My dad has a small problem with his tank.

Vincenia

Vincenia

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My dad has a 72g bowfront with a powerful filter which filters about 500 gallons a hour. He seems to have a problem with his dying suddeningly, for no reason. He got new fish the other day and two of them died along with 3 other fish[ 2 mollies, a chinese algae eater, and 2 raindow sharks] which were fine. Now his guppies are dying on him, and he just got these guys. His other fish seem to be fine. I asked if the pH is high and other things, he said no. There should be no reason they should be dying all of a sudden.

IMG_0024.JPG
He has 4 angels, some type of large catfish[its in the same family as the upside down cat], 4 swordtails he gotten from me, a sailfin leopard pleco, 2 corycats, 2 loaches, 12 guppies, 2 striped rapheal cats and a peacock spiny eel.


He been in this hobby for over 30 years, but this never has happened to him.

I never had this happen to me, my tank is over stocked, but none of my fish die out of nowhere like my dad's fish.

IMG_0024.JPG
 
Vincenia said:
My dad has a 72g bowfront with a powerful filter which filters about 500 gallons a hour. He seems to have a problem with his dying suddeningly, for no reason. He got new fish the other day and two of them died along with 3 other fish[ 2 mollies, a chinese algae eater, and 2 raindow sharks] which were fine. Now his guppies are dying on him, and he just got these guys. His other fish seem to be fine. I asked if the pH is high and other things, he said no. There should be no reason they should be dying all of a sudden.

View attachment 192108
He has 4 angels, some type of large catfish[its in the same family as the upside down cat], 4 swordtails he gotten from me, a sailfin leopard pleco, 2 corycats, 2 loaches, 12 guppies, 2 striped rapheal cats and a peacock spiny eel.


He been in this hobby for over 30 years, but this never has happened to him.

I never had this happen to me, my tank is over stocked, but none of my fish die out of nowhere like my dad's fish.
Click to expand...

We need to know your water stats and if your filter is cycled before we attempt to help


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You said in the Overstock thread that your dad rarely or never does water changes.

This is the cause of "Old Tank Syndrome." OTS is when the Total Dissolved Solids in the water get very high. The "solids" are all the organic waste from fish poop and other by-products of life in the tank. What it means is that the water is "thick" with all kinds of stuff dissolved in it (doesn't seem like it to us, but believe me, it's in there). Fish that have been in the tank a long time have gotten used to the "thick" water as they have acclimated to it as it's happened. However, new fish that aren't used to such a high level of Total Dissolved Solids, will die rapidly from osmotic shock.

The catch here is that suddenly doing a bunch of water changes on the tank will end up killing the fish already in the tank. You have to do very small, frequent water changes, like 10-20% every day for a week to slowly acclimate the existing fish to CLEAN WATER.

Think about in the wild. You have a massive, enormous body of water like a lake. All lakes are fed by streams (Salt lakes do not have an outlet to the ocean, but I'm pretty sure they still have streams that empty into them from mountain runoff and such). These streams and rivers are caused by snow melting in the higher elevations. Snow is fresh water. Lakes other than the salt lakes have outlets to the ocean. Also, it rains, so most all freshwater environments have regular water changes in nature, and are FAR lighter stocked than any aquarium we have in our homes. Aquariums NEED weekly water changes (Walstad systems are their own special category that are exempt from these statements). It's not an option, it's not just when you have time or feel like it. It doesn't mean topping the water off because you don't like the sound of the filter. It is a requirement of the hobby and if you don't want to do weekly water changes of 20-50% depending on stock, then you, or your dad, should not have an aquarium.
 
Agreed. The way you and your old man seem to "understand" fish-keeping sounds a bit skewed to me. Water changes must be done in accordance with the levels of ammonia or the standard 25-50% a week rule.
 
This may be a long shot (based on your other thread) but could we PLEASE get some actual numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? It's nice info to know.

I'd also guess that OTS is the issue here especially since it seems like the new fish are the ones having issues. How does he acclimate?
 
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