water and discovered that I have 0ppm of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates....0....I must have lost the cycle, but how? I just don’t understand what I did to cause this. Could the meds have killed all beneficial bacteria?



 

[Mmiller2001]

19 minutes ago, paulcy82 said:

I have a question that I am desperately trying to get an answer to. I noticed a few weeks back white feces in 2 of my fish. I started a course of parasite meds. First up was general API 2 weeks ago. All went well, everyone eating and acting normal. I did a water change yesterday, added prime, and started the 2nd round of treatment. This time I used paracleanse due to being out of general API. Within a few hours, my tank clouded. I did an immediate 25% water change and they seemed ok for about an hour and then the water clouded again and the fish were at the top gasping for air. I lost 70% of my fish before I discovered. ☹ I noticed that some of the fish(angel) had very red color right were their pectoral fins connect.

 

All was fine with the first treatment. I added a sponge filter with airstone to the tank a few weeks back since the parasite meds need more oxygen. I tested my water and discovered that I have 0ppm of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates....0....I must have lost the cycle, but how? I just don’t understand what I did to cause this. Could the meds have killed all beneficial bacteria?



 

How old is the tank?

[paulcy82]

2.5 years ago.

[Mmiller2001]

Just now, paulcy82 said:

2.5 years ago.

Sounds like a bad batch of meds. There's no difference in API or Fritz, just different manufacturer. If you can rule out any other possibilities, I would assume a bad batch of meds. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates does not mean you lost a cycle.

[paulcy82]

I suppose it could be, but I certainly hope not. I just bought the bottle about 2-3 weeks from aquarium co-op. You would think if the meds were bad that 100's of bottles would be bad and people would be posting? I would even bet with how much the store uses that they would be using bottles from the same batch and would notice. I don't suppose there is a safe way to test the meds...I just don't understand how I can go from 30ppm nitrates to 0ppm in a matter of hours.

[Mmiller2001]

1 hour ago, paulcy82 said:

I suppose it could be, but I certainly hope not. I just bought the bottle about 2-3 weeks from aquarium co-op. You would think if the meds were bad that 100's of bottles would be bad and people would be posting? I would even bet with how much the store uses that they would be using bottles from the same batch and would notice. I don't suppose there is a safe way to test the meds...I just don't understand how I can go from 30ppm nitrates to 0ppm in a matter of hours.

Could be a bad test. Those API test kits are hobbyist grade.

[anewbie]

Check the instructions on the med - some of the meds will kill beneficial bacteria. Fish death would not be immediate but over a day it can be quite serious. I would be less concern about the nitrate test level (though it seems odd it would be 0 even if the cycle crashed); but focus on nitrite and ammonia test as those are the  substances that are deadly for the fishes. If ammonia and nitrite were also 0 then that would not be the cause of the fish death.

[MJV Aquatics]

First, I don't think I've ever had a fist tank with zero ammonia, nitrites, AND nitrates. It's possible that the meds negatively affected the beneficial bacteria and there was a resulting ammonia spike.

Sorry for your loss.

[GardenStateGoldfish]

I think the water changes were the problem not the meds, if you live in the United States this time of year they do flushing of the pipes in many municipalities, do you have city water in the United States? The gasping at the top sounds like chlorine/chloramine. During flushing sometimes you need to double or even triple dose the prime, it’s best to just not change water right after large storms/flushing on municipal water supplies. 

[Gbear]

Sounds like tank crashed and the readings were off because prime was just added.. 

[paulcy82]

Well, here is another update. I tried this med on another tank, 75G, fx4, extra air stone, 2 years old. I changed no water and added no other chems...after dosing paracleanse, about 1-2 hours later, the tank clouded up and the fish were at the top. No one died as I was watching this tank and pulled the fish immediately....I don't get it. If the meds are bad....I would think others would be having this issue as a whole batch would be bad...