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Thread: Fishes not doing well - help

  1. #1
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    Fishes not doing well - help

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    Hi,

    Found two dead neon tetras in my planted 3' tank this morning. I have 70 fishes in the tank, CO2 reactor, and a surface skimmer.

    pH measured this morning after I discovered the dead fishes was 6.67 (Thermo-Orion pH meter), water temp. 29deg C. Did not have time to measure NO3 as I was in a rush to get to work.

    Some of the fishes were at the surface gasping.... some were a bit "gong gong" already and can be picked up without much resistance... Have quickly installed an airpump/airstone combination to aerate the water as well....

    Any idea what is wrong?? Is my tank low in dissolved O2? This is the 2nd morning this has happened...the first had no fatalities....

    Thanks...

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    Forgot to add, my tank is more than a month old now... fishes were added last week.

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    your tank is overcrowded..... 3 feet should keep around 40+ small fishes (less than 2 inch)... And that's with lots of adds-on for water management , very good filtration and regular and proper water change.

    Add airstone , think they are low on oxygen, might save them for now.... long term all with suffer from ammonia poisoning...

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    i have 60, 70 in my 2 ft planted. []

    40, 50 cardinal is a safe number for a 2 ft even for beginer.

  5. #5
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    happen to me before...Just one suggestion..

    Get an air pump to asist TEMPORARY if you don't want your fish to say 'good bye'.

    Possible high NH3, NO2 (6.6 co2 should be OK)...My best bet is low O2, I guess your bacteria may be dead or not fully cultivated also.

    Anyway pump assist will help IMO. This may or may not fix the problem but at least save the fishes.

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    I have a lot more fishes and shrimps in a 3ft as well, there must 60-100 altogether. No problem as well.

    Is the tank heavily planted? Perhaps you would like to reduce the amount of CO2 injected as a start.
    人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功

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    Hi,

    Thanks for the quick replies.... The tank is quite heavily planted... at least 3/4 of the bed is used.

    Will probably do a partial water change tonight..

    Have not checked for NH3 yet... will probably purchase a kit later and do the test tonight....

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    u were saying its neon tetras that died?haizz...better pray its not that neon tetra disease.[:]

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    Bluezing... gasping is not a symptom of NTD.

    Killfire, get a KH test kit as well. You need both pH and KH values to know your CO2 level.

    Could be:
    1. Lack of O2.
    2. Excess CO2.
    3. Gill burn due to excess ammonia. (Search google for "gill burn ammonia" for more symptoms)

    You added all the fishes in one go last week? If you added too many at a go, ammonia poisoning is very possible.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
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    Vinz, this question is off this topic. but how to avoid ammonia spike when you introduce a big load of fishes into a tanks (eg. 50 or 100 tetra)?

    Daily water change? Did I answer my own question?

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    Err... not sure, since I never do that.

    I can think of ways though:
    1. Water change is one, but i think that is disruptive to the tank's balance.
    2. Adding a good dose of products like Nutrafin Cycle.
    3. Lower both the temp and pH of the water. That will reduce the ammonia (toxic) to ammonium (non-toxic) ratio.
    4. Temporarily add floating plants that are nutrient soakers.
    5. Make sure resident plants are growing optimally (enough light, CO2, other nutrients) to help take up the increased ammonia load. The good news is that ammonia/ammonium are plant's preferred sources of N.
    6. Get a temp tank and place a large part of the fishes there. Do daily water change there. The rest goes to the main tank. Every few days, transfer some fishes from the temp tank to the main tank. You'll need the basic filtration and aeration for the temp tank.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
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  12. #12
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    killfire, what is your kh?
    i always fighting algae but still got more

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    Hi all,

    Did a 50% water change yesterday evening .... the fishes seem to be doing well now with aeration using an airstone...

    Water parameters tested this 1/2 hour ago:

    pH : 7.71
    Temp: 30 degC
    NO2: 0.2 mg/l (ppm)
    NO3: 12.5 mg/l (ppm)
    kH: 8 dkH

    Still have not bought a NH3 kit..

    How do I calculate CO2 content?

    Can anyone point me to some articles discussing water parameters in planted tanks... have no idea whatsoever now as to what are optimal values for pH, NO2, NO3, kH, CO2 etc.......

    Thanks...

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    ----------------
    On 9/11/2003 11:40:47 AM

    Hi all,

    Did a 50% water change yesterday evening .... the fishes seem to be doing well now with aeration using an airstone...

    Water parameters tested this 1/2 hour ago:

    pH : 7.71
    Temp: 30 degC
    NO2: 0.2 mg/l (ppm)
    NO3: 12.5 mg/l (ppm)
    kH: 8 dkH

    Still have not bought a NH3 kit..

    How do I calculate CO2 content?

    Can anyone point me to some articles discussing water parameters in planted tanks... have no idea whatsoever now as to what are optimal values for pH, NO2, NO3, kH, CO2 etc.......

    Thanks...
    ----------------
    NO2 should be zero. If you have a NO2 kit, I think you don't have to buy a NH3 kit.

    Read this:
    Measuring CO2 levels in a Planted Tank
    and
    List of Recommended Levels by Tom Barr

    BC

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    Hi,

    Wasted about 20 fishes this time... hope things are ok now...with 50 left in the tank...

    Do you guys use an airpump to aerate your water?? The airstone and the bubbles look quite unsightly...

    Any suggestions how to improve dissolved O2 levels?

    Thanks.

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    forgotten to add, BCLee, thanks for the links to the 2 articles... They are a good read...

  17. #17
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    NO2 should not be existant in a planted tank. The presence of it either shows that your plant load is too low, bioload too high or your plants are not growing well. The solution is to make sure that you have loads of plants in there and make sure they are growing well and they will take good care of the fishes.

    Solution
    1)Add loads of fast growing plants
    2)Keep your pH between 6.9-7.1 during the photo-period with CO2 injection only for a KH of 8.
    3)Add potassium, phosphate and traces to increase the uptake of possible traces of ammonia.
    4)Monitor your NO2...once it drops to zero and stays there, the tank is more or less stablized by then. (Do water changes if NO2 climbs to dangerous levels and then look at your CO2 again closely..)
    Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger

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