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I was doing a larger than normal water change trying to get my nitrates down in my 100 gallon tank, after I added the new water my fish started randomly going belly up. I lost maybe half my fish, and the die off progressed really quickly. I got Sheldon out first and he seems fine. I have him in his outdoor basking area, current temp outside is 87 so he us ok for now....

I just don't know what the hell to do now... I have a 100 gallons of seemingly toxic water in my living room, with my filter running. I am scared to use my faucet water. It must be something in the water....,I did everything I always do. I'm so confused. I doubt anyone here will really be able to h....elp, but I'm not sure what to do.... Some of those fish were really old... I'm heartbroken

Whoa, sorry to hear it. I'd just dry dock him indoors overnight. Your water is probably fine, though I would just do a full change and clean up tomorrow. Maybe check to see in any locals also experienced the same too (fish boards, craigslist, kingsnake, etc).

Ok, thanks for the reply Steve. I feel bad about dry docking him, but I suppose that's safe route.

Dry docking in a completely dark space is not a problem. They go to sleep pretty quickly.

OK thanks, luckily he knows that tub pretty well at this point so he will feel relatively comfortable. I managed to save half the fish by filling a bucket with water from my 55 gallon axolotl tank, they sewn to be ok. I decided to take one fish and put him back in the tank to test it out, he died a half hour later.

I have to give a disclaimer: I'm not discounting the sadness - and oddity - of losing fish you have had a long time, I am just offering a few things to consider.

I was doing a larger than normal water change

That could explain part of the problem. There are just so many variables.
Regardless of how long you have had the fish, take into consideration how long Sheldon has been living with the fish. I would guess they have become accustomed to a turtle/fish environment versus a fish-only environment. If the change is more than normal for Sheldon, then it is more than normal for the fish and can have negative results.

According to a story I found, "...When a sudden, large water change occurs, it causes such a drastic shift in the makeup of the water that the fish often cannot tolerate it and they die. Those that do not die immediately are stressed and may succumb to disease over the next few weeks or months. Naturally the owner thinks that the water change was the cause, and therefore, a bad idea." This is from the following article, but please keep in mind, that Sheldon is part of the mix, so you have to take the story in context, and not focus solely on the fish-only aspects - http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/water ... gekill.htm

As for Sheldon living in a toxic wasteland, I had the same concerns over Penelope at one point.
A sage on this site gave me some advice "Remember it's a turtle. It can climb out of the water and breathe air"
That was the *smack* I needed. Against my deep seeded desire to snag her and put her in a perfect environment and wanting an instant fix, I let it run it's course and the water health was fine in the end.

I hope things turn out well for you in the end.

Many, if not most, aquarium specialty stores do water tests for free. Maybe take a sample to them and see what they say from the fish perspective.

Sorry to hear about the fish

It maybe some type of chemical additive that does not come up on normal water param tests.
It could be your municipal supply added something different. Have you ruled out contamination of your water changing equipment?

Thanks for the replies guys. I am still pretty baffled by the whole scenario, I did everything I always have. I have been doing 40% water changes weekly for the past 3 weeks trying to get my nitrates down, and last night I (unfortunately) removed about 60% of the water. I literally watched maybe 10 fish die within a matter of seconds, though it wasn't immediately after I filled it up, about a half an hour later I would say. I have honestly not had a fish die in my tank besides the ones Sheldon picks off in years! The ones I scooped out and got into the bucket of water from a tank downstairs were acting funny at first, but within an hour or so were swimming happily in circles. Which is awesome because 3 of these fish have lived with Sheldon for years, they even have names... Thank god Sporapolous, Cletus and Jerry are fine! I decided this morning at like 3 AM (couldn't sleep...just laying there thinking about my stupid aquarium issue) to take one of my less beloved fish and put him into the tank again. When I woke up this morning the fish was happily swimming around, so I decided to go ahead and put Sheldon the survivors back in there. I am super confused and scared of water changes now.

The only thing I can think of that would maybe have an impact like that at first, then wear off by morning would be chlorine I guess. I don't know though, maybe there was a random extra chlorinated batch of water coming through my pipes last night...

Our water supply in Idaho is a little sketchy due to mining at the headwaters of the river that provides the water supply to our valley. http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/06/1 ... utant.html I just can't imagine something changing so rapidly in the water supply that would have that drastic of an affect, I did water changes on 2 other aquariums the night before and all the critters seemed absolutely normal. I am a member of a local aquarium forum, no one has had any experiences like this. I have a feeling I will never really know what happened.

Hopefully when I get off of work today everything will be OK.

I found a reason the city might have upped the chlorine, this article is about Lucky Peak Reservoir which is where all our drinking water comes from. http://www.ktvb.com/home/High-E-Coli-le ... 16505.html Possibility?

If the water you were adding was a different temp. that may have also done it.

I considered that, but it only lowered the tank temp down to about 75 from 80. Its been really hot here in Idaho so my tank has been too warm for a couple days. I doubt a 5 degree swing would kill that many off. In the winter when my cold water is really cold the swings are more drastic and no one ever went belly up before....

5 Degrees is a lot for a fish to handle quickly. That easily could have been the cause.

Well maybe. Just seems unlikely because they have had so many temp swings in the past. The ones that I saved I put into tank water, its even colder. Oh well everyone seems fine now. Just have a lot less fish

Were you able to do any tests on the water?

Well yeah, I did my usual API test kit action. Same as usual, no ammonia, no nitrites &.medium nitrates. Its that what you mean Steve?