Did I kill my fish with an airstone?

[markon87]

Hi All,

I bought two fish last week, one firefish and one royal gramma. Put them in a 10 gallon QT. After a few days, I noticed that gramma is chasing firefish so I added a divider to the tank to keep them separate. Around that time I noticed that gramma is scratching a bit so I decided to use API General Cure. Since a divider blocked a bit of water flow and because it says on the box of API General Cure I decided to add two air stones, one for each fish. I did that last night and this morning I found gramma dead and firefish breathing heavily. Turned off the airstone but the firefish was soon gone too. Is it possible that I killed them with an airstone or was it maybe something else. They were hiding a lot and didn't eat much but they didn't look like they are going to die over night. Any ideas what could it be so I don't repeat it?
Thanks!

 

[TangGang]

Hi All,

I bought two fish last week, one firefish and one royal gramma. Put them in a 10 gallon QT. After a few days, I noticed that gramma is chasing firefish so I added a divider to the tank to keep them separate. Around that time I noticed that gramma is scratching a bit so I decided to use API General Cure. Since a divider blocked a bit of water flow and because it says on the box of API General Cure I decided to add two air stones, one for each fish. I did that last night and this morning I found gramma dead and firefish breathing heavily. Turned off the airstone but the firefish was soon gone too. Is it possible that I killed them with an airstone or was it maybe something else. They were hiding a lot and didn't eat much but they didn't look like they are going to die over night. Any ideas what could it be so I don't repeat it?
Thanks!

Airstone definitely wouldn’t kill them. Scratching for anything other than a wrasse I would immediately treat for marine velvet, it will kill rapidly. API general cure doesn’t treat for velvet, or ich, so it is highly likely that your fish died of one of those two diseases. Did they have little white spots all over them when they died?

 

[markon87]

Airstone definitely wouldn’t kill them. Scratching for anything other than a wrasse I would immediately treat for marine velvet, it will kill rapidly. API general cure doesn’t treat for velvet, or ich, so it is highly likely that your fish died of one of those two diseases. Did they have little white spots all over them when they died?

Thanks for your response. I didn't see any white spots until this morning when gramma was already out and firefish was having problems. Then I noticed few spots on firefish but nothing comparing to before when my other fish had a ich problems.
Where is the ich coming from? I'm asking because the fish looked fine when I bought it and my tank was without fish since I started it 4 months ago.

 

[Greg P]

Possibly a parasite suffocated them or ...
Were you monitoring ammonia?

 

[markon87]

Possibly a parasite suffocated them or ...
Were you monitoring ammonia?

Yeah, ammonia was 0, I also did two 20% water changes in that week.

 

[SaltyT]

Hi All,

I bought two fish last week, one firefish and one royal gramma. Put them in a 10 gallon QT. After a few days, I noticed that gramma is chasing firefish so I added a divider to the tank to keep them separate. Around that time I noticed that gramma is scratching a bit so I decided to use API General Cure. Since a divider blocked a bit of water flow and because it says on the box of API General Cure I decided to add two air stones, one for each fish. I did that last night and this morning I found gramma dead and firefish breathing heavily. Turned off the airstone but the firefish was soon gone too. Is it possible that I killed them with an airstone or was it maybe something else. They were hiding a lot and didn't eat much but they didn't look like they are going to die over night. Any ideas what could it be so I don't repeat it?
Thanks!

Sorry for your losses. Breathing heavily, scratching and hiding are all signs of velvet. The fish were probably sick when you bought them. Fish harbor the velvet parasite in their gills before the dots manifest on the body.

 

[markon87]

Sorry for your losses. Breathing heavily, scratching and hiding are all signs of velvet. The fish were probably sick when you bought them. Fish harbor the velvet parasite in their gills before the dots manifest on the body.

Thanks. I guess I can rule out the airstone. I used it for the first time and the fish died over night so I was a bit suspicious about it.

