# My fish all died.



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

When I went to work last night, everything was fine. When I got back home this morning, though, all my fish were dead. All of them. In EVERY single tank in the house.

My clocks aren't flashing or anything, so it wasn't a power outage. There's no sign of forced entry & sabotage, either.

The only possibility I can think of involved a funny smell that was in the neighborhood last night. I guess that stinky plume was more toxic than I would have expected.

*sigh*

The worst part is that this is the 2nd time this has happened. I'm thinking it's time to hermetically seal my house!

Well, I guess now I get to have the fun of starting all over again. No, really! I love planning out new setups.
Anyway, I just wanted to let those of you who are struggling know that every now and then, even us old salts run into major problems. Don't let the occasional setback get you down.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

*It can happen to anyone*

When I went to work last night, everything was fine. When I got back home this morning, though, all my fish were dead. All of them. In EVERY single tank in the house.

My clocks aren't flashing or anything, so it wasn't a power outage. There's no sign of forced entry & sabotage, either.

The only possibility I can think of involved a funny smell that was in the neighborhood last night. I guess that stinky plume was more toxic than I would have expected.

*sigh*

The worst part is that this is the 2nd time this has happened. I'm thinking it's time to hermetically seal my house!

Well, I guess now I get to have the fun of starting all over again. No, really! I love planning out new setups.
Anyway, I just wanted to let those of you who are struggling know that every now and then, even us old salts run into major problems. Don't let the occasional setback get you down.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

And it isn't even mosquito-spraying season. Some sort of firework? Some of that crap is legal here again. And the stuff that isn't is available, too. Flaming papers land on our roof.

Let us know what you are looking for. We can get a lot of fairly rare fish here in Atlanta.

Keep some water for testing. It would drive me nuts not to know.


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## DeepFried (Dec 27, 2012)

Wait... what? Every single fish... That's terrible man. What kind of stinky plume was it? and what did it smell like?


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## MainelyFish (Sep 20, 2012)

Sorry to hear that... I cant imagine losing all of my fish at once... It would be devistating esecially if it happen twice...


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## Charlie1 (Dec 31, 2011)

Thats sad, sorry to hear this! Do you have inverts? Did they die, or only the fish? If not you may be able to hypothesize. Do you have neighbors who own fish, if so did their fish die? Was the smell present bon both occasionsm the fish died? Just questions to consider...


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

So sorry to hear that, TOS. That really sucks.


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## Cichlid Dude (Mar 25, 2012)

That's really too bad. I know I would be totally bummed if my fish all died.


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## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

sour abut that, how many tanks do u have?


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

wow.... sorry to hear that, i would be pi$$ed big time.
how on earth did all your tanks get contaminated?????


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

good thing i didn't send those odessas.....i will dig around and see what i have available for you...a pair of albino bushnose maybe...won't be a whole lot ; but i'll be more than happy to help..


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

I'm with emc. I'd be going nuts not knowing what did it. 

Sorry to hear none the less. Glad to see you're looking at the bright side of having the chance to redo everything.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Call the ATF, have them check your neighbors for a sarin lab. Also, do you have a carbon monoxide detector?

I have lots of convicts, endler's, Limia Perugiae, and some sword fry. If you like, I can send you a few, or let me know when you are over here and we could meet up. The limia are a really pretty little molly-like fish. I don't have much breeding right now.


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## kcrunch (Aug 17, 2012)

It has to be a gas that is in your house. If this is not the first time it has happened I would check the exhaust from your boiler or water heater. I know the feeling of losing all of your stock and I know your pain. Sorry to hear, on the note to finding what the problem is the only thing that separate tanks have inside of your house is the AIR.


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## kcrunch (Aug 17, 2012)

Check the exhaust that is coming from stove, boiler and water heater. The air is the common factor between the tanks.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

That just bites, I couldn't imagine coming home to that kind of loss. I am also with you on the only upside being that you can get new fish and start from scratch. I would definitely want to know what was in the water first. Any chance that they were electrocuted by a surge of some kind? A surge wouldn't cause an outage, but might blow heaters? I don't know how possible/plausible that is, but it might be worth a check.


