View Full Version : fish are in bad shape
hi,
last night i moved my tanganykan tank (gravel, water, rocks, fish etc ) into a larger tank with about 20g of newly treated water.
i took the biowheel from the original filter and threw it in the new tank so it would be there to help with anaerobic bacteria. did this kill too much bacteria ?
the temp is ok, the fish are very stressed, i detect a slight ammonia level, and just doubled a dose of ammquel for all 55g
in addition i moved the entire filter system (from an eclipse 3) to the new tank and placed the biowheel back in, now both filters are running. is this too little too late? the old filter has not been running for about 20 hours
the fish look extremely bad to me, should i perform an additional water change (25%?) tonight, or wait until the morning ?
fish in their old tank:
http://aaron.neverwill.net/photos/photo_062.jpg
Kirin Fang
05-31-2003, 8:59 PM
What do you mean by looking bad? What are they doing?
Okay, I am going to try and help with this one. But there are definately better people here. www.skepticalaquarist.com (http://)
First off you don't want to kill the bacteria, you actualy want them to multiply, they are what makes up the cycle.
Second you don't want any, 0, ammonia in the tank. Amquel will skew the test results but that does not mean you shouldn't use it, just recognize the test is skewed. (Read up on chloramines)
Lastly, I think you will be fine, do a water change today and everyday until you reach ) 0 ammonia. I'll put money on Tuesday with the water changes and the biowheels, even without Amquel. (I got five dollars, anyone?)
right now they are not moving much, color is dark, (the skunk botias dont seem too affected)
one the julie transcriptus is lying on the rock like an old dog
i am about to do a 25% change
Hold up. Back up. I assumed (you and me) you had proper filtration. That sounds like lack of oxygen. What filters (gph), size tank, and stocking? Porfa.
I think most of the bacteria didn't survive.
I would recommend a 50% waterchange and keep track of the ammonia levels the next couple of days. At the same time check up on the nitrite levels. As soon as ammonia starts to decrease, nitrite levels will start to rise.
You should have cycled your tank first as if it's a new one, before putting any fish in it.
Well, lets hope nothing serious will hapen.
Jimmy
Sorry Jimbo, but as long as you don't wash off the bio wheel (you didn't wash off the bio wheel did you?) all of the bacteria will survive. That would be like saying if you turn off your filter to do a water change that all of your bacteria die and you need to recycle the tank. Now releasing some kind of diabolical something or another from scraping up all of the gravel is another question.........the plot thickens.
a 55 gallon with a magnum 350, media is eheim mech with a little carbon.
the top of the water is moving over about 3/4 of the tank's length
there is about 15 fish, all are under 3" except a 5-6" pleco
it does look like a lack of O2, this should be enough GPH for a larger tank, so i am not sure
I am truely not knowledgeable about the magnum 350 but I have heard good things about it. That however is a lot of fish for that size tank so you might want to think about adding another filter or decreasing the fish. Personally I would go with the filter. I try to move about 10x gph so you are looking at another 200. Maybe a Penguin 170? You can pick one up from big als for about twenty bucks, maybe put in a cheap airstone till it arrives. In my 55 I use a penguin 330 and a powerhead 402 with quickfilter, works ok but I am going to get rid of the 402 and add the 170.
the orginal tank is a 37g eclipse3 system, that filter seems weak in comparison to the magnum
i am in the process of replacing 15g now, the additional filtration from the original 37g tank, should work for now right?
if it is necessary to have additional filtration,
i would probably get another canister
i will do another 10-15g tomorrow morning if or when i detect any ammonia or a raised nitrite level
Originally posted by scott
Sorry Jimbo, but as long as you don't wash off the bio wheel (you didn't wash off the bio wheel did you?)...the plot thickens.
I agree, but I guess you would be amazed how many bacteria will seltle down just in the tank, e.g on the background, doing, lets say, 25-30% of the job.
Jimmy
jimbo
06-01-2003, 11:33 AM
What I meant was basically, how much time between getting the rocks, substrate etc from one tank into the other. When these things dry up too much, bacteria will definitely meet their maker in bacteria-dreamland within a minute. Was everything cleaned up before putting it in the new tank. If so, how. Cold water straight from the tap seems to have the habit to send most of the bacteria to the same dreamland, the chlorine/chloramines in it will take care of the left over relatives. I guess I’m one of those conservative hobbyists, but I’m better save than sorry.
I hope things are not as bad as it sounds like.
I think 2 or 3 partial water-changes will take care of this problem.
Good luck,
Jimmy
the fish did ok last night and are doing (looking) alot better
i detect 0 ammonia and some nitrite, doing another water change now
the rocks did sit out for at least 10 minutes
i am going to add a powerhead today, with a sponge on the intake for more mechanical
then fill the the magnum 350 media container with more bio media
i took some bio media and placed it in the biowheel chamber from the old filter, so they might collect more bacteria
the ph is 7.6+, temp is 78-89f
I agree, but I guess you would be amazed how many bacteria will seltle down just in the tank, e.g on the background, doing, lets say, 25-30% of the job
I agree definately.
When these things dry up too much, bacteria will definitely meet their maker in bacteria-dreamland within a minute. Was everything cleaned up before putting it in the new tank. If so, how. Cold water straight from the tap seems to have the habit to send most of the bacteria to the same dreamland
I agree again. I though you were speaking only of the bio-wheel, which will hold the bacteria for consderably longer. Glad to hear everything is coming along resk.
It indeed gives the impression that I’m referring to just the bio-wheel.
Guess I just have to be a lil bit more specific.
People often say that to me.
Please except my apologize. ;) (should be accept, my bad english)
Jimmy
I changed the gravel in a 10 gal 2 weeks ago. I kept the filter with as much water as it could hold. Then I completely drained the tank, got rid of the old gravel and took the tank outside and scrubbed it. Added new gravel( creek gravel). Filled the tank and added the fish. I did ammonia and nitrite checks twice a day for the first week and once a day for the next four. I never got any ammonia or nitrite. Tim
Well, Resk added a filter which hasn't been running for 20 hours or so.
I'm not sure whether he took all the water out and cleaned the media.
If he didn't, things could have got pretty toxic inside the filter
Adding up all things which have might go wrong, I think you're faced with a problem.
However, it's all going well with Resk's fish and lets hope we've learned something from it.
Jimmy
No reason to apologize jimbo. Besides your English is better than my Dutch.