I killed my clowns ...

[tariesindanrie]

Sorry, Rich.

Hugs, Kate

[sophie]

Rich, that's horrible.
hope you track down the cause soon.

[rich]

I thank you all for your sympathy and advice.
As planned I tore apart the whole tank today and found nothing whatsoever. The water parameters were ok, no foul black areas in the underground, the wood was without any signs of decay, no tinfoil part from the frost food blister packages aso.
When I removed the tank to reach the lamp to controll if the condenser had a failure and was sweating something nasty, a tiny brownish drop fell onto the now empty shelf. It came from a miniscule leak in the backside silicone of the aquarium above the loach tank. The water worked it`s way between the plates of the upper shelf and took some stuff with it, which poisoned my fishes.
Emma you are right, the polyfilter would have helped, it might have bought me the time to realize, what was going on. I haven't found them yet on the german market, but I must admit that I didn't look for it thoroughly yet.
The '91 incident was bthw. my fault, I backwashed the house tap water filter the days before it and must have set some unhealthy particles loose. I didn't sent the water through a carbon filter before using it back then.

[helen nightingale]

Rich, thats terrible news. i feel for you. i am glad you have now found the problem so as you can get it fixed. i hope all the other fish are fine.

best wishes

[rich]

Thank you Helen. The other clown's fate is not decided yet. They are still quite shy, fast breathing and not eating. The first and the last are surely an effect to the brutal change into the new aquarium. It's the breathing thing that worries me. Lots of fresh water and some conditioner should help.

[Tinman]

Hang in there......

[Mark in Vancouver]

That sucks, Rich. But as Helen says, it's some relief to know the cause.