Dave+Amy Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Dave's little 11yo sister has started up her own tropical aquarium after we bought her a tank for her birthday, tank was running fine until two unquarrantined Angels were added which caused white spot but after a few doses of Furan 2 everything returned to normal. She added 4 more small Angels to her tank and 6 tetras - we did a big water change because the water was looking a bit green and stagnant (she does one 50% per week). The smell from vaccuming the gravel smelt of sh*t to be honest (did a 70% waterchange using preheated water). By evening the following day, 3 healthy Angels had dropped dead + 2 tetras. Wanting to know what could be the possible cause of it, she's at her wits end and crying and wanting to give the fish back to the petshop before anymore dies. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Probably pH shock and by doing such a through clean of the gravel, you took out lots of the good bacteria. tell her to hang in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted December 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 yeah it puzzled everyone how they did better in stagnant waters than clean water, we're also worried that the colourful pebbles in the tank might be giving off chemicals? Could anyone verify that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 How long have the tank been running and have you tested the water parameters. Foul smelling usually indicate overfeeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted December 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 she's had her tank running since October - no losses until the first encounter of white spot then everything was fine until that waterchange to get rid of the stagnant water. Water is consistent - 26deg cel, pH 6.8 (ish) I have suggested her to feed once every 2 days (she used to feed twice a day with big pinches) We also think that her filter might be giving out - can't seem to feel the suction of the filter as much (it's an internal fluval filter about 2 months new) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 When you say stagnant water it means there is no movement at all. Time to take the filter out and give the sponge a good clean and clean the impeller while you're at it. Set the outlet just below the water surface to create movement. You might want to check the ammonia and nitrite level to see if there is a crash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Overfeeding is what I would suspect and is very common with new people to the hobby. It can cause all sorts of changes to the water conditions and it is the changes that cause the problems rather than the conditions usually. Get it cleaned up and give clear lessons on how little is actually required when feeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted December 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 cool will let her know it's not a disease - have since put in a bubble wall to create circulation of the water. Her dad's going to have a look around the motor part incase it's giving out. We're on the look out for a new filter anyway because we're doubting the filter's doing an adequate job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pink_fish Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Can I ask how big the tank is? Size of tank & the number of occupants is often significant in situations like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Stuff sits about in the gravel and decomposes. Although the water in the tank was mostly ok, the stuff in the gravel was pretty putrid, but mostly just sitting there. But doing the big waterchange it moved everything about, releasing all those toxins into the water. Bit like having a bucket of sh** in the corner, not ideal but ok-ish. You remove half of it out and air out the room, but in the process smear a lot of it around the walls etc. Suddenly everyone gets sick, despite there technically being much less sh** in the room. Good suggestion about the lesson in how much to feed. Tell her that no matter how many times you feed them a day they will ALWAYS pretend they are starving to death I *would't* give the filter a clean right now, unless it is actually blocking up with gunk. Too much risk of more ammonia spikes etc on fish that are already stressed. Leave the tank to settle, keep doing regular SMALLER waterchanges and later on, when everything is fine, give the filter a quick check over and light rinse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Keep up the encouragement - we all suffer setbacks at some time, and (while distressing at the time) they will pass and she will enjoy the hobby again. Also I know when I was 11 years old I wasn't a particularly reliable fish-keeper. If asked I would have said, "yes, I do regular water changes!" and "No, I don't feed them too much!" Without trying to blame the poor girl, it might be a good time for a reminder about how a little bit of cleaning done often is so much better than a big clean after things start to get yukky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 No more deaths since the last of the pearlscale Angels yet, making her hold feeding until either the second or the third day. It was definately the filter that had given up, the motor wasn't going. The tank is 100L and the Fluval internal filter said it cycled about 900L an hour, so we assumed it was suitable. She's lost in total 6 small Angels, 3 Siamese fighters and a couple of Glowlights. But she's not giving up which is good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Keep up the encouragement - we all suffer setbacks at some time, and (while distressing at the time) they will pass and she will enjoy the hobby again. Indeed, I am in the middle of Distressing Fish Incident (DFI) number 943.7 and I too want to cry and quit keeping fish. It doesn't get any easier, it just gets less regular (hopefully). We could do with a sticky of positive comments we could refer to when feeling like your little sis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 yeah - like most common deaths/diseases so people can see they're not bad fish keepers and that crap hits the fan with a lot of other people too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Good suggestion about the lesson in how much to feed. Tell her that no matter how many times you feed them a day they will ALWAYS pretend they are starving to death Angels are particularly good at this, they swim towards you as you approach the tank and follow you if you move around it - easy to think they are begging for food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 ...It was definately the filter that had given up, the motor wasn't going... Oh Poor fish. Poor Sis. Sorry about my earlier suggestion that she may have contributed to the carnage. :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted December 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 well it's definately a hard lesson learnt for Allysia but despite everything she's caught the bug of getting more tanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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