Advice Please!

[DinoMorph]

Hello everyone.

Last night I did my usually weekly 30-40% water change in my African Cichlid 50 gal tank & I just got home from work to find most of them gasping at the waters surface.

The tanks been set up for well over a year with no serious problems although, I have been switching filters from 2 Fluval 4+ internals over to a Eheim 2217 external & have been running them all in tandem for the past 3-4 weeks. Last night I removed the fluvals. Could this be the cause of the problem? I'd have thought the Eheim would be well enough seeded by now?? My mother in law was over cleaning today, but swears she wasn't near the tank.....

I've just done another water change as a precaution & have my fingers & toes crossed. One of my largest Mbuna seems to be struggling quite badly.

Any help & advice would be very much appreciated.

Murph

 

[the biffster]

what your stats now today

 

[DinoMorph]

Aaaargh! Can't find me test kit. That bloody woman has tidied everything away!!

 

[the biffster]

Aaaargh! Can't find me test kit. That bloody woman has tidied everything away!!

i hope your not useing test strips there a load of s*** they dont give a true reading

 

[abzorbd]

Do you have an airstone? Is there surface aggitation? Sounds to me like there isn't enough oxygen in the water. If the output from your internals was aggitating the surface and the nex external isn't then you should move the output so that it disrupts the surface at least a little.

 

[DinoMorph]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies.

I'm just back from my LFS. Got him to test a sample of the water I removed earlier & everything was absolutely spot on.

The only other thing I did last night (guess what abzorbd?) was reposition the output of the internal to stop it from disrupting the waters surface. I've read a lot of people state on here & elsewhere that disrupting the surface or adding an air-stone does little if any good so I thought I's move it to stop the noise of running water. Makes me need to pee! lol.

I've put the output back in it's previous position now & thankfully since I've got back the fish seem a fair bit happier. Am about to add an airstone & will keep a close eye on them over the next few hours....

 

[plecofan]

I've read a lot of people state on here & elsewhere that disrupting the surface or adding an air-stone does little if any good so I thought I's move it to stop the noise of running water

You've read that on here?
So how does oxygen enter the water then

 

[plecofan]

Aaaargh! Can't find me test kit. That bloody woman has tidied everything away!!

i hope your not useing test strips there a load of s*** they dont give a true reading

Is that just your opinion or can you back that up with some facts?

 

[abzorbd]

Basically with the airstone thing, you don't need one if your output is disrupting the surface. I have two hang on back filters on my 55 gallon and I don't use an airstone because the water going back into the tank disrupts the surface enough to oxygenate the water. Airstones don't actually add oxygen to the water through the pump itself. It's the bubbles breaking on the surface that add the oxygen.

 

[seangee]

Is that just your opinion or can you back that up with some facts?

Sadly its true. I stick a strip into my pond every once in a while - only thing I ever do to my pond as its a pretty complete ecosystem. Recently had a mini cycle and nitrite spike in a tank and stuck a strip in to see what it showed. Showed no nitrite although the liquid kit showed about .2