A Friends Tank Disaster

[Rodders]

I friend at work has had a tank for 8 months now and all his fish are starting to die, swelling up, dropsy and all that.

His filter system is an under gravel filter which then just pumps to the surface. He has no sponges or ceramics for the benificial bateria to live in. Now it does live in the substrate and that, but I thought you really needed all the sponges and ceramics in teh flow of the filter/pump to process the water.

Could that be his problem?

If that is a suitable set up then im a bit unsure to as what his problem is? any help would be appreciaited.

 

[Amerce]

The UG should be OK, the bacteria will develop on the gravel.

You need your friend to do a water check, does he have a test kit if not then he needs one urgently.

Also did he run the tank for a while to cycle it or just pop the fish in as soon as he got the tank ?

In the interim, get him to do a biiiig water change / gravel clean etc, if needs be remove the remaining fish to a temp tank with some nice clean dechlorinated water and a sponge filter (matured one) if possible, if no filter is available then he will need to do daily water changes till his larger tank stabilises.

But he does urgently need a test kit to find out what is going on in there.

 

[Rodders]

Im pretty sure he has a kit and his water is fine but ill go check.

Hes always done weekly/week and a half water changes. He has no means of putting them in another tank.

Should he do daily water changes on his main tank?

 

[Amerce]

If he doesn't have another tank, how about one of a plastic bucket or storage container big enough for all the fish, that will do for the mo.

Get a reading on the present conditions of the tank and lets go from there.

 

[Rodders]

I spoke to him and ammonia, nitrite and nitrates all within the levels that they should be. So he assures me they are all ok. His tap PH is high, but he uses PH down. Could this have any affect? another mate of mine had the same PH problem and used PH down with no problems.

Ill get him to do some new tests tonight.

 

[black angel]

What kind of fish and sizes? tank size? is he using powered uplifts or air? Stocking with an UG is less than a tank using other internal filters. Did he add a few fish recently? If so then unquarantined fish bring in diseases or upset the balance thats already there.

Would be a good idea to post his numbers for ph, ammonia and nitrite and nitrate here so we can take a look.

Ph down is really only necessary for really sensitive fish or if you want to breed acidic lovers.

 

[Rodders]

Thanks for the post, ill do some more investigation work