Death From Below

[Kilo]

I didn't know where this post should go. Move it if it's not suppose to be here.

One of the Glo-lite Tetras died today. I just bought it yesterday. It only lived around 25 hours. Had the water tested. It was all near perect except for the pH. They said the water was kind'a hard, but not enough to kill. So I dunno what happened to the fish. Never had any problems with any of my Cichlids. Guess I probably may find these non-Cichlids harder to keep alive.

Good night!

 

[Spooky76]

Maybe its not an emergency but hey.

I wouldnt worry - and tetras are NOT harder to keep than cichlids. Cichlids require better quality water than tetras usually. I would put it down to bad fish or you put it in too quickly ?

How do you add your fish from the bag to your tank. Personally I put the bag in my water, then start adding until I know its mostly in my water, and I do it over the period of about an hour. I also turn all the lights off in the tank, less stress that way. Depending on how many I add, I try to put either melafix in or stress zyme also.

Saying this, ive had fish die quickly from my LFS. Some just dont make it, maybe a weaker strain or something.

 

[*Fishkies*]

The fish may have had a problem when it first came from the LFS. As always just be sure to keep up on water changes, and make sure there is not any excess waste in the aquarium that could contribute to high ammonia.

Tetra's are usually a very hardy fish, so there could have been a few different reasons this one died, of course some not always being your fault.

Also be sure when you go to your LFS to test your water, try to get the exact numbers that your tank is. As we all know some LFS's have no idea what their always talking about.

 

[Kilo]

Maybe its not an emergency but hey.

I wouldnt worry - and tetras are NOT harder to keep than cichlids. Cichlids require better quality water than tetras usually. I would put it down to bad fish or you put it in too quickly ?

How do you add your fish from the bag to your tank. Personally I put the bag in my water, then start adding until I know its mostly in my water, and I do it over the period of about an hour. I also turn all the lights off in the tank, less stress that way. Depending on how many I add, I try to put either melafix in or stress zyme also.

Saying this, ive had fish die quickly from my LFS. Some just dont make it, maybe a weaker strain or something.

Sorry for not replying sooner. I work too much I guess, and run many errands and chores.

Well, when I bring fish home, I leave it or them in the bag in the tank water for 30 minutes. Didn't think about turning the hood lamp off. Then I gently put the fish in the small net `cos all the stores say the less of their water in my tank, the better. I've had three fish die since I started this hobby... the Glo-lite, a White Cloud (it got caught on the vacuum of the filter-pump and stayed stuck to it it until I got home from work; it was so pale. Then a Madagascar Rainbow.

The guy sold me the Madagascar with lockjaw. It died within 2 days. It died on the day he was closed, (Sunday). This particular place only has a 48 hour return on fish. Then I drove all the way over there the next morning to see if he might take it back for another since there was nothing I could do about it since he was closed on the day it died... he and the whole gang were out to lunch—no one was there and I had to go to work very soon. So I threw away $7 there plus all the gas to go there and back.

But the bad thing is now, the Nitrite is in the danger zone. I have not been able to lower it with anything and the filter-pump has not done one micro ounce of good. I had to work and work and work to where I have no time to mess with the aquarium this week. They're all still alive though. Gonna have to empty at least 50% of the tank and start all over again and eventually buy either the Marineland C-360 or the Eheim Pro III. For now I'm stuck with the Marineland Penguin 350, but it's doing better than what the tank called for... the 200 model.

Anyway, we'll see what happens in the morning.

Thanks!

 

[zoekin8yg]

Fish can sometimes die of shock from being moved. How long have you had the tank? If the nitrite is high your filter may still be cycling. Or you are over stocked fish wize, not sure how big all your fish are to figure that out

 

[Kilo]

Fish can sometimes die of shock from being moved. How long have you had the tank? If the nitrite is high your filter may still be cycling. Or you are over stocked fish wize, not sure how big all your fish are to figure that out

I have a 46 gallon bow tank. They say the rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon. I have 22 fish. Most are around an inch. The biggest one is the eel—if that's even considered a fish, then the second biggest are the 2 plecos. The third biggest are the 4 Madagascars. Those 4 won't hit anymore than 6 or 7 inches. The plecos are now around 2-3/4s, and the ell might be 6-1/3 inches as of now; but it always burries itself in the gravel outta sight.

Another problem is the pH level. Can't get it to 7.0 to save the world. It hovers at around 7.8 to 8.1. If I were rich, I'd use Perrier every week.

 

[zoekin8yg]

how long has the tank been running? You'll have to rehome some of them in the end they will get too big, you are probably about as stocked as I would personally dare, thinking of adult sizes you will end up over stocked though. The plecs will be producing quite a big of waste and I imagine the eel is too, so your filter probably isnt coping, it should catch up with the bioload if they havent all been in there long

 

[Kilo]

how long has the tank been running? You'll have to rehome some of them in the end they will get too big, you are probably about as stocked as I would personally dare, thinking of adult sizes you will end up over stocked though. The plecs will be producing quite a big of waste and I imagine the eel is too, so your filter probably isnt coping, it should catch up with the bioload if they havent all been in there long

It's been running for around 4 weeks. I knew the plecos and the eel would produce larger waste, but I was told for so long that they clean the waste up. I'm beginning to think they only eat algae and nothing else. I poured some Prime into the aquarium to lower the nitrite as much as it will lower it so I can not worry so much so I can go to bed. Some of the fish are hiding. Usually they're all together at the top corner of the tank on the opposite end from the pump. Seems like the most energenic fish I have now with this high level of nitrite are my Blue Danios. Not even the Black Neon Tetras are around to see in plain view.