 

[Greg P]

Probably suffocation then. Adding airstones wouldn't have killed them in your situation, unless the pH was 'really' low before hand and you had ammonia. Not likely.

 

[TangGang]

Thanks for your response. I didn't see any white spots until this morning when gramma was already out and firefish was having problems. Then I noticed few spots on firefish but nothing comparing to before when my other fish had a ich problems.
Where is the ich coming from? I'm asking because the fish looked fine when I bought it and my tank was without fish since I started it 4 months ago.

Ich and marine velvet might not be visible on the fish depending on the stage in amyloodinium ocellatum (marine velvet) life cycle. If they are in the form of dinospores (free-swimming) then you cannot see them and the dinospores can be infective for 15 days. So it is highly likely that the water with the fish had some velvet dinospores and they infected your fish and quickly killed them.

 

[markon87]

Probably suffocation then. Adding airstones wouldn't have killed them in your situation, unless the pH was 'really' low before hand and you had ammonia. Not likely.

Measured pH this morning and it was 7.8

 

[markon87]

Ich and marine velvet might not be visible on the fish depending on the stage in amyloodinium ocellatum (marine velvet) life cycle. If they are in the form of dinospores (free-swimming) then you cannot see them and the dinospores can be infective for 15 days. So it is highly likely that the water with the fish had some velvet dinospores and they infected your fish and quickly killed them.

I have few rocks in that tank that I would like to reuse in a different tank. Since this is all (ich, velvet) is contagious is there a way I can use these rocks? Dry them or something like that?

 

[Greg P]

Measured pH this morning and it was 7.8

Just trying to answer your initial question. No, you didn't kill them with the airstones.

What I was getting at was only if you had ammonia to begin with would pH be a factor, and it would have needed to be low before you started oxygenating the water. So not your issue.

 

[markon87]

Just trying to answer your initial question. No, you didn't kill them with the airstones.

What I was getting at was only if you had ammonia to begin with would pH be a factor, and it would have needed to be low before you started oxygenating the water. So not your issue.

Thanks for your help! I appreciate

 

[Hugh Mann]

I have few rocks in that tank that I would like to reuse in a different tank. Since this is all (ich, velvet) is contagious is there a way I can use these rocks? Dry them or something like that?

You can reuse them, but you have to rid them of the velvet first. Like ich, part of the velvet lifecycle involves encysting on to a hard surface, so that rock is certainly contaminated.

1: Wait it out. Leave it for 45 days for Velvet, 76 for ich.
2: Drying. Has to be completely dry for 24 hours. Given the porous nature of the rocks we use, this will take a very long time.
3: Boiling. High heat kills ich and velvet. Boil for at least an hour, two if you want to be cautious.
4: Bleach. I don't remember the required ratio, but a strong bleach solution will also kill any encysted ich or velvet. Soak the rocks overnight and air dry for several days.

 

[JGT]

Unless you clubbed your fish over the head with the air stones, they didn’t kill your fish. Sudden onset of death sounds like velvet.

 

[blaxsun]

If it's any consolation, I've had more fish die due to unexplained causes since this whole COVID fiasco started. From what I've heard from various sources in the industry, fish in the pipeline have just been sicker and generally more stressed due to flight delays, mishandling, wild temperature fluctuations, etc.

That isn't to say this is the case, but this is something trending right now.

 

[markon87]

Unless you clubbed your fish over the head with the air stones, they didn’t kill your fish. Sudden onset of death sounds like velvet.

haha, no I don't think I clubbed them over the head

 

[markon87]

If it's any consolation, I've had more fish die due to unexplained causes since this whole COVID fiasco started. From what I've heard from various sources in the industry, fish in the pipeline have just been sicker and generally more stressed due to flight delays, mishandling, wild temperature fluctuations, etc.

That isn't to say this is the case, but this is something trending right now.

Ok I didn't know that. Maybe worth waiting with buying new fish