RDFISHGUY Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Lost my polystigma,livingstoni, otter point and lemon jake due to a nitrite spike on sat. I noticed something was off with some fish breathing a bit heavy but wrote it off as stress due to netting another fish . I left the house just after 12pm and came back at 5 pm to find the carnage. It could've been worse I guess. A few water changes later and the rest are fine. I should've done something about it before I left. Live and learn I guess. :boxed: :bang1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Sorry to hear that Did you find out why the nitrite spiked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDFISHGUY Posted April 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 Sorry to hear that Did you find out why the nitrite spiked? Best guess is that when I did my water change I moved some rockwork around and possibly stirred up an ammonia pocket. I noticed one real dark spot in the sand. I've since removed some of the sand to try and prevent this from happening again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon71 Posted April 8, 2008 Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 Damn.........that sucks. :cry: I am glad to hear the rest are OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharuq1 Posted April 8, 2008 Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 That is terrible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDFISHGUY Posted April 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 One thing that I really should mention here is that when I opened the lid to net out the dead fish there was a rotten-egg smell.... a sure sign that something was stirred up in the substrate. Looking back , there was one spot, behind a rock , where the sand was a very dark color. I wrote it off as fish poop but this was the likely source. Hopefully this information will help someone in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shai Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 Sorry about the losses. Had you been remembering to stir your stand a bit at each waterchange? I usually use a chopstick or my multi-tool. Should help keep things from getting built up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted April 13, 2008 Report Share Posted April 13, 2008 That damned anarobic (?) bacteria strikes again. Sorry you lost good stock. That's been a tough one for me to learn about too. For those new to this it's a great lesson to learn from us. I'm glad you posted this. This kind of build up happens to us when the substrate is too deep , ornaments never moved to clean under, build up of detrius behind ornaments or under wood. *Beware of the black clouds of death. * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted April 13, 2008 Report Share Posted April 13, 2008 Sorry to hear about the loss. I've got a deep sand bed in my 135, and when I've been doing water changes lately I've been making much more of an effort to actually get to the bottom and get the sand moved around more. I've been getting tons of big bubbles coming up, and some pretty black sand has been stirred up, but I've yet to have any deaths or even notice any odd behaviours in any of the fish when I've been doing it, and this is in a pretty heavily stocked tank. I'm even finding black sand in areas that are getting vacuumed every week. I've been meaning to remove some of the sand, and after hearing that something COULD go wrong because of it (and the lack of plants to actually need the sand that deep), I think I'm going to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted April 26, 2008 Report Share Posted April 26, 2008 (edited) Yeah as others have said, try to stir up the sand a little with every water change, this will help reduce the amounts of gas held in by the sand. Sorry to hear about your losses, I know what it feels like to lose precious fish to a nitrite spike. Next time you see any fish acting not normal, do a quick water change. It will for sure help with any problem, and reduce the risks of it happening again Check out this great video on cleaning your sand http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/cleaning_sand.php Edited April 26, 2008 by firestorm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 (edited) I have a 72 gallon that has been set up for a year and I have never once touched the sand! I'm worrying about my fish as I type! Thanks for posting this. It's another example of, "If you only learn from your own mistakes - you're an idiot!" Sorry for your loss RDFISHGUY, but thanks for the post. Edited April 30, 2008 by For Lack of a Better Term Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farleyfish Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Sorry to hear about your loss! Just wondering, I have gravel in my 75G cichlid tank...can there be bad pockets in gravel substrate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDFISHGUY Posted May 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Depends on how much flow you have and your maintenance schedule, but it is entirely possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.