Fish Dead, Think Ive Got A Problem

[riksworld]

Hi guys, me again!,

my tank has been working quite fine since i set it up about 4 months ago, woke up this morning to find one of my fish dead, he was only about 4 week old, as recommended, ive checked the water, here are my results:

high ph 7.4
ph 7.2
nitrate 20 ppm
nitrites 0.25 ppm
ammonia 0.25ppm
kh 3
gh 7

my filter is a fluval 205, 180 litres a hour, my tank is around 180 - 200 litres

I dont think im overstocked, theres only 10 fish, all the same size of guppies

the tank as ive said has been working fine, only thing ive added is more plants and changed from a gravel tank to a plannted tank, according the manual of the tests, the nitrites is to high as well as the ammonia, i understand the nitrites could be a filter problem?, i know the filter is just about ok for the size of my tank, would it be wise to get a bigger filtration system perhaps as no matter what i do, i cant keep the ammonia down, the tank has been emptied, refilled, empyed again and refilled, numerous water changes and the ammonia is still there

all the ornamants have been taken out and cleaned, complete new plants and theres nothing dead in there now, i have noticed that blue rock i have has started turning like a brown colour, not sure if this is connected or not, hopefully some one can possibly help me with friendly advise

as usually any help given would much thanked

Rik.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the ammonia and nitrite are both a serious problem, they should be at 0. did you cycle the tank before adding fish?

 

[Rooster]

Sounds like its been "cleaned" too well ! Did you clean the filter ? If so, how ? This game is all about stability - change too much and it all falls over..

Keep up with the large water changes (test the tap water for ammonia) and dont forget to dechlorinate before adding to the tank. I'd do about 50% every couple of days until things stabalise.

 

[riksworld]

thanks for the quick replys people

The tank was fully cycled, took around 6 weeks, as I say its been working fine until the last few days, i dont like to clean my filter box unless theres a problem, so far ive only done it twice, and was with the water from the tank, just a quick swirl in the water

the water allways gets change every week without fail, usually around 25 - 30 % at a time

The water allways gets a chemical to make sure the tap water is safe and clean for them

could the filter system maybe to small for the tank, I dont mind getting a big filter system as an upgrade as long as it helps out?

I just dont want to kill all of my fish, its taken alot of hard work so far

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well in theory the filter is strong enough for the tank, but manufacturers tank size recommendations are always a touch optimistic so i think you are right at the top end of the filters capacity so if you can upgrade it i would advise you to do so. that being said i'm far from convinced that this is the problem.

what fish do you have in the tank?

 

[waterdrop]

Well yes, sounds like maybe you need to discuss the size of the filter with some of the members...

 

[riksworld]

The Filter specs from the book:

Capacity 200 litres, output 180 litres / hour, biological volume 2.0 litres, filteration volume 4.6 litres. filter circulation 400 litrers / hour, max columm water height 4ft, it does in the specs that these are in us gal / litres, ive used a website, the filter is designed for 40 us gallens or 151 litres, not 180 litres, 40 x 3.785 us gall = 151 litres, if i take the us gall 40 as stated in the spec and put that into uk gall its 30, which is around 150 litres, would appear the manufactoer has, lets say, at best, a little optomistic as miss wiggle says

im not sure if im correct or not, just chucking ideas about, if someone who is better at maths then me could check this please?

the fish are: danio x 2, guppies x 3, yoyo x 2, tetra x 4

im more then willing to give more details if people want them, just want to get to the bottom of it, thanks everyone again

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well the filter's capcity has more to do with the bio load than the volume of water it's deadling with, and the 205 should be able to handle the current bio load you have. I think it would be struggling if the tank was fully/heavily stocked, but as it is the filter should be coping fine.

I think somethings gone wrong with the cycle and caused a mini cycle. weather this is too vigorous a cleaning or what sometimes it's impossible to tell. I'd say you should treat it as a mini cycle, so daily water changes to get ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as possible. If it is a mini cycle then you'll find within a week or maybe two the levels are back to 0 and you're fine again. If it's the filter underperforming then you'll see no change in the levels after a couple of weeks, then you know you need to upgrade the filter.

Although as said previously, if upgrading the filter is an option I would go for it, because you're likley to have problems if you try to fully stock the tank with that filter on it.

 

[riksworld]

What type of filter would you recommend, i know mine is a 205, there is a 305 and a 405, the 305 is 260 gall and the 340 is a 100 gall

 

[lfckopite]

I have the same filter {fluval 205} for a 180l and it is fine. I argee with miss wiggle and you are going throw a mini cycle just change 25% of water daily till your levels are down and you should be fine

 

[waterdrop]

agree, sounding like a mini-cycle, not a case of undercapacity...

 

[riksworld]

If its a mini cyle, do I just change 25% once a day or carry on changing water all day till the levels are 0?

 

[lfckopite]

If its a mini cyle, do I just change 25% once a day or carry on changing water all day till the levels are 0?

I change 25% wait a couple of hours do a test and when you see your levels rising do another 25% w/c

 

[riksworld]

Just down a 25% change, ill post my new readings in a few hours

 

[waterdrop]