Help. Just lost a JD and Texas cichlid.

[bahonj]

I have a established 125 gal tank running for about 2 yrs. Last week I did a water 40% water change and cleaned both cannister filters. (Same thing I've been doing for the last 2 yrs) my ammonia has spiked to 6-8 ppm. Did more water changes then I got white bacteria all over the tank. Lost a JD (8 inch)and a Texas (7 inch) cichlid. Now Oscar(12 inch) isn't looking too good either. Help. What am I missing.

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[coralbandit]

Sounds like you're missing bacteria?
Most who have 2 filters clean only one at a time to avoid damaging all the bacteria.
ammonia or nitrite(probably next to spike) should not be allowed over 1ppm with fish in tank.
Lots of waterchanges!
Have you tested your source water (tap) lately?
Cloudy water indicates a bacterial imbalance of some kind.

 

[bahonj]

I'll start doing that with the filters. With the water changes the nitrites and nitrates are at 0. The cloudy water lasted 2 days then overnight the water was clear. Haven't checked the tap water. I've added ammonia treatment but that hasn't really helped. PH at 7.6. Temp 78. I'm missing something. I'm assuming the nitrogen cycle was broken somehow.

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[bahonj]

Last cleaning I added a new batch of carbon. Is there such a thing as bad or contaminated carbon?

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[mikem691]

How did you clean the bio media?

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[bahonj]

rinse it with tank water

 

[mikem691]

You should have been fine then.

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[ImACoolguy]

Test your tap water. For a tank that's been healthy this long it sounds like a problem from the source for there to be that high ammonia so quickly


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[OsciTheOscar]

I believe its a bad idea to change water and filter media at the same time especially all your media...

1 at a time is what i go with to not deplete the bacteria needed

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[Freakgecko91]

Water doesn't hold the beneficial bacteria


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[mikem691]

I believe its a bad idea to change water and filter media at the same time especially all your media...

1 at a time is what i go with to not deplete the bacteria needed

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They didn't change the bio media. Just rinsed it in tank water.

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[bahonj]

Sad to announce Oscar is now dead also. time to take down the tank for cleaning and start over ....