Horrible day for my tank. PLEASE HELP

[Kubuspuchat3k]

I lost a total of 10 fish, the problem is that i have no clue why.

Ammonia 0
PH 6.6
Temp was at 88

I got a little ammonia reading before doing yesterdays PWC
I spoke to a friend he said my temp is way to high so when doing a water change i adjusted my water to be around 80, I don't know if the drastic change in temp killed my fish or not.

So here is how my horror started,
On Monday i opened my FX 5 and took the carbon out and put filter floss in,
yesterday i did a 50 % PWC (standard routine every week)
Fish where acting weird checked the PH with a test kit it measured 6.0
Though it was kind low and went to a local fish store and talked to the owner about brining up the PH, he sold me ALKALINE BUFFER, and said to put a cap in a day till the PH rises up to what i would like it to be.

Everything looked good when i was going out with the wife, when i returned home at 4 in the morning 5 fish where dead, went to sleep woke up at 10 and 5 more dead.

Before all this happened i had a little problem with fin rot, i was using melafix to solve the problem.

Please give some feed back as to what went wrong

Thanks

 

[fort384]

Many things went wrong would be my guess:

1. Drastic temp change

2. Mini cycle due to medicating the tank

3. Using a chemical to alter your pH

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

5 fish survived, but they are on the bottom of the tank seem to be gasping for air. Not swimming much i am currently doing another 50 percent PWC, hope this helps them and i also replaced fresh carbon.

 

[ChelseaLake]

Woo! 88? I think oxygen solubility decreases with higher temps, and a drastic temperature change is never good for fishies. I would definitely look into this. I am SO sorry you lost so many fish. What a crappy day. I'm wishing you all the best!

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I would guess the pH adjuster killed them. You would have been better off putting some limestone in the tank which would raise pH far more gradually. When you put a chemical in it raises pH until it is gone and then your pH will instantly swing back to where it was, putting your fish into shock and probably nailing their coffin.

88 is too high, but although rapid temp changes can shock fish, I doubt that was the case here. Possible though.

 

[McLumpy]

ChelseaLake is right about the decrease of oxygen. If I had to guess, that is the main issue here.

With the temp being that high and by adding Melafix, that will decrease the oxygen quite a bit. I started using Melafix recently and within minutes of adding it to the tank the first time, my Dwarf Gourami and all of my Mollies were at the top trying to get air. I had 2 air lines going at the time, but it still wasn't enough, so I turned on my mid-tank aerator, (that I setup using a powerhead). A few minutes later they were all fine.

Do you have any air pumps set up and running lines in your tank? I would put them on full blast, and drop the water level so the water from your filter will create surface agitation. I would also drop the temp, (slowly!), and stop using the pH stuff.

Sorry you lost your fishies. Hopefully you can save the others, (if you have any that survived?).

 

[Crepe]

80 still seems a bit high unless you're keeping german rams or something. Reduce it SLOWLY to 76ish.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

So i started to slowly put my temp down, it is currently at 84. My heaters are down to 76 degreas, I might have to look into an aquarium chiller. I'll see how things go. When i said that my PH is up 6.6 that was when i did the PWC when i woke up it was down to 5.9. when i got home from work it was at 6.2 I took my FX5 apart and put about 1.5 cups of crushed coral into the second chamber where i keep my carbon. Its been about 20 min since i put the coral in and the PH is up to 6.4. I hope this is not a big change and the fish can handle it.

McLumpy: Now everything makes perfect sense, when my fish started dying i turned the air pump off 2 days before, i though the fish are stressed with it they seamed to be on one side of the aquarium, I guess we all learn from out mistakes.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Agree with all the advice above. Maybe I can add something here.

What type of water are you using for the PWC? If you use RO water, or pure water from the stores, the lack of minerals in this type of water makes the ph to drop a lot, close to the levels that you are seeing (5.6 to 5.9). Also the lack of minerals will have a negative impact in the fish.

It is better to use regular Tap water for your PWC, because the natural minerals will act as a buffer and will stabilize your Ph. Just be sure that you use a dechlorinator like Prime.

Just another idea that can help you.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

I use tap water, and all i add to it is STRESS COAT

 

[ejaramillo01]

Understand, so looks like the temperature and the pH changes were the main causes.

Keep us posted to see what happens with the new temperature and the better pH. Also remember that is better to keep a stable pH versus targeting a specific value, the fluctuations are worst versus a stable low pH.

Good luck

 

[Tropical boy]

When decreasing temperature, to avoid shock you should only change the temp by a max of 1 - 2 degrees Celsius per hour( sorry not sure what this is in Fahrenheit). I would guess that it was a combination of these events that stressed your tank.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

So i woke up this morning and them temp is down to 81, but what im worried about is the PH, Its up to 7.2. The crushed coral is doing the trick.
My question is do i remove the coral from then filter once i achieve correct PH?
I have a weird feeling that i put to much coral in the filter and the PH will keep rising, am i right about this or should i just leave it in and wait it out?

I put half of a small filter bag maybe a cup or so

 

[Vircomore]

What types of fish do you have left in the tank? That information will help us decide if your PH is getting too high or not.

Most fish can tolerate a range of PH values, but "tolerate" and "thrive" are two very different things.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

4 Green Severums and 1 Red neck Severum, the green ones are about 5" or so
and the red is 2"

 

[Vircomore]

In that case I would watch your PH carefully and make sure your fish don't look stressed. If you can get the temperature under 80 and the PH doesn't go above 7.5, you should be fine to keep the crushed coral in the filter.

The temperature was probably the bigger killer than the PH, because Livebearers are about the only fish I know of that actually prefer >80F waters.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

ok so i got about an hour ago and the temp is at 82 with the heaters off the PH looks to be dropping, when i walked it was at 7.3 and now its at 7.24 i hope it doesn't drop much lower then it is. From all your experiences, when adding coral to the filter do you achieve a steady PH reading or does it keep going up and down ?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I've never done it that way. I always added large limestone rock to the tank itself.