Fish Waking Up Dead..

[cane76]

i would put the plec in another tank and strip the tank bare and clean it keep the filter in a bucket of water from another tank then put it all back together

 

[vancouver]

I was weighing the positive/negatives of that.. and I just don't want to cycle the tank again.. I have filter media from tons of tanks, so I could seed the filter again I guess... then re stock the tank slowly..

Maybe I will do that actually.. might be the safest idea.

 

[cane76]

good luck

 

[vancouver]

I think I'll syphon out all the tank water, then fill the gravel with hot water to kill any bad stuff in the gravel.. clean the filters in hot water, scrub the tank walls with hot water, and clean all the ornaments.

I don't think cycling will be too bad.. I plan on squeezing filter pads from my other tanks into aquarium water, then putting the 75g pads into that water.. then I will probably dump the rest of the filter media water into the tank.


Then I'll fill the tank back up with water, put the filters back in, treat the water, then throw mr pleco back in.. does that seem ok.. I think the pleco should be able to handle the cycle.. it's about 7-8''.

Then maybe after a week I can add a cichlid? I guess testing the water is something I'll need to do since I'll be re-cycling. Hopefully the lfs wont mind testing the water for me.

 

[vancouver]

I decided to treat the water with pimafix, and do a bunch of water changes, rather then start again...

I bought a nitrite test kit.. no nitrites..
I tested the ph with a really old ph kit I found.. and it says my ph is at about 4.5
The tap water came out at about 6.8 which is pretty normal.. but how would my ph get to 4.5 with only 1 pleco being in the tank, and me doing probably 5 30% water changes in the past 2 weeks?

The pleco is about 6-7'' long.. it poos everywhere, and it's starting to annoy me.. stringy poo hanging all over the driftwood, then going all fuzzy and fungus-like..

The driftwood has always been in there.. could THAT be causing the ph to drop?

I cant find my normal ph test kit, so I guess I have to assume that the test is right.. I wanted to add some fish today and see what happens, but now I'm wondering if I should put the pleco in another tank.

I wish I could find my ammonia and normal ph test kits!! ahhhhhhh.. I guess I'll do ANOTHER big water change and test again... ROAR!

 

[vancouver]

theres also a bit of ammonia.. WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD.. found my other ph kit and the ph is pretty low..

of course I found everything except my ph up. GREAT..

I'm doing another big water change right now..

I guess there are no household items I could use on the aquarium to raise the ph.. I believe baking soda reduces it . that's not what I need!

 

[WILDER]

Don't mess with ph, as if the tank is in a mini cycle it will alter the ph abit.

 

[vancouver]

I don't understand why it would be in a mini cycle.. I've had fish in the tank forever.. I just had the deaths so I removed all but the pleco. I took the pleco out just now.

I just did a 50% water change, tested the ph, and it still comes up as like 6.2.. There was also still some ammonia in the tank.. I don't have the actual card so I look at this.. its about the 2nd from the top .

I guess another 50% water change tonight, and hopefully it will get closer to 7...

 

[WILDER]

What's your tap ph, don't do large water changes as you will send the fish into ph shock if you alter the ph to fast, how high is the ammonia reading.
Some meds put alot of ammonia into the tank.

 

[vancouver]

There are no fish in the tank. The tap ph is about 6.8.

I did use pimafix on the tank a few days ago.. that's probably the ammonia deal.

PH I still don't know.. another water change tonight, and I'll see what happens.