Goldfish died...water was dark red/burgundy?

Question
Just following up with you because I just saw a
news report about the recall of generic tylonol (acetaminophen) which was mentioned as being a
concern if purchased from Walmart.  THAT IS EXACTLY
WHAT I HAD PURCHASED!  Now I really wonder if the
fish dying and the color of water had anything to
do with what they reported with the pills which have
been recalled.  I will definitely take the pills back.
I haven't replaced any fish in the tank yet.  I had
just been keeping water in the take as if there were
fish to see if the water would change color again before
I try again.

Just thought you would be interested in knowing this
update.  Something ugh?

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I am clueless.  We have been trying over and over again to keep goldfish in a 2 gallon tank.  But I have never seen this happen before.  The 3 goldfish (at least one of them as my husband said he rememered seeing at least one of them swimming midway-level of the tank) were apparently fine earlier in the day and the water was apparently fine.  However, within about 6 hours later, the water turned a deep red or burgundy color and all three fish were dead...floating.  We bought the fish and transfered them to the tank this past Saturday.  All seemed fine.  I had explained to the sales person that one of the fish in the last set that died apparently had some sort of white mucus from his fin before it and the others died (the others I suspect died from stress as I tried to remedy the first fish's problem by cleaning the tank...I think I moved the fish too much or something).  Anyhow, the salesperson told me that instead of using the ick stuff I had bought, to put a regular tylenor tablet (even said walmart's generic brand was fine) in the tank and even on a monthly basis perhaps just drop a tablet in to be sure the fish are okay for maintenance.  Fish were fine, seemingly Saturday.  Sunday, we fed the fish flakes.  Monday afternoon my husband said he could see at least one fish swimming around (he wasn't really looking to see all the fish but was in the bathroom where they were and remembered seeing one swimming fine).  By about 6 pm or so Monday evening, the water was such a dark red color, you could barely see through the 2 gallon tank and the fish were floating atop the water.

I do have like a pink gravel which I got from a thrift store.  But I did rinse the gravel SEVERAL times before placing it in the tank.  Not only that, I have used this
gravel before with the other fish and have never seen this colored water ever before.  

I do have  3.5 year old but he says he didn't put anything into the water.  I could see anything in the room which could have caused such a deep red color in the room even if he had.  So I really don't think he did anything.

The water temperature had gotten to be about 80 degrees upon my seeing this final condition.  We didn't have the tank light on but the weather is warmer and we do have the tank in a bathroom which does not have a window on the 2nd floor (however, I did make sure to close the heat vent to the bathroom so the room wouldn't over heat).

Could the tylenol have caused this condition?  The fish seemed fine at first though.  Not only that, they swam around far more than any of the other fish we had ever had did before so I thought for once we were doing everything right.

I did condition the cold tap water before placing the fish into the the 2 gallon tank and I did let the plastic bag sit in the tank to acclumate the fish to the temperature before placing them directly into the tank.

Have you ever heard of putting tylenol into a tank before?
Could that have caused a problem?

I also thought it was blood and that maybe somehow a fish was mauled or something.  But none of them seemed to have been bitten from what I could tell.  

I had just changed the bubble stone too.  I had snipped the plastic tubbing on both ends for the bubble stone to make sure that I had a secure fit on both ends.

Thank you for any help and/or insight you can provide.
-----Answer-----
Hello,

I recommend always getting a second opinion on anything you hear from people who work at pet stores. Sometimes they are just people who know nothing about fish but need a job.

You should NEVER put ANY medication intended for humans in your aquarium. This could be what turned your water red, and is very likely what killed your fish.

If you would like a product to help your fish stay healthy and happy, I recommend Melafix. It is a natural antibacterial designed for use in aquariums. You can add it as weekly maintenance or to help treat disease outbreaks.

I am sorry that the pet store gave you such horribly wrong information. Always make sure that everything you put in your aquarium is designed specifically for aquarium use.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Stephanie

Answer
Hello,

Well, it is horrible that the tylenol you purchased was bad, but whether it is bad or good it could have killed your fish. The red color could possibly attriubuted to the bad tylenol though.

This is very interesting to know.

Regards,
Stephanie