Diary of a Brand New Aquarium (with Bio-Spira used)

[MoxieGrrrl]

Okay, thanks you two

I'll do a water change tomorrow and try and get rid of the junk on top. I'll post readings as I go.

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

Well, this is the final entry of this diary... Sandy and Spot have also died and I have no fish left in the tank.

After removing the fish remains, I did a 40% water change and vacuumed as much of the junk on top of the gravel as I could without disturbing too much. Upped the temperature to 86 degrees. I added StressCoat and salt to make up for the water I removed so the water can continue to be treated for ich. Darn, just noticed a small cut on my hand, so now I gotta do more medical treatments. :|

After the water change, final tests:

Ammonia @ <1
nitrites @ 0
nitrates @ <5

Personal experience with Bio-Spira? Tried two doses and neither worked. Either I was just that poor sucker who got the two bad batches, or it just HAPPENED to be a good batch for the people it worked for. I am very, VERY disappointed. All in all, lost 1 angelfish, 1 pleco, 4 mollies, 5 guppies (all about $30), plus the $20 I spent on the bio-spira.


The thing that is most confusing is why they died - perhaps I should have saved them for an autopsy. The ammonia level never got more than 1.5, never had nitrates, and the ich was going away.

What say you, my fine fishy friends?

 

[severum mama]

Was the Bio Spira refrigerated when you got it? Just a thought...

Sounds to me like your tank is almost there, but if there is no food source for bacteria (ammonia) then the bacteria will die. Maybe you could fishless cycle it the rest of the way and then add some more fish when ammonia and nitrite read 0 ppm, and you get a nitrate reading. I don't know what else to tell you. Sorry for your losses, I know is is sad and frustrating.

 

[TankGirl]

I am truly sorry, since I am such a big fan of this stuff and have used it so many times, with an "instant" cycle. I am at a loss to explain why it did not work for you, and you really had to go through a mess.

I would crank up the heat as high as you can get it, add liquid household ammonia every day, and kill the ich while you hold the cycle. I agree you were almost there with the cycle but I hate for you to tear the tank down and start all over. Two weeks with high temps and no host and you will have killed the ich spore, and the tank will be ready for fish, with the ammonia feeding the bacteria that you have paid so dearly for.

I was very excited about this new tank and am so bummed, but once you get some fish in an already cycled tank things ought to work out so much better. Acclimate the fish carefully and add them slowly.

Good luck, and again, so sorry-

 

[TomK2]

Well, It would seem that the bio-spira did not live up to your hopes. I am sure that it did help and certainly did not hurt. The ammonia and nitrites will settle down with time. About the time that that happens, your Ich should be gone too. Then you could begin buying fish again, say one per week to gradually increase the bio load. Let me first say that I am no expert on Mollies, and have only owned one in the past. But I have read that they are VERY prone to ICH. Perhaps you could stock slowly with some of your other favorite fish. Like the angels. Go slowly and it will work out fine.

Btw - in my parallel experiment, a 55 gal tank with fish "cycling" I am now 30 days into it. I still have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate. I have 7 platies and 6 zebra dainios. One male platy is not feeding, but is swimming around. I presume that I am going to lose that fish. I am getting the urge to add more fish, but I am going to wait two more weeks. If still no ammonia, nitrtite or nitrate, I will have to decide if I continue waiting for nitrates or if I slowly stock more fish. I will either continue to wait or add one fish per week or two. I really want some angels and blood parrots, but patience is the key!

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

Mama - yes, I was very careful to keep the bio-spira refrigerated.

As far as I know, I followed directions to a "T"... I'll try to keep on top of the ammonia and heat. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Jchillin]

This is quite a shock. I would never have believed this would have happened. I did almost the same thing (minus the bio-spira) and I only lost 5 fish out of 10. If an educated guess is still appropriate, I don't think the ich alone did it. You caught it and immediately began treatment. I have one question...did you buy the fish and the bio-spira from the same source? It's worth discussing at this point since absolutely nothing worked.

 

[severum mama]

Moxie, I know you refrigerated it (I think I remember you keeping a spare bottle in your fridge in an earlier post). I am wondering if it was refrigerated consistently before you got it. Maybe it got too warm while it was shipping or at the LFS. I've never used it so I don't know, but I suppose it is possible. :?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

I am truly sorry about the deaths

After reading through everything the one thing that sticks out in my mind is too many fish to start out with.

Any one spraying paint? bug sprays?? other aresol type sprays??

I would think about other pollutants in the air that might have entered the water.

Once again very sorry for the fish losses I know what it feels like to go through

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

This is quite a shock. I would never have believed this would have happened. I did almost the same thing (minus the bio-spira) and I only lost 5 fish out of 10. If an educated guess is still appropriate, I don't think the ich alone did it. You caught it and immediately began treatment. I have one question...did you buy the fish and the bio-spira from the same source? It's worth discussing at this point since absolutely nothing worked.

Yes, I did get the bio-spira and the fish at the same place. Is that not a good thing?

Moxie, I know you refrigerated it (I think I remember you keeping a spare bottle in your fridge in an earlier post). I am wondering if it was refrigerated consistently before you got it. Maybe it got too warm while it was shipping or at the LFS. I've never used it so I don't know, but I suppose it is possible. Confused

That's certainly a possibility. You'd just think they'd be extra careful with it :/

I am truly sorry about the deaths Sad

After reading through everything the one thing that sticks out in my mind is too many fish to start out with.

Any one spraying paint? bug sprays?? other aresol type sprays??

