All of my salt water fish have just died!Help!?

Question

I am reposting this under another question b/c my initial question had little reply and we really need help:
We put a rubber mat under the pump to reduce vibration noise and by the next day 5 of our fish are dead and two are dying. We have a salt water tank w/live rock. The entire tank now smells like rubber and so does the live rock. What happened? We have actually seen rubber mats suggested for this purpose? What do we do now except thouroughly clean our tank and mourn our lost fish? Does anyone know what would have caused this?

Answer 1

I'll refer you tomy answer from your original question. I still think it was chemical fumes in the rubber mat that got pulled into the air pump. I still would recommend using a silicon baking mat or pure silicon pot holder as an answer to preventing it from happening again.

A 50% water change and replacing the carbon in the filter should remove enough of the toxin to make the tank safe again.

Once again, very sorry for your loses.

MM

Answer 2

My first question would have to be, what kind of pump do you have and where is it located? Having a rubber mat to keep your filter from vibrating isn't going to hurt your fish, unless it is IN your tank.

Secondly, what kind of fish and how long has your tank been running?

Salt water is not like fresh water. Salt water takes 6 weeks no less to properly cycle and ready for damsels, no tangs triggers puffers. Bacteria in a salt tank need to hit mature levels. This will not happen in 6 weeks. It takes roughly 6 months for bacteria to mature enough for higher end fish.

Live rock added too quickly or too much or too soon will die in a tank that has not started to cycle. The dieing live rock will spike the ammonia levels killing the rest of your live rock.

NO MATTER what you hear this is a fact. Low end live rock can be placed in the tank in intervals just like fish. Higher end live rock can then be added to finish the project later. NO FISH.

To assist in the cycling project, tossing in a couple of pieces of raw fish or shrimp and allowing it to decay will help cycle the tank but nothing replaces Mother nature. PATIENCE is a MUST in a salt tank. I

If you are planning to aquire more fish, DO NOT DUMP your tank or you will have to start all over again.
Have your water tested. Nitrates should be around 20-40 even as high as 60 ppm. (Unless you have invertabreas). Your ammonia should be no more than 10 ppm (and still be safe try to keep it lower). DO NOT rely on dip strips. These are designed to allow the permisable level to read as 0. You need a good water test kit. Or have your local pet store test your water.

The tank smells like rubber because rubber smells. If it did not come in contact with the water, it didn't leach anything into it.

Your filter if it is hanging on the rear of your tank if it is making a vibrating noise, you tank may not be level. You can buy sticky bads to place beneath the screws and end of the filter instead of using an entire rubber pad. These are compressed cellulose.

Your rubber pad is not melted is it? You did not accidently cover the air intake with this pad?

It is difficult to say without more information. Feel free to IM or email me and I will try to help you figure out what went wrong.

I am sorry for the loss of your fish. I know how attached one can become.

Answer 3

Does the rubber mat look burned? I'm sorry that this happened and I would've done the same thing had I wanted to dampen the noise. It's just one of those terrible, unfortunate accidents. Obviously, somehow, the heat of the pump warmed up the rubber mat enough to cause toxic fumes to get sucked in through the air vent and sent it into the tank water. It's a very sad lesson to learn and certainly wasn't your fault. Do, probably a 50% water change and change the filter because those toxins are going to get stuck in there. I'm so, so sorry!

Answer 4

The chemicals in the rubber may have killed your fish...for the same reason they say never to clean your tank glass with Windex or any cleaner with chemicals, as they can seep through the glass and fish are very senstive to the chemicals.

Was the rubber mat you bought one that indeed, was for this purpose or just a regular rubber mat? Ones made for tanks would be made safely and differently from regular rubber as to not cause any problems for your tank and fish.

So sorry for your loss...

Oh...make sure you remove your remaining fish from the tank and keep them in water somewhere else, like a smaller fishtank, until you know if they are going to make it and until your tank is safe again.

Answer 5

The Quran mentions 'barzakh' meaning a barrier. It separates salt water from candy water. The 'Barzakh' is incredibly no longer a barrier . this is in fact the different . The waters are no longer forbidden to tresspass. candy water flowing from the rivers and salt water do no longer mixture at latest yet ultimately they mixture. this is like once you pour milk in a cup of coffee they do no longer mixture rapidly yet once you stir them they mixture.

Answer 6

I think Danielle Z has things pretty much wrapped up on this one. Good advice.

Answer 7

You know chocolate milk is the answer.