Help! Cardinal Dead, Possible Lack Of Oxygen?

[Harri]

Ah ok, what species of plant would you recommend?

Water change done, GBR's have coloured up already, cardinals still very subdued on the bottom but colours have returned.

I did want to introduce one more species of fish into the tank but having researched, am finding it quite difficult to identify anything that would thrive at the same water temp? Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Jay1983]

honestly in a Aquanano 40 I'd say with the cardinals and ram your are fully stocked.. I'd say have 8 cardinals and the pair of rams.

Plant wise, Anubias, java fern and lots of Cryptocoryne... would be great and are easy to grow and maintain, also very easy to acquire. The Anubias and java fern would need attaching to some wood/stone the Cryptocoryne would go straight into the substrate.

 

[fluttermoth]

I wouldn't put any other fish in there. I also have an AquaNano 40 and you're right on the limit of stocking, tbh. It is very small tank.

Maybe some shrimps or snails, but no other fish (except possibly a couple more cardinals, as long as your nitrate doesn't go up too much.).

 

[Harri]

Thanks for the advice both, I'll stick to what I've got then.

Fingers crossed for a happy tank come the morning.

 

[Jay1983]

good luck

Just keep doing the water changes, get the test kit, which will have ammonia and nitrite... do daily testing on these untill they are constantly reading 0 0... nitrate is a little less important, although rams and cardinals can be sensitive to this.

I keep my cardinals and rams in a hi-tech planted tank, so my nitrate is always around 40... as long as you dont let it go drastically over that you will be fine. Keep up the hard work and well done for asking for advice, any more questions please don't hesitate to help, no matter how silly they seem

 

[Harri]

Still alive but all still gasping at the surface and the worst thing is, the Rams are gasping as well now.

Is there anything I can do (I'll do another water change today)

 

[Harri]

Another cardinal dead this morning. Am off to the local aquatic centre to get tank and tap water tested.

 

[Jay1983]

The only thing you can really do is keep doing water changes... oh and is your water surface being agitated?? Is your filter moving the water surface??

 

[Harri]

Well I got the water tested and guess what, high ammonia.

I did another water change this morning and will continue to do one a day for as long as it takes.

I do have a concern about the surface of the water not being agitated enough. The filter outlet in the Aquanano seems quite low and so doesn't really agitate the water enough for my liking. Thinking of getting submersible air pump too.

 

[fluttermoth]

Did you find out how high the ammonia actually was? It may be that you'll need to do more than one change in succession to get it down to an acceptable level, which is 0, tbh; that will rise overnight or when you're not doing changes and you want to try and avoid it reaching 0.25ppm before your next change (if that makes sense).

I honestly don't think you need extra air. The filter in the AquaNano is quite sufficient; there will be plenty of oxygen available in the water, it's the ammonia and nitrite that are preventing the fish from being able to take it up through their gills that is the issue. Air pumps really don't do anything to add oxygen anyway.

 

[Harri]

Ok thanks.

Ammonia was at 0.25 even though I did a 20% water change yesterday morning and a 75% water change at midnight (dedication!).

I did another 20% water change today at around half eleven this morning. Fish are still gasping.

Shall I do another change tonight?

 

[Jay1983]

do one now, just keep doing it untill there is 0 ammonia.

 

[Harri]

Another water change done - 30 litres this time. So that's 80% of the water changed today in two lots.

Breathing has slowed down considerably, colour has returned to the rams, cardinals still a bit edgy, but no gasping at the surface (it's been half an hour since the last change.

Think I might do another 20% change late tonight and again in the morning and once a day from there on - does that seem sensible?

 

[Jay1983]

I'd do another big change tonight 50% as you wont be doing any over night and ammonia will biuld up.

Did you get a test kit after?

Also can't remember if you said how you cycled your filter??

 

[Jay1983]

Any update mate??