our fish our dying and the others are rubbing on the rocks!!!

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our fish our dying and the others are rubbing on the rocks!!!

Postby benabarlow on Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:42 pm

The Ammonia is perfect.  The PH is safe. But we had a brown and green algae, mostly brown! We cleaned out our tank last weekend after 4 fish died.  The remaining fish are now saying out of the current and chilling in the rocks.  Not eating as much as they use too!  :dontknow:

In the past 2 days I have lost 4 more.

Any advice???  :occasion14:

Thanks
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Re: our fish our dying and the others are rubbing on the rocks!!!

Postby Barb Okla on Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:26 pm

How long has the tank been running?? as in a few weeks, months??
Ammonia is perfect?? What is perfect?? 0ppm is perfect OR a white test tube, NO YELLOW!! OR do you use strips?? Unsure on the readings of those..

DID you check your NITRITES?? This is a problem too after the Ammonia goes to 0ppm, then the NITRITES spike dangerously.. SO water changes are necessary every other day at 20% of you tanks water volume.. BUT......

NOW how much water did you change out??  I mean GALLONS??  if you changed out to much, the tank has to cycle all over again and this is going to make the Ammonia come back causing more problems...

Cleaning the tank out means you are starting over with ALL FRESH water, you cleaned the gravel, deco as you scrubbed everything down..  IF this is what youi did, then you are going to lose more fish as the tank has to reestablish the bio again in the tank..  IS this what you did??

AS I can guess all nite on what you did.... Please come back and let me know WHAT  it is you did do to the tank 4 days ago..  :dontknow:
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Re: our fish our dying and the others are rubbing on the rocks!!!

Postby benabarlow on Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:05 am

The tank has been running since the beginning of November and we just changed everything out last weekend. When we cleaned it we took everything out and added mostly new stuff back.  All the water in the tank is new.  The only thing that got put back in the tank from the original set up was the filter and live plants. 

We are using the PH and Ammonia testers that are suctioned to the inside of the tank.  It says the PH is 7.0 and the ammonia is 'safe'. Other than the PH tester we haven't tested the Nitrites.  :dontknow:

I think that one of the fish had ick the other day, but we removed him as soon as we noticed the white spots on it. 

Thanks for your help! :fish:
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Re: our fish our dying and the others are rubbing on the rocks!!!

Postby Barb Okla on Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:52 am

The only time you should use the attached Ammonia alert,  IMO is when the tank is cycled and you have more fish in the tank than necessary.. As in a fry/grow-out tank.. BUT as you are depending on this to alert you to sudden Ammonia problem, OTHER problems are brewing in your tank..
As I stated in my other post, NITRITE is the secound process of the cycle process and it has to peak too as the ammonia did..  As you have started OVER and that is a BIG NO NO as NOW your tank has to start over the cycle process.. YOUR alert may help you here.. Please do get the Nitrite LIQUID test kit.. This wil alert you to when it gets dangerouly high.. Just like the ammonia, it can KILL your fish just as fast.. Small 20% WATER changes every other day, is the only way to keep it down...

YOU Can not kill out the ICH cleaning the tank like this.. The ICH is still on the fish so where ever you place them, they will infest that tank... ICH does not like SALT.. So get some and use the reccommended dose of 1table/per 5 gal of water.. BUT plants don't llike salt so you might have to move the plants to another tank and dose the tank as recommended... WATER changed WITh NO Salt later when the tank has cycled, wil remove the salt and then you can place the plants back in. Say in 1 1/2 months. SALT also helps you with  high Nitrite.. So a double benefit here...  Plants can tolerate some salt. I use hafe the dose at 1 table/per 10 gal and I have NO ICH issues at all in my tanks with a few live plants...  ON water changes, ONLY salt the WATER you are placing back IN.. NOT the whole tank volume!! IF you remove 10 gal and place in 10 gal. ONLY dose the 10 gal back IN!! Salt does not evaperate, so it stays in the tank.. REMEMBER that or you may have a salt tank on your hands!!

ICH is always a threat in a new tank.. ICH lives in the gravel/fish and does not really come out unless the fish are stressed, or the temp comes down to like 72F (22C).. then goes back up to a higer temp.. This triggers the ICH to attach to a host, which is the fish to feed on their fluids.. ICH is not visable until right before they fall off.. THIS can take a few weeks...  THE only time you can KILL THEM OUT, is when they are OFF THE FISH!!  YOU Can med the tank while they are on, but if you stop once they fall off, then the cycle just starts all over again as they lay more EGGS in the gravel... YOU have a two day window?? to kill them out with MEDS...  High temps of 82F-84F  (27c-28c) and keep it their for 3 to 4 days.. TREATMENT is a parasite med especiially made for ICH.. BUT LIVE plants and plecos/scaless fish can die due to these meds.. the plants need a different tank.. Some meds for scaless fish/others use Rid-Ich+ OR Ich guard11..  REMOVE all carbon from the filter pad/other.. AS this wil remove the meds before they have a chance to work...  NOW dont' med the new tank just yet!! let it cycle and watch for signs of ICH before you treat for any kind of parasite problem... this could hamper the tank from cycling... 

NOW on cycling.. As you have started over, read this on cycling a tank and at the bottom is another link to take you to a time table on what to expect ' when', on a NEW tank to avoid tank syndrom..
PLEASE do not TEAR you tank down again.. YOU wil just spend money on more fish as they die from tank syndrome: AKA The cycling process..

http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html

Also here as this explains the cycling process better than I can explain it: GREAT site by the way.. tmbsup

http://www.worldcichlids.com/faqs/cycling.html
Last edited by Barb Okla on Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: our fish our dying and the others are rubbing on the rocks!!!

Postby jynksiekat on Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:25 pm

I have been having cycling issues as well. Luckily I have several large tanks that house similar species of fish. so the ph and such parameters are extremely close if not the same. I emptied my tank about 50% and added water from two other tanks that are done cycling and put that in my new tank. I tested before and after about 4 hours after. Yes quick I know but the levels did go down a touch in the tank. (as i did it earlier today) the fish are perking up and seem better. My other tanks got a slight water change a bit early out of the deal and everyone is happy and fine. Maybe this might help if you have other tanks. Also I use cycle and it's helped alot.
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