Major Tank Issue

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tlef316

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This will be a long post, mostly because i have a huge problem and no easy way of explaining it.........




I've had my 75 gallon aquarium up for over 3 years now. It was my first tank, so I've had my issues (disease, algae, ect) but for the most part, it has been a good experience. My only issue has always been that my area has Insanely soft water. (no buffering capacity). As a result, keeping a decent PH has been a challenge. I've also found that when my PH crashes, my beneficial bacteria colony dies. I'm running 2 eheim 2217's. 1.4 WPG of t5ho lighting. The tank has been heavily planted for a while now.


About 2 weeks ago, i accidentally broke the impeller shaft on one of my filters. Long story short, it took 6 days to get another one. During that time, i put the filter media in a bucket of tank water and dropped in some flake food every other day to try to keep the bacteria colony alive. At some point during that week, all hell broke loose.


Starting Thursday (the day before the part came in) i started to notice that the tank was getting very dirty. I guess the 1 remaining filter wasn't doing its job. I checked the water, and sure enough, ammonia was at 1 PPM. PH was down to 6 and KH had crashed (didn't even register on the test kit). then i see that my large red tail black shark (about 2 years old, 5 inches long) is looking very sluggish. he also has some sort of white fungus growing on his tail and mouth. He died that night. I did a large water change (roughly 50%) and hoped for the best. no more deaths that night.

I get home on Friday and my part is there. Of course, 2 of my large rainbow fish and several other fish (rummy nose and cardinal tetras are dead). I take them out, do another 50% water change and get the 2nd filter up and running again.

Wake up Saturday to find 5 more dead fish. Spend the day testing the water (I'll post stats in a bit) and doing large changes. Starting Saturday night, things REALLY started going to hell. After a big water change, ALL of my fish (other than the corys) are gasping at the surface for air. An hour later, they start dropping like flies. By sunday afternoon, everything is dead except my corys (2 peppered and 8 sterbai, who seem mostly unaffected other than slightly more frequent darts to the surface) 1 rainbow, 2 cardinals and 2 danios.


Then, last night, the algae started. My entire tank has been engulfed by some sort of white film. There is white fuzz on the driftwood, the water looks like i poured chalk in it and my beautiful plants are all clearly dying. The 3 swords and the valis are all turning almost white and all the tiger lotus leaves are wilting and melting. The only thing spared is the ludwigia and crypts.

In my experience, large water changes usually help fix issues like this. But it seems like the water changes are actually killing the fish. The saturday evening one sent my entire school of rainbows to their grave. I did another one today (the last one until i can find some answers) and my remaining non-corys now look VERY distressed. There are no rotting fish in the tank. The plants were good until yesterday, and i'm not sure what happened now. I have no idea what to do other than sit here and watch my tank die.


What the tank used to look like (not the same scape, but this gives you an idea of plant health and water clarity (alot of the stuff in front is newer, but you can see the swords, valis and lotus are in good shape) ....

fulltank2.jpg


What it looks like now.....

018.jpg


020.jpg


021.jpg



Current water stats (after a 50% change)...

ammonia- .5 ppm
nitrite-
nitrate- somewhere between 0 and 5ppm (which makes sense because my tank obviously isn't procession ammonia very well and i've been doing water changes like crazy)
ph- barely holding around 6.0
KH- 1, but mostly because I've been adding a KENT Ph stable (i know i shouldn't, but my water has no buffering capacity. I've been using it for over 2 years now as recommended by the head guy at a very high end fish shop).


TAP water stats.....

ammonia .25-.5 (i know this isn't ideal, but i was under the impression that a healthy bacterial colony would easily neutralize this amount after a typical 25% water change)
KH- 2 (higher than i thought)
PH- between 6.8 and 7




Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. I take a lot of pride in my tank and keeping my fish healthy. But this event has just been a total disaster and I'm just about to give up (as my last rainbow fish gasps at the surface. Again, sorry for the long post.

and to answer some other likely questions......

- no new plant additions
- no new fish
- no new additions to the tank (yes, the wood is different from the earlier pictures, but it pre-treated by the seller, soaked in hot water by me for about 2 weeks and has been in the tank for several months now.
 
