Too much current?

[erikmoseley]

Hi all. I've recently had. Couple unexpected deaths from fish that have been in tank about 6 weeks. Waters good except cant get ammonia under .25 recently. Was cycled and down to zero before i added fish. .25 is what the tap water reads too. I just added a extra filter w ammocarb in it to see if it helps. My question is this. The fish that died had been breathing heavy prior to it and then hiding next to powerhead which has only been in couple weeks. The powerhead does wonders for not letting stuff settle on sand but it creates a strong current in 72 w (now) 3 hob filters (researching canisters) and bubble wall oh and a sponge filter running on air line. . Could the added flow it be too much and causing stress? Or could ammonia be likely culprit at .25 for the deaths? Potentially an internal parasite? The fish don't look bad up until it died at all. Just breathing heavy and wedged up between powerhead and heater. I don't see any aggression other than occasional chases here or there thats evenly spread amongst all the fish. I'm taking a day off from feeding and did 30 gal water change today before work. Will check water when I get home. Prior to it. Ph was 8.0 ammonia .25. Nitrite 0.0. Nitrate 20. Hard alkaline water according to strips I'd been using but using API master kit now which I don't have the stuff to test for it. Temp is 79

 

[Convict2161]

Hi all. I've recently had. Couple unexpected deaths from fish that have been in tank about 6 weeks. Waters good except cant get ammonia under .25 recently. Was cycled and down to zero before i added fish. .25 is what the tap water reads too. I just added a extra filter w ammocarb in it to see if it helps. My question is this. The fish that died had been breathing heavy prior to it and then hiding next to powerhead which has only been in couple weeks. The powerhead does wonders for not letting stuff settle on sand but it creates a strong current in 72 w (now) 3 hob filters (researching canisters) and bubble wall oh and a sponge filter running on air line. . Could the added flow it be too much and causing stress? Or could ammonia be likely culprit at .25 for the deaths? Potentially an internal parasite? The fish don't look bad up until it died at all. Just breathing heavy and wedged up between powerhead and heater. I don't see any aggression other than occasional chases here or there thats evenly spread amongst all the fish. I'm taking a day off from feeding and did 30 gal water change today before work. Will check water when I get home. Prior to it. Ph was 8.0 ammonia .25. Nitrite 0.0. Nitrate 20. Hard alkaline water according to strips I'd been using but using API master kit now which I don't have the stuff to test for it. Temp is 79

I'll take a stab at this...

I don't think flow is the issue ONLY because of the gasping, you shouldn't be seeing ammonia in a cycled tank. If anything you'd see nitrAtes.

I haven't seen ammonia in over a year BUT at times my nitrAtes are high.

Your tap has ammonia on it already so.... Maybe try using RO water or distilled water and see if that helps.

Sorry I can't be more help. I'm sure others will chime in to help out.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I would think something else is causing it. Stress from another or something. Does the master kit test .25 Orr the strips? Your tap water may have that little bit of ammonia but should quickly change from the bacteria in the tank. So it shouldn't read that all the time.

 

[erikmoseley]

I would think something else is causing it. Stress from another or something. Does the master kit test .25 Orr the strips? Your tap water may have that little bit of ammonia but should quickly change from the bacteria in the tank. So it shouldn't read that all the time.

API tests.25. I was feeding 2x a day and just cut to 1 but really don't think it was too much 2x. It'd all be gone in 2 minutes tops. Either way i started to cut in half 2 days ago. Bio wheels and sponge free have been up for months. Even with no power for couple days I floated them in tank.

Aggression crossed my mind but the only punks in tank are 1 demasoni and albino socolofi. And they aren't bad at least when I'm watching. They're maybe 3 inch and the 2 biggest fish right now. Albino is main boss and seems to stop the demasoni from chasing sometimes.