I might end up doing what this man and his wife from my church did. They had a 55 gallon with perhaps 40 Rainbow Tetras. I may get just them and maybe 30 of them for my aquarium―I dunno.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Right your filter def isnt ready to deal with all the waste, it will catch up eventually. It would have been better if you had cycled the tank first and slowly added fish, this would have kept the ammonia etc lower, but youve done it know so not to worry. Just keep an eye on them, keep doing water changes and keep feeding to a minimum, the less food the less waste the fish will produce and it wont harm them to have less food for a while.

 

[Spooky76]

I woud invest in a good liquid based water test kit also, to watch your ammonia and Nitrite, if you get readings do a water change and watch them closely, that way it avoids lots of deaths.

Also - if you get a good test kit, what are you KH and GH readings ?

What is your PH of water from the TAP ?

 

[Kilo]

Right your filter def isnt ready to deal with all the waste, it will catch up eventually. It would have been better if you had cycled the tank first and slowly added fish, this would have kept the ammonia etc lower, but youve done it know so not to worry. Just keep an eye on them, keep doing water changes and keep feeding to a minimum, the less food the less waste the fish will produce and it wont harm them to have less food for a while.

I'm glad to see when I woke up a few minutes ago that they're all alive and well, even though the nitrite level is still around 3.0. I guess the Prime chemical didn't help either. I'm getting ready to change no less than 25%, but shooting for a 50% change. I wish I had at least a 2½ gallon tank to put them in while I change and clean the 46, but they're too hard to catch anyway, and this needs to be done and not waste a lot of time trying to get them all, and the eel would be the hardest to catch, then the plecos.

 

[Kilo]

I woud invest in a good liquid based water test kit also, to watch your ammonia and Nitrite, if you get readings do a water change and watch them closely, that way it avoids lots of deaths.

Also - if you get a good test kit, what are you KH and GH readings ?

What is your PH of water from the TAP ?

I dunno the pH level of pure tapwater. I'll have to get back to ya on that later,`cos I need to go to the FS to get more test strips. None of the FS (so far) sell the 6-in-1 test strips like I buy (by Jungle Labs) in more than a 25 count bottle, but they themselves have the 250 count bottles for when they do water tests for their customers, and they say they can't order that big bottle for us. But here's what my readings are...

Nitrate: 23
Nitrite: 3.1
GH: 144
Chlorine/Chloramine: 0
KH: 133
pH: 7.8

I have no idea about the ammonia level, but I'm sure it's high, too. I also know fluoride is poisoness for humans, though doctors and dentists won't admit it; but I dunno if it's deadly for fish or not. For one, fluoride lowers our immune system through the years as we brush our teeth with it. I guess this is one of those "Ripley's Believe or Not's", but it's true.

 

[Kilo]

Well, I've finished working on the aquarium—and all of the the 25% I've drained from gravel vacuuming and refilling it up with new water, the nitrite jumped up some more, from 3.1 to 5.2. It was in the stress-zone, now it's in the danger zone. Here's what the latest test reads along with yesterday's...

Yesterday:

Nitrate: 23
Nitrite: 3.1
GH: 144
Chlorine/Chloramine: 0
KH: 133
pH: 7.8

Today:

Nitrate: 19
Nitrite: 5.2
GH: 78
Chlorine/Chloramine: 0
KH: 114
pH: 6.7

The pH dropped I think `cos of the driftwood I just bought today—I dunno; but as ya can see, the nitrite is not down to zero, and I'm sure nor is the ammonia. I also changed the Penguin 350's media and I've even added something behind them... a media bag filled with Marineland Black & White Diamons, and even though I rinsed it with water first, it made the tank very cloudy. Praise God none of the three things killed them—the cloudiness from the Black/White Diamonds, the high nitrite and ammonia. I'm gonna wait and see what happens as the hours go by.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Just keep watching the levels and keep up with water changes, its going to take time for the levels to fall

 

[Kilo]

Just keep watching the levels and keep up with water changes, its going to take time for the levels to fall

Yeah, I will. This may take the rest of summer. It's still cloudy from the Black/White Diamond filled media bags that I dropped in the filter-pump today. It hasn't cleared away one bit yet, and of course the nitrite and ammonia is still in the danger zone; but I'm keeping an eye on it and messing with it until it's all better.

And... do plecos and eels only eat algae—or will they also eat waste? This is one reason why I bought them `cos the FS say they do. A friend has these, too, and he said they keep his tank very clean, as well as the rrl cleaning beneath the gravel; but I've noticed nothing.

Thanks!