Wildfire Nightmare

[Silvermist80]

So I figured this would be a good place to vent about my woes with the severe wildfires in the state of Colorado. They impact our air, the smoke makes it hard to breathe, my eyes burn all the time, sometimes ash falls out of the sky, and the smoke is killing flowers and plants in my gardens. As if this isn't bad enough, it has radically changed the tap water. All the ash and smoke has caused the entire city's pH to jump from about 6.8 - 7.2 prior to fires to 8.3 now. Now there's also quite a bit of ammonia coming straight out of the tap as well. So the pH change started making some of my fish sick. I had some die and if I didnt see the corpse, it sat in the tank and rotted. It also made others sick, in very large numbers, so I had to start medicating the whole tank.

So I can no longer find E.M. or other antibiotics because of COVID. I was trying to use natural remedy type medicines like Melafix and one put out by Petco in their store brand (Imagitarium). The dead fish and the medicines then swung my pH the other way and it got acidic. So with my pH being too alkaline and then too acidic, it killed off my biological filter. I wound up with new tank syndrome in almost all my tanks (I have 11 tanks). The one that went nuts first was my Angelfish 30 gal. I lost a lot of fish in that tank. Then one of my 10 gallons, I lost ALL the fish. I have a 10 gal I use to raise my baby guppy and baby cory cat fry in, they started dropping. I had a 20 gal I was dry cycling and thankfully was finished, so I put fish in it. It cycled for probably 6 weeks and the water parameters by then were pretty good. Then my 55 gal got hit hard. I have bought so many chemicals to deal with pH, ammonia, bacteria, and stress for the fish. Also different medications, I'm having trouble finding one that works. I've called local privately owned stores for advice because the whole city is going through this. These are just the parameters changing that I can test for, what else could be happening to my water? I've tried contacting News agencies for help researching the water changes, they never reply. Tonight I sat down and wrote down the fish death toll and I have lost somewhere around 55 fish over 3 months. The majority of my stock is dead and I'm trying like crazy to save the rest. I'm really down about it and frustrated. There may be advice out there for me, which at this point I'd be happy to listen to. In the meantime, I'm so tired of watching my beloved pets all die. My favorite guppies, my baby fry, plecos, cory cats. They're not close to getting the fires out either. They're breaking records for largest fires in state history.

 

[CassCats]

Can you buy RO water or any jug water for the time being?
Get some Seachem Prime to help with the ammonia too, and get a ton of hornwort or anacharis or some kind of floating plant

 

[Silvermist80]

I thought of buying bottled water or the water they sell at pet stores, but with 12 tanks and my largest being 55 gallons, I dont think I could afford to do it that way. I do have Seachem Prime, as well as Stability, Stress Guard, Paraguard, and Amguard if the Ammonia gets too bad. Testing all the time, some tanks are alkaline, some acidic. I need to buy stock in Seachem. Hmm, what would the floating plant do?

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'm thinking you might cut way back on feeding and use bottled water (3g or 5g) for modest partial water changes. When you have to use your water, perhaps 50/50 with bottled water. Prime or Safe will neutralize ammonia for up to 48 hours and BB will process. Additional tips may be found in And Then There Was Drought (I realize it's not a drought, but it might as well be!)
Edit: Posts crossed. You may need to cut back your number of tanks to save some now or none later ???
Btw, sorry for your trouble!

 

[Silvermist80]

Thanks, I have cut way back on feeding. The fish that are left are really not happy about that either. I'm trying to neutralize the ammonia as much as I can. Doesnt help when fish die and rot either. I was also concerned with bottled water that it might be soft? Perhaps mineral water? My tap water is hard water, at least that has remained the same. Right now I do in fact have 5 tanks completely empty and my 55 gallon population has been decimated. I just bought the Paraguard to treat the bacterial illness that has broken out. We'll see if it controls it better than the other two I've tried.

 

[Silvermist80]

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering what the skies are looking like, these are a few photos. One barely shows the sun trying to come through. How could this not affect the water, right?

 

[Retired Viking]

So sorry to hear about your fish loss I suggest getting some bottles of tetra safe start plus to replace the good bacteria your tanks lost. You can mix RO water in with your tap water, that is what I do. My oldest daughter lives in Colorado only an hours drive from Denver and has also told me about how bad the smoke has become She lives up into the mountains west of Denver.

