Filter Intake Killng Fish

[Curious1]

They are strips.

[mfdrookie516]

get a liquid test kit... strips are horribly innaccurate

[Curious1]

I bought a better test kit tonight and it showed the following results:

Ph 7.6
Ammonia 2.0
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 5.0

[fort384]

I would do an immediate 75% water change. You want ammonia and nitrite under .25. I think ammonia and nitrite are killing your fish, not the filter intake. Until the tank is fully cycled you need to do daily partial water changes.

[mfdrookie516]

agreed

[dkpate]

Yes, that is a lot of ammonia! You need to be doing about 50%-70% pwc's every day, (I went through the same thing, although my ammonia never got that high, only had one fish), until you can get your ammonia and nitrite to zero. You might even want to do 2 pwc's a day? It might be too late for the other fish you have in there too, since ammonia burns their gills. Make sure the water you put in is within 1-2 degrees from what is in the tank. I wish you luck and hope you are not on metered water lol!

[Curious1]

Thanks for your reply. I’m going to just have to let nature take its course. I am not here all day and can’t do two water changes and to try to meter the water to make sure it is within one to two degrees of the aquarium temperature is more than I have time to undertake. I was told yesterday to increase the temperature of the water to 86 to get rid of ich. I really wish at this point I’d never have gotten an aquarium. I will warn everyone what a nightmare it is and for them to avoid it like the plague. Of course if the aquarium cycles itself and becomes self containing like everyone else on here says it will maybe I’ll have a different opinion but for now this is how I feel. Ugh.

[dkpate]

I understand. Although I felt worse for my fish than I did myself! Do you use a water conditioner? If you do, then it should not take you that long to change the water in your tanks. I can change all of my tanks (50%) in 45 minutes, and I use water out of the bathtub spout. I do use a "python" system for my 75G though, which makes life a little easier! And your tanks will get cycled eventually as long as you keep doing pwc's. One of my tanks took 5 weeks, one took a week (I used Biozyme bacterial starter), and the 75G and one 20 G didn't even have a cycle, since I used established media from someone elses tank. Maybe you have a friend or an LFS who would take the fish if you don't want them?

[Jaybird]

The problem is that the tank hasn't fully cycled. The fish produce waste (ammonia) and your tank lacks enough bacteria to convert that ammonia into nitrites. There is another bacteria that will convert the nitrites to nitrates. The nitrates are then removed by water changes and to a much, much, lesser degree by plants.

I'm not sure what fish store you are going to, but they should have told you about cycling your tank first. There is some good information on this site about cycling your tank. I stole these from the signature of another member:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...cle/Page1.html


I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!


Water changes on a 29 gallon should be fairly easy to do. Take off the top and use a small contain to empty the water into a larger bucket. Empty the bucket. Refill the bucket from the tap (making sure the water is as close as possible to the tank water in temperature)...add Prime (or some other dechlorinator). Use the small container to empty the newly refilled bucket into the tank. Voila!

You'll need to do this to keep the ammonia and nitrite down until the cycle finishes. You'll know when the cycle is finished as you will start getting consistent readings of zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and your nitrates will keep going up.

Once the cycle is complete you will need to do either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly water changes. Those will depend on what you have in your tank, and how quickly your nitrates increase.

[fort384]

LOL it takes maybe 15 minutes to do a 70% PWC on a 29G tank. If you don't have that kind of commitment level, I would say you would be best to break your tank down and sell it. Aquariums even after established require regular maintenance. If you don't enjoy it than the hobby isn't for you. Better to just get rid of it now.