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## kcrunch (Aug 17, 2012)

To blow every heater in the house would be a crazy thing. The common issue that all of the tanks wold have in common could be the current but I think you would have noticed if all the heaters were blown. Which leads me back to the other common factor of the tanks which is the air they share in the house. Do you have central air/heating? What type of heating system do you have? Boiler/ and or hot water heater? Something contaminated the tanks and in a short amount of hours caused death to each and every inhabitant it would have to be something very strong.What are you feeding them? Check the food if all shared. Do you do maintenance/water changes on all tanks recently? What were the water conditions added if so. Just a few things to toss around to figure this mass death issue out. The whole thing would haunt me and I would not be happy until I figured it out.


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2013)

Do you flea bomb your place? When my mom flea bombed her place when I lived with her and had a 20 gallon tank plus a betta tank. I covered the tanks but the flea bomb stuff somehow got into the tanks and killed my fish. I was so very sad that I lost my fish that were in the 20 gallon and the betta that was in his on tank.

It could be many things that could have killed your fish.

Sorry to hear that you lost your fish. I hope that you can find out what killed your fish.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

I think I remember the last time this happened to you - wasn't it pesticides or something? 

Sorry about all your tanks though  We would be pretty devastated if that happened to ours.


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## cossie (Dec 19, 2010)

And i thought you knew the anser to everything ;-)

Hope you take as much positives form this as possible will be nice to see what your new scape will look like.

Good luck fella


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Sorry for the double post. I didn't think it went through the first time. I merged the 2 threads.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I have no gas in my house; it's turned off. I'm sure the cause was whatever was stinking outside. Smelled like cat pee.


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## DeepFried (Dec 27, 2012)

http://www.myreporter.com/?p=5792


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## C. King (Dec 14, 2012)

how devastating. Please let us know when you find the cause. Since it has happened before, I would not set up again until the cause is clear, because it could continue to happen. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Sealing up a house will just suffocate you and the fish. Industrial scale air-filters would cost a mint. If you could find the culprit, you could sue, and maybe they would buy you one in 40 years after it goes to court. Maybe an annual plant cleaning routine or some homemade smoke bomb. It doesn't even have to be something toxic. A blanket of nitrogen will suffocate if it sits in a low spot.

Last year there were news of bird kills in Arkansas and the previous new years also. They were blamed on fireworks making them fly into the ground. But gas would do the trick, to.


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## graceful.04 (Oct 30, 2012)

Oh no! I'm so sorry... I have beautiful young guppies turning pink, purple, yellow, and black already that I'd love to send you if you wanted them


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The cops just popped a Meth lab down the block, so that might have been it.


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## Vayurules (Dec 7, 2012)

Well, I thought about breeding GBRs, so I can send you some juvies possibly. And a meth lab? How bad is your neighborhood?


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Meth chems are bad, but so are the "smoke-em-out" bombs the cops use. Meth labs pop around here in foreclosed or rental houses, usually in "good" neighborhoods because the lots are larger and so are the garages. So do grow-houses. 

What's next?


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## kcrunch (Aug 17, 2012)

This may not be an actual solution to completely eliminate the problem but I would suggest installing an exhaust fan. even if it is only in the kitchen. Get a strong one as strong as possible but with a good energy rating. Even the most expense of running it 4-5 times a week when you are not home to notice trapped chemical resonants the fan will at least keep the inside of your place circulating. When you are home you will be there to take necessary precautions but the issue will be when you are not home just put the fan on before leaving the house. Most decent fans will cost only a few bucks a year and that is running like almost 24/7.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Not a bad idea. I'll check into it.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I was thinking you needed an air-intake stack so that you could suck clean air from over the miasma on the ground. Don't know how to pull it off. Could be natural, do you have "swamp gas", wetlands near that could exhale methane or HS?


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## Fishnut2 (Jan 18, 2005)

Salty,

Let me know what kind of fish you want. I might be able to put together a box. I'm mainly breeding piranha now, and I know you can't have those. But I have some other breeder sized fish, and it'd just be a matter of conditioning them for a spawn.


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## TankdreamerJim (Sep 25, 2012)

Did you do water changes on the tanks at the same time?


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## TankdreamerJim (Sep 25, 2012)

If it happens again I would put all the fish in a bag and contact you local Environmental agency because if it's killing all your fish it could possibly be causing you harm too!


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

Wow! I'm sorry to hear of your loss TOS. I'm curious to find out of he saved a sample of the tank water and get it tested to find out what kind of contaminations gotten into your tanks.


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