 

[CassCats]

Floating plants will help reduce the ammonia faster than a lot of other plants.

 

[Retired Viking]

@NCaquatics is right plants like anacharis, moneywort, hornwort, frogbite, salvinia and if you can not find these duckweed does a great job but may take over your tanks.

 

[Silvermist80]

Floating plants will help reduce the ammonia faster than a lot of other plants.

Oh, I never knew that. I know my local stores don't have hornwort, but I might be able to find some online. My local fish store doesn't carry live plants and Petco/Petsmart are usually barely alive. I'll give it a shot and see if I can find some. Thank you all.

 

[CassCats]

Hornwort, anacharis, water sprite, even wisteria left floating.

Duckweed, frogbit, dwarf lettuce, etc.

Any of those would be really helpful to reduce the ammonia in your water.

 

[Colin_T]

I have no idea why you are looking for anti-biotics when your fish are dying from water quality issues and not a bacterial infection. Anti-biotics like Erythromycin should only be used on known bacterial infections that have not responded to normal fish medications/ treatments. Improper use and mis-use of anti-biotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill people, birds, fish and animals.

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If you are having problems with pH fluctuations, get a couple of big plastic rubbish bins/ storage containers and fill them with tap water. Aerate the water for 24 hours and see what the pH is. If it's not where you want it, add some limestone or shells to raise it up. Or use some sodium biphosphate (available from pet shops) to lower it.

The pH of your tap water has probably gone up due to the water company adding more chlorine and ammonia (chloramine) to compensate for the dust and ash getting into the water source. They usually add pH buffers as well to help the chloramine last longer.

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Fish that are exposed to sudden changes in pH suffer from acidosis (pH drops rapidly) or alkalosis (pH goes up suddenly). This can be prevented by doing smaller water changes or holding the water in containers and adjusting it before using it.

 

[Koglin]

I live in CO too right down on the front range a bit west of henderson, and you're right it sucks. Half the time I dunno if I should wear a mask to prevent covid or if I should wear a vented mask to deal with smoke and ash.

Blows my mind to see the smoke coming from cameron's peak right behind estes park (which is not far from rocky mountain national park). My girlfriend and I kayak/hike/fish all over that area as well as the lake granby area, and I can say for the eastern and western slopes of that run of peaks, the black beetle infestation that has been going on for some years now has created a massive underlying pile up of dry dead trees/wood. Even the standing trees were around probably a good 40% dead around shadow mountain lake when we went backpacking earlier this year.

I noticed some swings in the ph of my tap too, and had started buying RO gallons from king soopers. Well then that store started having covid outbreaks, so I switched to walmart pickup for our RO.. then they had a covid outbreak.

You should consider getting a 4 stage RO/DI system and treating the clean water as needed to match your tanks desired parameters. I just got the 4 stage RO Buddie by AquaticLife system over the weekend (like $70-ish with a pressure gauge and better sink hookup), it's portable and fits under my sink when not in use. Pays for itself over time vs. getting RO gallons at the store and trying to avoid the outbreak locations, and I know exactly what it's putting out for water (good for around 1500 gallons before filter change). If you do, be sure to watch their video on its setup - helps a lot and it's short.

Otherwise, I would suggest calling Aqua Imports in Boulder and asking them for advice on treating your water, especially with their location their water is surely hit by the wildfires so they might have some advisement (and they're just an awesome LFS, my personal favorite in the area).

Oh, also, check your county's water supply webpage, they may have some covid or wildfire announcements that could help give you a better idea of what all is happening to your water, think my county had an advisement put out last month.

So sorry to hear about your fish.. =[

 

[AbbeysDad]

If you can afford it, I'd agree that the 3 or 4 stage 100g RO Buddie (perhaps with the booster pump) could just save the day. If I was to do it, I'd hook up in my basement and run filtered water into a 45g Brute trashcan. You'll also need a product like Seachem replenish to put minerals back. Not sure what the filtered water pH would be, but may need to plan on pH adjusters?
Best of luck resolving your trouble!

 

[Gypsum]

LOL. Before I read Koglin's post, I was going to suggest driving to Boulder and going into Aqua Imports. They should have anacharis and hornwort.

(I'm originally from Boulder... never bought fish from Aqua Imports, but we've bought snake food from them for many, many years. My parents still have the snakes, so they remain regular customers).