My Filter Is Killing My Fish!

[lavapeanut]

I just can't quite believe this, my fish tank opened 18 days already (only put fish on during day 15) two fish dead already both died with the same reason I am sure of- THE filter killed them!

At first, the first fish died and I were thinking maybe he has already have a bit injury on it's left-front fin even before put into my tank, and a lot of chasing by other (actually other zebra danio chasing each other but not only to him). So around 45 hours he has been put into the tank, he is already moved to the water surface and not caring about other danio, 20 mins later I found it got stuck on filter thingy (u know, the most water being sucked part) ... After I net the dead body up, I found a sharp scar on it (oh well at that point I were thinking he is weak to be suck at the filter water-suck part...

This morning (now is 8:15am) when I woke up (at 7:00am) I couldn't believe what I've seen, another zebra danio dead! I saw another danio missing so I carefully looked around and saw a zebra danio got stuck in another water-sucking part of the filter! I, at once, turned off the filter, the dead zebra danio body float around in the tank and I saw it with some blood wound + a scar under the mouth part of his body. I just can't take this anymore seeing more fish dead...I am 100% sure it was a healthy zebra danio with sharp color and nice shape. The filter is surely killin my fishes!


What can I do to make the filter have weaker performance (So won't hurt anymore fish?) (adding a net to surround those 2 part is a suggestion but that case means all the bigger thingy can't be suck up to be filter??)

What can I do, it's already 1 and a half hour I turned off the filter.....

 

[black angel]

Are you saying the tank's been running for 18 days and you put the danios in on day 15?
If so, have you cycled the tank before hand or did you just leave it for the two weeks with nothing in it?

Could you give the size of tank, what filter you have and how many danios you put in?

Did you at all test the water for ammonia, nitrite,nitrate and ph.

Do you use a dechlorinator at all?

Danios are very hardy fish and it would take a really strong filter to be able to pull them in.

 

[illusion54]

My guess is they died and then floated/got sucked into the filter. Even my half inch neons can outswim the current.

 

[lavapeanut]

black angel, all your question can be answered on here:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=114839

BUT to save some more times to get maxium helps I can get before the fish keep dying since the filter is off,

There are plants (2 anubias barteri and 3 anubias barteri var. nana )
PH value: 6.2
Ammonia: 0.2-0.3 mg/L
NO2: 0.15-0.2 mg/L
NO3: 6 mg/L

It's not anything about the water killed those fish to be sure and the size are okay (asked in the topic on the link shown)

I took some photo of that dead fish but it's not clear since it's quite hard to capture a clear photo
the red part of the body IS actually a scar with blood wound there... I am guessing some fish chasing that fish and that dead fish (Still alive before got stuck on filter) hurt itself on the filter sucking water part and got that wound and that mainly killed this fish (the 2nd zebra danio)

 

[The-Wolf]

Turn the filter back on NOW!
I doubt the filter killed the danios, more likely they died and unded up next to the filter. The marks/wounds on the dead fish is equally possibly caused by the other fish pecking at them. (post mortum).

I would say that your test results are not encouraging
ammonia and nitrItes should always be zero.
If you were a customer of mine I'd point you in the direction of
Sera Ammovec and Sera Nitravec which are the nitrifying bacteria in bottle form.
For now you need to do a few daily water changes to dilute the ammo,No2

Also 6.2pH is quite low for a tank that has no bogwood or peat filtration. what is the substrate? Do you have any limestone, coral or shells in the tank? What is your pH out of the tap?

 

[lavapeanut]

Yup turned back on the filter about 2 hours ago already been watching if fishes are good enough to escape on the current from suction. The 2 new cory seems quite love to stay around it and sometimes seems dangerous.... I don't know how danio got stucked in there though, all danio like to swim to there sometimes it's just a 1/2 second being stuck in that part of the filter thingy and able to swim away... Though I am still worry (looking each of them every 4-5 minutes now... just worry about this would happened again....)

So Now I have 3 zebra danio, 1 leopard danio and 2 cory(?) *sigh*

thanks once again wolf, I just don't know if there are really ammoina present inside the tank since the color didn't change much and reminds quite clear, thought maybe a very little be grey in color?... and yes there are surely some nitrite with colored changed to slight pink-ish.

(Sera Ammovec and Sera Nitravec) <-- will have look at those when I go back in store... Will try my best with those shops....

about the PH, since I use soil (for aqaurium, 'DAZS soil') for the base of the tank, it bounces to be like that I guess (?) Don't want to use sand nor stones at the very beginning since heard soil are good to use for newbie (read that info on most Hong Kong fish forum, they like to use soil) ... DAZS soil package says it's will make the water weak acidic to allow plants grows better.

No I don't have limestone, coral or shells in the tank, do know they can make water more alkaline though. (maybe I should buy some of them?) tap water = 7.2-7.4 color range (just tested it)

Once again sorry for my poor English

 

[black angel]

We can work around what you are typing.
The soil is lowering the ph and the water going into the tank is a high ph, this can shock fish.
Danios i think prefer a higher alkaline ph somewhere over 7 so to me its ph shock that could be killing them as well as the tank cycling.
Just my thoughts though.

 

[lavapeanut]

oh, black angel, I really didn't know that could kill my fish (given that I never think the tap water is quite alkaline though)

What the best a way to slove this problem? maybe adding some shells? (but in that case I afraid Corydoras paleatus might hurt from the sharp edges of shells)

Or maybe I should change water little by little?

Thanks I yet learnt another new things

 

[black angel]

I think you should remove the fish and take the soil out and replace with sand for the corys *which must be washed before carefully adding to the tank*. Your ph from the tap is fine for both types of fish.
If you dont want to remove the soil then you will have to lower the tap water ph to perfectly match the tank ph, which will be time consuming.

