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View Full Version : Water change, Cloudy water and dead fish



Aeronerd
10-18-2007, 4:46 AM
I am coming to this forum looking for some advice after a bit of a disaster last night. Before I get into the details here is what I can remember of my tank details:

http://www.seapets.co.uk/product-details/stkcode/950008/category/955.html (http://www.seapets.co.uk/product-details/stkcode/950008/category/955.html)
Airpump (cant remember model but I think it is rated for 60 litres)
Tank kept at about 26C

I started the tank for about a week before putting fish in (following the advice of my gf as she got me the tank as a present and had had fish before).

First fish we put in were (gf suggestion as she said these were hardy fish):
2 Zebra Danios
2 Black Mollys
10 Neon Tetras

After a month we lost the bigger of the 2 Mollys. It was about a few days later that we got some more fish:

2 Clown Loach
1 Catfish (not sure type, he likes to stick to surfaces and clean them)
4 more Zebra Daiios
2 White and 1 black Molly
5 more Neon Tetras.

After about a week we lost 1 white and 1 black Molly and 1 of the neons. The white Molly we think had an infection (he was sitting in the gravel not doing much and getting bullied by 1 of the white Mollys. He would swim up to the surface to get away and then do summersaults down towards the bottom of the aquarium) and the black we are assuming was the same thing. The gf isolotated the fish in a jar floating in the tank to give them a rest from one of the bulling Mollys and I dropped in some food but neither of them ate it. We used a chemical to treat it and none of the other fish died so we think we suppressed it.

Fast forward about another week to last night. I decided to do a water change as my NO2 levels were about 0.3 mg/L (I think that’s what the test said), Not sure if I did the NO3 test correctly. So the gf gave me a hand siphoning about 20-25% of the water out, I gave the filter sponge a clean in the water taken out. Replaced the filter and the gf put in some more treatment for the infection and topped up the water in the tank. I gave the fish a treat (to say sorry for disturbing them) of some freeze dried blood worms and a small square of freeze dried tubeflex worms and brine shrimp (1 cube of each) and left them for the night.

This morning disaster struck. The tank water was cloudy and the neons, danios and 1 of the Mollys were gasping at the surface. I turn the airpump off at night so I turned it back on and checked the filter and the temp (both ok). Looking around the tank I found 4 Neons, 2 Loach and the remaining white Molly had died. I think the catfish was still alive but he was hiding under the rock but I could see him breathing.

After about 15-20 min of the airpump being on the fish were not gasping at the top of the tank but had dropped down a bit but there breathing was still rapid.

Anyone have any ideas of what I could have done wrong or what has gone wrong?

OldMan1947
10-18-2007, 4:53 AM
Sounds like you gave them a rather large meal. Anything uneaten will quickly start to decompose and leave your water cloudy. The cloudy you can see, the ammonia and nitrites that are hard on the fish you can't see.
Try testing for ammonia and NO2. I suspect that one or both are high. If so you need to do a water change and start to get things back on track. Cloudy water is often the first visible signal of overfeeding.

Aeronerd
10-18-2007, 5:00 AM
ghjhreed (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/member.php?u=16871)

Thanks for the quick response. I thought it could be to do with how the freeze dried foods were packed into the cubes (about 5mm each side) with some sort of biodegradable stuff that was causing the cloudy ness.

How much would you susgest feeding them?

southpaw
10-18-2007, 8:20 AM
OK...If I am figuring this all right

Your tank is 50 litres so that comes out to around 12 or 13 gallons

Up until last night if I got this all calculated by what you bought and what died you had.....

6 Danios
4 Molies
14 Neons
2 Clown Loaches
1 Catfish (unknown type)


You are "WAY" overstocked for such a small tank ....

The clown loaches will get to big for your tank fast... Depending on the catfish it probably will too.