I would think about other pollutants in the air that might have entered the water.

Once again very sorry for the fish losses I know what it feels like to go through Crying or Very sad

According to the bio-spira, I add the amount of fish I want in the community and I should be fine... Grrr. As for sprays, definitely not - the most we used was an incense stick and a candle (both about 10 feet away from the tank).


The only think I can possibly think of is that I didn't use enough StressCoat in the water. I thought for sure I followed the directions and even put a little extra in for good measure.

 

[thanew]

interesting.. i'm trying bio-spira as we speak.. this actually inspired me to try it to be honest... hopefully it works because I spent 35 on it (1 3oz and 1 1oz )

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

interesting.. i'm trying bio-spira as we speak.. this actually inspired me to try it to be honest... hopefully it works because I spent 35 on it (1 3oz and 1 1oz )

Then the very best of luck! Keep us informed of how it goes... Take notes for us

 

[Jchillin]

I'm still aghast and without sounding like I'm throwing the blame but, the only constant is the place where you brought the bio-spira. The fact that absolutely no results were obtained kinda points to it. I'm not a bio=spira expert but all the evidence available points at this. Two packages and nothing? Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

OK I read over the whole thing. The Bio Spira worked??? hard to say with no nitrite reading ever and rarely any nitrate. Ammonia never got above 2 ppm though and with that many fish You would think in the week or so that ammonia would have sky rocketed to above 6-8 ppm. Maybe water changes stopped this from happening?? I Still am looking at something like a chemical that killed off everything perhaps. I dont think the fish should have all died just because of the small amounts of ammonia that were present for a couple of days.

It maybe the load was to big for the bacteria to handle all the ammonia?? Nitrates would build up slow and could explain such a small reading. I still am confused about no Nitrites as I figured somewhere along the line they should have shown up if the Bio-Spira had not been working at all.

maybe some form of dust or mist in the air could have gotten into the water supply??

Perfume?? hairspray?? Bug Killer?? Spraypaint?? flea and tick powder?? carpet freshener??

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

I'm still aghast and without sounding like I'm throwing the blame but, the only constant is the place where you brought the bio-spira. The fact that absolutely no results were obtained kinda points to it. I'm not a bio=spira expert but all the evidence available points at this. Two packages and nothing? Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

I just don't know. The guy brought out cold packs of bio-spira from the back. And I bought the doses on different days - he didn't give me both at the same time.

I'm just more confused that the ammonia remained pretty low up until the last of them died but I got minimal Nitrate readings. And there were ZERO nitrites - the test water was neon yellow.

Just weird.

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

OK I read over the whole thing. The Bio Spira worked??? hard to say with no nitrite reading ever and rarely any nitrate. Ammonia never got above 2 ppm though and with that many fish You would think in the week or so that ammonia would have sky rocketed to above 6-8 ppm. Maybe water changes stopped this from happening?? I Still am looking at something like a chemical that killed off everything perhaps. I dont think the fish should have all died just because of the small amounts of ammonia that were present for a couple of days.

That's what I'm sayin' - the ammonia stayed low when for most of the time there were at LEAST 7 fish. The only thing out of place is that the Nitrate test showed like nothing. And I only did one 20% water change.

It maybe the load was to big for the bacteria to handle all the ammonia?? Nitrates would build up slow and could explain such a small reading. I still am confused about no Nitrites as I figured somewhere along the line they should have shown up if the Bio-Spira had not been working at all.

I am just as confused, my friend. :?

maybe some form of dust or mist in the air could have gotten into the water supply??

Perfume?? hairspray?? Bug Killer?? Spraypaint?? flea and tick powder?? carpet freshener??

Don't wear perfume, haven't worn hairspray since 1988, we don't have bugs, my cats' fleas were taken care of months ago with Frontline and I use a flea collar in my vacuum bag, don't use carpet freshener.

We are also non-smokers, my daughter has never put anything in the tank except the bits of food I gave to her (and she needs a large step-stool to get to the top), the cats can't get inside it.

I am at a total loss.

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

hmmm... 8O

It took me 3 days to find ammonia that was pure and clear. So dont give up

I would fishless cycle the tank then add a couple of platies.

After you get the platies Watch for anything similar to what caused the deaths of the other fish. My biggest fear is that one of the fish had something very deadly and it is still in the tank.

If the fish die fast like before I would suggest cleaning out the whole thing and soaking everything in a mild vinegar or bleach solution then rinse it a few more times with clean water and starting with just the gravel. Then adding every few days another item that was in the tank. This way if it was something from in the tank you could narrow it down to exactly what it was hopefully.

Good Luck! I hope for the best.

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

Oh god. Take down the tank, clean it and start from scratch???

AHHHHHHH!

 

[Jchillin]

FGG may be on to what I have considere. The only thing I centered on was the bio-spira. This is in part due to the fact that it failed and all your fish died quickly. Is it possible that the bio-spira was contaminated???

Only the experts can shed light on this theory. :|

 

[MoxieGrrrl]

The more I am thinking about it, the more I think the culprit could have been chlorinated water. I used the python to do a water change, but I didn't have a bucket to fill up with water, put in StressCoat, then put in the tank.

People who use pythons - when refilling the tank with it, do you add de-chlorinater to a bucket of water and transfer that way or do you use the python to fill directly and use dechlorinater directly in the tank.

It doesn't explain why the fish died, but it might explain why the bio-spira may not have worked - perhaps there was enough chlorine to kill a lot of the nitrates off?