Priscacara Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Hi guys, unfortunately I now have to join the ranks of urgent help needed for fish deaths. My community tank is 65l aquaone600 model. The tank has been running since the start of October with ver few problems except for algae and a gold sucking catfish killing the slower tank mates. I decided to keep a pair or two of rams as I've always liked them, used to keep them way back and had no problems with them. The tank paramaters were ph 7, 0 nitrite, 0 or close to it (hard to tell at really low levels with the test kit) of ammonia, temp 27C. Two months ago I placed an annubias in the tank on a large chunk of wood from the lfs, it did drop the ph down a bit but held steady at 7. The tank mates were 6 guppies (removed to nephews tank Monday when I got the rams), 14 neons, 3 clown loaches, 4 bristlenose approx 2cm, 5 glass phantom catfish approx 7cm, 1 head and tailight and 1 redeye tetra, 7cm golden sucking catfish (my suspected killer over the past 6 months and which I have asked about on forums previously). Monday I purchased 2 male blue rams and 1 female (thats all the store had). They were a bit shy at first but came out for a feed and things were going well through the week. Then on Thursday the smaller of the male rams and the golden catfish were dead on the bottom already partly eaten. My assumption ws the catfish tackled something it wasnt expecting to fight back with the result being they both died. Yesterday morning there was a neon dead on the bottom, ok still no panic just odd but alarm bells were starting to go off. Lunchtime yesterday there ws yet another neon dead, ok time to call the lfs and run all my tests again. The ph had plummeted to 6.6, ammonia was present but still not really high, nitrite the same with faint reading. I was advised to check for nitrate as we were chatting about the problem and to my surprise it was up around the 50ppm mark, not good! I did a 50% water change immediately and a short time after the ph was back to 7.1. Tap water here is 8.5 ph and 60ppm hardness, I havent added anything the whole time with water changes and the max it topped out at was 7.6 once. Got dragged out of bed this morning with a yell about dead fish, yep, I lost another 6 neons. The water was cloudy.........no surprise with decaying bodies I guess. I got the fish out and started my tests again while the GF got the water ready for another change, only 10 litres this time to start with. The ph had again dropped to 6.6 (dont understand this yet), trace of nitrite, trace of ammonia (thought it would have spiked) and nitrates were at 10ppm (a definate improvement). To make matters worse the GF had forgot to add dechlorinator in her haste so a quick dose of wardleys tri-start went into the tank. None of the fish have ever shown any signs of stress, parasites or fungal infections. The remaining fish again seem fine at the moment even though they have been hassled so many times the past 2 days. None of the guppies my nephew got have had any problems so whatever is happening its just in my tank (I hope!). Any comments or opinions appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pride Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 If I'm reading it right your tank is 65L? If so you seem to have a large bioload with the amount of fish its stocked with. What sort of filtration are you using on the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priscacara Posted May 9, 2009 Author Share Posted May 9, 2009 Thanks for the reply, its built in filter with that model tank. Apart from the 3 rams everything else had been in the tank doing well for a bit over 6 months. After talking to the lfs its possible I got a bacterial type infection in the tank, based on the cloudy water, also seems to be coating the glass and gravel now. I lost another 6 neons through the morning and a clown loach so going to try a medication tomorrow, didnt catch the name but a tetracycline type. Thats assuming there are any fish left to save but fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priscacara Posted May 10, 2009 Author Share Posted May 10, 2009 Well it looks like I might need to be looking at how to sterilize a tank rather than how to save the fish. I started dosing with Melafix yesterday, might be a bit early for results but it hasnt stopped the deaths. No fear of overstocking it now, down to 6 neons, 2 clowns, 1 ram, 2 glass phantom and 4 bristlenose. I'm surprised the bristlenose havent gone as everything I've read and been told says they are susceptible to almost everything as juveniles. In the end I may have to euthanise whats left and start from scratch but not at that point yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyedge Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Before you spend more money on the meds, I think you'd be better of spending it on bigger tank and bigger filter. There are 2 thing that can be the problems with 35 fishes in a 65ltr tank: 1. Filtration. more fish = more bioload. I don't think your filter is coping with the bioload. It looks like your filter has crashed, and the tank is on the cycle again. 2. PH swing. If your tap water is 8.5, try to maintain the PH at 8.5 so there is no ph swing at water change time, however if you want it to be at 7, get a water holding tub, where you can precondition the water (reduce the PH) before the water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priscacara Posted May 10, 2009 Author Share Posted May 10, 2009 Tx for the reply Sky. Yep the load was probably too much for the filter I agree, got too complacent that things were always fine and added more in, hard lesson learnt. Extra filtration on the tank wsnt an option worse case scenario I might replace it with a 3 footer, not much room where it is unfortunately. I might be getting a 6 foot or 8 foot tank along the track but plans are for the Africans for that one, I got hooked on them with my 4 footer Until I decided on rams for the 65 I didnt add anything to lower the ph, just used tap water without additions but too high for rams. I know now I should have just left it and been happy with what was in there. Nope no more meds, if this doesnt work then I wont be trying anything else..........at the rate they are dropping off I wont have any to fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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