tlef316
Fish Fanatic
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- Apr 16, 2007
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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) ....
What it looks like now.....
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.
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) ....
What it looks like now.....
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.