Please Guys..its Really Urgent !

[A_DEE]

a lil intro..
my name is adham and um an american living in egypt
i ve been working in freshwater fish business for like 3 years now
like breed cichlids buy fry or younger fish and resell them as adults ..stuff like that
i have 4 fish tanks ..massive ones ..i bought a 20 gallon long used aquarium as a grow out tank
washed it very well with salt and hotwater
and i used an old canister was layin around an ehiem classic 2213 ( 66 gallon filter)
first i added some clean gravel some decorations ( all clean washed well with boiling water )
cleaned the filter
put those bacteria colony drops (instant fish or whatever its called )
waited 24 hours then added a young gaint snakehead and 2 inch rtc
next morning the tank smelt like sulphur (never had this problem before)
i did a 50% water change and tasted the ph it was 7
next morning my rtc was gone it had a coat of white slime on it (any1 know what this is ?)
so i did a tear down ..washed everything (canister and tank )i removed all the gravel and kept it a barebottom
added water and chlorine remover added my snakehead
yesterday i went out and bought a young oscar and a young needlenose gar ..i did a 50% water change
still the water smelt like sulphur ..its clean not milky
few hours ago ..the oscar and needlenose are did coverd with this slime coat ...and the water smelt like sulphur again
any one had the same problem ..?? i always cycle using those bacteria drops ..it works fine till now
could this tank be cursed or something ??

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

While I cannot say what is happening in this 20g long tank and you cannot pinpoint what is going on, the worst thing you can do is go out and buy some more fish and put them in this same tank.

 

[Man of fish]

Cycling with the bacteria drops, isn't cycling. Even if those drops do happen to work, I'm not a believer in them and all they'd do was give the cycle a kickstart. Test your ammonia nitrIte and nitrAte and post it here if you could. That'll help us greatly.

 

[A_DEE]

guys thanks for replying ..
um qonna try to get a testing kit ..u know its not easy having one here in egypt ..its rare ..like so rare
what about this annoying sulphur smell..i google it ...it says hydrogen sulphate or something ...pockets of gas trapped in the gravel ..!! well i dont have gravel ..the bio media i have in the canister

 

[fluttermoth]

If you can't get a test kit then do large water changes as often as you can; at least 80 or 90% daily. You'll need to be doing massive, regular partial water changes anyway, until the fish go into bigger tanks or they'll end up stunted.

How do you clean out your filters?

 

[A_DEE]

i do 50 to 70% daily ...cuz i dont want to lose the snakehead ..
i kno its not an ammonia spike
there is some mean bacteria or fungus something like that ...
when fish die ..there is this slime coat ..of white something ..

i separate all the media ..and put and soak them in a boiling water with salt in it
and wash the container with new sponge and salty hot water ..
put boiling water through the in and out tubes for a lil

 

[fluttermoth]

Sorry, but without testing, how do you know it's not an ammonia spike?

I would say, in the absence of any test results that your water changes should be a lot bigger; basically drain the tank right down, leaving just enough water for the fish to swim upright before refilling (with warmed, dechlorinated water, of course!).

Do you clean the filters on your other tanks the same way?

 

[A_DEE]

this for the filter
i separate all the media ..and put and soak them in a boiling water with salt in it
and wash the container with new sponge and salty hot water ..
put boiling water through the in and out tubes for a lil

as for the tank
also hot water and salt

 

[zain611]

Do you have an airpump? i think this may take out the smell trapped from the gravel

 

[fluttermoth]

this for the filter
i separate all the media ..and put and soak them in a boiling water with salt in it
and wash the container with new sponge and salty hot water ..
put boiling water through the in and out tubes for a lil

as for the tank
also hot water and salt

If you clean all your filters like that, all the time, then none of your tanks will ever cycle I was going to suggest that you add some mature, cycled media from one of your other tanks, but if you clean all your filters like that it's not going to work...water changes; lots of them and as big as you can are all you can do, really. I really think it's highly unlikely you have any disease or parasites; nearly all fish health problems are caused by poor water quality. I'd still like to know how you're so sure that this isn't an ammonia problem without being able to test.

Do you have an airpump? i think this may take out the smell trapped from the gravel

I can't see how that would help...anyway, this tank is already bare bottomed.

 

[A_DEE]

for other tanks and other filter ...i never wash the bio media ...just change the mechanical media
for the ammonia issues
if i jus change 70% of the water still smells sulphur its a strong smell ..i cant miss it ..rotten egg smell
and this white coat all over my fish dead ones ..thats how um sure its not ammonia
what can i use to sterlize the aquarium and filter without killing the fish
what can i use??
i have an air pump with 2 air stones and an air curtian
i have good current by the filter out spray bar

 

[Alba_Buzz]

Did you say you buy, breed, and sell fish ?

 

[A_DEE]

i breed some cichlids ..and i buy small snakeheads,rtcs,gars etc and grow them and sell them later
i have 1 300 gallon tank -2 500 gallon tanks
and some feeder tanks
but i never had this sulphur smelling problem..
i feel like fish serial killer

 

[colleen0309]

If you have a rotten egg smell, that's definately sulfer. Since the tank is bare bottomed, the sulfer isn't from gas pockets in the substrate. All I can think is it is coming from the canister filter. I really don't know what the problem is, but if it was me, I would...(1)Drain the tank completely.(2)Empty the canister filter of ALL media.(3)Wash everything thouroughly with boiling water and dry it completely.(4)Throw away the filter media.(5)Take some of the cycled media from your established filters and put it in the filter for the 20 gallon. This is alot of work,and it may not solve your problem, but this is what I would do. Good luck!

 

[A_DEE]

i suspect the filter,tap water,canopy,
uma do a full clean up with boiling water ..any safe chemical i can use ??
i ve been keeping filtered tap water for the chlorine to evaporate
and uma wash the glass aquarium with salt and water again
boil the filter media for 30 mins..change the sponges
but i wanna know how you guys wash the tubes/hoses of the filter
i run boiling water ..any body got any other ideas about those tube
i normal use salt or vinegar to clean aquarium...anything else i can use ?