NEED HELP AND ADVICE PLEASE

[BIGMAC]

Hope someone can help me im at a loss as what to do,maybe i have done everything wrong in panic.Ok so heres whats happend.My fish are dyeing .
one by one ,i have awful high readings of ammonia 4.9 it was 7.3 before i did a water change thismorning and has been every morning this week i have done water changes each day so my readings are now ...
AMMONIA 4.9
NITRITE0.50
NITRATE 10

The thing is my tank had cycled and was holding constant levels ammonia 0,nitrite 0,nitrate 5.At one point the nitrate went up to 10 then with a couple of extra water changes it leveld of at 5 and stayed there.I added 1 alge eater not sure what sort it was but its only small and lfs said it only gets to bout 3 inch fully grown.I add ammo lock on water changes,and use same temp water,the tank water is constant about 79-80 degrees.
So far i have lost all 4 guppys,both platties last one dead thismorning. I have cleaned the gravel ,i thaught the filter maynot be bigenough so i got a fluval 1 and added that to run with the filter in there already which came with the tank when i baught .I know it sounds like the tank is not cycled but it was doing great and Had cycled i added fish very slowly and now its all gone wrong.
Any help would be really appreciated as im really gutted that my fish are dyeing
Thanx Sue
BY THE WAY ITS A 20 GALL TANK

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Oh no!!

I am so sorry to read that! That's very high amonia. You'll need to find out what kind of "algae eater" you have as this can mean many different things andthe last thing you want is a 12" plec!!

How many fish have you got in the tank now? Is it possible you are overstocked? What filter are you running, you say you bought a fluval 1 on top of the other one.

Is it possible you have cleaned too much and loast all the good bacteria?

 

[BIGMAC]

Just looked up the algae eaters name an it grows much bigger than the lfs said its a siamese algae eater.
As for the filter itsan AQUA FLOW 2 FOR A 50-150L it says so really it does sound bigenough if i have worked it out right,maybe i should take the fluval 1 out i thaught cos all my water perams had gone up so high that the filter was not bigenough since the water changes wernt bringing them down.
And the fish i have left are...
5 neon tetras (first fish in the tank)
2 honey gourami
2 albino cory
1 algae eater

 

[Cheese Specialist]

How many lph does the fiolter do? This is a much better way of judging how good a filter is rather than the volume it says.

I can't remember exactly how many lph you'd want per gallon but I am sure we could find out.

 

[BIGMAC]

How many lph does the fiolter do? This is a much better way of judging how good a filter is rather than the volume it says.

I can't remember exactly how many lph you'd want per gallon but I am sure we could find out.

On the box it says flowrate 500 Lph

 

[Cheese Specialist]

20UK gallons is about 90 litres so a turnover of 5 times an hour should be enough more than enough and you don't seem to be overstocked.

Hope someone else can help more. Sorry.

 

[BIGMAC]

Thanx for trying and for your help.
SUE

 

[suemack]

hi Sue

how long has the tank been set up for now?

Is there any possibility that there could be a dead fish stuck under something or behind a piece of the tank furnishings? Other things that will affect the tank's bacteria are - meds added to the tank sometimes cure the disease but kill the bacteria ....and uneaten food that is in a corner/behind/under something.

Your tank doesn't sound overstocked or underfiltered

sue

 

[BIGMAC]

hi Sue

how long has the tank been set up for now?

Is there any possibility that there could be a dead fish stuck under something or behind a piece of the tank furnishings? Other things that will affect the tank's bacteria are - meds added to the tank sometimes cure the disease but kill the bacteria ....and uneaten food that is in a corner/behind/under something.

Your tank doesn't sound overstocked or underfiltered

sue

Hi Sue,my tropical has been up an running since first week in march,i have no dead fish in there all my dead have been accounted for and i have taken the ornaments an rocks out this morning to check for any rotting food and there was nothing.I have to my knowledge had no disease in the tank therefor not used any meds.I am at a totall loss to know what to do

 

[J_acon]

Okay, Seems like everything was fine until the water change and the addition of fish.
When you did the water change did you add any chemicals to remove the chlorine and minerals? most of these chemicals removed ammonia (some also kill your good bacteria) and you might have starved your colonies of nitrifying bacteria in your filter. Also chlorine kills the poor guys. So when you when added the fish there were not enough bacteria to decompase the ammonia produce by you fish.

Another possible reason is, after your water change you didn't add ammonia or didn't add the fish immediatly, ( u said the reading of nitrate stayed at 5, it should increase if there is still ammonia being produce or released in your tank) By not adding ammonia you starved your bacterias colonies therefore leading to the proble you got now.

