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[kiriyama]

Hi I returned home this evening to find 2 dead Lemon Tetras in the tank there is a small crowd gathering at one part of the tank gasping for air.
Last night I removed the large piece of bogwood from the tank to attach the java moss and java fern to it.
I had some brown algae on the caves and silk plants so decided to give everything a good clean up.
I disturbed the substrate by moving caves , plants etc and there was a godawful stench , fish poo , waste food i don't know. It stank to high heavens.....
I don't have any strips left and I have been doing water changes / about 20% every 2 or 3 days using dechlorinator ......
At the moment I have the hood of , lights out and filters on full to try and put oxygen in....
Will do larger chages tonight and take water sample to LFS tomorrow.
Is this gas or something building up in the substrate?
Another 2 have gone belly up in the time it has taken to write this..... PLEASE HELP.......

 

[myenigmaself]

Perform a 50-70% water change asap. It sounds like you released some substrate toxins into the water when you moved things around. Once things are stable again you'll want to perform more rigorous cleaning of the substrate, at which point it might be advisable to temporarily remove your fish.

Edit: Also try adding some more activated carbon. You should be able to get a bag of it at your lfs. Just place the whole bag in the tank in a high water flow area (preferably in your filter if you have room).

 

[kelly528]

Yupp that sounds like gas buildup...

-How old is the tank?
-What grade is the substrate? (Coarse, Fine, Sand)
-How deep is the substrate
-When was the last time you 'disturbed' the substrate?

I am no expert on gas buildup, but if I were you I would remove the fish (put them in a bucket or qt for a few hours), give the substrate a good stir to release the gas, then do a huge water change (60-70%) and let the remaining water mellow out for a few hours before you fill the tank with new water. Gas buildup is more likely in fine and deep substrates. You may want to get ahold of some MTS... they burrow through the substrate, stirring it up and releasing the gas before too much builds up.

Good Luck!

-Kelly

 

[kiriyama]

Yupp that sounds like gas buildup...

-How old is the tank?
-What grade is the substrate? (Coarse, Fine, Sand)
-How deep is the substrate
-When was the last time you 'disturbed' the substrate?

I am no expert on gas buildup, but if I were you I would remove the fish (put them in a bucket or qt for a few hours), give the substrate a good stir to release the gas, then do a huge water change (60-70%) and let the remaining water mellow out for a few hours before you fill the tank with new water. Gas buildup is more likely in fine and deep substrates. You may want to get ahold of some MTS... they burrow through the substrate, stirring it up and releasing the gas before too much builds up.

Good Luck!

-Kelly

Tank 6 weeks , fine sand over small gravel , 2 and a half to 3 inches deep , couple of weeks ago when i moved new plants in...... What is MTS?

 

[myenigmaself]

MTS are malaysian trumpet snails. See here.

Do you have plants other than the java fern/moss? If you don't have anything growing in that substrate, especially with sand, you should really try to keep it about 1/2" thick. Any deeper than that and you'll end up with dead pockets (areas that don't get disturbed and don't have any current). These are breeding zones for anaerobic bacteria to produce all sorts of nasty compounds that when released into the tank can cause all sorts of problems.

I agree, if you can get your fish out of there temporarily that's the best course of action. I've never dealt with something like this before personally, I've only read about it, so how exactly to treat it is best left to someone else.

 

[kiriyama]

Thanks everyone for quick replies , wet hands here , fingers crossed no casulties tomorrow, thank you.....