alexthecichlid
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2019
- Messages
- 18
Hello everyone,
So i have an established south american cichlid tank and i was hoping to try a new way of planting some plants as my cichlids (geos) in particular obviously like to sift through the sand. So i decided to try adding some more sand i bought the caribsea naturals sunset gold and i added another layer to make the sand slightly deeper as well as changing the colour to a more "natural" colour.
When doing this i asked myself if this was smart and if i really could cover the old sand with new without the possibility of spikes in the tank, (as I'm not a professional just a hobbiest) and i researched online and saw nothing saying this would cause issues. So i went forth and did so, now i also bought some plant pots like the ones that tropica plants come in and i also purchased "tropicas" plant soil in the sort of bead shapes.
The next morning i woke up to my fish having cloudy eyes and in my past experiences i've had this when the ammonia or nitrite nitrates are high. So i went and did a test on my water with api master test kit and found my nitrite was 0ppm my ammonia was .25ppm and my nitrate was in the dark orange ( i don't remember exact reading ) sadly one of my beautiful cupid cichlids passed away from this...
i took my dead cupid cichlid to the biggest fish store around me second largest in canada and i trust them very much and they offered to do a autopsy on the fish to see if it was ammonia or what not. They told me his gills were slightly inflamed and his organs were slightly swollen and the eyes, as could be seen were cloudy. I asked what happened and they told me the tinny sand particles could be affecting the oxygen intake as well as the nitrates being high all reducing oxygen.
Now i have air pumps and i have a air filter with the hose connected and it shoots out water and bubbles. The fish were very lethargic and very muted in colour as well so they told me also it looked like possible bacterial infection. They recommend removing any and all carbon i had which i do use time to time and to use filter floss. They told me to also test my ph kh and gh as the kh can cause ph fluctuations and can cause the Ph to drop low.
The only medicine they told me they have available in canada since the government has banned many was sulfaplex and focus by seachem.
Rushed home did a massive water change at least 75% tested the water and Ph was low bellow 6 and the kh api test changed colour after 1 drop same as the gh test.
They told me to buy the alkaline buffer by seachem and acid buffer which i already had and was adding as they work together. I did this added new water added medicine and fed it with their favourite frozen bloodworms with some sachem garlicgaurd, the cloud on the eyes and the lethargy was going away .
i waited and tested the water nitrite 0ppm nitrate 0ppm ammonia .25ppm STILL!!!!
i have a Api filstar canister xl, U4 fluvial, emperor marineland and 2 other mainland HOB's for a 75 gal tank. I have added more bio media than filters came with and never had a ammonia spike since the beginning set up years ago.
I added more bio media today as well some ceramics in the canister and some in the HOB's i added catappa bark and coconut botanicals and some catappa leave because of the medicinal properties.
Please if anyone can give me more advice and more info as to what is going on and what i have done it would be great.
in the tank i have 4 angle fish, 2 geos, 2 common plecos, 2 severums and 2 discus, the discus are new adds about 2 weeks ago now and 2 cupids.
i also have a 40 gal tetra tank i added the soils and new sand to but it has had no issues. i did add less to it and it has lots of moss and lotuses and swords and some water lettuce.
usually i have a idea of what's wrong i have bread convicts and angles but right now i have no idea what is going on and really need advice please someone ....anyone.
right now they seem ok i am scared i'll wake up and they get worse.
thank you
So i have an established south american cichlid tank and i was hoping to try a new way of planting some plants as my cichlids (geos) in particular obviously like to sift through the sand. So i decided to try adding some more sand i bought the caribsea naturals sunset gold and i added another layer to make the sand slightly deeper as well as changing the colour to a more "natural" colour.
When doing this i asked myself if this was smart and if i really could cover the old sand with new without the possibility of spikes in the tank, (as I'm not a professional just a hobbiest) and i researched online and saw nothing saying this would cause issues. So i went forth and did so, now i also bought some plant pots like the ones that tropica plants come in and i also purchased "tropicas" plant soil in the sort of bead shapes.
The next morning i woke up to my fish having cloudy eyes and in my past experiences i've had this when the ammonia or nitrite nitrates are high. So i went and did a test on my water with api master test kit and found my nitrite was 0ppm my ammonia was .25ppm and my nitrate was in the dark orange ( i don't remember exact reading ) sadly one of my beautiful cupid cichlids passed away from this...
i took my dead cupid cichlid to the biggest fish store around me second largest in canada and i trust them very much and they offered to do a autopsy on the fish to see if it was ammonia or what not. They told me his gills were slightly inflamed and his organs were slightly swollen and the eyes, as could be seen were cloudy. I asked what happened and they told me the tinny sand particles could be affecting the oxygen intake as well as the nitrates being high all reducing oxygen.
Now i have air pumps and i have a air filter with the hose connected and it shoots out water and bubbles. The fish were very lethargic and very muted in colour as well so they told me also it looked like possible bacterial infection. They recommend removing any and all carbon i had which i do use time to time and to use filter floss. They told me to also test my ph kh and gh as the kh can cause ph fluctuations and can cause the Ph to drop low.
The only medicine they told me they have available in canada since the government has banned many was sulfaplex and focus by seachem.
Rushed home did a massive water change at least 75% tested the water and Ph was low bellow 6 and the kh api test changed colour after 1 drop same as the gh test.
They told me to buy the alkaline buffer by seachem and acid buffer which i already had and was adding as they work together. I did this added new water added medicine and fed it with their favourite frozen bloodworms with some sachem garlicgaurd, the cloud on the eyes and the lethargy was going away .
i waited and tested the water nitrite 0ppm nitrate 0ppm ammonia .25ppm STILL!!!!
i have a Api filstar canister xl, U4 fluvial, emperor marineland and 2 other mainland HOB's for a 75 gal tank. I have added more bio media than filters came with and never had a ammonia spike since the beginning set up years ago.
I added more bio media today as well some ceramics in the canister and some in the HOB's i added catappa bark and coconut botanicals and some catappa leave because of the medicinal properties.
Please if anyone can give me more advice and more info as to what is going on and what i have done it would be great.
in the tank i have 4 angle fish, 2 geos, 2 common plecos, 2 severums and 2 discus, the discus are new adds about 2 weeks ago now and 2 cupids.
i also have a 40 gal tetra tank i added the soils and new sand to but it has had no issues. i did add less to it and it has lots of moss and lotuses and swords and some water lettuce.
usually i have a idea of what's wrong i have bread convicts and angles but right now i have no idea what is going on and really need advice please someone ....anyone.
right now they seem ok i am scared i'll wake up and they get worse.
thank you