Nitrates levels can go as high as 30 i heard some leave it up to 40 before a water change. You don't need to change your water when it goes to 10. Do a 25% water change every 2 weeks and it should be fine.

So start the cycled again. This site explains it pretty well

Click here


Okay guys, i am not a pro, but that's what i got from reading her post, correct me if wrong.

 

[BIGMAC]

I imagin my nitrate
Okay, Seems like everything was fine until the water change and the addition of fish.
When you did the water change did you add any chemicals to remove the chlorine and minerals? most of these chemicals removed ammonia (some also kill your good bacteria) and you might have starved your colonies of nitrifying bacteria in your filter. Also chlorine kills the poor guys. So when you when added the fish there were not enough bacteria to decompase the ammonia produce by you fish.

Another possible reason is, after your water change you didn't add ammonia or didn't add the fish immediatly, ( u said the reading of nitrate stayed at 5, it should increase if there is still ammonia being produce or released in your tank) By not adding ammonia you starved your bacterias colonies therefore leading to the proble you got now.

Nitrates levels can go as high as 30 i heard some leave it up to 40 before a water change. You don't need to change your water when it goes to 10. Do a 25% water change every 2 weeks and it should be fine.

So start the cycled again. This site explains it pretty well

Click here


Okay guys, i am not a pro, but that's what i got from reading her post, correct me if wrong.

When i do the water changes i add dechlorinator also i add stress zyme which is to build up good bacteria as i know that chlorine kills the fish,i have done nothing any different to what i do in my other 3 tanks the only thing i can think of is that i have been a little too thorough cleaning the tank and gravel as i was so worried that my fish were dyeing.
As for my nitrate level it would be lower with having plants in the tank its quite heavily planted.
Thanx for the advice like you said im having to start the cycle again,just hope my fish can stand it.Poor little fish.
Sue

 

[fishxrule!]

that happend to me i tank was like 2 months old and i did a water change and my fish started dieing like 2 a day it was awful so i went to see this pet shop guy and he sed i take a cup and put like 10 spoons of table salt in with boiling water and stir it till it dissolves and realease it slowly in the water and it will kill any bacteria and stuff i did that bout 2 weeks ago and my fish have stoped dying i changed to much water at once like 3 quaters of my tank wich up set my good bacteria so now i dont clean out as much
now all my fish are happy and healthy

 

[BIGMAC]

that happend to me i tank was like 2 months old and i did a water change and my fish started dieing like 2 a day it was awful so i went to see this pet shop guy and he sed i take a cup and put like 10 spoons of table salt in with boiling water and stir it till it dissolves and realease it slowly in the water and it will kill any bacteria and stuff i did that bout 2 weeks ago and my fish have stoped dying i changed to much water at once like 3 quaters of my tank wich up set my good bacteria so now i dont clean out as much
now all my fish are happy and healthy

To be honest i didnt know that you could use salt with corys in the tank ,and the fishes show no signs orf disease one day they are fine the next they are dead.Im sure its the ammonia thats killing them,with the tank been uncycled after me been too keen on cleaning it up.

 

[jams.alaskan]

You've made some very good moves. Leaving the original filter in place while you seed the new one was excellent. You are testing your levels - again, excellent you know what your ups and downs are and you can provide a history for the tank. You also said that you have a SAE, lucky you, there are close relatives that sooner or later you would regret - so that's also a mark in your favor.
You are at about the one month mark on this tank - that's when I have to be the most careful with fish in my new tanks. Just seems to be that majic time for things to get OFF one last time before they go good forever.
When cleaning the gravel maybe only vaccume 1/3 to 1/2 leaving one side undisturbed for bacteria until your next time when you switch sides. I do not think that you are the least bit overstocked for a 20 gal but for cycling, perhaps you were. I'm not at all sure what threw you into a mini cycle after you had reached good levels but now you may in fact be working on getting another cycle to redeem the tank. I'd not add a soul till you are there again. The fish you have now will benifit from your testing and water changes to help keep the levels down. I've never used stress zyme - but since you have other tanks you could really boost this one by adding gravel or what ever substrate bagged in a pantyhose stocking from the tanks that are doing great! My final thought is that I don't personally use or like the ammonia blocking stuff - I really want to know what my levels are and "remove" that which is high with frequent and small water changes.
Thanks for listening and Best of Luck!!!

ALASKA

 

[BIGMAC]

That makes me feel much better at least i know im going about correcting the mistake the right way.Thanx for taking the time to read and reply i will take on board what you say about the gravel cleaning and also keep watching my water perams.
Thanx again.Sue