First Fish Additions

Mike,

Did you notice any unusual smells, like rotten egg?

Sorry to hear about the fish, not really sure what could have happened to them :-(

John

 

John,

It smelled really bad this morning when I woke up...exactly like rotten eggs!!!!!!!! I don't know what happened...other than Ammonia went from 0-->8ppm in a matter of 2 days, nitrite went from 0-->0.5ppm in a matter of 2 days, and nitrate went from 40-->0ppm in a matter of 2 days...

I am really upset by this and feel sooo bad for the fish! I wish I knew what I did!

-Mike

 

Mike,

OK, I think the fish were killed by a very small build up of Sulphur Dioxide in the sand bed.

Although Deep Sand Beds do have a value in converting Nitrite to Nitrate they also have a problem, that if not maintained can get a build up of Sulphur Dioxide which is very toxic and smells like rotten eggs.

I think in a previous post you mentioned that there was a layer of brown algae on the sand? This probably sealed the sand and cause a larger than normal oxygen free area which built up a bit of SD. Along comes the goby which I am sure immediately started to disturb the sand but and in doing so released some of the gas.

Mike, the whole DSB 'thing' is contentious and I may be completely wrong in what I wrote above as it being the cause, but, if it was my tank I would tear it down right now and get rid of all but 1-2 inches of sand. JMHO

John

 

OK...John, I really appreciate the help, but as I'm sure you know, that is gonna be a huge and expensive undertaking and I want to make sure that that is indeed the problem before I take it on...

As for the Sulfur Dioxide problem you thought...I never said anything about there being brown algae on the sand...in fact, the sand looked very healthy and the goby didnt really disturb the sand at all...after all...he was only in there for 1 day and hid behind the same rock the whole time except for eating! The tank didn't smell particularly like rotten eggs this morning...more like SMELLY SMELLY dead fish (which I find similar to rotten eggs)!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me tell you what I think might have happened! When I initially cycled my tank, I'm sure you remember, I used 2 jumbo shrimp and 27lbs LR added to the tank about a week after the water and sand had been added. I only saw a peak of 2ppm in ammonia and hardly ever saw any nitrite (0.5ppm), then eventually ammonia and nitrite disappeared and there was 40ppm of nitrate (this all happened in the matter of a week)...so im pretty sure it could be possible for my tank to never have fully cycled...could it be possible that the adding of the 2 fish just totally over bio-loaded the tank and therefore increased the ammonia to astronomical levels...and now it seems that the nitrite seems to be building up therefore indicating that the tank may be cycling!?!?!

I am gonna try to continue to just let the tank sit and "cycle" for a few days and see if my prediction is correct...if the ammonia starts to go down and the nitrite rise and then nitrate finally i will have my answer! Unfortunately, I feel bad for the fish and wish I could have done this the right way! Im hoping that my LFS will be understanding, and while im sure they wont replace or reimburse...maybe they will be willing to cut me a deal on replacements!!!!

Anyway, tell me what you think!

-Mike

 

Well Mike, My opinions are really only one of many things that could have happened and you may well be quite correct

I simply based what I wrote on what you said ( rotten eggs ) and also in a different thread you mentioned that you had ' die off ' on your rocks and sand.


I hope you have better luck when you add another fish. Might be best just to add one small fish to start with and then add more at a later date.

John

 

Mike I am sorry to here about your loss :'( I know how you feel.
I just want to say that some like a DSB and some don't I have a 41/2" sand bed and as of yet I have not had a problem with it.
What John said could have indeed happened and I am not saying he is wrong at all. Like I said before he has been doing this a lot longer than I have but I tend to agree with your analysis and is what I was saying before about being worried about such a short cycle.................. John

 

John,

Just to let you know, and to make myself clear I would be very surprised if it was the sand bed itself as it has only been a very short time.

It's just that I personally have had a dsb crash hence my question about the smell. There is only one thing that I know of that smells that way and when it was initially confirmed I could only think of Sulphur Dioxide, the dsb and the goby

John

 

JohnO, I really appreciate your DSB concerns...I will definately keep it in the back of my mind, but given the short cycle period I witnessed and the obvious HUGE spike in ammonia and now rising nitrite, i am going to give it some time and try to see a cycle through! I will keep you posted! I just feel very bad about the fish and wish I wouldnt have put them through all of this! Any more tips and/or suggestions from everyone would be great!

Thanks again,
Mike

 

No John ;D I do agree with you about that, and that is why I said that what you said may have indeed been what happened, I also agree with your analysis by the smell of rotting eggs (Sulphur Dioxide) and If I may say you did also suggest to Mike to only add 1 small fish. And by him adding 2 fish he may have increased the bio load past what the system could handle causing the ammonia spike. And that is why I agreed with what he said. So John I am not disagreeing with you at all I am agreeing with you. But I am also letting Mike know that this is what I was afraid would happen with such a short cycle ............. John

 

:'( :'(

I really can't add anything more than what those guys said, just expressing my sympathies to you.....