Tank crash / over stocked

[Neon539]

Hi,

My tank has now been running almost 2 years. Unfortunately in May my baby twins arrived early and I spent three months commuting to the hospital to look after my survving twin. As you can imagine my fish tank suffered a lot of neglect and I didn't keep up with my water changes.

My 87 litre tank stock was (I think it was over stocked):
3 appistos
1 gurami
6 pencil fish
12 neon tetras
9 amano shrimp
4 hatchet fish ( i lost two to being brought home)
6 Platys (took these out fairly quickly as 6 soon became 12!)

I think initially I had over stocked my tank but it was managing because I was doing water changes regularly. about a month before everything went crazy I took the platysb back to the LFS as I could see my tank was too full. they kindly rehomed them for me.

So for a bout 5 months after that I didnt do water changes regularly and when I did they were sporadic and only about 20%. Then I started losing fish almost 1 a week. I went to the LFS who sold me the playties and they told me to resume my water changes. It seemed to help a bit and
when I went back I stupidly bought more fish!

At this point I had lost:
6 tetras
2 pencil fish
3 appistos (although I think the male killed one and they kept trying to breed and ate their eggs)
3 hatchet fish.

I bought:
6 rummy nose tetras
6 glowlight harlequins (all healthy)

I then started losing fish again.
I lost:

1 gurami
2 tetras
2 pencil

I went to a different and much better LFS for help. They tested my water and explained that my tank haad experienced some sort of crash to do with the minerals in the water. He sold me some white gravel which made the water cloudy and some medicine called omnipur.

I added the gravel in the back or the tank in a mesh bag and dosed the tank with the medicine.
I have been maintaining my water changes at 25% religiously every week.

I currently have
6 rummy nose tetras
6 harlequines
2 pencil fish
4 tetras
9 shrimp
1 hatchet fish.

My rummy nose tetras all have cloudy eyes and one has popeye still despite being treated twice with omnipur.

One of my pencil fish has gone a funny shape looks a little swollen.

I think the infections are still in my tank and I don't know what to do. Thankfully my shrimp and harlequins seem unaffected.

I think some of my fish like my guorami died of dropsy as they swelled up and looked like a pine cone. Some of my fish just swelled up and didn't have scales sticking up. Some of them got really skinny and sick looking and died a month later.

I haven't lost any fish for a few weeks but they don't look healthy

Please help.

My water perameters are all good, my ph is around 7.2. it is very blue with the liquid test kits.
The levels of nitrite, nitrates and amonia are all zero from my liquid test kit too.

Sorry for the really long post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SaraB]

You should be seeing some nitrates in your aquarium. You are probably going through another cycle, it would explain the cloudiness (bacterial bloom).
I would (if you can) sell any fish that is still healthy. Try to get your tank understocked. Treat your tank as a fish in cycle.

There's not much you can do about dropsy once the fishes scales start to pinecone. Trying to fix it before is your best chance. Most cases of dropsy start with a bacterial infection from poor water quality. Trat for that and see if it helps. Make sure you take the carbon out of your filter first or the medication won't work.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

 

[Neon539]

Hi,

Thank you for your advice. I did not explain very well about the cloudiness. This was the result of the white gravel I added and has not lasted long. My tank was cloudy for a day or too after adding it.

I will monitor my nitrates and see what happens. If I get none at all I will sell/rehome my fish.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Neon539]

Hi,
I did not realise ther was carbon in my filter. I have read up about the filter. The cardon is contained in both the cartriges, If I remove them to treat the tank, will I lose the good bacteria and have to cycle my tank again?

At least I know why the medication didn't work.

Also according to my paper test strips my nitrates are 100, nitrites zero, ph the same as the liquid test. I have just re tested my nitrates with my liquid test kit and it appears i havent been using the test correctly. My nitrates are really high.

 

[SaraB]

No you will not have to re cycle your tank after medication. You should reduce the amount of fish so you are not overstocked either way.