Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Hey guys so my wife has a 480 Litre tank that she had a silver aro, bala shark, 2 pictus catfish, blue phantom pleco and a choc talking catfish it. A few days ago the bala shark and smaller pictus died. We thought it was just the aro being agro and attacking them. Anyway after that everything was fine and happy for at least a week. Then we did a water change the other night. 25% cold water change. temp dropped maybe 2 degrees if that. we went out for dinner came back an hour later to find aro upside down in the tank dead. Pictus and blue phantom were dead the next day. choc is still alive but has a cotton like growth on the side of him. Katie has just done some research and belives it is cotton mouth. and believes it came with the pictus as it was the latest arrival to the tank and everything was fine before he came. here is a couple of photo's of the chocolate talking tell me what you guys think. She is currently treating the tank with Wunder tonic that is why the water is blue Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 How is the ammonia level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 to be perfectly honest we don't have any test kits at the moment. but if it was a problem wouldn't the water change drop it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Unless the water going in was contaminated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Farm supply boar water. same water that was in the tank to start and in all other tanks. guess the only way to know is to get the kit and test the tank and hose water. it is our drinking water too.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Damage could have already been done before the water change, and adding new water could have shocked the other fish enough to kill them if they were already damaged guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Kind of looks like your talking cat has white spot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Damage could have already been done before the water change, and adding new water could have shocked the other fish enough to kill them if they were already damaged guys. yeah most likely godly. Just need some idea's on what to do next (besides getting the water tested). She has read if it is cotton mouth that she should pull him out and remove the growth from his side. this comes off the net. does that sound right???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Kind of looks like your talking cat has white spot? Nah its not white spot. Had that before on other fish.. looks a lot different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Sloughing of the mucus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Sloughing of the mucus? I'm sorry but what do you mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 The mucus layer on the fish can go into overdrive if there are toxins in the water. I hate typing on my phone so shorter messages :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 a direct quote from Katie "it looks like he has little white heads all over his body, it's annoying coz I wanna pop them" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 R.I.P CHOCOLATE TALKING :cry1: :tears: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Acotton like growth could be fungus from a scratch. I suspect possibly ammonia looking at that photo as there is certainly scale damage. You will never know unless you test the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 Ok so the tank was emptied and clean. filters were taken out and cleaned in boiling water and all media was replaced. Tank was refilled and filters were put back in the tank. with a week of it running with no fish in it (so basically tap water). water was taken to the LFS and this is what came back. PH: 7 Ammonia: 0.50 ppm Nitrite: 0.50 ppm Nitrate: 10 ppm KH: 1 (not sure about this one?) and 17.9 ppm From what they said the nitrite could have been the problem? any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 If those were the readings when the fish died it would have been both the ammonia and nitrite that would have killed them. However taking water in to have the tank tested once it was stripped out and cleaned will give you no indication as to what was wrong before it happened. With a completely stripped out and restarted tank, your tank is going to cycle again however if it has been running a week with no fish in it, what are you putting in there for it to cycle? If nothing, you should have 0 for your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings. KH is cabonate hardness therefore a value of 1 means there is very little calcium in your water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 If there was any substrate reused that could account for the readings with added organic matter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 If there was any substrate reused that could account for the readings with added organic matter? Thats true, I missed that it wasn't mentioned if the substrate was replaced or not. The tank could be part way through a new cycle but that nitrate reading is a bit high for a newly cycling tank - the ammonia should be at zero to have the nitrate at 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 the owner of the do lfs told my wife to do this. she told her to do it this way so the tank would not start cyclying and that way the water in it would be free of the wunder tonic that she was treating it with and would also have no water conditioner in it so. there is no substarte in there just a bare heated tank. filters in the tank contain no bio media at the moment just sponges and carbon (you'll obviously correct me if I am wrong about carbon being a bio media). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Hmm, I am trying to work this out. Please tell me if I am correct - Your fish died so you emptied everything out of the tank - did you get the water tested before you emptied the tank? If so what were the readings. You then cleaned out the tank, and put in new filter sponges & carbon, filled it with tap water, waited a week (and in this time added nothing to the tank, absolutely nothing - no fish, fish food, additives) and then took a water sample in to the shop and it came back with .5 for ammonia, .5 for nitrite and 10 for nitrate? You have no plants, driftwood or anything else in the tank? If so were they in the tank at the time of your fish deaths? If the above is correct what are your readings straight from the tap - are they the same as the readings you got when you took the water from the tank in to the shop? Just an aside - carbon is chemical filtration - best used when wanting to 'polish' your water or remove medications ie the blue from meth blue. Carbon needs to be replaced regularly as when it is 'full' it will release the waste and toxins back into your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rina34 Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 In case of ammonia and nitrite spikes in the future it might be a good idea to buy a bottle of seachem prime as it will detoxify the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Water changes alone wil only slowly dilute them which can take time. Just a thought for the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted October 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Hmm, I am trying to work this out. Please tell me if I am correct - Your fish died so you emptied everything out of the tank - did you get the water tested before you emptied the tank? If so what were the readings. You then cleaned out the tank, and put in new filter sponges & carbon, filled it with tap water, waited a week (and in this time added nothing to the tank, absolutely nothing - no fish, fish food, additives) and then took a water sample in to the shop and it came back with .5 for ammonia, .5 for nitrite and 10 for nitrate? You have no plants, driftwood or anything else in the tank? If so were they in the tank at the time of your fish deaths? If the above is correct what are your readings straight from the tap - are they the same as the readings you got when you took the water from the tank in to the shop? Just an aside - carbon is chemical filtration - best used when wanting to 'polish' your water or remove medications ie the blue from meth blue. Carbon needs to be replaced regularly as when it is 'full' it will release the waste and toxins back into your tank. No shed did not get the water tested before it was emptied. The results that i posted were after the tank was emptied and cleaned, wood, substrate, rocks and plants were taken out, filters were cleaned and had new sponges put in them. There was the tiniest bit of sand left at the bottom of the tank. Tank was run for a week with no fish or feeding put in then the water was tested. Theoretically no cycling should have taken place. Since then tank was treated with seachem prime at three times the strength fish (guppies) havebeen added and cycling has begun. Everything seems to be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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