sabby

Wondering if someone could help me in understanding what is happening. I have had several tropical fresh water fish for quite some time. I weekly clean 25% of water in my 25gallon tank. I recently lost 2 densone barbs and two angel fish. There was no change in feed or feeding patterns, no new fish or plants introduced to the tank. I have a hanging aqua flow filter. The water seems to be having small white particles but not cloudy. The plant leaves are growing a slight peach fuzzy like substance. The fish are restless and acting strange and seems to be going to surface for air. I recently introduced ammonia sack in the filter thinking it was BIOmax. Could there be signs of nitrite poisoning?

susitna-flower

Hi Sabby, WELCOME to FISHLORE, hope we can help.

First I am not familiar with "ammonia sack" that might be added to a filter, but if it were me I would SACK that right now! If you are having ammonia problems, lots of water changes will help. Do you use water that needs conditioning to remove the chlorine?
I always ask because I am on a well with no chlorine, and don't have to use it. Also make very sure the water you are putting back in is the same temperature as your tank water.

Even if you don't have anything to put in your filter overnight, get that out now. The reason is, because sometimes material that says it absorbs ammonia, will do just that until it gets full, then it will release it, and poison your fish.

How long has your tank been running? DID you cycle the tank before adding fish?

The MOST important thing, do you test your water. Water changes without knowing what your water parameters are, is a start, but you have no way to know how effective you are unless you test. SO we recommend an API Master test kit, DON'T rely on test strips........then let us know what the results of the tests are.
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:

When you change water every week are you vacuuming the substrate?

So, tonight, after you remove that filter material, change 50 % of the water. Then do another 50% tomorrow. Test your water, and let us know...... Hope this helps. Sorry your fish have been dieing.

Merry Christmas

sabby

Thanks for the reply susitna-flower and valuable information,
I have "sacked" the sack three days ago and doing 2 days 25% changes and today a 50% change. I have had the tank 3 years now and did cycle the tank original and have not ever had this problem. I do use Aqua plus conditioner and Cycle for every change with the same temperature water. I do also vacuum the substrate.

I do not test the water but I am going to definitely buy a testing kit. I have a Reverse Osmosis system and wondering if I could use this water for the fish? Also, I have dropped the water level, opened the lid and increase flow of filter for better aeration.

susitna-flower

Great, and so many "newbies" are really new to fish keeping that is why I try to hit every contingency. Don't want to come across like you have a screw loose!
Most fish don't need RO water, but some like Discus and I believe Angels benefit. At this point unless the ph is 8.5 or such, I would just do what is easiest. The main thing here is consistency, you don't want to have the ph going up and down with every change. Whether you CAN use RO water, YES, but for most fish the added minerals are not a bad thing, so you don't have to go that route.
If you keep snails or shrimp I wouldn't use RO.

One question though, if you have an RO system and not for the fish, WHY? Do you have water conditions that are unhealthy for people? IF so , you should test the tap water also and see what the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are, maybe you are having a problem right from the tap.

COBettaCouple

Hmm.. part of the problem could be "Cycle". We used it when starting out in fish keeping and it kept our 2 tanks in a constantly revolving mini-cycle. If your tank was going through a mini-cycle, it could explain the fish that you lost. Cycle sounds nice and naturally the pet stores want to sell it, but it's the wrong bacteria and pretty much is expensive water. The 2 nitrifying bacteria that you want have about a 15-hour life cycle. I'd stop using it recommend "Prime" for treating your tap water. Prime helps lock the nitrogen-based toxins as well as remove the heavy metals and enhance slime coating, so if your tank is in a mini-cycle or has been knocked out of cycle, it would help the fish weather the toxins while the tank gets back to cycled.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113805 - is what you added in the pouch similiar to this product?

sabby

Hi All,
Letting you all know the status of my fish. I have continued to do 25% water changes and have now managed to bring Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels all down to normal. I also removed 90% of my plants which I think was causing my Nitrate levels to be high. I have lost 8 fish in my tank and one Pearl Gourami is still not doing to well and not sure if he will last beyond tomorrow. I have also added a air pump for oxygen adn reduced the level of water so that the filter water crashes the surface to provide further oxygen.

I believe that the combination of decay of plant material and at times overfeeding was the problem for Nitrate levels. More vacuuming of substrate also helped.

Thanks to all for all your information and support.

Chief_waterchanger

Hope things look better for you, but live plants actually help chemical balance, as long as you are willing to pull out any dead/dying parts of the plant on a semi-daily maybe even weekly basis.

COBettaCouple

As someone who had bad luck with bulbs and plants from petco & petsmart, I'd recommend watersprite and java ferns, especially if you can get them from a local fish club or breeder. Even I have them growing like crazy for me with, I think, a rather minimal amount of dead plant material to clean up.