Hopefully someone can help you more on this.

 

[lavapeanut]

ah removed the soil will make the whole tank goes very muddy, took the filter over 2 days and half when i first put them in... (the soil first then add water inside to half tank, then planted anubias barteri v. nana) and added more water to the fish tank. turned on filter took me 2 days to see a bit of those plants... ) until day 4 morning, it's crystal clear. Then on day 4 mid-night, I've planted 2 bigger anubias barteri, the whole tank became muddy again... but to my surprise, it took about 40 hours for them to be clear. Though Once again needed to move those soil up to the roots of those two new bigger anubias, took another 2 days to make it's better....

after all those things, the day before I bought any fishes and stones for the crystal clear fish tank. I got bad news from my topic in Hong Kong fish forum. Got told it's not quite right to plant anubias under soil/sand. Those anubias are best to put to woods/ or under stone gravel.... Whatever, is what I were thinking at that point, since at least there are new leaves growing up on every since anubias except the bushy one... beside the bushy anubias, to my surprise was a great plant for all fishes (danios) I bought the day later, they love that one even it's not growing any new leaves yet..

I have heard slight acidic condition, plants grows more healthy, isn't it true? That's why ppl in hong kong fish forum seems really always recommand newbie to use soil (since no need to add much other things for plants as well as it's easier for plants to grow roots) Of course, one of the most down side is it needed to be re-places the old soil which used over 15-24 months. But I was thinking maybe till then I have 2 fish tank of my own. And maybe it's just my stupidness strike again

*Sigh*

some picture to show what happened to my tank when I first opened it...

^3 hours doing this and that (3 anubias barteri v. nana planted insie there)

^ 5 more hours later I finally get to this point (I was like oh my, how will those 3 plants able to live in that muddy condition)

^ 13 more hours later, at least 2 plants outline are shown from the front view

^ 15 hours later, well nothing much changed, but can see more 'deeper'

^ yeah that was when I woke up in the morning on day 4

^ day 8 morning..... at least it's getting better after the chaos on day 4 mid night and day 5's night

Thanks black angel, for the advices for removing soil, I will consider of course. Lowering the water ph is easy (I guess?) by put soils in those new water for a while before put into the tank? though would like to hear more suggestion?

Thanks (added photo just to show ppl using soil are... well not nice as I had thought. If I had a choice again.... U know...)

 

[pica_nuttalli]

actually, the pH of the water where i live is around 6.4 pH. 6.2 does not sound exceptionally low to me. lavaish peanut, can you test the pH of your water before it is added to the tank?

the "soil" in your tank doesn't look very organic to me. is that soil like what you would dig up from a garden? or is the soil a bunch of very very small size rocks? if your soil is many small rocks(5 mm or less in biggest diameter), then it is probably a type of laterite or other enriched substrate.

your tank is probably just going through the Nitrogen Cycle. the nitrogen cycle cannot start without the addition of ammonia to a tank. unless you added liquid ammonia or let food rot in your tank, there was nothing there to start the nitrogen cycle before you added fish. but don't add ammonia or rotting food now!! your fish's waste (poop) will be adding the ammonia for the nitrogen cycle at the moment. any more ammonia will damage your fish.

the best thing you can do for your fish is to perform many small water changes. just in case there is a pH issue, i would suggest changing 5% twice a day. 5% would be a half-gallon of new water each time. adding more plants will also help control ammonia. does your fish store sell any floating plants? floating plants (in my experience) are more efficient at removing ammonia/nitrAte/nitrIte.

 

[lavapeanut]

actually, the pH of the water where i live is around 6.4 pH. 6.2 does not sound exceptionally low to me. lavaish peanut, can you test the pH of your water before it is added to the tank?

surely will

the "soil" in your tank doesn't look very organic to me. is that soil like what you would dig up from a garden? or is the soil a bunch of very very small size rocks? if your soil is many small rocks(5 mm or less in biggest diameter), then it is probably a type of laterite or other enriched substrate.

took 2 pictures of the size and the soil package (I bought two bags of soil), used nearly 2 whole bags...Guess I put too much

So, May I ask is it good and what it means laterite/ enriched substrate? I bought soil just because I don't want to learn more fussy things about what plants needed... I am a newbie and there's are enough things out there for me to learn + remember (Though would like to learn them now since I need to learn more different things now, will do search about how to do those adding after I post this message )

your tank is probably just going through the Nitrogen Cycle. the nitrogen cycle cannot start without the addition of ammonia to a tank. unless you added liquid ammonia or let food rot in your tank, there was nothing there to start the nitrogen cycle before you added fish.

I guess it is, but before I add fish there was plants there. They were healthy when I taken those plants home, few days later, due to all those muddy situation in the tank, some leaves were 'wilting', some even decomposing (like rottening?). Have heard in other fish forum that "damaged/decomposing" leaves good to allow Nitrite to grow. So at that point I were not quite worry about The Nitrogen Cycle thingy... Guess I made another mistakes again.

the best thing you can do for your fish is to perform many small water changes. just in case there is a pH issue, i would suggest changing 5% twice a day. 5% would be a half-gallon of new water each time. adding more plants will also help control ammonia. does your fish store sell any floating plants? floating plants (in my experience) are more efficient at removing ammonia/nitrAte/nitrIte.

Thanks, going to do a 5% water change tonight. I will look around if there are any other fish shop selling floating plants tomorrow or the day after *don't think there is though :\ * Meanwhile, there was 2 leaves suddenly float on to the water surface when I was netting 2nd dead zebra danio...I let them stay on top of the water surface for 2 days now...

Sorry for taking your time to read all these....