Don't know what happened!!!

[minismom]

Hi guys, I am very confused. I went out of town for a week. Hubby stayed home, on Sunday he called me and told me ALL of my fish had died. These were not new fish, the youngest was 2 years and the oldest was 6 years. He said they were all fine Saturday night when he turned out the light @ 8pm, And all were dead Sunday morning @8am. Even tha 2 algae eaters were dead, the only thing different that had happened was about 2 weeks ago we had a terrible storm and the electric was off for 30 hours. Any body have any ideas as I just don't understand what could have happened.

[Pepsidoodle]

Awe Kat I am sorry! I have no idea. You have had those guys a while. How sad.

Was there anyone else at the house that could have done something accidental maybe like spilling something in the tank. Did you guys change the food? I don't know. So sorry again.

[Bettachris]

very odd, b/c if anything they should of died during the power outtage, so i can rule that out for the cause of death.

unfort, that is not discriptive enough as alot of things can happen. when are the water changes? and what is the tank lay out, with filters and air stuff, and water temps.

the tank size, and fishes would be good info to post.

[minismom]

The tank size was a 30 gal. There were 2 algae eaters, 2 oscars,and a shark. The water had not been changed completely in a while, we would drain some out and replace and treat it. But it had even been a while for that. I really don't remember how long all I know was we were going to change everything out when I got back home but it was too late. None of them were sick or acting weird. Noone new had been taking care of them and food had not been changed. Hubby said that within the 12 hours they had died and were already very stiff by that morning.
The filtering system came with the tank and we had extra bubble bars in it. Hubby did say he put a new filter pak in the machine on Friday before they died.

[HEMIDAWG]

Must always rinse new filter packs completely!!
I rinse and then soak mine in treated water for a day prior to use!!
I found a filter pack with uncured glue on it one time!!
Sorry to hear about the loss!!

[Bettachris]

in the long run that tank was asking for trouble as it is very overstocked, so that may have added to the cause of the problem.

probably too much ammonia, or another water condition problem.

when stocking big fish in a small tank, daily water changes would be best, as oscars are messy eatters probably causeing the water to become bad.

in the long run, while yes it is always hard to lose an animal, that tank was poorly stocked, and probably it happened for a reason,

if you choose to go on with fish, change the tank water, and give it a good cleaning and stock smartly again. but slowly.

oscars- are a large S.A cichlid, that would require about 75 gallons / per fish. they tend to be messy eatters, so water changes are a must, and an strong filter is needed.

algae eatter- again needs to be more specific as their are alot of them, i am guessing a common pleco, in that case a common pleco would be good with oscars, but a common pleco can easly reach over 24 inches each.

shark- again their are many FW sharks, the most common, being balas or irridencent sharks. the bala sharks is about a 14 inch fish, and the irridencent sharks are easly over 40 + inches.

[minismom]

None of the fish were very big. The algae eaters were the biggest,at about 6 inches long. I treated the water and it showed no signs of being dirty. Also all of the fish but 2 were at least 6 years old. The other 2 were 2 years old. I don't think them being in the tank together would have killed them overnight after being together that long, but thanks for your oppinion.

I honestly don't know if hubby rinsed the filter or not but I have always rinsed them before putting them in. Mabe that is what it was I'll have to check.

[Bettachris]

if you haven't changed the water in awhile the ammonia and ph values would rise, and being those fish in an overstocked tank, the smaller the tank, of course the higher the values will be.

when you keep a small fish (with alot of potential size) in a small tank, they wont grow. thus is a process called stunting, where the fish will not grow but will lead to health conditons. thus acounnting how these fish are small.

oscars- lets face it, are not the hardiest fish in the world, and oscars can suffer from many common problems, and some may be internal making it hard to tell, in the wild oscars live in acidic water, and if the water is changed the water will turn into high alkalinity.

i under stand that this is a long term tank, and i have some too, but the water changes as i am sure you know are very important, and it is a must when you have large fish in a small tank.

just to clear it up, i am not saying that they faught if hats what you mean by saying overnight after all that time......
it just that a 6 year old oscar or even a 2 year oscar should be well over 10 + icnhes, indiccating stunting, leading to over amonia with no water changes, and other health problems.

take what i say for whats its worth, you want answers and i have gave you my opionin, but i feel that the filter has little to do with it.