Drydock Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 I have had my tank up and running since August... seeded it with filter and gravel from my existing tank, didn't overstock. I have lost 4 fish in 2-3 days and I have no idea why. Ammonia (NH3 NH4) 0.25 ppm pH 7.0 I am injecting pressurized CO2 and using Estimative Index for fertilizing plants. Water changes are every weekend - 50% Filter is a sump with bio balls and pot scrubbies I am feeding NLS and frozen mysis as a treat a couple times a week. Fish don't appear to look sick until they end up dead. i spend a good 5-10 minutes a day looking at everything in there to see if something is up. I just got glasses, so it shouldn't be my eyesight, though you never know... So far, I've lost Female Kribensis Red Line Torpedo Barb (Denosi) German Blue Ram Red Laser Cory It's basically a community tank. Tetras, rainbows, the rams and barbs... Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm baffled right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 (edited) Is there too much CO2? I have no clue on that one, just asking a possibility. The thing I suspect is that if you are getting anything above 0 on the NO2 and ammonia that there is an issue there for a cycled tank will read 0. You may want to test levels at different times of the day too as they may spike at night and not as noticeable during the day . Any possibility of a corpse or dying foliage somewhere hidden that may be throwing your levels? How deep is your substrate? How many plants? etc. Unfortunately I don't know anyone on here who has not gone through something like this and esp. me included. Edited January 12, 2009 by Qattarra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Yeah unfortunately looks like a mini cycle has started for some reason; keep testing and do a lot of WC Adding additional prime will help, look on the bottle for directions in emergency dosage. You are not alone in this: happens to all. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 When was the last time you cleaned out your filter? I am only grasping here... if you have more then one filter when was the last time each of them was cleaned out... Maybe it is some kind of internal parasite??? Sorry for your losses and wish I could be of more assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 When was the last time you added new fish? Is there any dead plant matter in the tank? Overfeeding?Could a fish have died and you not noticed its body? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Roger, there is no way you should have any Ammonia - in your tank it should be LESS THAN 0! So, for some reason, something is producing it faster than your plants & filter can keep up. Have you removed a lot of plants this week - a monster trimming? But, then you'd need to be doing some serious overfeeding. Even having those 4 fish laying in your tank dead shouldn't cause much of a change, tho. Just so everyone else knows, it's a 230, fairly heavily planted tank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Question, is there any rot going on in your sump? You might wanna check that. I didnt have any pre filter in my sump once, and then the mulm built up in my biomedia and cause some rot, also causing a mini cycle that was hard on my fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 OK, here are some more answers to your questions all at once. No time to go and answer them one by one. Filter - Filter Sock (Mechanical)gets changed every 2 days. Biomedia hasn't really been touched since I set the tank up... CO2 - less than 20 ppm. Edmonton water out of the tap is 7.8. I am only lowering it down to 7.0. Shouldn't affect the fish. New Fish - Added 3 Flasher Barbs in 2nd or 3rd week of December. Dead fish - I never did find the kribensis. I just haven't seen her in 3-4 days. The other ones I got out, only after they were floating... and stinky. Overfeeding - Who doesn't. If you ask the fish, I don't feed enough. (Who do you believe eh?) Ammonia - I am using the API test kit with the two reagents. Since the test kit measures Ammonia AND Nitrate AND Nitrite, what affect does using EI have on that type of kit? No monster trimming. I did take some plants out on Saturday, but I would say it was less than 1/8 of my bio mass. Not a MONSTER cleaning up - pruned the lily, hygro and about half of the 'mystery plant' that was floating. Fish losses were on both sides of that activity... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Just a thought. I caused a mini cycle adding 2x the recommended dose of excel; this caused a massive die-off of algae ( there was a lot of it).....lost a fish. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Your female krib may or may not be dead. I thought one of my male firemouths was dead b/c I hadn't seen him in almost a week... he's almost 4", and my tank is only 135. EI will raise your NitrAte reading only. Not sure what could have caused it, except maybe the new(d) Flashers :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 I suggest not feeding for a few days or until things are back under control. I also would stop all additions of ferts CO2 etc. Doing a 50% WC, checking for dead things and just keep an eye on things for a few days. After that start things up one at a time with close observations for any changes. This should be enough for your bio filter to catch up (fingers crossed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 No feeding is a good idea, but I'm not sure about CO2 and ferts. Keeping the plants growing is going to keep you from getting an algae bloom. If you do end up stopping CO2 and ferts, cut your light way back, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Jason would know best (better than I), my suggestion was just to get it back to basics to figure out where there might be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Your female krib may or may not be dead. I thought one of my male firemouths was dead b/c I hadn't seen him in almost a week... he's almost 4", and my tank is only 135.EI will raise your NitrAte reading only. Not sure what could have caused it, except maybe the new(d) Flashers :P ah ha ha ha ha you hilarious! So can you measure nitrate and ammonia separately with a retail test kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 So can you measure nitrate and ammonia separately with a retail test kit? Yes, you can buy test kits that measure everything separately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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