Amano Shrimp and Algae Eaters Dying

[TxBabyCat]

Well, Bill cleaned his 30g tank again last night .. trying to clear up all the algae that keeps coming back. He bleached the tank, bought new gravel, bleach dipped the nana plant and one small holey rock. We just got a new holey rock and he washed it (no bleach) before he put it in. Rinsed tank a few times and set it all back up.
All the ph and everything was just fine on the strip last night. I warned him about putting the fish back in there without letting it run a while, but he put them all back in last night.
Got up this morning... tank is very cloudy - the 8 shrimp are all dead, the 3 ottos are dead and the 3 golden algae eaters are dead. I have removed the other fish in the tank out.

He checked the water and it reads:
200 hardness
1/2 chlorine
8.4 Ph
200 Alkalinity
80 cyanuric acid

What happened? Anyone know?

[tsunderl]

Two things come to mind... Most likely is that since everything was bleached or new, the tank had not cycled. The cloudiness is part of the cycling process.

Second is that de-chlorinator wasn't added.

[biggin]

How about the amonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes?

[jabbott]

I wouldn't expect lack of cycling to kill them so fast, especially with a seasoned filter. Does bleach rinse out and dissipate completely?

[tsunderl]

From what I understand, the cyanuric acid is a by-product of bleach, but not usually lethal.

What was the pH running at before the cleanout?

[biggin]

No bleach does not.... but the amounts remaining would most likely just cause a ammonia spike.

If the filters were bleached it would kill any cycle that had happened.

[TxBabyCat]

Yeah I would think there wasnt enough bleach in there to hurt them. Hmm I need to ask him on the de-chlorinator, I wasnt watching him real close, so maybe he forgot that. But I told him he needed to let it cycle. He came home at lunch, and was all sad, called himself a fish-killer. And he said he would listen to me now, my word is carved in stone..LOL

Let me go check and see if I have a strip to check the nitrates and nitrites.

The fish that did survive are 6 gouramis, 2 ottos (only one died), 2 emerald cory cats and the little clown pleco.

[TxBabyCat]

The Ph ran about 7.4 before the cleanout and it was about 7.9 last night. Before the cleanout thou, it didnt have that new big piece of holey rock. He only had one small piece of holey rock and of course we have the big driftwood piece in there.
2072

I dont have any more test strips :(.

I know he bleached and rinsed the intake tube and the filter box, but not the actual filters or the bio-wheel.

[TxBabyCat]

Well here is the tank after a few days, it is getting clearer. He's agreed to let it set until all is well.
It was probably an amonia spike like you said Biggin.