Whats Happening?can You Explain,i Give Up

[dolly_daydream]

ok i have a 360 litre tank fully matured last week twice i woke up in the morning to dead fish,the tank isnt over stocked 4 corys 20 neons and about 20 guppies or had,after finding the fish i tested the water,ammonia zero, nitrite and nitrates off the scale,I did a water change,and tested 2 hours later,and still high,been water chaning daily for a week now and im getting nowhere fast,still zero ammonia but off the scale nitrite and nitrate,corys are doing fine most of the other fish sit and gasp at the top,help im at my wits end totally

 

[Wills]

Sounds like you have something rotting in the tank or filters? Which is causing a big build up nitrate at the end of the cycle.
 
Just some general questions -
 
What test kits are you using?
 
What kind of filter/s do you have?
 
How often do you clean the filters?
 
Do you have any live plants in there? Just wondering if you have any non aquatic ones that are starting to rot off? 
 
Are you 100% you have all the bodies out?
 
When did you last add fish?
 
What kind of decor do you have? Do you have any of the hollow plastic ornaments these can sometimes cause issues?
 
Do you have any wood in the tank like driftwood? That could be rotting it does happen after a while or if its the wrong type of wood?
 
Just a few questions there that might help me or someone else throw some advice up.
 
Just hang in there! Your doing the absolute best thing with the daily water changes and well done for that level of comitment! A lot of others would have left it. So a very big well done!!!
 
Wills

 

[DrRob]

First thought was a filter bac problem as you're getting nitrites, but you're saying that nitrates are staying off the scale after water changes, which makes me agree with Wills, you've got a large ammonia source going on, whether it's dead fish or decaying plants, something is rotting and is causing you an ongoing ammonia spike that's being turned rapidly to nitrite but more slowly to nitrate.
 
Water changes and hunt the source, if it's still there.

 

[dolly_daydream]

Sounds like you have something rotting in the tank or filters? Which is causing a big build up nitrate at the end of the cycle.
 
Just some general questions -
 
What test kits are you using?
 
What kind of filter/s do you have?
 
How often do you clean the filters?
 
Do you have any live plants in there? Just wondering if you have any non aquatic ones that are starting to rot off? 
 
Are you 100% you have all the bodies out?
 
When did you last add fish?
 
What kind of decor do you have? Do you have any of the hollow plastic ornaments these can sometimes cause issues?
 
Do you have any wood in the tank like driftwood? That could be rotting it does happen after a while or if its the wrong type of wood?
 
Just a few questions there that might help me or someone else throw some advice up.
 
Just hang in there! Your doing the absolute best thing with the daily water changes and well done for that level of comitment! A lot of others would have left it. So a very big well done!!!
 
Wills

phew ok all plastic plants
no wood,filter is fluval u4 and pf3
ive checked the whole bottom and gravel vac the bootom,
and added 5 guppies last week which have all now died,
im using a master kit,
and i feel awful for them,i hate to see anything suffer im draining and filling everyday and just getting nowhere,ill pop the filters off tomorrow and have a look, thanks so much

 

[Wills]

Those interpet filters are an absolute nightmare loads of space for dead crap to get stuck in them so worth checking out an alternative i think.... but thats by the by
 
when you say a master test kit do you mean a api liquid one? or is it the paper strips?
 
have you tested your tap water for nitrate? do you live in a rural or semi rural place?
 
Wills

 

[dolly_daydream]

Thank u thank u thank u, I drained again today and opened my filters in a bowl of tank water and OMG, tons of baby guppies in both all dead n rotting I cleaned it off a good clean, and refilled, tested again just and OMG there only slightly raised usually when I test a few hours after a change there off the scale again , but I've seen a big improvement tonight so thank u all x

 

[DrRob]

Good, good.
 
Well, not for the guppies, but good that you have an answer.
 
Hopefully things will start to settle quickly now. After all, your filter has been processing ammonia at high rate recently so the nitrites should clear pretty fast. Will probably take a few water changes to the nitrates down though.