Poorly Pelvechromis

[BFM]

Have a poorly pelvechromis, he's gasping and very listless, water seems fine, have done tests, cannot think what issue is? This is the second of these that I am gonna lose by the look.

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres?
How many fish and which type?
Can you please post your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
What brand of test kit are you using please?

Do the fish gills look pale with excess slime, or red and inflamed, or look purple?
Any signs of flicking and rubbing on objects in the tank?
Does the fish dart around the tank, or signs of erratic swimming?
Is the fish turning upside down, or swimming in circles really fast?
Is there a greyish film on body, fins?
Any red steaking of fins, body?
Any sores, or red pin prick marks on the fish?
Is the fish leaning to one side when resting?
Does the fish look bloated, or thin?
Are the eyes of the fish sticking out?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[BFM]

Size of tank in gallons or litres? - 40 litre
How many fish and which type? - one pair Pelvechromis, 4 tetra rasboa
Can you please post your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph. Amonia 0, nitrate below .3, nitrite was low.
What brand of test kit are you using please? Test stick, and chemical kit. Nutraphin?

Do the fish gills look pale with excess slime, or red and inflamed, or look purple? Yeah
Any signs of flicking and rubbing on objects in the tank? No lethargic, but tetras are doing that, looking rough
Does the fish dart around the tank, or signs of erratic swimming? No but tetras are
Is the fish turning upside down, or swimming in circles really fast? Tetras are
Is there a greyish film on body, fins? A bit maybe
Any red steaking of fins, body? Not noticeable.
Any sores, or red pin prick marks on the fish? No
Is the fish leaning to one side when resting? Yeah
Does the fish look bloated, or thin? No
Are the eyes of the fish sticking out? No, but pelvichromis is a little maybe.

Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks for reply...

 

[BFM]

Lost the pelvichromis overnight along with two more tetra...,

Water parameters still were ok, but done another big change..... Don't know what else to do?

 

[DrRob]

Did I see you say positive on nitrITE and almost no nitrATE?

Worrying numbers unless the tank is heavily planted and by low you mean "as low as it can read". Even in a planted freshwater almost no nitrate can actually cause some trouble, but that's not the issue here.

If I've read your numbers correctly then you have issues with your filter and the nitrite is one of the most toxic things you get in a tank (far worse than ammonia), so you're on the right track with big water changes.

 

[BFM]

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

 

[DrRob]

Did you move the media or just run them alongside and then remove the old filter? It's generally better to move the media over, otherwise the bacteria will tend to spread themselves out over the available media, so shutting one filter down halves the bacteria level. It quickly recovers as the media capacity on the new filter is so large and you have a good colony started that can multiply up, but it can create a spike that will result in a toxic system that can do things like this.

 

[elmo666]

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

Filter size isn't too relevent unless it is undersized for the bio-load. Just out of interest, have you removed the other filter? You see, although it is in the tank, all the bacteria is in the old filter, so in essence you're cycling this filter from scratch. What compounds this is the fact that the established bacterial colony in the existing filter will be effectively removing the ammonia, leaving very liitle for the new filter to cycle upon. If you haven't taken any of the old filter media and placed it in the new filter you're suffering new tank syndrome as this has become a fish in cycle. If the old filter is still in, that is a completely different issue.

 

[BFM]

Did you move the media or just run them alongside and then remove the old filter? It's generally better to move the media over, otherwise the bacteria will tend to spread themselves out over the available media, so shutting one filter down halves the bacteria level. It quickly recovers as the media capacity on the new filter is so large and you have a good colony started that can multiply up, but it can create a spike that will result in a toxic system that can do things like this.

I run the two together, then took old filter out about three weeks ago.

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

Filter size isn't too relevent unless it is undersized for the bio-load. Just out of interest, have you removed the other filter? You see, although it is in the tank, all the bacteria is in the old filter, so in essence you're cycling this filter from scratch. What compounds this is the fact that the established bacterial colony in the existing filter will be effectively removing the ammonia, leaving very liitle for the new filter to cycle upon. If you haven't taken any of the old filter media and placed it in the new filter you're suffering new tank syndrome as this has become a fish in cycle. If the old filter is still in, that is a completely different issue.

Old filter is gone, but I did scrub old filters into tank in the hope that the bacteria in filter would recolonise in new filter.

 

[elmo666]

Well I think that is the cause of your current problems, the new filter didn't have a sufficient bacterial colony. Do a 50% water change, keep a close eye on nitrite and nitrate, you want to see zero nitrite and nitrate increasing. Carry out further daily water changes whilst you can still see zero nitrite

Did you move the media or just run them alongside and then remove the old filter? It's generally better to move the media over, otherwise the bacteria will tend to spread themselves out over the available media, so shutting one filter down halves the bacteria level. It quickly recovers as the media capacity on the new filter is so large and you have a good colony started that can multiply up, but it can create a spike that will result in a toxic system that can do things like this.

I run the two together, then took old filter out about three weeks ago.

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

As low as I can read....

The filter is a fluval, and is well oversized for the tank, it's newish, but was cycled along side the one I was replacing it with for a month.

Filter size isn't too relevent unless it is undersized for the bio-load. Just out of interest, have you removed the other filter? You see, although it is in the tank, all the bacteria is in the old filter, so in essence you're cycling this filter from scratch. What compounds this is the fact that the established bacterial colony in the existing filter will be effectively removing the ammonia, leaving very liitle for the new filter to cycle upon. If you haven't taken any of the old filter media and placed it in the new filter you're suffering new tank syndrome as this has become a fish in cycle. If the old filter is still in, that is a completely different issue.

Old filter is gone, but I did scrub old filters into tank in the hope that the bacteria in filter would recolonise in new filter.

Ooops. Washing the filter sponges into the tank only serves to kill the bacteria as the water isn't flowing over them any more. I can see you're trying to follow you're logic, and these are simple mistakes to make. You are learning from experience as you go along.

 

[BFM]

But this was three weeks ago, surely would have had amonia / nitrite spikes?

 

[DrRob]

Possibly, but you may have missed them if they were brief but intense, which may have weakened the fish enough to let in other illnesses.

 

[elmo666]

As above, I think you may have missed them, as as well as trying to release bacteria, you would have washed alot of crud back into your tank, further adding to in-balance.