when waking my son up this morning, i noticed that all but 2 of his fish had died overnight. (he had molly's, danios, an algae eater and a goldfish). they were all fine just yesterday. the only thing i can think of is that recently i noticed a few pieces of 'fools gold' rocks in the bottom . my son is notorious for putting his 'pretty rocks' in the tank, regardless of my yelling at him to NOT put anything in the tank.
could a few pieces of pyrite kill the entire aquarium?? what about quartz? or any other kinds of stone? any idea would be greatly appreciated.
Answers:
Iron pyrite aka iron (iv) sulfide has a much lower dissolution than calcium carbonate so it wouldn't leech much in the way of iron into your aquarium however unless you are talking about a planted aquarium you don't usually want iron. It seems trace ammounts of iron won't affect teh fish dirrectly, how ever the side affect is brown algae which can be unsitely. Most gravels sold at the store are smooth stones of quartz, which is inert in all kinds of water and therefore a very good material to use in a fishtank.
Shells, coral, limestone or marble will affect the pH of your tank and should only be added if you are sure your fish can tolerate it.
There may have been some contamination on the stones or on your son's hands however that polluted the water
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I would think if the rocks were not clean or had some kind of other matter on them, it could be a problem if this was not something you ever had a problem with before.
My worst problem is the actual water and making the PH just right, and making sure all the man made chemicals are out, like the chlorine and copper and chloride that man puts in water to add to taste.
If your son is secretly using water from a faucet to fill the tank, that could be a problem.
I would suggest buying a PH water test kit.
They are not expensive but price may vary, and use the test strips to see what condition your water is in.
If you prefer you can take a sample of water in a paper cup to your fish dealer to have the water tested to see what you may need to add or if you need to change anything at all.
I have to constantly test and change out my water.
I have to make changes every 2 weeks by partially changing out the water.
I bought a long 50 foot clear plastic hose that has a filter on it and an adjustable sucking and blowing feature you can get at any pet store and that helps to suck out dirty water and refill with clean water.
But I must emphasize that the water conditions could be too hard or too soft and you need the PH just right.
So many variables to deal with.
Also remember different fish have different life spans and ages and will tolerate water better or worse than others.
Algae eaters are actually delicate and cannot stand very many changes in water conditions.
I had 2 fish die on me in the last 3 weeks because my water looks nice to the naked eye, but in reality, the PH was far too low.
When I had my water tested, the pet store man told me I shocked my fish to death.
Now that's sad.
I have heard that different rocks can change the PH of the tank, possibly making it unlivable. Do you have test strips to check that? That would be the first place to start.
Sorry, I cannot remember where I heard this, but I recall it because I used to put large agate peices in my tank.
Maybe try going to www.drfostersmith.com?
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