Terrible Day, I Need Answers

[blackers92]

Hello everyone,

Well as usual every Saturday I do my standard 25% water change, so while I was cleaning my filter media I noticed a dead guppy. I wasn't to shocked because it was subordinate to the others in size and apperance, anyway as I continued to siphon and vacuum... and to my shock I noticed my 2 and a half inch bristlenose dead covered in some sort of algae.

I was so shattered, I presume he must not have been dead long as he was still on the substrate.. or is it the other way around?

I have literally no idea how this has happened, my water stats last week were
pH 7
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5-10
and my kH was like 6 or something
temp 26

I tested today after I found the dead guppy while the b/n was still in the tank and had the exact same results. How did neither of the fish affect my stats?

So i am baffled, I must admit my b/n hadn't been as active as it had previously been, I specifically feed it zucchini on a Friday and give it algae wafers every 2 days. I remember him being active e.g. sucking on glass on Thursday night. So I just presumed he was hiding somewhere much like my yoyo loaches do . So my theory for the dead guppy would be that he succumbed to whatever slight change had happened in the water chemistry resulting from the B/N but I still cannot figure out how the B/N died.

He spent most of his life behind my heater and CO2 Diffuser. He had been in the tank for about 4 months as well.

My Keyholes had been tilting sideways maybe this was the reason for it?

I have some other unrelated questions that need answering to,

When I started fish keeping December 09, I purchased a bulk amount of algae wafers off an ebay store, like 1.2kgs it was quite cheap. Could it go out of date? All of my fish still love them especially my keyholes. The B/N showed a bit of interest in them except not during the last three weeks. My fishes poo seems to be staining my bogwood, it is almost the exact same color as the algae wafers so I presume they are the culprit.

Should I change the diet of my fish? My largest Keyhole seems to get long stringy poo when he eats

I feed them in appropriate amounts,
TetraColour Granules
Tetra Crisps
HBH Shrimp Pellets (for my yoyos, cichlids seem to enjoy them more)
everyday of the week except friday

when I feed them peas, and zucchini

I just bought some frozen food today, it is meat based and is for cichlids so I will substitute that into their diets.

I started a DIY Co2 reactor about 3 weeks ago and haven't noticed much of an improvement in my plants growth at all. It seems to work fine, co2 is produced and goes though my ladder it just hasn't enhanced my plant growth,

which brings me to my final question, I add seachem flourish to my tank every night in correct doses, does it matter if I add it before turning off my lights?


thanks in advance, these thoughts have just been bugging me and the death of my fish have made me decide to post them.

Adam

 

[mattlee]

Hi Adam,

the zuchini you fed, did you wash it well to remove any pestacides etc that may have been on it?

i dont think long stringy poo is too much to worry about as long as its not clear/white and its the colour of the food provided.

i would add the flourish fert when the lights are on for best effects.

also ive never had a dead fish float.

 

[blackers92]

The zucchini was always organic/ home grown and had no pesticides, but I blanch all my vegetables anyway, the poo usually is the same colour as the food.

ill add the fert in the morning then, I guess it make sense

i always thought that the gases build up in the stomach and it bloats. but i guess this must be a misconception

thanks for the reply

 

[hamfist]

My suspicion would fall on the newly added CO2 system. It's what you say you have added/changed most recently.

You say that your BN had been less active recently, and your keyholes have also been acting a little odd.

The pH of 7 would, in itself, be fine. BUT .... was that the normal pH of the tank beforehand ? My guess is that adding a lot of CO2 to the system may reduce the pH significantly (depending on the buffering capacity of your water). May have been too much, too quickly for the BN, and the guppy. May well be stressing other fish too.

 

[ian]

it doesn't matter if you add excel when the lights are off, as it stays in your water column for 24hrs. What size of diy c02 are you running? i presume its the 37g tank in your sig?

 

[nyx2k]

i had exactly the same happen a few weeks ago.
one day 2 dead guppys and the next an adult bn just died and all water stats were good.
still cant find out why and everything has been good since then.

 

[mc_horse13]

Hi Adam,

the zuchini you fed, did you wash it well to remove any pestacides etc that may have been on it?

i dont think long stringy poo is too much to worry about as long as its not clear/white and its the colour of the food provided.

i would add the flourish fert when the lights are on for best effects.

also ive never had a dead fish float.

just out of curiosity why is clear/white poo bad???

 

[Ryan12]

Hi Adam,

the zuchini you fed, did you wash it well to remove any pestacides etc that may have been on it?

i dont think long stringy poo is too much to worry about as long as its not clear/white and its the colour of the food provided.

i would add the flourish fert when the lights are on for best effects.

also ive never had a dead fish float.

just out of curiosity why is clear/white poo bad???

i think it typically is caused by a parasite in the fish

 

[snowflake311]

I also think it could be due to the co2 added along with the excel. What's your ph? Co2 will effect your ph. Co2 is deadly to just about everything but plants. So I would look into that first.

 

[Christoff]

I also think it could be due to the co2 added along with the excel. What's your ph? Co2 will effect your ph. Co2 is deadly to just about everything but plants. So I would look into that first.

Agree that CO2 is deadly, but just wanted to add that that's not because it changes your pH. CO2 induced pH changes have virtually no influence on fish. In this case it could be that CO2 levels got too high and became toxic?

 

[hamfist]

I also think it could be due to the co2 added along with the excel. What's your ph? Co2 will effect your ph. Co2 is deadly to just about everything but plants. So I would look into that first.

Agree that CO2 is deadly, but just wanted to add that that's not because it changes your pH. CO2 induced pH changes have virtually no influence on fish. In this case it could be that CO2 levels got too high and became toxic?

Yes, that's true. If the water is naturally well buffered, the pH may change very, very little, but the CO2 concentration could still reach dangerous levels.

 

[blackers92]

Well since i have added the co2, let me reiterate it is a simple DIY CO2 reactor.. just yeast and sugar I have tested the water once a week with a constant pH of 7

hamfist, the pH has been at 7 since cycling the tank, I had a small issue with my bogwood lowering it way back in like January but since then it has been stable at 7 :\

I have also been dosing the tank with "seachem flourish" not excel since I started in december 09. So I couldn't see that being the problem.

I have personally been somewhat disappointed in the co2 i expected so much more from it and have barely noticed much plant growth at all.

thanks for all the replies though

 

[ian]

If it's one diy 2ltr bottle, I very much doubt it would have killed anything. Are we talking the tank in ya sig? If so you need at least 3 bottles, to see some difference.

 

[Big_eyes]

Hmmm they are true SAE's you have in your tank aren't they?

Failing that it could be your yoyo's harassed or even killed it, it's not uncommon for loach. I've had clown loach kill guppies in the past.

Not sure about the BN though

 

[blackers92]

so I would need 3, 2 liters to notice a difference? it is the tank in my sig.

I thought that a single 2 liter would be sufficient for up to 40 gallons

My Sig is quite dated, the 2 SAE fought so one of them was moved, there is now only 2 yoyos and they are both approximately one inch and they are both the smallest fish after the guppies.

I don't think that anything died from bullying :\ the one guppy that died just seemed a lot weaker, I had 4 males in the tank as well only because I didn't want an outbreak of guppies, should I have a better ratio?

but this still doesn't explain the b/n