darkangel Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 I did my reg. water changes yesterday, and this morning I woke up to a wack of floaters. 2 x SAE, 2 x S. petricola, 1 x zebra loach, 1 x L.F. albino bn, 1 x P. taeneatis dehane, 3 x P. pulcher albino 2 M 1 F, 10x glowlight tetra, 3 x harlequin rasbora, and 3 x black neons and I don't know how many are still hung up in the plants. After fishing all of them out I did a water test, Amonia-0, Nitrite 1.0, Nitrate 15ppm, ph 6.8.This tank is a 75gal planted (90% of gravel surface) 2 large canister filters, one was cleaned a month and half ago and the other was cleaned 3 months ago. The tank has been up for about 4 years. What puzzles me is that all the rams, blue neons, and wild cories are still alive and doing well. What could have caused this spike? Nothing different has been done on the water change except for a double shot of prime. Aside from W/C every day what else can I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingin' It Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Ouch! Sorry to hear about your losses...that's a lot of fish. Maybe add more aeration and some aquarium salt? I've only encountered a problem like this when first setting up a tank...never 4 yrs later. I'm sure someone else will have some better advice? Best of luck. :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 floaters. 2 x SAE, 2 x S. petricola, 1 x zebra loach, 1 x L.F. albino bn, 1 x P. taeneatis dehane, 3 x P. pulcher albino 2 M 1 F, 10x glowlight tetra, 3 x harlequin rasbora, and 3 x black neons any of the above were new additions? were there any aggression issues between any of the fish that died? another thing i thought of is if just a couple fish died, that could cause a spike that would affect the living fish, but idk why only some fish and not others would be affected. when you clean your filters, you just rinse the media in old tank water, right? (i know, might sound like a silly question, but some people really don't know this) i'd go with frequent water changes and monitor them. why did you double dose prime on the last water change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moutain Dew Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 I have seen a topic on OLD TANK SYNDROME which might apply to your situation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Yeah, I was thinking maybe Old Tank Syndrome too. Here's a link that describes it (and it's effects in planted tanks): Old Tank Syndrome, OTS: What is it, and what do we do about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Ouch so sorry Tom..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel Posted May 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 floaters. 2 x SAE, 2 x S. petricola, 1 x zebra loach, 1 x L.F. albino bn, 1 x P. taeneatis dehane, 3 x P. pulcher albino 2 M 1 F, 10x glowlight tetra, 3 x harlequin rasbora, and 3 x black neonsany of the above were new additions? were there any aggression issues between any of the fish that died? another thing i thought of is if just a couple fish died, that could cause a spike that would affect the living fish, but idk why only some fish and not others would be affected. when you clean your filters, you just rinse the media in old tank water, right? (i know, might sound like a silly question, but some people really don't know this) i'd go with frequent water changes and monitor them. why did you double dose prime on the last water change? All of the above were old time occupants (1 to 3 yrs) no aggression issues at all. The only new additions were 5 rams and 12 habrosus cories about 2 weeks ago, before that they were in quarantine for about a month (all of those fish are fine). When I cleaned the filters all I did was take the sponges out and rinse them off and cleaned the impeller well. All the water, bio-balls, and ceramic rings were left alone. I used a double dose of prime because this week I did a 50% W/C instead of a 30%, and with the spring run off a little extra prime won't hurt them. All of my tanks got the same thing yesterday. 50% W/C & double dose of prime. South American tank, Amonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-20ppm, ph 7.0 African tank, Amonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-20ppm, ph 7.6 Axilotl tank, Amonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-10-15ppm, ph 7.0 10 gal female holding tank, Amonia-0 Nitrite-0, Nitrate-20ppm, ph 7.6 10 gal krib fry, same as above tank except ph at 7.0 60 gal grow out tank W/Yellow labs same as African tank. I have done a 25% W/C about 3 hrs ago and just did a test, Amonia-0, Nitrite-0.25, Nitrate 15ppm, ph 6.6, and no more dead bodies and all the fish seem to be a little more relaxed and active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel Posted May 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Yeah, I was thinking maybe Old Tank Syndrome too. Here's a link that describes it (and it's effects in planted tanks): Old Tank Syndrome, OTS: What is it, and what do we do about it? Thank you very much for the link, lots of info in it. However my tanks aquascape gets changed out pretty much bi-weekly, and I do periodic gravel sweeps in the open areas of the gravel up to the base of the plants as well as removing all dead plant matter on a daily basis. I am taking all help into consideration, and not ruling anything out at this point. I will continue with daily water changes and all water tests until I get the tank back to normal. This is the only tank that has screwed up, and all the tanks have been up for just as long and longer with the exception of the 60 gal grow out (3 months). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 there is a chance that the tank "crashed". something just happened that might have caused all this and you may never find out what it was. i've heard of SW tanks crashing unexpectedly, but don't know if it's the same for FW. keep the water change schedule a little more often than usual, i think, just to help clear out anything that may have potentially gotten into the water. monitor, and i hope all goes well from here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruadh Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 This may seem rudimentary, but did you wash your hands and arms before you went into the tank? I lost half my fish one night after changing water and re-arranging the bottom. The only thing I could come up with is that I introduced something into the tank by not washing properly. You never know what you might bring home with you on your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsgofishn Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 This may seem rudimentary, but did you wash your hands and arms before you went into the tank? Good point Ruadh, I know I don't wash before I go in. Sorry to hear about your loss Darkangel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerz69 Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 The things that comes to my mind is the gravel got stirred up to much and released toxic build up and caused the Nitrite spike. (old tank syndrome) Or Do you put co2 in the tank for the plants? If you do a co2 spike could have happend causing large amount of fish to die causing the Nitrite spike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 That's my thinking too . When you reached in yesterday to pull those plants for me, is it possible you have pain lotion or anything like that on your hand? BTW thanks for the plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 I have no idea what went wrong. I just did another water test 10 minutes ago. Amonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-10ppm, ph 6.8. I'll do another test in the morning and see what the readings are, but as stated in one reply I may never find out what went wrong. I will keep a close eye on this tank, and I'm thinking I might keep records of everything that is done in the tank so I have something to look back to if it happens again. This tank is my baby, and I only slacked of a bit for a week after my surgery. To give you all an idea of how anal I am about this tank, so much as a water spot on the glass and it has to be cleaned off before anything else gets done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 The article on Old tank syndrome is quite interesting ( the planted tank comments ) I never ever thought about the root systems before.... Plants like Pygmi chain sword could really be a problem over time with all the runners they send out under the substrate.. I think from now on I am going to be more careful and do what the author suggests... change out a portion of the tank every few months... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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