Help Us!

[Dark_Lenne]

Hi there. my friend woke up this morning to find his tank was filthy. He told me his gravel was black. He has tried to clean it off, but there is nothing he can do. He also told me his Peppered Cory's have become very lathargic and they are struggling to breathe.

I advised him to remove his fish, and give his aquarium a 100% change and a thorough cleaning.

Can anybody tell me what the problem is likely to be? His tank is heavily planted, and it is not overstocked.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Karl Croft

 

[Phantom Thief]

The tank was suddenly filthy? Doesnt make sense

P.T.

 

[Dark_Lenne]

I know. He said it happened overnight....

I know my friend, he adores his fish and he takes great care of his aquarium...

 

[WILDER]

Don't know how it's managed to go filty like that, all i can think of is the filter back flowing or something.
Just water changes and a gravel vac, new carbon and filter floss.

 

[Phantom Thief]

Hmm... im buggered on this one. I can't think of anything that could do something like that overnight

A temporary switch to another place for the fish sounds good, until we work out what's wrong with the current tank.

P.T.

edit: imho the gasping fish makes it seem to be a little more than a backlogged filter, wilder.

 

[Dark_Lenne]

We are, we are relocating his fish to my aquarium temporarily... I'll tell his about that filter problem though.

 

[Tolak]

If his filter is running carbon, it may have lost the carbon media. This is the only thing I can think of that would turn it dark black overnight. Check the filter.

 

[Dark_Lenne]

I'll tell him that...