Nossy Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 So ill try keep it short. I'm new to the world of fish. i went through quite a few months without loosing any at all. My tank consisted of: 2 (male+female) bristle nose Plecos 1 hoplo catfish 1 male guppy 2 female guppys (yes i now know i need 3 to1) 2 rasbora scissortail 1 male and 1 female swordtail 12 neons and tons of snails So all was well... plecos had fry which either got eaten or sucked up the filter at the same time i lost 1 after introducing 6 more (to make it 12) neon. Unsure why he just suddenly dropped. 1.5 months later a scissor tail died on me. It was going crazy swimming back and forth along the back of the tank. another about 2 months iv added some bogg wood and some spider root which i boiled but tannis are still being released staining the water. Now the swordtail and two guppies have both dumped their litter and i have at least 30 fry swimming around. The water is dark enough to just be able to see the back of the tank and the little fish swim around un bothered. The issue i have is when the fry were spawned one of the guppy females disappeared. Cannot find her anywhere. the otherone looked very weak and the female sword tail is very slow and dopey. 2 weeks later. So i get home from work tonight and find my bloody handsome black and gold male guppy head first into the plastic weed ball that floats around at the top.... Why am i loosing these fish in the most bizarre ways. My water conditions are fine. N02 6mg NO3 2.5mg PH 7 Weekly water changes 20%- 40% Air pump custom filtration system. Wool filter> Noodles > 2x bags of http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php? ... QLpJvmUdqA Any help on why would be appreciate. :ske: :cry1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 Ammonia and nitrite should be zero, how often are you doing water changes? doing a 50% one now will help your fish immensely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 Your nitrites/NO2 is very high. What's your ammonia level? I suspect pretty high too. Sounds like you need a bit more cleaning and water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 As said above your NO2 (nitrite) is too high. Even .25 will wipe fish out, if not immediately the long term damage done to the gill plates and internal organs will eventually take them. 50% water change straight away, then 50% tomorrow and each day until they reduce significantly then 30% daily until it gets to 0. Test each day, test ammonia and nitrate as well. Once it's down to zero wait a couple of weeks before you introduce any new fish - by this time any other affected fish should have died. Not all fish die, some defy the odds. How often do you normally water change and how do you clean the filter? It could be that the way you do it is what is causing periodic deaths within the tank. As to your disappearing fish, they have most likely died. Snails and plecs will dispose of the bodies very rapidly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 What is your heater set at ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 My heaters are set at 25.5 and 26 i have two 150w. Water changes are weekly to try keep the tannis down as it is staining the water excessively. Also i re-done my test this morn and my N02 was 0 and my N03 was 5mg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 I dont know where i got my last reading from. Think i mixed them up or something. My bad. Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Also since the introducing the bog wood, i have started using nutrafin cycle and cleaning the filter weekly in the extracted tank water changing it ever 3 weeks. Also i have started leaving my lamps on as the water is dark at the bottom and plants are changing from leaves to roots On another note the water seems to be almost thicker? Like big bubbles are forming on the surface and sometimes you can seem a film on the top. There are leafy weeds matting the top which i have to remove about the same time as replacing the filter. Also wee jumping bugs which the fry love to eat haha. At feeding time i loose count at over 30 trying to count the fry swimming around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Also since the introducing the bog wood, i have started using nutrafin cycle and cleaning the filter weekly in the extracted tank water changing it ever 3 weeks. Also i have started leaving my lamps on as the water is dark at the bottom and plants are changing from leaves to roots On another note the water seems to be almost thicker? Like big bubbles are forming on the surface and sometimes you can seem a film on the top. There are leafy weeds matting the top which i have to remove about the same time as replacing the filter. Also wee jumping bugs which the fry love to eat haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 What style tank do you have and what sort of filter media? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 in the tittle, Its a aqua one 620t http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/deta ... ack/m/925/ And filtration is at the bottom of first post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 oops sorry. So are you using the standard media cartridges it comes with and noodles, plus chem zorb. When you do change your media are you changing it all at the same time? Just the sponges and chem zorb, or the lot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Thankyou for your help btw I appreciate it. No, as i said lol the its been set up with a custom filtration. Noodles in first then covered with the wool filter on the left hand side (two bays, water enters left and exits right) and the two bio chem zorb bags are on the right. The wool filter gets changed every 2-3 weeks (allot more than what i was usually doing since this bog wood has been leaching) and there is a 25%+ water change at least every week. The noodles only get cleaned in the extracted tank water if they look dirty. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 I could email you some photos if it helps? :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 The filter wool that comes with the tank is a filter wool/carbon cartridge. My only thought is that if you are changing both the cartridges at the same time is that you could be getting a mini cycle on your tank - possibly a sudden short sharp ammonia spike. The filter wool holds a huge amount of beneficial bacteria. The surface of your noodles also hold it - generally they aren't rinsed off until the water flow is severely restricted. A sudden spike would account for the random deaths you are experiencing and tests would not necessarily show it. Generally cartridges are only changed every six or so weeks - this is more to do with when the carbon in them becomes full of muck and can not absorb any more than the wool becoming dirty. My suggestion would be to try and bear with the driftwood leaching and only change one item i.e. one cartridge at a time and not any if you are rinsing off your noodles. See if that helps. I have the AR980 and have been through the leeching spider wood as well so I do know where you are coming from. I have replied two of my cartridges with the stiff white filter pads which you can cut to size and a black filter pad. In the nearly year it has been running I have rinsed them off about 6 times. They do look mucky but the tank is clean and clear and the filter is flowing as well as it did when I got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nossy Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Thankyou for your help, yes iv placed two pieces of bog wood and one of spider root or whatever its called into the tank. I am looking at getting a bigger tank tomorrow actually as this one i dont like the size (being so tall) So theres a mini auction locally that has an AR980 for $300 atm I might try grab myself a bargin. Also while you're here. any tips on keeping these fry numbers down? there are sooo many of them that when threy grow the tank will be over crowded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 The guppies will pick off their own fry while small - normally have between 30-50 each drop. Just keep males if you don't want an explosion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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