Adrienne Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Came out this morning to turn my tank lights on and could see two of my discus air breathing (or trying to). Got closer to the tank - all the trumpet snails at the top of the water line. A few steps further on - one dead big SAE and ... in the corner one of my large discus dead. Turned the lights on to see all my fish gasping. Tested water - ammonia .5 - .75 , nitrates 5. The only thing I can link it to is a clean and rinse of the fx5 two weeks ago. I only cleaned out one media basket properly and rinsed everything else in tank water as per usual. Yesterday did a 50 - 60% water change and am currently doing another 50%. I have to go to work so can not do more this morning. This is the second time its happened, the last was 16 months ago on the same tank and I hope it never happens again. I will know the collateral damage in a couple of weeks when the old and weak of the remaining fish (probably most of my rummynose which are very old - older than my tank) give in to the damage they will have suffered. The fish that died were the smallest and most picked on of the discus and an old SAE but all the same, what a way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 sorry to hear adodge it is gutting to wake up to something like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Wow, this is strange Gasping for air, could that be lack of oxygen? Sorry to hear about this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Or ammonia or both. Is the tank heavily stocked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Throw a hand full of salt in the tank. It will help neutralise the effects of the nitrite until you get home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Gutted Adodge I hope the remaining fish recover for you.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 oh not...did you fx5 turn off?? I had this type of thing happen..couldn't work out what it could be then realised it was due to new substrate I added, which increased the pH rapidly. salt and large waterchange tonight should help? Hope your fish will come right..Discus are quite hardy despite their pickyness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Oh no! That's terrible news . I have seen this happen a few times. The ammonia has spiked, but at .5ppm with an acidic pH its effects will be unnoticeable. what sort of media was/is in the filter? i'd recommend putting more in if you can, or swapping something for more eheim pro II. You may not use all of it, but colonies of bacteria can establish if there is a need for more. salt + water change seems to be the right recipe... but at times like these, I keep a bottle of prime and ammo lock ready. especially when you can't stay home and sort out the tank. The only thing i can think off is that a bacteria multiplied fast, depleting the oxygen levels thus degrading the water quality. fish start gasping cause of the lack of O2. was the water even slightly misty / murky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 I'd be skeptical of cleaning the filter doing it 2 weeks later. The ammonia would have climbed enough to cause problems in a couple days, or the bacteria would have build back up in far less than 2 weeks. I've forgotten to plug my filter back in for a couple days and there still was no detectable ammonia. A LOT of the bacteria is on substrate and surfaces in the tank. I think you're ignoring a more obvious and recent possibility. Yesterday did a 50 - 60% water change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave+Amy Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 but presumably she would have been doing similar waterchanges regularly anyway with her Discus and all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 I completely clean out my FX5 on my heavily overstocked african tank that gets a heap of food and also do 50% water changes and I have never had a tank crash. So I have no real idea what caused your crash, but it still sucks I hope you get it under control and don't have anymore losses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Well, now at home and the fish are still all alive. One of the orange discus has his full colouring back but my white diamond is still not looking too happy and neither is one of the remaining SAE. Ammonia is now at 0 which is where it normally is. Ira - I do 2 to 3 50% + waterchanges a week so its not that. All I can think of is that there was a ammonia spike overnight and I only got the end reading of it this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Ira - I do 2 to 3 50% + waterchanges a week so its not that. All I can think of is that there was a ammonia spike overnight and I only got the end reading of it this morning. Doesn't matter how often you do water changes if one of them is done with contaminated water. What is your water source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Tap water as per normal. Same as my other 17 tanks and they are all okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Ammonia damages the gills so fish can struggle to get enough oxygen. A dead fish can release a lot of ammonia, especially a large dead fish. If you aren't feeding very much on a routine basis the bioload of the tank will be minimal so a dead fish can cause a significant spike of ammonia. All of the above advice is good, particularly the increased water changes, salt and Seachem Prime, all which reduce ammonia toxicity to the fish. Sorry for your loss though, I know how distressing that can be when you are just getting ready to leave for somewhere and your tank is having a crisis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Well, discus back up at the top of the tank again this morning as well as literally hundreds of snails. pH6, nitrites 0, nitrate between 0 & 5, ammonia between .5 &1. All fish still alive, so currently doing another water change. I haven't added salt to the tank, don't want all my plants killed and not sure about my fancy plecos tolerance to it either but will head for HFF at 10am this morning and get some ammo lock (something which goes against my idea of good fish keeping principals!). Tank is not overstocked - 6 discus (now 5), 2 choc zebs, 1 tiger, 1 king tiger, 2 minute bn, 15 sterbai, 3 SAE (now 2), 2 hatchets, 8 harlequins, 20 rummynose & 1 lone surviving cardinal. Filter - fx5, media ceramic noodles, sintered glass and ?(can't remember the third). I don't have wool pads in the filter as I find it doesn't run as smoothly. Also an airline running 24/7. also - forgot to say that I haven't fed the fish for 24 hours and will wait until this evening to feed again. Normally feed tetra colour granules twice daily and blood worms every 2-3 days in the evenings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 strange, i wonder what's going on. I hope you can get it sorted before you lose any more fish. how upsetting not to know what's wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 get rid of those snails, and run an air pump over night. glad to hear nothing died this time around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 I do find this whole thing hard to understand what has happened your tank is not heavily stocked and you don't appear to have done anything wrong Do you have any spare filters you can run as a back up and maybe steal some cycled media from your other tanks to get 2 filters running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 I've used prime today. Phoenix - the airline runs 24/7 anyway. The snails I am working on All I can think of is that I have fed a new type of food a couple of times in the last couple of weeks but I tend to feel it has something to do with the filter clean and perhaps the tank is cycling again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted May 1, 2010 Report Share Posted May 1, 2010 Have you tested the ph of your tap water? I lost a heap of CPD's after a water change due to the ph difference after a water change, they were gasping around the top with their noses up and tails down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moya Posted May 1, 2010 Report Share Posted May 1, 2010 Get some Nitrazorb! Provided you get the right amount it does 5.0ppm ammonia adsorption in 24- 48 hours. Rechargeable too. *end product spiel* T'is good though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted May 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2010 Tank is okay this morning. I haven't yet tested it but fish are at their normal levels in the tank and the discus are more responsive to me being up at the tank. This, combined with my male hongsloi becoming unwell, has capped off what has most possibly been the worst couple of weeks I have ever had. I have been very very sick and it will be at least 3 more weeks before I have regained my full energy levels. Thank you to those who have contributed with questions and ideas. Everything asked and said has been valid and greatfully received Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted May 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 Lost another of my big discus this afternoon. Not particularly hopeful for the other 4 either. Everything else in the tank is absolutely fine so don't know whats going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted May 4, 2010 Report Share Posted May 4, 2010 What! That's terrible! And what a weird thing to happen, just as everything seemed ok. 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.