Emissary of Pain

Hay all ...

I apologise if this is in the wrong place ... I am new 2 this forum ...

I have a strange problem ... I have a 220L <58 gal> community tank with mixed tetra's, sword tails, albino rainbow sharks and 2 pleco's < 1 hi-fin and 1 unknown > and a pearl angel, my problem is this,

About 3 - 5 weeks ago I did a 35% water change as I do every 2 weeks <I was told I can do it every 2 weeks due 2 having a lot of filtration>, during the water change I added a small rock formation of quarts <boiled 2 clean> and I added the required antichlorine etc. Shortly after this water change my angel fish looked like it was bleeding internally around its mouth ... about a week later it died, I did another 30% water change as instructed by my LFS and after this 3 fish <1x sword tail, 1x black tetra, 1x albino rainbow shark> developed swim bladder ...

All the readings are correct < I dont have test equipment so my LFS did the tests 4 me > and I have not changed their diet, what could be causing this ??

All comments are welcome and I thank You all in advance.

aquarist48

Hello Emissary and Welcome to Fish Lore! Sadly fish stores don't always give the best advice. I highly recommend having your own test kit and not having to depend on what the fish store tells you. API (liquid) Master Test Kit is what is most recommended on this site. If it's available in your area and you have the means then it would be a great help to you. Without know exactly what your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, pH levels are it's hard to say for certain.

Here is a link concerning the nitrogen cycle that is crucial to fish keeping:
The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle

If your fish appear to be bleeding internally, they may be suffering from Septicemia caused by ammonia poisoning. (high levels of ammonia) So sorry to hear that you are having fish loss.
How long has your tank been set up?
Water changes are always a good place to start when you're fish are having problems.
Best wishes!
Ken

Emissary of Pain

Hey aquarist48,

Unfortunatley getting my own test kit at the moment is not an option as the prices in South Africa are rediculous and the LFS does tests for almost nothing but I am looking into getting my own kit.

So far only the Angel has looked like it was bleeding internally.

I have had my tank set up for approx 6 months now ... we had the odd dead fish when buying from a bad batch but otherwise the tank has been stable. Before we put the fish into the 4ft tank we had the 2 pleco's and the albino's in our 100L <26gal> tank which we transfered 2 the 220L as the pleco got big fast ... lol.

How often should I do a water change I have 2 filters in my tank both are resun filters < I know they not the best but they are the best for the price in my area >. 1 filter max tank is 500L and the other 200L ... so I have 700L/ph filtration in a 220L tank ...

Once again thank you for the replies.

Ps. does this forum handle cichlids as well ??

Best wishes,
Richard

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore richard!!
Im sorry for the loss of your fin babies
but I agree with ken....relying on pet stores is hard as they are usually dip stick users and those arent very realiable....without knowing your readings, its going to be hard to tell...even with extra filtration, mini cycles can sneak up on you at anytime...and extra filtration wont get rid of ammonia/nitrites which are deadly to fish.....I would up the gravel vacs to at least one a week and see if you can find some prime water conditioner..both those will help if you are in a mini cycle...and blleding internally, is a sign of bursted blood vessels which are often caused by the presence of ammonia

and yes this site is great and has many amazing cichlid members

peacemaker92

Just want to Welcome you To Fishlore!

So sorry you're going through this problem. Hope everything gets better soon. Good luck!

Emissary of Pain

Hey all ...

Thank you 4 all the info and the welcome messages !!

I looked into purchasing a test kit so that I wont have to rely on my lfs and it seems a bit crazy at R800 <ZAR> which is like $107.74 <USD> ...

Is there maybe other tell tail signs that could point 2 me going through ammonia problems ... or maybe something I can try 2 do that would aleviate the ammonia problem with out risking the other fishes health ??

Shawnie

if you can find prime water conditioner, that will detoxify the ammonia/nitrites phase for 24 hours ...doing partial daily water changes with the prime , until you can at least get a liquid test kit for ammonia/nitrites, will help allot...and get the fish through the hard parts if its a mini cycle...