mcmillanm Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Hi, I've had a sick young male sword who I thought had been a bit bashed by another of the males so didn't worry much and just added some melafix. He was a bit red around the fills, breathing a bit fast and had a little red patch on his side ( which I thought was a wound). Today though one of my male dwarf rainbows was hanging at the top of the tank with his colours looking dull and a small whitish patch on ts side. Not fuzzy or anything, just looked white. I tested the water and everything was fine except for ammonia which was light green instead of yellow. I know this is toxic even in small doses but I don't know why it spiked. I cleaned the external filter on Mon but didn't touch bio balls and rinsed bits in tank water. I've only added one new fish this week, a female swordtail and in fact have taken a lot of fish out as I've bought another tank. I do two 20% or so water changes a week (last one Monday) but do seem to have a bit of plant matter to vacuum up each time. I moved my wood and ornaments today to get anything that might be stuck. My pH was quite high as I add oyster grit to make the very soft water a bit harder. Today I did a 25% water change, took out grit and added a nitrazorb, added some powder to lower pH & added 20mls pimafix (in case whit spot is fungal?). My sword has just died and the rainbow is now on bottom with head down, rather than on top. I'll do another water change tomorrow but what I can't understand is why it would be in an established tank when I did a water change Mon??? Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 I've also turned off the lights and won't feed them tonight to hopefully help lessen ammonia levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 How many fish did you have and how many were removed? The good bacteria grow to eat the waste and if you remove a lot of fish you will then have a lot of bacteria die as well and I guess that could do it? Sounds like a good theory to me anyway 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Hmm Wen cleaning your filter, did you keep your bio balls in tank water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 How many fish did you have and how many were removed? The good bacteria grow to eat the waste and if you remove a lot of fish you will then have a lot of bacteria die as well and I guess that could do it? Sounds like a good theory to me anyway 8) It was a couple of weeks ago now so hopefully not... Thanks for theory though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Hmm Wen cleaning your filter, did you keep your bio balls in tank water? They are in bottom of filter so were only taken out to quickly rinse and refill canister. Prior to this in my naivety I used to rinse everything in hot water and never had this though. Some of the fish were flashing after I put in fresh water today though... Inused Prime but could chlorine levels be high for some reason? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BURN Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Chlorine was bad in the water last weekend and didnt clear up much till last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted November 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 Hmm, I wonder if the Auckland water board will reimburse me for two fish?? :digH: Is there any way to check chlorine levels before doing a water change and is it ok to add more prime than recommended to combat this in the future? Cheers :roey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted November 10, 2011 Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 Chlorine tester? We got one for our pool, and I doubt the would reimburse you. Can always add a little more prime if you wanted too. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BURN Posted November 10, 2011 Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 best tester if not lab tester type thingy. Smell & Taste test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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