Old tank syndrome?

[Roxxy]

I've never really though about testing my tank!
Until recently I have bought 3 lots of fish from the same store,
1st lot resulted in tank of white spot and a half dead tank, (I had 2 clown loach in the tank at the time which were healthy and I would have thought if white spot was high in my tank the clown loach would have been an easy target as the'ye sensitive fish)
2nd lot, i got a months later (2 mollys) and they were fine no problems,
Now a month later I have gotten a new plec due to my other one getting too big for my tank, few days later white spot! Which killed off the two I recently brought but all my others didn't catch the disease. The plec however is fine (I know these are hardy fish)

So I was speaking to a friend and have tested my tank,
Amonia - 0
Nitrate - 250
Nitrite - 0.5
GH - 250
KH - 50 mg/l
PH - 6.4

I have been trying to gather some info and sounds like I have old tank syndrome, and need to do some water changed every other day, to get the tank back to normal, does anyone have any advice about this? As I have never really thought about it before (bad I know) but will be doing regular water tests from now on!

But now another question, by adding a plec to my tank and then having white spot on 2 other fish that had already been in the tank a month and were find and healthy and active, did they contract it from the plec, or my water?

I've heard multiple horror stories from this pet store now and won't be buying from there again and will be considering a quarantine tank!

 

[Cynic]

Ummm...250 nitrAte? I doubt that's correct as any fish you added would die almost instantly at that level and water changes would probably have the same effect.

What are you using to test your water?
What size tank?
How long has it been up?
What is your stocking?

 

[Roxxy]

Hang on let me just go check I wrote it down somewhere!

- King british test strips
- It's a fluval edge - 23 L (hoping to get a bigger tank when we move as it's not an ideal size!)
- It's been running 3 years
- I had 2 dalmatian mollies, 2 tetra and the baby plec - I got told this was fine but understand now this might have been overstocked?

And Nitrate (NO3) Mg/L , is 100/250

 

[Roxxy]

Tap water results :
ph <6.4
kh - 100
gh - 50/125
nitrate - 25
nitrite - 0

So I think I need to water change a bit more looking at those results,
I will do another test in the tank in a few days see what the results say as it may have been incorrect or just very bad nitrates!

 

[jlk]

Yes, you definitely need to work on water changes. Your ph appears to be falling and your nitrates are very high. Do you have an ammonia test? I suspect your right on the verge of/already seeing spikes in ammonia in your tank as well. What type of water change schedule were you following prior to testing the water (% a week or month)?

My first suggestion would be to invest in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Then, start working on water changes. They will need to be daily and gradually increase so as not to shock your fish. Start with @15% for the next couple of days (once in am & once pm) then work up to 25% then upwards from there until you are able to change 50% easily and without stressing your fish. I would reduce feeding to every other day to limit ammonia, nitrite and nitrate until your parameters are under control. Once they are back in normal ranges, you can work on gradually increasing meals. It will be alot of work but you should have your tank back into a healthy state very soon! Please ask if you have any questions!

 

[CobaltBlue]

Thats what happened to me but my fish tank was still cycling when I introduced 2 clown loaches 2 of then died from ich and then I got this product that treates ich for the other Fish so they don't get it aswell 4 angel fish

 

[Roxxy]

Yes, you definitely need to work on water changes. Your ph appears to be falling and your nitrates are very high. Do you have an ammonia test? I suspect your right on the verge of/already seeing spikes in ammonia in your tank as well. What type of water change schedule were you following prior to testing the water (% a week or month)?

My first suggestion would be to invest in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Then, start working on water changes. They will need to be daily and gradually increase so as not to shock your fish. Start with @15% for the next couple of days (once in am & once pm) then work up to 25% then upwards from there until you are able to change 50% easily and without stressing your fish. I would reduce feeding to every other day to limit ammonia, nitrite and nitrate until your parameters are under control. Once they are back in normal ranges, you can work on gradually increasing meals. It will be alot of work but you should have your tank back into a healthy state very soon! Please ask if you have any questions!

Yes ammonia came back as 0,
I normally do 10% changes every week, but probably been slacking a bit lately and maybe 10% every 1.5-2 weeks, slap on the wrist for me! And don't think i've been digging deep enough into the gravel either as I did today and it came up quite cloudy.
I've never had any health problems with any of my fish before introducing new ones from this particular store, hence why never testing the water, but will start keeping an eye out now I've read up about it a bit more and understand a bit more, another slap on the wrist for me!
I'll see if there's any of those kits online as they don't seem to have them in any of the stores near me, I'll keep to your advice and update on the levels in a few days time, hopefully it improves! Thanks

 

[Cynic]

Wait 23L = 6G right?

 

[jlk]

Wait 23L = 6G right?

Thanks, I missed this! Lots and lots of water changes. It's going to be a tough battle to keep toxins in check on a 6g tank. Daily, if not more often.