I would either go with the keeping the mollies and danios or the neons but not all 3 and take the rest back to the fish store and get 4-6 cory cats

Maybe something like this

4 Mollies
6 danios
4-6 Cory catfish

or

10 Neons
4-6 Cory catfish

Squawkbert
10-18-2007, 10:25 AM
Yup - I think you need a nice short stocking list & a nitrite (NO2) test. Sounds like you cycled the tank the hard way.

Aeronerd
10-18-2007, 10:37 AM
OK...If I am figuring this all right

Up until last night if I got this all calculated by what you bought and what died you had.....

6 Danios
4 Molies
14 Neons
2 Clown Loaches
1 Catfish (unknown type)



That is correct. My gf is saying she has had a tank the same size with that stock in it with no problems. She has also done a water check and we are reading 0 Ammonia, 0.8 mg/l NO2 and over 110 mg/l NO3 (this was the result I got before but was not sure about it)

Also the tank is not fully potted. Only got 2 plants at the moment.

Aeronerd
10-18-2007, 10:39 AM
Yup - I think you need a nice short stocking list & a nitrite (NO2) test. Sounds like you cycled the tank the hard way.

Yeh it will teach me to listen to what 1 person is saying :(

Star_Rider
10-18-2007, 10:46 AM
sounds like the tank is still cycling with a NO2 reading

or you are seriously overstocked and the bio filter cannot keep up with the bioload.

msjinkzd
10-18-2007, 11:48 AM
do lots of water changes to get the nitrite to 0 and ideally the nitrate under 20....everyone else commented on the overstocking.

wataugachicken
10-18-2007, 1:33 PM
return the catfish and the loaches

do water changes as needed to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0, and get nitrate down below 20. once levels are stable, continue weekly water changes of 30-50%.

riddle4sphinx
10-18-2007, 2:12 PM
Ok, so from all of that, I think this is what you are left with right now?
2 Zebra Danios
11 Neon Tetra
4 more Zebra Danios

I agree with everyone that it is overstocked... sometimes set ups like this will work but in the long run, having this many fish will probably shorten your fish's lifespan dramatically. I have a 10gallon/40litre tank with 8 fish and thats pushing it and your 50litre is only slightly bigger. My suggestion for your fish is if you don't want to get rid of any, is there a possibility of buying a second 50litre tank? You could split your danios and your neons in half and put like 8 in one tank and 9 in the other. Or, any chance of maybe upgrading your tank altogether and getting say a 100litre that all of them will fit comfortably in? Craigslist.com is an excellent place to look for used tanks for cheap prices. I know sometimes upgrading isnt possible though, so in that case, I agree with everyone else to keep doing daily water changes until you get your test levels back to normal. Then I would also suggest doing a 30% water change twice a week after that. For small fish like you have, they dont eat much (a whole lot less than most people think). Try and give them only enough food that they will consume in about 3 minutes. Good luck!

Aeronerd
10-23-2007, 2:15 AM
Thanks for the susgestions everyone. I feel a bit bad for overstocking my new tank. I tink we have worked it out to be a combination of facters that caused the deaths.

I found out I am in a chloramine area and the water treatment I have requires a double dose to remove chloramine rather than chlorine. This combined with over feading was my mistake.

Rbishop
10-23-2007, 7:49 AM
Keep us informed on how things go. Watch those parameters and keep them in check.

Aeronerd
10-23-2007, 8:15 AM
Keep us informed on how things go. Watch those parameters and keep them in check.

Well the gf did a full water change and washed the gravel. The last molly got sick and died last night but other than that the rest of the fish are doing fine.

Total stock
11 Neon Tetras
6 Zebra Danios
1 Catfish

If any of the fish do get too big in a year or 2 I should be able to get a new tank for them. I would like to replace the 2 clown loach I have lost but I am not sure if they would be too much for the tank.

Squawkbert
10-23-2007, 8:36 AM
They would be too much. It would be best to return the cat and get another one when you have a larger tank (many many fish die waiting for their owners to upgrade).