jdsunflower
Aquarium Advice Activist
Once again, when I have put my fish into my large and cycled tank, my fish have gone into respiratory distress, and I lost one--I have no idea what the problem is, but am frankly afraid to try again without fixing the problem.
Recap:
first time: 40B tank cycled x 2 months with plants only, to nitrites 0, trace nitrates and ammonia. pH from the tap is 9, so I use vinegar to stabilize it at about 6.8. (I've done this for years and never had a problem--I feel 9 is just too high for fish.) I slowly started adding Epsom salt and potassium as well as baking soda. I finally put 5 corys and 5 rasboras in there that had done very well in the QT tank, and noticed at one point some microfilamental worms in there. Tank has lots of bogwood that I neutralized and dechlored beforehand. Fish went into major respiratory crisis (at surface, corys coming up for air ++), I had to pull all the fish out and the corys survived (barely) but a large snail and all rasboras died very quickly. I tore the tank down thinking it was nematodes. Also lots of green spotted algae and bogwood fuzzy algae of indeterminate type that seemed of increasing amount.
Filter is Eheim (2215?) with ceramic beads and porous stone, with large bore small filter but no filter floss. Lighting is 2 bulbs of I believe 25w, on for about 10 hours. Substrate is black flourite. I threw out the (dying) plants as they were in very rough shape.
Yesterday: Tank had been cycling very slowly for over one month with only the 5 rescued corys, and no plants yet (local options were raggedy and unhealthy looking). Readings were 0 nitrites, below .25 ammonia and nitrates. Same setup otherwise (bogwood +++, algae) but lights off. I added 5 neon tetras and 2 ABN. I was again managing pH with vinegar (store pH for neons was 6, as I only discovered upon arrival home). Tank pH was about 6.8 or 7... I had no trouble keeping the fish happy in QT tank (minor bogwood for bacteria, intank canister with biological material from the larger tank), slowly raising pH.
I did add some baking soda to the big tank, hoping to help buffer pH (KH never higher than 3), could that be it? More algae than before (blue tinge water, fuzz on bogwood, green spots all over the walls). Again, major respiratory crisis within hours with nitrites 0, ammonia and nitrates below .25. (I had also bought zebra danio but because they are rather hyper they will stay in a separate and formerly (2nd) QT tank--they seem fine, too, same water parameters, vinegar, pH about 6.8...)
I was devastated to lose more fish. The smallest tetra didn't make it. I've put all livestock into a QT tank again with same parameters (vinegar, Prime, but NO soda). The fish seem stable (if stressed from the smaller space, new environment, and what they've been through). I may keep all the rest, they survived the night.
What the heck??? I feel dreadful that I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. For now I have left the water in the tank and left it running, and am keeping the tank covered completely (blackout) hoping to kill off any algae. Will do this for 5 days unless counselled otherwise. I should have left the bogwood in (algae), but will use permanganate, then major dechlor.
FYI, I did order a whole whack of warm water plants and they'll arrive in 2 weeks. I had much better luck starting with plants the first time, maybe this will help +. For now of course my co2 system is off-line. I have never dosed with ferts yet, minerals in my water are 0 naturally, so will need to increase slowly to get fish used to it...
ANY advice would be welcome.
Recap:
first time: 40B tank cycled x 2 months with plants only, to nitrites 0, trace nitrates and ammonia. pH from the tap is 9, so I use vinegar to stabilize it at about 6.8. (I've done this for years and never had a problem--I feel 9 is just too high for fish.) I slowly started adding Epsom salt and potassium as well as baking soda. I finally put 5 corys and 5 rasboras in there that had done very well in the QT tank, and noticed at one point some microfilamental worms in there. Tank has lots of bogwood that I neutralized and dechlored beforehand. Fish went into major respiratory crisis (at surface, corys coming up for air ++), I had to pull all the fish out and the corys survived (barely) but a large snail and all rasboras died very quickly. I tore the tank down thinking it was nematodes. Also lots of green spotted algae and bogwood fuzzy algae of indeterminate type that seemed of increasing amount.
Filter is Eheim (2215?) with ceramic beads and porous stone, with large bore small filter but no filter floss. Lighting is 2 bulbs of I believe 25w, on for about 10 hours. Substrate is black flourite. I threw out the (dying) plants as they were in very rough shape.
Yesterday: Tank had been cycling very slowly for over one month with only the 5 rescued corys, and no plants yet (local options were raggedy and unhealthy looking). Readings were 0 nitrites, below .25 ammonia and nitrates. Same setup otherwise (bogwood +++, algae) but lights off. I added 5 neon tetras and 2 ABN. I was again managing pH with vinegar (store pH for neons was 6, as I only discovered upon arrival home). Tank pH was about 6.8 or 7... I had no trouble keeping the fish happy in QT tank (minor bogwood for bacteria, intank canister with biological material from the larger tank), slowly raising pH.
I did add some baking soda to the big tank, hoping to help buffer pH (KH never higher than 3), could that be it? More algae than before (blue tinge water, fuzz on bogwood, green spots all over the walls). Again, major respiratory crisis within hours with nitrites 0, ammonia and nitrates below .25. (I had also bought zebra danio but because they are rather hyper they will stay in a separate and formerly (2nd) QT tank--they seem fine, too, same water parameters, vinegar, pH about 6.8...)
I was devastated to lose more fish. The smallest tetra didn't make it. I've put all livestock into a QT tank again with same parameters (vinegar, Prime, but NO soda). The fish seem stable (if stressed from the smaller space, new environment, and what they've been through). I may keep all the rest, they survived the night.
What the heck??? I feel dreadful that I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. For now I have left the water in the tank and left it running, and am keeping the tank covered completely (blackout) hoping to kill off any algae. Will do this for 5 days unless counselled otherwise. I should have left the bogwood in (algae), but will use permanganate, then major dechlor.
FYI, I did order a whole whack of warm water plants and they'll arrive in 2 weeks. I had much better luck starting with plants the first time, maybe this will help +. For now of course my co2 system is off-line. I have never dosed with ferts yet, minerals in my water are 0 naturally, so will need to increase slowly to get fish used to it...
ANY advice would be welcome.
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