Dead panda and ensuing water crisis

[Gish]

So I was cruising or so i thought. Being a well-read newbie, I thought this aquaria stuff was simple. I cycled my second tank, a new 29 gallon, with media from the old 10 gallon. I put in fish, added plants, however the next day I added more plants uprooting and replanting them. The next day I noticed one of my beloved panda cories was missing. Without a trace.
I searched high and low, but I cannot find it. I am assuming that it got trapped under the substrate during aquascaping, probably along the backside of the tank which is against the wall.

needless to say my pH dipped to 6.8, after a 50% water change, I am at ph 7.1 ammonia .25, nitrates .25, nitrites .25. some of the fish are blowing bubbles, but not all the time. i had a 2 neon tetras die, but i'm not sure it is the water. a third one died in my other tank.

what should i do? more pwcs? how about chemicals? remove the fish, 3 gouramis, 3 platys, rainbow, 5 corys, molly

help!

 

[phoenixkiller]

So I was cruising or so i thought. Being a well-read newbie, I thought this aquaria stuff was simple. I cycled my second tank, a new 29 gallon, with media from the old 10 gallon. I put in fish, added plants, however the next day I added more plants uprooting and replanting them. The next day I noticed one of my beloved panda cories was missing. Without a trace.
I searched high and low, but I cannot find it. I am assuming that it got trapped under the substrate during aquascaping, probably along the backside of the tank which is against the wall.

needless to say my pH dipped to 6.8, after a 50% water change, I am at ph 7.1 ammonia .25, nitrates .25, nitrites .25. some of the fish are blowing bubbles, but not all the time. i had a 2 neon tetras die, but i'm not sure it is the water. a third one died in my other tank.

what should i do? more pwcs? how about chemicals? remove the fish, 3 gouramis, 3 platys, rainbow, 5 corys, molly

help!

It sounds like you are still cycling! In completely cycled tanks and ones and are well-cleaned, no ammonia or nitrItes should be present. What's your water change schedule though?

The death of the Neon Tetras and the Panda cory may be due to the ammonia spikes common while cycling. When was the problem tank set up? When did the cycle "finish"?

 

[Gish]

those are great questions. i thought my cycle was done when i hit 0-0-0 after in fish cycling with 3 platys, substrate, driftwood. over the next 2 weeks i added 2 fish every 3 days. i never rechecked the pH. I think my ammonia spike might be due to the decomposing fish bodies, esp a neon and a panda that i can't locate. water changed about every 5 days.

should i increase the water changes?

 

[phoenixkiller]

those are great questions. i thought my cycle was done when i hit 0-0-0 after in fish cycling with 3 platys, substrate, driftwood. over the next 2 weeks i added 2 fish every 3 days. i never rechecked the pH. I think my ammonia spike might be due to the decomposing fish bodies, esp a neon and a panda that i can't locate. water changed about every 5 days.

should i increase the water changes?

It may have finished, but the true indicator is when the ammonia and nitrItes hit zero, and when nitrAtes begin to rise. Did you monitor the parameters for a few days after everything hit zero?

Again, what's your water change schedule?

I would say, yes, a few more water changes should clear up the ammonia/nitrItes. But I am sure a very experienced aquarist will chime in.

 

[librarygirl]

Probably a mini cycle and adding fish too soon. A bit of media from a 10 gal filter wouldn't house much bacteria and adding all of the new fish was more than it could handle. Plus decomposing fish can plummet your water quality very quickly. I'd advise more water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite <.25 until the cycle evens out. Just use a good dechlorinator like Prime, no other chemicals needed. I'd also find the dead fish (check the filter, under plants, etc) b/c you'll want to remove them, keeping them in there can cause problems with water quality.