Tank Fatalities 3 - 6

Last night was tragic.

We changed part of the water in our fish tank—something that must be done regularly in a new tank to maintain a 0 ammonia level. We dechlorinated the new water, glad finally to have a dropper which could measure the appropriate miniscule amount of dechlorinator (before we just had to pour as small an amount as was humanly possible, and worry about over-dechlorination). We put the new water in the tank, and sat down. We have done this regularly over the past few weeks, with no ill effects.

Within 5 minutes, it was clear the fish were not doing well. One danio died instantly; another was puttering near the top in an unhealthy amphibious way; the neon tetras were bunched at the bottom and graying; if the platys had brows, they would have been furrowed. Mr. Plec did not submit an opinion.

We instantly pulled new water in a bucket, de-chlorinated aggressively, and moved all the animals still living into it. Moving Mr. Plec was challenging: he did not want to leave his rock-cave and, when forced to by the removal of the rock, proved adept at color-changing in order to blend against the black gravel.

We emptied as much water as possible from the tank, without removing all the healthy bacteria we had cradled from Baltimore to DC a couple weeks ago. We mixed new water, and agonized as we poured our animals back in.

The danio with the amphibious ambitions died when returned to the tank—flipping horribly, ludicrously for a few seconds before expiring. So did one neon tetra. Mr. Plec—disoriented by the turquoise bucket, the trip, and the new placement of his favorite rock—decided to fight the frog over ownership of the back left tank corner. After a tense minute, the dispute was resolved: a very pink, flustered frog was sitting on Mr. Plec’s head; Mr. Plec was attached to the back left corner glass, sucking the bitterness of victory.

This morning one more neon tetra and a platy were dead. The two remaining tetras were less gray, but I have doubts about their surviving the day. The platys looked better, as did the frog. The remaining danio was lonely but healthier. Mr. Plec was in his rock.

We still don’t know how we managed to kill so many fish in one night, with one water change. PH and ammonia were fine; we followed the directions on the dechlorinating stuff.

We can only assume that DC’s water was, for that particular moment, especially toxic. Or that DC injects so much chlorine in the chemical soup that is our civic water that the only way to render it livable for fish is to overdose the dechlorination.

If the former, we’re not sure what to do. If the latter, then I’m at least grateful that we had been over-dechlorinating because of the lack of a dropper. Otherwise, we probably would have killed all of our new animals instantly.

Glad Riggs is sturdier. And better at communicating his needs.