Yesterday i found a clown loach dead at the top of my 36ins by 15ins by 18ins planted community tank. it hadnt looked too good for a while, and i knew it was a very weak fish - very suseptible to problems - and so i didnt worry too much about what ever had caused its death to affect my other fish. But i should have. When I went back later in the day to look at the aquaria, all the fish were gasping for air at the top, and there was a funny smell - the smell of ammonia. I immeditately tested the water - and the ammonia level was above 2.4 mg/litre. Immediate action was needed to prevent the rest of my fish getting ammonia poisoning. I quickly grabbed my gravel cleaner and bucket, and cleaned half the tanks gravel (I clean it a half at a time - never all in one go). The water that came out was black. After a 3rd of the water was emtied, i got to cleaning the filters (please note this was done in the old aquarium water). One, the smaller fluval 1 plus, was blocked - I immediately assumed this to be the cause. I then got to the Fluval 3 plus, and it wasn't blocked, just requiring the normal clean - and so if the filters were the problem then the fulval 3 would have been able to compensate for the blocking in the Fulval 1. The ammonia is still a little too high today, but no where near as high as it was yesterday (when this happened). I will change another 20% of the water, and hope that does the trick. But what I want to know is; what was the cause?
I did change the light tube the day before to a higher spectrum - but surely that wouldnt have affected ammonia? i have also started to feed my catfish tablets instead of pellets - and im now cutting down the amount i feed them, as this is more than likely it. But was it just coincidense with new light, and does anyone else have any theories? The tank is very well stocked, but has been running fine for over a year, and is well planted. So there is natural filtration there. Thanks for any help you can give in solving this problem with me.
I did change the light tube the day before to a higher spectrum - but surely that wouldnt have affected ammonia? i have also started to feed my catfish tablets instead of pellets - and im now cutting down the amount i feed them, as this is more than likely it. But was it just coincidense with new light, and does anyone else have any theories? The tank is very well stocked, but has been running fine for over a year, and is well planted. So there is natural filtration there. Thanks for any help you can give in solving this problem with me.
