4 of my discus dead

[drifty]

I am still shocked and upset. I have had my 4 discus in my 54 gallon planted tank for over 2 years. Today i did a waterchange, and forgot to plug the filter back in until later that night when i found all of my discus dead. Is it because of the filter being off that they died? I also had one other fish in the tank that is not a discus but it survived. I want to know why my discus suddenly died.

Thanks guys

[dandaman352]

Did you check your water parameters? Give us the works, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, temp.. etc

[drifty]

temp is 78-80

ammonia was .50 (Usually is at 0)
nirtite 0
Nitrate 0
ph 6.4

[dwilder]

i dont think the filter not being plugged in for a few hours would kill them that quick especially right after a water change.did you forget something else like to add dechlor?

[drifty]

I actually never add dechlor ( maybe thats the problem) and will start too now. I find it weird that they would all die at the same time and theyve been fine for 2= years. This is just way too weird.

[ILLUSN]

sounds enviromental to me if they all just dropped dead after a wc, id be guessing chlorinr and ammonia in your tap water.

[drifty]

Maybe your right, but theyve been fine with this water for their entire lives. I am planning on getting new discus to repopulate the tank but i am scared they will die now.

[dandaman352]

Invest in some prime, or ammo-lock. Your not suppose to have any ammonia in your tank. So the ammonia itself could of been the cause. Sorry to hear about your loss. live and learn man.

[dwilder]

get some prime or something similar and you should be fine it sounds like you have ammonia and chlorine im sure if your not on a well like was said in a 2 year old planted tank you should not show ammonia so it probably came from the tap

[drifty]

yes, it must have been the water. Because i rechecked the ammonia today and its at
0. Thanks guys for everything. This may be a dumb question but what is prime? Is that just a dechlorinator that they would sell at a pet store. Thanks everybody

[AHC]

sorry to hear about the loss. :( Just shows how sensitive they were in the environment supplied.

[ILLUSN]

Prime is a dechlorinator made by seachem, its removes chlorine, chloroamine and ammonia, it also detoxifies nitrite

[dandaman352]

just out of curiousity while we're on the subject if you do have nitrite lets say in your tank or ammonia and you add prime does it still show up on your tests even if its been neutralized or would it not show up at all

[AHC]

Yeah it still shows up mate. But you know its not toxic if you have used Prime. Its also good to note (Prime aside) the lower the PH, the less toxic ammonia is - but naturally that does not mean to rest up on water changes. Lots of big water changes is the key then gradually move back to your usual 2 - 3 times weekly (depending) is the best way. I say this only because you can treat for current ammonia using Prime but more ammonia can build up and if you have only treated once - thinking that its all clear may lead you down an awful track.

[dwilder]

you might want to test your tap water to see if the ammonia came from the tap if it did then you'll want to use something like prime to take care of the water or every water change you'll poison the fish