Please Help - Major Problem!

[crunchiebiscuit]

hi everyone! i hope sumone can help me with this!

i have a 10 gallon (45 litre) cold water tank, home to 4 minnows and 3 danio's.

about 2 weeks ago, they contracted what i thought was fin rot (theyve had this before). originally in my tank i had a pump and filter in one, which for some reason had the carbon and the filter sponge in one sealed unit, so to remove the carbon to medicate the fish, the filter sponge also had to come out (which in turn is going to cause major parameter problems!!) the first time they had fin rot and i had to do this, i battled with ammonia for weeks, finally got that sorted a couple of months ago and they started showing signs again of fin rot. so i did the same as last time, took the sealed unit out, but this time something even worse has happened! the airstone sits under the filter sponge in the unit, when i removed the filter the air stone spewed ten tones of algae and decomposed matter into the tank. A month later and my water is STILL GREEN. ive put a new filtration system in now cos the one i had before was just taking the biscuit in my opinion!! the filter is collecting brown smelly (like rotten eggs) material every day and needs to be changed daily. yesterday morning i removed every floating crumb sized piece of whatever it is floating in there (some of its white, some of its brown, about half a mm sized) and today its all come back again?? there is no gravel or artificial plants in there at the moment cos they were just collecting even more of it. today im going to get some live plants and put the carbon back in the filter (ive decided to finish medicating for what i thought was fin rot because its just not helping, although they dont seem to be acting sick?). i dont know what else to do...please help me!!
p.s im going to do a water test today so will post the parameters this evening, anyone got any suggestions in the meantime? it would be much appreciated!!

thanks in advance,
crunchie

 

[Skins]

hi everyone! i hope sumone can help me with this!

i have a 10 gallon (45 litre) cold water tank, home to 4 minnows and 3 danio's.

about 2 weeks ago, they contracted what i thought was fin rot (theyve had this before). originally in my tank i had a pump and filter in one, which for some reason had the carbon and the filter sponge in one sealed unit, so to remove the carbon to medicate the fish, the filter sponge also had to come out (which in turn is going to cause major parameter problems!!) the first time they had fin rot and i had to do this, i battled with ammonia for weeks, finally got that sorted a couple of months ago and they started showing signs again of fin rot. so i did the same as last time, took the sealed unit out, but this time something even worse has happened! the airstone sits under the filter sponge in the unit, when i removed the filter the air stone spewed ten tones of algae and decomposed matter into the tank. A month later and my water is STILL GREEN. ive put a new filtration system in now cos the one i had before was just taking the biscuit in my opinion!! the filter is collecting brown smelly (like rotten eggs) material every day and needs to be changed daily. yesterday morning i removed every floating crumb sized piece of whatever it is floating in there (some of its white, some of its brown, about half a mm sized) and today its all come back again?? there is no gravel or artificial plants in there at the moment cos they were just collecting even more of it. today im going to get some live plants and put the carbon back in the filter (ive decided to finish medicating for what i thought was fin rot because its just not helping, although they dont seem to be acting sick?). i dont know what else to do...please help me!!
p.s im going to do a water test today so will post the parameters this evening, anyone got any suggestions in the meantime? it would be much appreciated!!

thanks in advance,
crunchie

This sounds like you have unwanted bacteria in your waters chemistry. May i suggest a 75% water change and gravel vac, followed by daily gravel vacs until all unwanted debri is removed. It would not hurt either to give filter media a swish in some old tank water.

Keith.

 

[saltynay]

Firstly there was no need to remove the activated carbon sponge from the filter as it is extinguishable and would of been acting as a bacterial colony like the other sponge with no carbon remaining. It takes about 3 weeks for a carbon sponge to run out and stop removing chemicals from the water. Secondly you should never of dried out the sponge when it was removed as the bacteria will survive for 12-24 hours without issue and will lose 10% of the population if left without a source of ammonia and flow every additional 24 hours.

The mass of matter is probably a collection of free floating bacteria and algae matter which are feeding off the ammonia produced by the fish, as you are essentially cycling the tank, as you replaced the filter without putting mature media inside. Your filter is collecting the gunk and you need to wash it frequently (3 times a day if you can but if you don't have the time do the max you can). When you wash the sponges use old tank water or water treated with dechlorinator otherwise the chlorine in your tap water kills the bacteria in the sponge stopping it from forming a stable colony. Do frequent water changes (2 times per day) of 50% you don't want to change too much otherwise you will stress the fish out even more then they are atm and cause disease.

Final note start reading here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[Jackiee]

hi everyone! i hope sumone can help me with this!

i have a 10 gallon (45 litre) cold water tank, home to 4 minnows and 3 danio's.

about 2 weeks ago, they contracted what i thought was fin rot (theyve had this before). originally in my tank i had a pump and filter in one, which for some reason had the carbon and the filter sponge in one sealed unit, so to remove the carbon to medicate the fish, the filter sponge also had to come out (which in turn is going to cause major parameter problems!!) the first time they had fin rot and i had to do this, i battled with ammonia for weeks, finally got that sorted a couple of months ago and they started showing signs again of fin rot. so i did the same as last time, took the sealed unit out, but this time something even worse has happened! the airstone sits under the filter sponge in the unit, when i removed the filter the air stone spewed ten tones of algae and decomposed matter into the tank. A month later and my water is STILL GREEN. ive put a new filtration system in now cos the one i had before was just taking the biscuit in my opinion!! the filter is collecting brown smelly (like rotten eggs) material every day and needs to be changed daily. yesterday morning i removed every floating crumb sized piece of whatever it is floating in there (some of its white, some of its brown, about half a mm sized) and today its all come back again?? there is no gravel or artificial plants in there at the moment cos they were just collecting even more of it. today im going to get some live plants and put the carbon back in the filter (ive decided to finish medicating for what i thought was fin rot because its just not helping, although they dont seem to be acting sick?). i dont know what else to do...please help me!!
p.s im going to do a water test today so will post the parameters this evening, anyone got any suggestions in the meantime? it would be much appreciated!!

thanks in advance,
crunchie

WATER CHANGE, WATER CHANGE, WATER CHANGE,
and siphon the gravel bed extremely well,
give your substrate a good stir up and clean clean clean..

rotten egg smell is a build up of toxic waste called hydrogen sulfide, it WILL kill your fish if you do not get it out of the water quickly. I've had 2 tanks completely wiped out by this. At least 50%, do it daily until not a hint of the smell is left. This smell is the buildup of anaerobic bacteria from decomposing matter like uneaten food, dead fish, dead plant matter, that isnt removed from the tank. The aftermath of this bacteria being in your fishtank can cause your fish to develop diseases, so it might possibly be why it seems as if their fins are rotting..