Older tank has decycled !!

[Vam]

This has come as a very big shock to me and I've lost one of my prize fish and I fear for the rest in my 40 gallon tank. I found my Elephant Nose gasping for air on the bottom of the tank yesterday, I had no idea what was wrong with him so I moved him to the quaratine tank where he died shortly there after =\ I was really alarmed by this because Elephant Noses are sensitive to fluctuating water conditions. I've been busy with exams and University and I'm guilty of neglecting my tanks =\ I haven't done a water change in about 4 weeks and the HOB carbon filter hadn't been replaced in about 6 weeks. The tank seemed to be running fine until yesterday when I discovered nosey having problems.

We had a 1 hour power outage due to someone hitting a pole in our town. I've been doing some reading and I've read that this can kill off beneficial bacteria? So why is my 10 gallon and 5 gallon showing perfect test results? Should I treat my 40 gallon like a new tank and add some water/gravel from my 10 gallon? This is how I cycled this tank in the beginning.

So I immediatly did a 25% water change after running through my test kit. OMG my tank has decycled with my angels and plec in it!!! I love my angels so much and I don't have another spot for them, they are big boys now and my 10 gallon/5 gallon won't house them I think.

Water conditions:
-temp 78 degrees C
-ph 6.2
-ammonia 4ppm !!!!
-nitrite 0ppm

Sorry I don't have a nitrate kit but I wish I did.

I'm doing daily 25% water changes and I've added some "Cycle' to the tank. Not sure what else to do at this point but hope that the ammonia spike drops soon before my fish start dying!!

 

[~FairyAngelFish~]

Hmm... When the power went out over here I pulled out the filtration plug. Thinking that they could get shocked. Sorry to hear about you fish!

 

[sylvia]

Deffinately get some gravel from the other tanks asap and also consider geting some of the filter media from those tanks. I'm guessing your larger tank didn't catch up on the cycle because it's more densely stocked? Do a LOT more water changes to bring that ammonia right down! However, be careful, sudden changes - even in ammonia levels like this, can shock your fish so watch you don't lower it too suddenly - do several water changes over the next few days until it's low and then continue regular water changes until the tank cycles. It shouldn't take too long if you use gravel and filter media from your established tanks.

 

[Vam]

Thats exactly what I've been doing.

 

[Vam]

I just did another test and ammonia has finally budged 1ppm. So Its now at 3ppm from what I can tell. Probably due to my water changes over the last 72 hours I've done a 25% change at least 6 times. Hopefully I can stay on top of this thing.

Added some gravel from a cycled tank as well, crossing my fingers that nature does its thing and makes my 40 gallon a healthy tank again!