Please help

[loachylover]

i bought a new internal filter(interpet tf2) for my 60 gallon tank everything seemed fine until i woke up this mornig and my four tiger barbs(one of which was 6 year old and was a pretty tough fish). All my other fish are fine(rummy nose, neons,serpaes)

 

[bigfish]

Did you run the two filters together or just swap them over?

It takes time to seed a new filter.

 

[loachylover]

i just swapped them over straight away, after a few hours the water went rather cloudy, but this morning i when i got up it was clear but my barbs were dead, i really cant undersatnd it the eldest barb has been through alot worse conditions(i inherited the tank from a family member who did not look after the fish at all)

 

[loachylover]

its not a 60 gallon its a 60 litre tank sorry if that makes any diffrence

 

[impur]

By swapping the filters you took out a vast majority of the beneficial bacteria. These bacterias consume the ammonia and nitrites. The cloudyness you experienced was a bacteria bloom. It is likely the ammonia and nitrites skyrocketed and killed your fish. You should test the parameters. Unfortunately, unless the old filter media is still wet, you will have a mini cycle. If you want to try to save the rest, go buy a packet of bio spira and put that in. It will readd the bacteria you are now missing. When you add the bio spira, also put any fish you plan to add at the same time. If you want 4 more tiger barbs, add them at this time with the bio spira.

In the future, when replacing filter media or entire filters, it is best to run them at the same time, and gradually remove the old. You can leave old filter media in the new filter for a few weeks until the bacteria have grown in the new filter.

 

[loachylover]

thanks alot for your help, was just wondering - i have "cycle biological aquarium supplement" will this do instead of bio spira?

Thanks again!!!