Lets hope my little gamble pays off

[push350z]

I posted earlier about my one cory coming down with something and it affecting his swim bladder. Well I ended up euthanizing him today after the filter ended up pulling some skin off him after he swam into the suction of the filter on accident. After all the cories I had purchased died off mysteriously I decided to do something pro-active with the tank in case what they had could spread.

I took out the bio-wheels and filters to my tank as well as my remaining two danios and placed the danios in my other tank and the filters in some treated water with a little ammonia to keep the colonies alive. I then emptied out my tank about 60-70% and replaced the water with hot and un-conditioned tap water. After filling it up about 80% of the way and adding a good amount of salt. I let it sit about 10 minutes and I once again drained it to about 40% and then replaced the water with 80 degree water 100%. I then treated all the water with prime and stirred it around really well to make sure all the water was treated to assure no chlorine or chloramine would interact with the filter or biowheels. After feeling it should be safe I put the wheels and filters back in and put some flakes of food in with the filters to be a source of ammonia for the bacteria while the tank sits fishless. Fired the filter back up and after about 15 minutes of it running I took another nitrate test which yielded nitrates in the 5-10 ppm range and 0's everywhere else.

I'm letting the tank run overnight and then going to petsmart tomorrow most likely to pick up a school of some smaller fish to make sure the tank remains broken in until I can try again with some other cories from a fish store other than the one I went to get the ones that all died off. Surprisingly I have had the best luck with fish from petsmart, not any other LFS.

I guess I ran the risk of letting the bacterial colonies die off from chlorine, etc but at least now I can sleep a little easier knowing that I at least tried something.

 

[Guest]

Well I ended up euthanizing him today

I hate to see fish in pain, so dont feel bad. It is a gut instinct descision.
To be honest, a lot of your solutions didn't make sense. I hope that doesn't offend you, because we are here to help.

I'm letting the tank run overnight and then going to petsmart tomorrow most likely to pick up a school of some smaller fish to make sure the tank remains broken in

IMO, this is your problem...patience. IMO, I would provide a source of amonia to keep the tank "broken in," and let the tank run for a week or two before you even think of adding 1 or 2 fish, never mind a school.

Keep testing your water. Once Amonia and Nitrites are 0, add fish slowly and go from there.

 

[push350z]

Well I ended up euthanizing him today

I hate to see fish in pain, so dont feel bad. It is a gut instinct descision.
To be honest, a lot of your solutions didn't make sense. I hope that doesn't offend you, because we are here to help.

I'm letting the tank run overnight and then going to petsmart tomorrow most likely to pick up a school of some smaller fish to make sure the tank remains broken in

IMO, this is your problem...patience. IMO, I would provide a source of amonia to keep the tank "broken in," and let the tank run for a week or two before you even think of adding 1 or 2 fish, never mind a school.

Keep testing your water. Once Amonia and Nitrites are 0, add fish slowly and go from there.

Not sure what other 'solutions' you are speaking of, other than the ones above, but I will admit that what I did tonight was more for me to feel better than serve any real practical purpose, they weren't really made to be a definitive 'solution'. I would never tell someone to do what I did if they were in the same situation as me, i'm not that clueless lol.

I don't think I have a patience problem, although I admit when I had my 5 gallon I was never warned about rushing and paid a hefty price, I have since learned my lesson. My tank has cycled courtesy of bio-spira and ammonia and nitrites went to 0 24 hours after I added it. I've continued testing twice a day for the past week to make sure. (tested with a AP master test kit)

When I say a school of fish, I'm not talking 12 tiger barbs, I'm thinking maybe 4-6 smaller fish like a rasbora, certainly nothing with a huge bio-load. Once I do that I'm investing in a 10g quarantine tank and setting that up and a few weeks later I will make my next small purchase. I want to keep my tank mostly smaller schooling fish since it's only 46 gallons.

I hope you don't take my post as me being defensive, I know that I don't know everything when it comes to fish keeping. That's why I joined the forum for insight, suggestions, and as I get more experience, contribute. I just wanted to explain my actions and make it clear, whatever I said above was not a convoluted solution to prevent further fish loss, it was more so to ease my nerves about putting new fish in.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

You seem to be on a good path in my eyes. Im assuming that prior to the fish dying that the tank was cycled. Most likely if care was taken in the major maintance is should still be cycled, although you probably killed bacteria colonies in your water column with the complete flush. It is important to restock soon so that you don't lose the colonies in the filter. I would however take the suggestion of adding only a few fish in case the ability of the tank to maintain that bio-load isn't present as stated above. Re-test the water daily and perfrom water changes as necessary if you should see an ammonia or nitrite spike. If all is clear after a week, you could add a few more. Keep doing this in intervals until you are stocked to the desired level.

As far as the tank tear down. I have done it for other reasons (like a bad seal on a tank) and I was able to keep the tank competely established.

For future reference, not sure that 1 fish death warrants a complete tear down. I know its hard to lose fish, but the fact is, many fish at the pet store are so imbred and have such bad conditions while young, they are just weak.

HTH

 

[push350z]

For future reference, not sure that 1 fish death warrants a complete tear down. I know its hard to lose fish, but the fact is, many fish at the pet store are so imbred and have such bad conditions while young, they are just weak.

HTH

I lost several cories and one danio :/

 

[Guest]

I hope you don't take my post as me being defensive

Not at all, that is what forums are for.