Trust me you know alot more about fish than i do but i will try to help as much as i can i have had a 10 gallon very seccesful in the past and now i have a 1.77 gallon very successful but i am not an expert. If i were you i would get more air serculating for the fish maybe get a heater if needed definately take everything out and leave the plants in the bucket clean the rocks get all the algae taken care of somehow disinfect the tank SAFELY clean the tank material look for some weird creature or something that could be harming your fish clean the driftwood and stuff then try and get some fish not to much cause then they might all die but just two or three if they survive a week or so healthy then try getting more fish and slowly regrowing your tank.

Trust me you know alot more about fish than i do but i will try to help as much as i can i have had a 10 gallon very seccesful in the past and now i have a 1.77 gallon very successful but i am not an expert. If i were you i would get more air serculating for the fish maybe get a heater if needed definately take everything out and leave the plants in the bucket clean the rocks get all the algae taken care of somehow disinfect the tank SAFELY clean the tank material look for some weird creature or something that could be harming your fish clean the driftwood and stuff then try and get some fish not to much cause then they might all die but just two or three if they survive a week or so healthy then try getting more fish and slowly regrowing your tank IF you want to.
 
One problem I'm seeing is that the replacement water has a higher pH. Ammonia is more toxic at higher pH values, changing a larger volume than what was usually changes, accompanied by having your bio filtration halved with one filter down means it has a greater affect on the fish.

The higher kH, which while not high is double what is normally seen in your tank and may be stabilizing the pH at a higher level for long enough to have this effect on the fish. While I don't do plants, from my understanding plants will use ammonia, algae is a plant, this could be where the algae is coming from.

Gasping at the surface usually indicates nitrite in a tank with cycling problems, back in the day before people were into testing water this meant increase aeration. Any cycling problem also means feed less.

What product are you using to treat the replacement water?
 
There are multiple issues here, but the one I believe that that needed more attention than anything else was dealing with the ammonia reading of 1...

Rather than 50% water changes, which still leaves a still very toxic level 0f 0.5mg/l, you ought to have been doing two or three 80% water changes (basically leaving just enough water to cover your fish) in the space of a few hours, to get that baclk to zero.

Due to your major pH swings as a result of soft water (something I don't experience, so unsure about this), perhaps you should have been collecting your fish into a series of fish-safe buckets using the existing tank water and then drip acclimitising them to the fresh tap water, with a 50% evacuation of each bucket when getting full? This way the safer new water might help prevent fish stress?
 
appreciate all of the advice.

Unfortunately, i came home to find all my remaining fish and most of my remaining plants dead or dying. only about 5 sterbai corys left, and they all are covered in some sort of white fuzz. I'm going to euthanize them shortly.

So basically, my entire tank is dead and i''ll be starting over. I'll probably break the tank down to nothing. I'll dump the sand substrate and go with some sort of planting substrate. I'll clean and boil all the wood and chuck the plants and filter media. I'll then start over with a fishless cycle.

This really does suck, because my tank was looking the best it ever has 2 weeks ago. No idea what happened, but hopefully i can learn from it.

The good news is i have some $$$ to rebuild and will be able to avoid making rookie mistakes this time around.

Any advice for starting over? (ways to clean stuff, do i need to do anything to the actual tank itself to avoid problems such as leaks when i refill, ect)

I'll certainly get in contact with the water company and find out if they have done anything differently lately. But this entire thing is just very depressing.
 
Well good luck redoing your tank, i am sorry this had to happen and i hope it dosen't again. Peanut0701
 
i honestly have no idea what happened. This tank has been running for 3 years and survived 2 full moves (including a change to a different town with different water over a year ago). Sure, i've had my problems (like every fish keeper has, especially noobs) but i really thought i did things right. Did all my research, did a fishless cycle, didn't skimp on equipment, bought livestock from a quality store, kept up on water changes, ect.

gonna be tough seeing an empty lifeless tank for the next few months, but i'll bring it back better than ever.
 
Sorry to hear about your fish & tank, it must be heartbreaking for you...

I hope all goes well for your tank in the future after the overhaul :good:

Diluted bleach is a good 'disinfectant' for cleaning out the tank etc to ensure that it clean for future use,obviously make sure its rinsed well.

Good luck,let us know how you go :good:
 

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