farmchick Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 I have just got home to several dead african cichlids. My filter has been unplugged for I dont know how long Massive water change as the ammonia was sitting at 8+ Just tested it again and it is between 2 and 3 and all the fish are at the top of the tank gasping and hovering. Can I rinse some of the filter media as well or is that going to completely ruin everything.???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 if they are gasping it sounds like they need air, agitate the water to get more oxygen into it, if you have a spraybar use that or an air stone etc. i think its better to do water changes than flush your filter. what info can you give us? ie: filter type & temp etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimebag Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 i would rinse the filter out if it has been unplugged for a while, and do frequent waterchanges until things come right. probably has been off for quite a while if ammonia levels are up and fish are dying. bad luck, hope the rest of your fish survive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmchick Posted May 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 thanks guys, I did another water change (about 75% now) i have got the ammonia down to about 1 (ish). I lost one more yellow. I will do another change in the morning (or maybe about 3am as I probably wont sleep ) and see how I go. Its a 160 litre, 25 degree and running a Jebo filter Its my giraffe and bristles I really dont want to lose :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Sorry about your fishies...very sad indeed Please keep us updated and hope the rest will be okay. I seems all the folks have you on the right track. Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Sorry to hear about your losses I hope everything else up there is going well for you.. I would rinse out the media as well as you can and get the filter going asap I would also seed it with media from one of your other tank's. Keep doing the water changes and doing your water tests im sure it will all pickup I have had the same thing happen. Even move the fish out to another tank if you can. And the fish will gasp at the surface because their gills have been smashed around basically they're being poisoned by the ammonia and they are struggling to breath increasing oxygen can help but the first thing should be to get the ammonia down and get some filtration going to hopefully keep on top of it. Good luck I hope you loose no more also keep an eye on the the remaining fish for a while for any secondary problems aficans are tough so they should be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 The water changes are the best thing you could have done. I would do another one today and try and get the ammonia level down below 1. Hopefully what you have done is enough to save the rest of your fish. The bacteria in your filter will have taken a hit if the filter has been off 24hours+. It basically needs to re-cycle itself again. So you may need need to do some extra water changes over the next week or so. Like Ryan says, if you can get some filter media from another tank and swap it into the problem tank that will speed up the recovery. I have two filters in a couple of my tanks, very handy in this sort of emergency. They dont have to be flash ones, just a cheapy internal filter can save the day if it's already cycled and ready to go. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 from what i remember when this happened to us i was told to clean out the filter to, after being off for however long, the bacteria in the filter will have died, and then after you switch it back on you are effectively pumping ammonia back into the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Bugger! Shame about your losses! Yep water changes are the right move for sure. If you dont ahve access to some already cycled filter media then to speed up re-cycling process you may want to add some tlc or cycle. That stuff seems to work well and doesnt do any damage to the fish so can't hurt trying to speed things along. That is what I would do anyway. If you dont like adding 'stuff' to your tank then don't, cycling may just take a little bit longer. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmchick Posted May 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Hi all Thanks heaps for your thoughts. It seems to have settled down again now. They are all happily swimming in their ammonia free tank and the bristles are back at the bottom where they should be Horrible scare. I gave the wool a very light rinse as well as lots of water changes and it seemed to do the trick. The next step is to tape the plug of the filter to the powerboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 sorry bout your losses i check on my fish everyday though my fish are more resilient than smaller fish 9they are monster fishes you see) i still check it. circuit breaker can sometimes stop filters too. if you have a spray bar, it makes a sount all the time or clear water movement. at a glance you can check and see what the filter is doing. but unfortunately with africans, they are a high waste fish i take it. 8+ , you are lucky to have survivors. the survivors are indeed the stronger fish ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Glad to hear things have improved Farmchick :bounce: Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Hi all Thanks heaps for your thoughts. It seems to have settled down again now. They are all happily swimming in their ammonia free tank and the bristles are back at the bottom where they should be Horrible scare. I gave the wool a very light rinse as well as lots of water changes and it seemed to do the trick. The next step is to tape the plug of the filter to the powerboard is it just me or are all multi boards getting harder to make the plug have a snug fit in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 The cheaper they are the worse they are Talked to a guy in a petshop down there and he had a fire caused by one of those cheap multiboards burnt out his room killed half his fish.. The fire fighters said it was very common for them to cause problems.. Hmm luckily my fishroom is in the garage surrounded by fireproof poly I guess Glad to hear all is well if you want more fish let me know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Visser Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 How are things to day any better ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 You can buy a package of Amrid cheap enough. I got a small milk carton sized container for $2.90. Might be a good idea to keep some in the cupboard in case it happens again. You can also buy products like Ammo-Lock which are great for emergencies like these. Sorry I didn't post earlier, hope the fish are doing well!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant N Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 I recently had something similar with my 500lt Rift Lake dont know the contamination was but one dead fish + contaminated bucket = lots of water changes I also used Nitra-Zorb and StressZyme Filtration Booster to speed up recovery. Then last weekend all the fish, cichlids, bn's , and syno's gasping on surface babies everywhere and nothing getting eaten,,, massive ammonia spike , so more water changes 100lts one day then 50 the next,, everything back to normal now. Hard to sleep the night through now , without getting up to check on everythig! Hope it all goes well for your setup from now on. 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.