Acrylic Tank Causing Fish Deaths?

[Tracyp]

This may be a long shot but I'm at a loss as to what is going on with my one acrylic tank.

It's been set up for 4 months and over that time I've had a few RCS, a couple platys and a number of guppies all either disappear or die.

At first I had ick run through the tank which I treated with increased salinity and heat which seemed to work well although I did loose 3 guppies to ick.

Ever since then (2 months) it has leveled out, the parameters are stable and my plants seem to be doing well but every so often I seem to either loose a guppy or I find one dead. They exhibit no symptoms leading up to the death. I decided to transfer my one female and her fry to a separate tank and they seem to be doing well. The fish were healthy from the pet store when I got them but I thought I would get a few from a breeder in the hopes of having a healthier fish but they also died.

Has anyone heard of acrylic tanks having any effect on fish health? Any help is much appreciated as it is now I'm thinking of taking it down and getting rid of it.

Cheers.

[ckmullin]

Was this tank bought brand new or used? If bought used wrong silicone can very well cause critters to depart this earth early. If this is the cause a tank rip down and reseal is needed.

http://albertaaquatica.com/?showtopic=36149

[zoopkamol]

I never heard of issues with acrylic tanks leaching lethal chemicals (others might have other experiences)

Never owned a acrylic tank before either

few questions that i think of is

1.was the tank FULLY cycled before adding any fish or shrimps

2.what size of tank ..gallon wise and dimensions

3.ich is a b*tch you can think you got it all and it rears its ugly head

4. what type and size of filters on tank

ammonia can kill fish fast even when you think its at zero and it is not.

water parameters now PH, temp, nitrite, nitrates ammonia

water changes how much and often

just trying to get more info so we can help ya

Hope all works out for you

[Tracyp]

Thank you so much for the replies!

So it's a 12 gallon Marineland bowfront tank I got used off Kijiji, I don't see any places where silicone was used.

It was cycled when I added fish and shrimp.

I haven't detected any ammonia I test it with the liquid kit not strips every week. I have noticed that the nitrates can rise up to 20ppm within a week but I do 25% water changes once weekly.

I have a Fluval U1 internal filter which is supposed to be good up to 15 gallons and the tank has always been understocked (no more than 5 fish).

Substrate is gravel that came with the tank and is vacuumed once weekly I also have a bubble wand for aeration. I'm wondering if the tank may have been treated previously with a harmful chemical or perhaps something is still in the gravel? (Only 50% of the gravel is what came with the tank the rest is new)

[ckmullin]

The evil silicone is then ruled out.

Test everything you can. at least iron both chelated and non, phosphate, nitrite too. Have you seen other tells such as parasites as planaria and other lil' critters? How about anything in the bad bacteria such as cyano etc? I know more than one person who got a tank off kijiji which had to be nuked because of things like this.

IMO i cannot see chemical residue on the plastic being the cause of this but something in the gravel is a possibility.

In the end if you cannot find a final cause it might be best to nuke it and start fresh with new substrate. Chalk it up to experience gained.

Edited September 6, 2014 by ckmullin

[SuperGuppyGirl]

Were any of the guppys/platys looking like they swallowed a small marble? Very round ball like stomach? Have you noticed any dead or alive with almost like a sliver protruding from their anus, very tiny and thin?

[Tracyp]

So I tested everything except the iron and phosphates as my kit doesn't include that. Everything was fine although the nitrates were a little high ( 20-30ppm). This isn't a huge surprise as it seems to rise rather regularly which makes me wonder if the filter isn't doing it's job right. It's only about 4 months old and it's stopped working 3 times due to the impeller getting stuck, every time I take it apart clean it out and it's fine. I always clean the media using tank water, I have the sponge that it came with and ceramic bio-rings in an old piece of pantyhose.

I haven't noticed any parasites, protruding bellies, or things coming out of the anuses of any fish.

I have since done a 50-75% water change, thoroughly vacuumed the gravel and cleaned out the filter. I have 2 white clouds and a platy in there now to see how they do.

It seems that the fish are the best indicator of something wrong as any testing comes up with nothing so I will see how these guys do and if they start looking unhappy I'll switch them out and take down the tank or maybe change the filter?

Thanks again for the help!

[jvision]

The easiest way to keep a small tank healthy is frequent large WCs - 50% per week is what I'd do, or even every 5 days. Nitrates getting to 20-30 with just 3 fish may be a sign of overfeeding. If you don't need your fish to grow/breed, then feeding every other day is fine, and only feed a small amount - no more than the fish will eat in a couple minutes. You don't need to leave extra in the tank for them to find later, it'll only rot.

If you want to feed more, clean more. I know a few people who do larger and more frequent WCs on their tanks than my 50%/wk recommendation. Clean water is the key to healthy fish. At least with a small tank, you can just use a 5gal pail, if you don't have a garden hose or python-style siphon.

[Tracyp]

It seems that everyone is doing well I think increasing the water changes helped a lot. Thanks to everyone for your help!