Help

[jessijo]

Hi i am new to this site and new to tropical fish keeping. I am in desperate need of help.

I have a 40l tank which i set up about 6 months ago. I started by adding two sunset platys and two rummy nose tetras. A week ago I added a plant and a small peice of bog wood and three harlequin tetras. A day later the water had turned brown and there was bits floating in it, so i changed the filter as per the instuctions on the packet.the bits cleared but the water is still brown and the plant is dying, think it is the wood causing it. The tank temp is 24 degrees. i have no idea about the Ph or nitrates and had no idea you are meant ot change some of the water every week. I have one sunset platy and one harlequin tetra at the bottom of the tank dying and im worried that they are all going to die by the end of today. I desperately need advice on how to try to save my tank!!

 

[KittyKat]

The brown is tannins, they do a lot more good for the fish than harm.

Your problem is probably that you changed the filter sponge(es?): you now have no good bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. Your first course of action should be to stop feeding, change at least 50% of the water with warm, dechlorinated tap water (chlorine and chloramine are quite harmful to fish, so it's important to remove those).

Next, get a test kit for ammonia and nitrite, make sure they're liquid ones as the strips are not very accurate. If the ammonia OR nitrite is at or above 0.25 ppm, do water changes to bring it as low as possible.

Now, did you change all the filter sponges/media or only some of it?

 

[Athena]

I agree with Kitty Kat above.

Also, during the 6 months you had the tank set up, how often were you doing water changes? I know you said you didn't realise it should be weekly, but were you doing any water changes at all? If not, or very few during that time, the toxins in the tank would have been very high, causing harm to the fish.

It might not be too late to save them if you do as KK suggested and do a large water change today. Those brown tannins will be coming out of the bogwood you put in the tank - no, it's not harmful but not many people want brown water LOL. The bogwood should have been soaked in a bucket of water prior to adding to the aquarium. You soak it overnight, change the water, soak it overnight again...and keep doing that until the water is finally relatively clear. Then you can add the wood to the aquarium.

If you don't mind brownish water, then you can leave it as is. Eventually, with more and more water changes, your water will clear up in time. It may never be completely clear but that is what to expect when using bogwood, I'm afraid.

If your fish are suffering from a bacterial disease due to the exposure to toxins in the water, then you could use an anti-bac medicine to prevent it snowballing into a secondary infection. I always recommend Myxazin by Waterlife as that is the one I used in the past and was very effective.

All the best - Athena

 

[jessijo]

Thanks guys have done a 50% water change, tested nitrates and ammonia levels which seem to be ok, i lost the two fish but the others seem a lot happier now.

in reply to Kitty Kat yes it was the whole filter sponge but not sure if i can only change part of it. also how long should i not feed the fish for??

in reply to Athena thanks for the advice on the bog wood, removed it when doing the water change and will soak it for a while before putting it back in.

 

[KittyKat]

Thanks guys have done a 50% water change, tested nitrates and ammonia levels which seem to be ok

OK is 0 ppm for both, anything above is not OK.

in reply to Kitty Kat yes it was the whole filter sponge but not sure if i can only change part of it. also how long should i not feed the fish for??

If it is a rough sponge, you should usually never have to change it.. I have sponges which are 10-15+ years old and still working fine. Fine sponges and filter wool are the ones which tend to fall apart readily.. one can usually replace 25-50% of the sponge without negative effects, just cut half or 1/4 off and replace with new.

Feed once every 3-4 days, as much as they can completely finish in 30 seconds until the ammonia and nitrite are down to 0 ppm, then slowly increase back to 1-2 per day. This is the best thing to do because food is a big contributor to ammonia and tropical fish can survive without much food for a long time..

in reply to Athena thanks for the advice on the bog wood, removed it when doing the water change and will soak it for a while before putting it back in.

Actually, if you have ammonia, the tannins from the bogwood will lower the pH of the water and lower pH means that more of the ammonia is NH[sub]4[/sub][sup]+[/sup], so it isn't as harmful for the fish.