ronin
New Member
Ok, so about 2 months ago, I started noticing that my fish in a well-established (running for 3 or 4 years now) 24 gallon planted Nanocube was having difficulties whenever I did a water change. My dwarf loaches (sidthimunki) just up and died overnight and some panda cories and true SAEs started showing signs of mouth rot (cories only) or had white fungus patches on them. So I started bombing the tank with Melafix and Pimafix and then eventually, Maracyn and Maracyn-Two. While there were some losses, others seem to be recovering.
Until I did a water change again a few weeks later. Prior to this, I had added a pearl gourami, two sparkling gouramis, and six cardinal tetras to the tank. And on the same day I did the water change, I added 3 dwarf loaches to replace the ones I had lost previously. They didn't survive the night. No physical symptoms whatsoever and they seemed fine during acclimation and when I watched them after they were introduced into the tank. All the remaining bottom dwellers (cories, otos and SAEs) started exhibiting the patchy fungus symptoms again and they eventually all succumbed in the following days. The cardinals dropped off one by one as did one of the sparkling gouramis. So I was left with one sparkling gourami and the pearl gourami. I was away for 3 days and came back to just the pearl gourami.
At first I thought maybe there was some odd bacteria that had gotten into the tank so I did a water change and then left it alone for the next two weeks or so with just the sole surviving pearl gourami. Around this time I also started checking out the water parameters using the drops kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I noticed rather elevated ammonia levels and non-existent nitrite and nitrate. pH was around 6. I thought maybe all the Melafix/Pimafix/Maracyn/etc. I had thrown in the last few weeks had killed off the nitrifying bacteria or something. So I purchased a bottle Dr. Tim's Aquatics Nitrifying Bacteria and added that to the tank. No change to the ammonia levels. It would decrease after a water change but started creeping up again from the very next day. I also tested the general and carbonate hardness of the water and discovered some peculiar results. With the KH test, the tube would change color pretty much immediately. So about 17.9ppm for KH. However, for the life of me I couldn't get the GH test to do anything. It wouldn't change color even after 80 drops. 80! Is this even possible??? Or do I have a faulty GH test? Could the GH be the cause of my problems? If so, would getting a water softener pillow help with a reading that seems to be completely off the charts?
So it's been about 2 weeks now and the ammonia levels is still unchanged. It doesn't seem like the nitrifying bacteria took hold. The pearl gourami still seems to be ok although hiding in the back all the time now. I added a couple of neon tetras 2 days ago and they're still alive at least. Only other things in the tank are a whole lot of wood, crypts and java ferns. But I'm not quite sure how to proceed if I can't get the nitrifying bacteria back. I guess I'll try the water softener pillow first to see if that at least brings that reading down to acceptable levels.
Any thoughts and advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Until I did a water change again a few weeks later. Prior to this, I had added a pearl gourami, two sparkling gouramis, and six cardinal tetras to the tank. And on the same day I did the water change, I added 3 dwarf loaches to replace the ones I had lost previously. They didn't survive the night. No physical symptoms whatsoever and they seemed fine during acclimation and when I watched them after they were introduced into the tank. All the remaining bottom dwellers (cories, otos and SAEs) started exhibiting the patchy fungus symptoms again and they eventually all succumbed in the following days. The cardinals dropped off one by one as did one of the sparkling gouramis. So I was left with one sparkling gourami and the pearl gourami. I was away for 3 days and came back to just the pearl gourami.
At first I thought maybe there was some odd bacteria that had gotten into the tank so I did a water change and then left it alone for the next two weeks or so with just the sole surviving pearl gourami. Around this time I also started checking out the water parameters using the drops kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I noticed rather elevated ammonia levels and non-existent nitrite and nitrate. pH was around 6. I thought maybe all the Melafix/Pimafix/Maracyn/etc. I had thrown in the last few weeks had killed off the nitrifying bacteria or something. So I purchased a bottle Dr. Tim's Aquatics Nitrifying Bacteria and added that to the tank. No change to the ammonia levels. It would decrease after a water change but started creeping up again from the very next day. I also tested the general and carbonate hardness of the water and discovered some peculiar results. With the KH test, the tube would change color pretty much immediately. So about 17.9ppm for KH. However, for the life of me I couldn't get the GH test to do anything. It wouldn't change color even after 80 drops. 80! Is this even possible??? Or do I have a faulty GH test? Could the GH be the cause of my problems? If so, would getting a water softener pillow help with a reading that seems to be completely off the charts?
So it's been about 2 weeks now and the ammonia levels is still unchanged. It doesn't seem like the nitrifying bacteria took hold. The pearl gourami still seems to be ok although hiding in the back all the time now. I added a couple of neon tetras 2 days ago and they're still alive at least. Only other things in the tank are a whole lot of wood, crypts and java ferns. But I'm not quite sure how to proceed if I can't get the nitrifying bacteria back. I guess I'll try the water softener pillow first to see if that at least brings that reading down to acceptable levels.
Any thoughts and advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!
