Help!

[conor]

Smallish tropical tank, heated, filtered. Neons, platys, catfish etc.Partial water change done on Sunday, all usual chemicals added, no change in routine. New filter sponge put on one side of dual filter. Water hasnt cleared. Fish dying by the shed load. Taken filter out and rinsed all the guk off it (using tank water) . Remaining fish all gathered at top of tank gasping. Filter feels as if its working. HELP! Any ideas?

 

[tinfoilsrock]

Sounds like you need better aeration, do you have anything disrupting the surface to oxygenate the water? what color is the water? if its a whiteish cloudy you may have a bacterial bloom which would explain for the lower oxygen levels.

 

[conor]

plants are on surface. Yes tis a cloudy white colour. What can u suggest as an emergency measure...just lost another fishy.

 

[tinfoilsrock]

I actually just dealt with a similar situation, do you have a bubbler? if not get one as soon as you can, the bubbles cause the surface to break allowing oxygen to get into the water, plants may not be enough.

as for the water change, how much did you take out? I would do a 50% water change including vacuuming the gravel. this will help remove ammonia which the levels may be high in your tank.

Also look closely at your fish, are there any white spots present? my cloudy water experience was agitated by white spot disease (ich). you should probably treat the water with either an ammonia binder if it is only bacteria becasue ammonia is lethal to the fish or a broad spectrum parasite treatment, if you see the white spots.

the bacteria bloom could be caused by over feeding, leaving a dead fish in there too long, the bacteria feed on the organic matter left over from these things. So by watching your ammonia levels and reducing your organic matter (feeding less perhaps)it should clear up over time

above all else increase the oxygen!

hope this helps somewhat... also see

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/246850-bacterial-blooms-explained/

 

[conor]

are you suggesting we do a change now? all the chemicals we add are once a week (on the bottles). we also have snails all over our plants, should we remove them? we have no spots on our fish, but the dead one where looking slightly pale...

 

[PyroBrit]

Fish gasping can be ammonia poisoning so a large water change right now 90% is a start.

Snails are very bad when they die. A dead snail gives off massif amounts of ammonia and it's likely your filter is not able to treat this amount so quickly. Remove any and or as many snails as you can from the tank.

There is no need to change filter sponges for new ones. Just continue to rinse the filter sponge in tank water and put it back. That should also save you some money. My sponges are over 4 years old.

What usual chemicals. Should only be water conditioner and plant food yes?

 

[conor]

Fish gasping can be ammonia poisoning so a large water change right now 90% is a start.

Snails are very bad when they die. A dead snail gives off massif amounts of ammonia and it's likely your filter is not able to treat this amount so quickly. Remove any and or as many snails as you can from the tank.

There is no need to change filter sponges for new ones. Just continue to rinse the filter sponge in tank water and put it back. That should also save you some money. My sponges are over 4 years old.

What usual chemicals. Should only be water conditioner and plant food yes?

chemicals = biological aquarium supplement, filter aid, and water conditioner.

 

[colleen0309]

Do you know what your water parameters are? Do you have a test kit? If you do, test for ammonia and nitrite asap. If not, do a 80 - 90% water change. Don't add any chemicals except a dechlorinator. I use seachem Prime. Without knowing the exact water parameters, we can only guess why your fish are dying. If you don't have a test kit, take a sample to your lfs and have them test it for you. Make sure you get the numbers, don't let them tell you everything is fine, get the actual numbers.




One more thing, what is the actual size of the aquarium?