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Just my luck. I've decided to buy a new plant and fill some empty space in one corner of my tank. A nearby store had just the right one, a nice big healthy Cabomba caroliniana. After a few hours of washing and picking some unwanted guests (mostly snails), I've put the plant into the tank. It looked quite nice. After a couple of hours (1,5 - 2h) I saw this...








A few of them were berried.

I have no idea what is wrong with this plant. I gues fertilizers or some disinfecting chemicals. Strangely the water tests were normal. After a quick water change I've managed to save 2 "rainbow" shrimps. Unfortunetely all my RCS, amanos and some MTS died... Even some of my fish "felt a disturbance in the Force". They were swimming like crazy and wanted to get out of the tank. I was so mad at myself, but nothing like this happend to me before.

Hi Allex

Sorry to hear of your disaster.
And thank you for sharing your experience, Most Hobbyist will not admit there failures.

I hope that other members will gain knowledge from reading this.

I never buy Plants from the LPS for this reason, you never know what is on the plant or in the pot they are in.

And if I receive a plant from another hobbyist I will quarantine it in another tank and do several water changes to help dissipate any unwanted chemicals.

Good Luck
With your tank recovery

John

I have no idea what is wrong with this plant. I gues fertilizers or some disinfecting chemicals. Strangely the water tests were normal.

Sorry to hear you had this problem

I think it might have been something used to treat the plants. The toxins may not be detectable by our test kits. I try to soak new plants in a bucket of treated water for at least a day. I have an airstone in the water for circulation.

Thanks for sharing with us what happened, it will help to inform other members.

Allex wrote:After a few hours of washing and picking some unwanted guests (mostly snails), I've put the plant into the tank.

Did the snails that you picked off the plant appear healthy? I'm just curoius because you say it killed your M.T.S. too.
What terrible bad luck. Those pictures are so sad.
Best regards.
Jep

I agree with John that chemicals on the store plant were probably to blame. As Neonshrimp said, we cannot test for those but they will most certainly kill inverts and make fish unhappy.

John is totally right that we should be careful to quarantine not only all new animals, but also plants. But I must admit, I'm not good about segregating new plants myself. Yes, it sure is hard to admit mistakes. But in so doing, Allex, you've probably helped other people be aware of precautions they need to take.

I hope things go better for that tank. If you haven't already, you should do a 50% water change. If there's still fish and shrimp swimming around like they're trying to escape the water, do another WC. If you can add some high-qualtiy activated carbon to your filter, that will help too.

I've made another big water change a few hours later, so probably more than 2/3 is fresh. The fish seem to be alright, two remaining shrimps are in a seperate tank and are stable. They don't move much, but are feeding.

I've bought many different plants from this store before and never had any problems with them at all. It's quite a shock for me. Too bad my shrimp had to pay the price for my impatiens. More than 50 of them died.

Allex wrote: More than 50 of them died.

oh goodness, I had no idea it was that many. Sorry for your losses

We lick our wounds and go on. The unexpected will always lay in wait for us. I know exactly how you feel. One day the water company switched to using chloramines and I had no advanced warning. The next water change I lost 2/3's of my inverts. It was devastating, but I got back on the horse.

You can never be complacent in this hobby.

You can never be complacent in this hobby.

This is so true. We learn from our mistakes and better care for our animals

Was it really caused by the plant?

I mean, if there were snails living in it; plus, it was not the first time you got plants from your same LFS...

Unfortunately, it's a terrible experience to have such a great loss...

Jep wrote:Did the snails that you picked off the plant appear healthy? I'm just curoius because you say it killed your M.T.S. too.

Yes, they were normal and healthy - just a few Gyraulus ablus. I don't know how many MTS died, but i think around 5-10. Mostly some older and bigger ones. I found another animal while cleaning the plant - a small dragonfly nymph. And it was alive.

Allex,
I am so sorry read your loss.
devastating, i know how you feel.

for me plant coming from firend hobbyist only enter in my invert tank and after a good querantine.

sorry again what does not kill us make us stronger.

Did you mention this to the pet shop owner/manager ? maybe they started using different products in there tanks and are unaware it is killing inverts or wanted inverts..? My only other guess would be that maybe You stirred up something nasty when u planted Your plant?

johnny1073 wrote:My only other guess would be that maybe You stirred up something nasty when u planted Your plant?

that's a good point. Disturbing a substrate that has not been aerated can allow toxic hydrogen sulfide gases to escape. I have heard of fish being killed after a smelly bubble burst when the person finally stirred up the sand at the bottom. I would assume those same anaerobic gases are also deadly to inverts.

I notice Allex has sand. The small particles compact and don't allow fresh water to circulate below the surface of the substrate. But I also notice he mentioned he had MTS and those guys will churn and aerate the sand and prevent anaerobic pockets from forming.