Fish dying after water changes help

[Fishdreamz]

My tank is a 49 gallon and has: 2 treadfins two Bolivian rams, one black neon and one golden snail. I think the snail is dead it was floating yesterday but not now and not moving. It has been running for 2 months with a bio wheel filter it has a t8 light with some plants. I have had a real hard time keeping the ph and alkalinity up for some strange reason. My water has decent ph and alkalinity. Substrate is fluorite. Did a 20 % water change last week and dripped in some buffer slowly. Little cloudy water after that. I did a 35 % water change yesterday with out adding buffer. Water even more cloudy. No nitrites or ammonia. I woke up this morning with 3 black tetras dead and the other fish had big white blotches all over and the Bolivian rams white on there eyeballs. I freaked out seeing that they were dying and made a rash decision to raise the ph quickly. Now the white spots with in hours are starting to disappear. One of the treads was even spinning. Now he is swimming normally and white is going away. I really do not want to lose the rams as they still have white on one eye. I have the light off and leaving everything alone right now. We did have a dip in temperature last night lowering the water 4 degrees. I plugged in the heater trying to slowly bring it back to normal. Any advice?? I also poured a ton of stress coat in to soothe the fins. This has happened to me several times losing all my fish. Makes me scared to do water changes. I have a rodi system but do not know how to hook it up now that I'm single.

Fishdreamz

 

[Fishdreamz]

Snails not dead he's moving again. Water still cloudy. Can not believe making a sudden Change on buffer has made things turn around. Any ideas?

 

[GreenLily]

What color is the cloudy water? How often and how much do you feed your fish? As for the white blotches on the fish, does it appear smooth or fuzzy looking? Greyish or white white? How are the fish acting? Darting around, rubbing against gravel/decorations, lethargic? How are your Rams' eyes doing today? The cloudy eyes are most likely cloudy because of the water conditions, and as soon as the water conditions are stable and doing well, the cloudy eyes should get better.

 

[huma-huma]

you mentioned its been up for 2 months, how was this tank cycled? and how was it determined to be properly cycled?

 

[Fishdreamz]

you mentioned its been up for 2 months, how was this tank cycled? and how was it determined to be properly cycled?

It was cycled with 4 black neons. I had a sock on my intake to keep the substrate from gunking up the filter. I did take that off at the time of this last water change. Im thinking there was good bacteria in the sock. I did add some instant bacteria after that water change and more today. no nitrite problems or ammonia. but i believe its just the low ph. it keeps getting lower. But like I said this has happened to me before. The water is still cloudy, I added another teaspoon of African chiclid buffer today. Ph is up to almost ideal but still little low. Still have all the fish and the snail except 3 neons that died after the 35% water change. Plants are fine other than my moss ball which is losing color. Any clues suggestions or commits very welcome.

 

[huma-huma]

idk honestly. is the temp of the new water the same as the outgoing water? this may sound dumb but try aerating the room with fresh air.

 

[jeh1487]

use RODI water and no buffer

i would use RODI water with no buffer i had the same problem the buffer was bleaching the fish and making them die. after i started using RODI water that i use for my SW tank i had no problems the hardyness was great all the levels were awsome after a week and then added new fish after that. the RODI system is easy to hook up look youtube it. they give great instructions. also u can hook it up to a water hose and not under the sink because that can be harder to do. my is hooked up to my hose

 

[Mebbid]

By far the biggest question that I need to ask is what does your pH drop down to that makes you want to change it? 99% of the time the natural pH of the tank is perfectly fine as long as it's stable.

Second, the cloudiness of the water. The main cause of cloudy water is a bacterial bloom brought on by an improperly or uncycled tank. What are your parameters at? Ammonia, Nitrite, and nitrate? These are the three readings to look at as soon as you lose a fish as all three of them can cause fish death.

During your water changes, what is the tank pH, new water pH, newly changed pH, and final pH a day after? If there are large swings in this it could easily cause fish death.

What are you using as a dechlorinator?

Lastly, cutting the water with ro or especially with ro/di takes away a lot of the buffers in the water making the pH swing a low more than it should. I would avoid doing this unless you have unusually hard water.

 

[Fishdreamz]

This picture is now. Still have some cloudy eye on Bolivian ram. And cloudy water. Hoping the pic goes through. My first time trying that on my phone. The readings before the water change were lower in ph and alkalinity. I see I'm still not at ideal after 3 tbs of buffer in a 49 gallon. I have never used buffer in a freshwater aquarium before. Temp is now stable at 78 F

 

[jeh1487]

I would have to say it looks a lot like chlorine. Your are pretty much bleaching your fish. But don't take my advice see what other people have to say. From the picture it looks like there is chlorine with in your tank and any amount of chlorine is extremely harmful to fish and may cause white cloudiness like you're having in your tank

 

[Mebbid]

What is the source of your water? Is there any softener or filtration that it goes through?

 

[jpchin]

i would suggest that you get an API LIQUID test kit. the test strips are known to be unreliable when it comes to testing. i started with the strips and everyone on this site told me to go to liquid. that's the preferred method and the one that reliable fish shops use. i know that petsmart uses the strips but i believe this is for cost saving and for a quick reading. it takes 5 minutes to do the ammonia and nitrate test with liquid. also if you get the liquid and are doing the nitrate test always shake the second bottle for a full 2 minutes to make sure you get an accurate reading.

 

[Fishdreamz]

I put plenty of dechlorienator in but I will double check that thanks! I'm gonna do the advised liquids test. Thanks!!! City water no softener or filter.

 

[Fishdreamz]

Update.. I bought the API liquid test kit. A guess what those strips that yes we're new and expensive were telling huge fibs. The ph was super low so that pretty much the same but the ammonia was like 2 ppm. Sooo I put in about 5 pounds of dry coral rock. And started water changes. No water change the first day just the rock and retested to get a very small rise in ph which was good. Second day 10% water change. 3 day 25% water change. Day 4 looking better! Pouring in small amounts of bacteria in filter each water change. Day 5 that's today I'm going to retest everything and do a water change as needed. Plan in continuing small water changes until its straightened out. I think when I took the filer sock off the intake I lost a lot of good bacteria. The low ph thing I'm still not sure of because the water out if the tap is some where around 6 ppm. Which is still a bit low. Buffer and the rock I will just monitor. Thanks for the help. The tank is looking clear and turning around. One of my rams still has a small bit of cloud in one eye and is looking thin. Can stress cause internal parasites?

 

[huma-huma]

stress can cause pretty much any illness in fish. just continue with the water changes and keep a close eye on it. also don't add anymore fish until you get this issue fully sorted out.