Nic

I have a tank'o'death - the fish and inverts housed there have come down with weird ailments. If someone could solve this mystery, I'd be much obliged.

pH=7.6, ammonia=0, nitrites=0, nitrates=<10, temp=74-78

This is a planted tank, up for 8 months, with a plant soil (african violet)/sand/gravel substrate.

The first 4 months were fine. Then I moved a couple of healthy adolescent apple snails in there. Within a week, they'd stopped moving (one floating, the other on it's back) and died.

Now, it's home to the following:

1) 1 dwarf puffer that recently developed a ginormous tumor on it's head
2) 1 dwarf puffer that has recently started struggling to swim (mostly lays on the bottom, or makes jerky swimming movements with it's nose pointed upward), developed a caved-in face, and is constantly breathing very heavily (he is old, but this all came on suddenly)
3) 3 seemingly OK otos - UPDATE: an oto that I've had for 6 months and just saw last night with a fat belly was found dead this AM =/. Water still tests perfect....any ideas??
4) 3 seemingly OK amano shrimp

I treat the tap water with API. Any idea if something weird from the substrate or my water could be causing these bizarre ailments? I'm especially worried about 2) as he's the most oddly symptomatic - what could cause this?

Thanks

aquarist48

Good morning. I hate to hear about your fish loss and problems. I don't have live plants but I would be concerned about the African Violet plant soil that you used. Is there chemicals in the soil that may be causing the problems? I'm sure you'll get some more responses soon. Best of luck.

Nic

We gutted the tank and replaced the substrate with just gravel, but there's been no change in the odd puffer's behavior as of yet. Can anyone tell me where I could send a sample of our water to be tested for possible contaminants?

dee31

hi there there are tester kits that u can get in the LFS for testing your water ammonia , nitrites, nitrates and ph ...

Nic

I have a liquid testing kit for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates/pH, but they're all within an appropriate range - I was wondering if there are labs open to the public to test for things like bacteria in the water that aren't killed by common fish meds, or metals/minerals that tap water conditioner will not filter out. Any suggestions?