In Morning Again

[mells]

Hi All,

I have had such a horrid day , not two weeks ago did I have a filter blow (fluval 4) on my medusa tank and it killed three L34 & L255 overnight.

I woke this morning to find my 2 Elephant Noses & Two L066 & Two L333
dead
I was devestated, I dont know what caused this, I found that one of the L066 had a bloated belly?
I have read something about this before, cannot find the information again, does anyone know what this is an idication of?

I immediatley took the ill fated fish away, and have since performed a 50% water change, and had to clean the filter, to find that it was blocked up with a snail infestation inside, since cleaning it I noticed that I doesnt run fast anymore, is two months old. I even checked the powerhead part that sucks the water through, that still isnt much faster so it looks like my filter is on its way out.

I know its not overfeeding as the they are fed every other day,
Im even more destated at the fact that I removed two airation bars
not last week to use the air pump for a box filter in another tank.

I have had this tank up and running for the last year, and have had all the fish who passed away today, two months in the tank.

I am never buying a fluval filter ever again, they dont last my tanks.

Im off tomorrow so Im going to buy another box filter and an air pump to assist the fluval filter, then a month later I will add another box filter and remove the fluval.

I also did some water tests, Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate were fine, tank had the last water change a week ago on saturday.

Mells
__________________

 

[Bloo]

Crikey that's horrible Mells
Such bad luck lately !

If the filter wasn't working properly over a period of time, that could certainly have been the cause.
Have you tested your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate *before* and after the water change ?

If you have a problem with snails, it's likely to be a problem with whichever external filter you go for. You'll have to keep an eye on it on a very regular basis if that's the case. Otherwise you could try tying a piece of tights (15 denier but not much thicker) over the intake - that will probably prevent snails being sucked up and in and infesting the filter.

Best of luck !

 

[mells]

Crikey that's horrible Mells
Such bad luck lately !

If the filter wasn't working properly over a period of time, that could certainly have been the cause.
Have you tested your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate *before* and after the water change ?

If you have a problem with snails, it's likely to be a problem with whichever external filter you go for. You'll have to keep an eye on it on a very regular basis if that's the case. Otherwise you could try tying a piece of tights (15 denier but not much thicker) over the intake - that will probably prevent snails being sucked up and in and infesting the filter.

Best of luck !

I think the filter must of slowed down over a period of two days, this is the third filter of fluval 4 I have had problems with.

I tested before the water change and have yet to test it again.

Im putting two diy filter boxes with the floss & carbon in tomorrow to assist the fluval.
Hopefully that should help for a while until after xmas and I can go external.

In total I have lost fish from each tank in the last three months (3 four footers)
They say bad things happen in threes.

 

[BWBettas]

Awwww... pooor you i hope you are able to set up your tans again wit such beautifl fish you had in there my LFS had 2 elephant noses in the other week i was soooo tempted to get one

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How often do you clean the filter out and how bad is the snail infestion in the main tank- do you have gravel or sand substrate? I agree with bloozoo its not worth changing the filter as you most likely only encounter the same issue, fluval filters are a good make anyways in comparsion many over brands, personally i would take the sponges out in their catridge and put them in a bucket of tank water and dowse the main filter parts with hot water to remove any gunk or dislodge any snails that are left in the filter, snails will imdeiatly stop clinging to whatever they are crawling on when they come into contact with hot water.
Its always best to have a cycled back up filter in these situations as well so it might be good to invest in a smaller filter and set it up along side the current one, either way it'll have many benefits to having a second filter in the tank from higher disolved oxygen ammounts and less waste in the tank .

 

[mells]

How often do you clean the filter out and how bad is the snail infestion in the main tank- do you have gravel or sand substrate? I agree with bloozoo its not worth changing the filter as you most likely only encounter the same issue, fluval filters are a good make anyways in comparsion many over brands, personally i would take the sponges out in their catridge and put them in a bucket of tank water and dowse the main filter parts with hot water to remove any gunk or dislodge any snails that are left in the filter, snails will imdeiatly stop clinging to whatever they are crawling on when they come into contact with hot water.
Its always best to have a cycled back up filter in these situations as well so it might be good to invest in a smaller filter and set it up along side the current one, either way it'll have many benefits to having a second filter in the tank from higher disolved oxygen ammounts and less waste in the tank .

I clean the filter out when the indicator informs me that the filter is clogged, I didnt even notice I had a snail infestation until I cleaned the filter out I did however put it in hot water, I was quite suprised as I have a kuli loach in the tank. I have added a manual filter that also has an airstone on it to help airate the water.


I am going to leave that filter in their permantley, I dont want any more deaths.

Thanks All.

Mells.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I don't bother with the clog indicator on fluval filters, i just clean mine out in tank water from water changes once every 2weeks and they do fine- either that or i just look at how strong the current is coming from teh filter . Khuli loachs though won't touch snails though- i think its yoyo loachs or somthing that do the snail eating thing.

 

[Gaylord]

Did you say you run carbon in the filter? After a while, carbon leaks the trapped debris back into the water if it isn't replaced. Don't bother with carbon, just use more bio medium or filter media.

i think its yoyo loachs or somthing that do the snail eating thing.

It's clown loaches.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Did you say you run carbon in the filter? After a while, carbon leaks the trapped debris back into the water if it isn't replaced. Don't bother with carbon, just use more bio medium or filter media.

i think its yoyo loachs or somthing that do the snail eating thing.

It's clown loaches.

Yep clown loachs eat snails but so do yoyo/pakistan loachs ;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile79.html

I agree with the carbon though, don't use it myself although i would if i had whitespot in my tanks and i had to remove a long term dose of whitespot meds which can be powerful stuff.