Another epidemic?

[Gboy66]

Haha so now I'm an enabler to your addiction. I'm on google now trying to find a pair of night vision goggles!!

Lol your crazy bro hahah

How about a red light? Arent fish not as able to see it?

 

[Ovid]

Lol your crazy bro hahah

How about a red light? Arent fish not as able to see it?

Red light from above is not visible at a depth of 18 feet (assuming perfect water conditions). Usually between 10 and 18 feet is where the visibility starts diminishing. Fish can see red light just fine (mine love chasing the laser pointer around).

 

[Gboy66]

Oh haha, sorry. Thought i heard somthing about it. I know lobsters cant see it though.

I'd just keep the lights on low all night and set up a camera

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Since they are holding that would make the aggression go up in the tank. If you have another tank then strip them and maybe the aggression level will go down. You could always get rid of the females aswell

 

[Ovid]

Since they are holding that would make the aggression go up in the tank. If you have another tank then strip them and maybe the aggression level will go down. You could always get rid of the females aswell

Then hang a big "YMCA" sign above the tank. Though I do agree that it would lessen the aggression. Right now my Alpha is a Pseudotropheus and I won't get any females to help keep his aggression under control.

 

[Convict2161]

Something IS NOT RIGHT!!! Seriously no joke the wife and I just got the chills!!!

EVERY fish in the tank is panting really really heavily and they are NOT coming to me when I go up to the tank to feed. They look like there all gonna just die!! No joke. Some are laying on the substrate breathing heavy and when they go side ways they upright. Some are at the very top breathing from the surface. Oxygen? What can I do? I can't lose them all! This is CRAZY!!

I have the AC110, Koralia power head and the fx5 running. Something is wrong. Water parameters are all in check. Should I do a water change? I don't know what to do. I'm just watching them and they don't look happy!!

Man what a day. This is unbelievable.

 

[Convict2161]

Just witnessed my pleco for the 3rd time shoot to the top for a breath and then back down to the bottom. What the.......

I have a bad bad feeling.

 

[Convict2161]

My buddy from the fish store told me to turn the lights off and drop the water level until everything is splashing hitting the water. There all breathing like they ran a marathon. All of a sudden? What depletes oxygen that fast? If that's the case.

 

[Gboy66]

Definitly drop the level, and point that powerhead towards the surface! Hope that come out all right! Im baffled as to what is happening

 

[Convict2161]

Definitly drop the level, and point that powerhead towards the surface! Hope that come out all right! Im baffled as to what is happening

Yeah I just did. This is CRAZY!! Only me right? There more active then before and they came to me and ate. So I'm hoping that's the start of something good but there still breathing heavy.

 

[Convict2161]

Ok not sure what happened but things are getting better and better. Only thing I did was unplug the AC110 because it was making a funny sound. About an hour after that all the fish were breathing heavy an laying on the substrate or at the surface. It was pretty scary.

I dropped the water level and plugged the AC110 back in. Now things are getting back to normal. I guess the tank was losing oxygen. And I still had the fx5 and the power head running.

Seems these things always happen to me.

 

[Labenator65000]

Maybe a short somewhere? I know that's reaching...

You have a water test kit, right?

 

[Convict2161]

Maybe a short somewhere? I know that's reaching...

You have a water test kit, right?

Yes I have 2 test kits and water parameters are all fine and tap is fine also. Bringing my tap water to a local pool company Monday so they can test for metals and other stuff we don't have access to test for like certain bacterias and fungus. They told me they will run 23 tests free of charge for me I just have to bring them a 16oz bottle of my tank water and tap water.

I thought that was really nice of them. That will at least give me peace of mind.

Other then that I'm at a loss. Everything appears back to normal right now. It was really scary to see it. I honestly thought I was gonna lose them all. My buddy told me if I didn't catch it when I did they would have died. The thing is this. How does an aquarium deplete itself of oxygen within hours? Is it because it's overstocked? I googled it and it said poor water conditions, well that's not the case so... I'm still not fully understanding what exactly happened and how. All I know is the AC110 wasn't running. That's the ONLY thing that was different. Then when my buddy told me to plug it back in and drop the water level 2 inches and after that things got better slowly after about an hour.

My buddy told me that the fx5 is lower then say the AC110 and doesn't aerate the water as well. But then I'm thinking what about people who just have the fx5, it just doesn't make sense but then again it does lol its confusing to say the least.

All I know is things look ALOT better now thank god! Let's see what tomorrow brings me now.

 

[biss444]

wanted to ask you about where your getting your water supply and what you are using to deciorinate sometimes ive seen the cycle break down in a tank when there are to many water changes, what kind of filtration do you have, 80 degrees is fine ,wouldn't worry about that.

 

[Convict2161]

wanted to ask you about where your getting your water supply and what you are using to deciorinate sometimes ive seen the cycle break down in a tank when there are to many water changes, what kind of filtration do you have, 80 degrees is fine ,wouldn't worry about that.

Ok, I have a fx5 and I'm also running a AC110, I have a Koralia power head in the tank as well rated at 1250gph. Water source is city water and I've checked it with the API kit and it comes back fine. I use Prime at every water change.

 

[Convict2161]

Just to add insult to injury one of my females spit and all the fry are becoming late night snack.

I'm watching the tank again under the moonlights and I see these tiny tiny transparent things darting all over the place then BAM!! Gone! Picked off by a larger fish. Hopefully a few will make it to a safe zone.

 

[biss444]

well one thing for sure at some point the oxegen level droped to make your fish gasp like that. i never used prime so i can't really comment on that,but if your waterparameters are fine, no ammonia etc,i just am not a fan of doing alot of water changes just what i really need to , like i said if you break the cycle you could get a quick spike of ammonia or nitrates and then go back down, when i clean my filter i have some of the fiter material asside that will be holding good bacteria, change everything else ,filter pads, etc, don.t know if you use carbon but i usually do, don;t know if any of this helps but just speeking from my experience, one other thing is i never, never do a water change and clean the filter at the same time , really mess with your cycled tank

 

[Convict2161]

well one thing for sure at some point the oxegen level droped to make your fish gasp like that. i never used prime so i can't really comment on that,but if your waterparameters are fine, no ammonia etc,i just am not a fan of doing alot of water changes just what i really need to , like i said if you break the cycle you could get a quick spike of ammonia or nitrates and then go back down, when i clean my filter i have some of the fiter material asside that will be holding good bacteria, change everything else ,filter pads, etc, don.t know if you use carbon but i usually do, don;t know if any of this helps but just speeking from my experience, one other thing is i never, never do a water change and clean the filter at the same time , really mess with your cycled tank

Thanks for all the advice. I pretty much do as you do. I never wash my filter pads etc when I do a water change. However I do perform a 50% water change weekly. I've run carbon sometimes and other times I just throw in some polishing pads.

 

[biss444]

i tried reading back on your posts, but wanted to know what type of fish you have and where your ph sits ay

 

[Convict2161]

i tried reading back on your posts, but wanted to know what type of fish you have and where your ph sits ay

75g overstocked mixed African Cichlid tank. pH 8.0-8.2