Fish Emergency

[Ninjouzata]

You want a liquid test kit as the strips can be inaccurate.
 
What is your pH? It's not something you really need to worry about now, most fish can adapt to pH. What you need to worry about is ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

 

[Moormom]

6.8 Ok about the other stuff

 

[Moormom]

The emergency is over Bubbles didn't make it through the night He's now swimming free in the ocean in the sky.
Goodbye little friend and I'm sorry I couldn't save you

 

[TwoTankAmin]

This should help some"

 
Eye Problems
   Symptoms: Cloudy cornea, opaque lens, pop eye, swelling, blindness.

• Cloudy cornea can result from a bacterial invasion. Antibiotics may help.
• Opaqueness can result from poor nutrition or a metacercaria invasion (grubs). Try foods with added vitamins and changing the diet to include variety.
• Pop eye (exophtalmia) can result from rough handling, gas embolism, tumors, bacterial infection, or vitamin A deficiency. Gas bubble or bacterial infection can be treated successfully with penicillin or amoxicillin.
• Blindness can be caused by poor nutrition or excessive light. Lowering the light level and a change of diet to include lots of variety may help prevent it.

from http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#EyeProblems
 
One other comment, the only time rinsing ones filter media in tap water might cause serious harm is during cycling. The nitrifying bacteria in our tanks establish by creating a biofilm in which they live with a host of other bacteria which perfom other functions. Together they form an interactive community. But the best part is the protection that the biofilm give them from a lot of bad stuff.
 
The first thing to know is that the chloramine which may come from our tap water is not very strong and that it will not kill the bacteria. What it will do is put them to sleep. When the chloramine is broken down the residual product is ammonia. And as soon as the bacteria get a wiff of that, they wake up and go right back to work, So the danger from chloramine is not to the bacteria, but to the fish. If it is in the water for any length of time without being dechlored it can damage the fish.
 
When it comes to chlorine in ones tap, it can kill the bacteria in its biofilm but it works way less rapidly.

 
Monochloramine penetrated fully into nitrifying biofilms within 24 hours when fed at a 4:1 Cl2:N ratio, showing a cessation of aerobic activity via DO penetration following application of monochloramine. However, monochloramine penetration did not necessarily equate to a loss in viability, and the presence of excess ammonia in the water system prevented microbial inactivation. Biofilm recovery occurred when disinfection stopped. Monochloramine showed greater penetration compared to chlorine. Monochloramine penetrated into the biofilm surface layer 49 times faster than chlorine within the nitrifying biofilm and 39 times faster in the multi-species biofilm than did chlorine.

from https/etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/ucin1258489526/inline
 
Chlorine will seriously harm and kill fish long before it affects bacteria. But for the amount of time rinsing one's media takes, there is usually not much risk in rinsing one's media in tap water with either chlorine or chloramine.
 
So why do we so often read that it is best to clean out media in either removed tank water or dechlorinated tap? First and foremost for the safety of the fish and other critters in our tanks. But secondly, the process of rinsing media varies from person to person, rough handling can change things. But we also do it because it is the safest way. There is no risk of any damage from chlorine or chloramine if we do things this way and it is always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Sorry 'bout your loss.
But you know what they say, "Hindsight is 20/20." Learn from your mistakes and you'll do great.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Sorry, I did not post sooner, even today I was working on the post and by the time I posted it I had missed the post re the fish passing. Hopefully the info I pposted will be of help to others down the road.

 

[Moormom]

I plan on it