kiwiplymouth Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 I got up this morning to find 4 dead fish. 2 x kuhli loaches, 1 x clown loach and 1 x honey gourami. All these fish have been in the tank for approx 2 years. All the fish still had bright colours suggesting that it was a recent and rapid death. None of the fish had any external signs of disease or fighting. I immediately tested the water. ammonia= 0 nitrite= 0 nitrate= 10ppm phosphate less than .25 PH= 7.4 (normal for that tank) All that has changed is that 2 weeks ago I changed my cf1200 for a 1400lph canister filter with built in UV. I used the media from the cf1200 in the new filter. There was room for another tray of media so I added new noodles in that tray. All that I can think of is that the new noodles and sponges created an overnight nitrite spike that was undetectable in the morning. Any Ideas?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 hmm... when was the last time you did a water change? it sucks when fish die for no apparent reason - v v frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 hmm... when was the last time you did a water change? it sucks when fish die for no apparent reason - v v frustrating. I do a 30% water change ever sunday without fail. last water change was last sunday I did a 50% water change today and will do another 50% tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 hmm.. that's no good at all... are all the other fish perfectly fine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 The time frame seems wrong to blame the new filter or media but I have no other suggestions off-hand. Apart from the gourami, the rest are bottom dwellers. Have you a "dead spot" in the gravel somewhere? Are the surviving fish acting as normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 All fish seem to acting normal. A couple of neons and glass cats are now starting to look a bit tatty around the fins. I'm starting to suspect fin rot. and will get some furan 2 tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 do you use plant ferts like flourish? and by tatty you mean white around the edges? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 do you use plant ferts like flourish? and by tatty you mean white around the edges? No I havent used any plant ferts for months and yes by tatty i mean white around the edges with small bits flaking off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 rite... it could have been an ammonia spike. no/low ammonia detectable now right? use stress coat and aloevera gelly or similar if you have some. have a look at the eyes closely... any white film forming there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 rite... it could have been an ammonia spike. no/low ammonia detectable now right? use stress coat and aloevera gelly or similar if you have some. have a look at the eyes closely... any white film forming there? Cheers, That sounds like a possibility due to the change of filter etc. No detectable ammonia now. I have no stress coat or aloevera jelly until tomorrow. I do have melafix or could add some rock salt. Would any of these be of benifit or should i wait for the stress coat. Mystic: I do have a few rocks and logs etc in the tank but they have all been in there of over 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 add some salt to make the fish go into overdrive and make more slime coat. just in case. loaches will be fine with that.. ive got 10 CL's and they are ok with a lot of salt in the tank. oh also .. do a pH test if you can and let us know what the results are. melafix is a controversial one here - but ive used it commercially with success - so if you have some cant hurt to use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks Mystic I will undate this thread as things progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 add some salt to make the fish go into overdrive and make more slime coat. just in case. loaches will be fine with that.. ive got 10 CL's and they are ok with a lot of salt in the tank. oh also .. do a pH test if you can and let us know what the results are. melafix is a controversial one here - but ive used it commercially with success - so if you have some cant hurt to use it. Thanks Phoenix, What rate of salt/litre do you recomend with loaches. Just re tested the ph and its still at 7.4 after the 50% change (normal for the tank) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I don't do ratios :oops: lol i have a 200L tank and i shove a good handful of salt in there. (2 handfuls if i feel like it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I don't do ratios :oops: lol i have a 200L tank and i shove a good handful of salt in there. (2 handfuls if i feel like it). Cool. The tank in question is about 250L so i will throw in a couple of handfuls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 put one in just in case someone on here decides to kill me for dishing out bad advise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 put one in just in case someone on here decides to kill me for dishing out bad advise. Too Late Ive used more salt than that in the past when my angels were beating each other up. Thanks for all the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 lol all good. hope all your efforts pay off with no mortalities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 if anyone wants to know a more measured amount of salt to use in different situations: 1/2 tsp per litre for whitespot/ich, fin rot etc 1 tsp per litre for columnaris and anything really nasty and quick... to calculate larger volumes, 1 tsp is roughly 6.6g. Play with a calculator to work out cupfuls. It is also only accurate measures of TABLE salt, as rock, flaky etc salt have different grain sizes. Do regular waterchanges and replace the salt for the volume that was removed. Treat for as long as needed, and just slowly remove the salt with normal waterchanges afterwards. Kiwiplymouth - sorry for your loss. Most annoying and puzzling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks Stella, I will add those ratio's to my ever growing list of helpful information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Update. I lost 2 glass cats over night. 1 clown loach isnt looking good and has a white film over its eyes. All of the neons and danios have their scales sticking out, A bit like dropsy but they are not bloated. Time for meds???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 I think time for waterchanging the salt out :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Oh dear, what a shocking thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning! Sorry for your losses, and good luck saving the rest of the fish. What is the temperature in the tank? (It's not a seriously malfunctioning heater is it?) And can we assume you did the water change using all your usual equipment and water supply - nobody had used your water-change bucket to scrub the floor? You don't have any kids who might have tried 'feeding' the fish with something toxic? (I'm just grasping at straws here.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 The tank temp is 26.5 Its a little higher than normal (24.5) but thats just coz of the warm weather. I dont use buckets to change the water, I use a vortex sink pump straight from the mixer tap. Oh well, cant do too much else apart from another water change and hope. I might get some furan2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Get some stress coat, my panda corys got a white film thing over them and their fins looked like fin rot after I put too much flourish excel in and after putting some stress coat in and doing water changes I saved most my fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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