Old tank, new problems

[edgley]

Hi there,

Been keeping my tank okay for over the last 10 years problem free, but the last few months have been a nightmare, so I coming looking for help please.

I have a 4x2x2 tank, with 2 huge Eheim external pumps.
The fish in there are:
2x Silver Dollars
3x Clown Loach
1x Catfish
1x Huge Plech
1x Blue acura.

All, apart from the the acura, are at least 10 years old, and all of the fish are rather large.

My problem is that their gill movements seem rather rapid, for all the fish. The acura also seems to keep opening its mouth quite wide too, as do the dollars and loaches.

When I do a water change they calm down for a bit but then they increase.
I have changed the media in the pumps about 2 months ago, as it was the original media kit, which was about 6 years old.

I have a tester kit and the results are:

NO3 10
NO2 1
GH >16
KH 3d
pH 6.8

The only thing that I can do is a water change ever day, as that seems to help for bit, I am really lost.

Thanks,
Simon.

 

[Homedog98]

Ah, you've got cycling problems my friend! A daily 50% water change will help get down the NO2, which ideally needs to be 0. Check out the link in my sig on fishless cycling. That's not your problem, but it'll help answer some questions.

 

[edgley]

Is it that simple then, wow.
I haven't been doing 50%, more like 25/30

Thank you

 

[Homedog98]

No problem! Welcome to AA by the way!

 

[Morgie]

I had the same problem with my five year old catfish. It's a combination of a cycling problem and a low-oxygen problem. I was having problems with low oxygen in a new tank (that was cycled) I added an airstone and natural bubbler decoration to my tank and then he was back to his normal self, no panting.

 

[edgley]

I do have a bubble hose that runs down the length of the tank, but its a very fine line that comes out.

Time to get another air pump then!

 

[Morgie]

add a diffuser to the end of the bubble hose and it'll produce more bubbles.

 

[edgley]

Oh, rather than make a loop back to the air pump like its currently doing?
Cool, thank you.

 

[edgley]

Well, a week in and as well as doing a 50% change in the mornings, I am having to do another smaller one later on, and I might have to make that a second smaller one later still.

Any ideas how long I will have to keep this up please?

 

[rich311k]

What are you current test readings?

 

[edgley]

Well the strips on my tester have only just changed colour, showing no more than 10 for NO3 and less than 1 for NO2.

 

[rich311k]

If I were you i would go get a liquid test kit and have your store test your water while you are there, hard to trust what the strips say.

 

[edgley]

K, will pick some up tomorrow.
All this rapid gill movement does suggest that the water is not good.

There is nothing else that could be causing it, is there?

I suppose until I know the true reading its not possible to guess how long this will go one for, but I am presuming that having to do a couple of changes a day if you tank is bad is normal?

Thank you.

 

[Gubernaculum86]

Did u do anything to the tank right before the fish started to behave differently? Im trying to think what could make a well established tank like that cycle again. Did u change your filter media or change the gravel?

Definitely get a liquid test kit. And keep doing PWCs until there's no NO2 or Ammonia

Edit: sorry reread ur post. Saw that u changed the filter media. Please ignore my stupid question lol.

 

[edgley]

No prob.
Guess all the exercise will do me good for the next couple of weeks

 

[edgley]

So, two nice and proper test kits in my possession, almost felt like i should get a lab coat too

Turns out NO2 is at 0, but NO3 is between 10 and 20. At least I can now empirically see that I have a problem.

Will do a 50% then test again and see how much it drops down by.

Thanks guys!

 

[BeavisMom62]

Isn't that frustrating, edgely? My tank isn't as old as yours, but I have a 60 gal that has been up and running, cycled and stable for probably two years and last weekend out of the blue had a major ammo spike. Never did find out the cause. But like you, I was doing 50% w/c's daily and its on the road to recovery. I don't have a Python so I was hauling 4-5 five gal buckets around every day. Whew! Some extra Prime helps as well.

 

[edgley]

I'd say its frustrating. 6x25l buckets in the morning, and its looking like I will have to repeat that at night now as well.

Oh well, at least I know what the problem is now, and have a way to measure it; just need to count on down the days.

 

[edgley]

Six months down the line and I am still having problems.
Doing a 50% water change a week, but think that is too long after a water test today.

I have even upgraded both pumps to Eheim Pro 3 600s (moving the old media into the new pumps).

All I can think of doing next is this:

The bottom two layers of the Eheim Pro 3 are bio/mech. I replaced one of these layers on both pumps when I upgraded with the old mech media.

I could remove the old mech only layer (I don't seem to have a mech problem) and replace it with the Eheim top of the range bio media. This still leaves one layer of mech/bio in both pumps and adds an extra bio layer to each.

Not sure what else I can do.

 

[librarygirl]

Six months down the line and I am still having problems.
Doing a 50% water change a week, but think that is too long after a water test today.

I have even upgraded both pumps to Eheim Pro 3 600s (moving the old media into the new pumps).

All I can think of doing next is this:

The bottom two layers of the Eheim Pro 3 are bio/mech. I replaced one of these layers on both pumps when I upgraded with the old mech media.

I could remove the old mech only layer (I don't seem to have a mech problem) and replace it with the Eheim top of the range bio media. This still leaves one layer of mech/bio in both pumps and adds an extra bio layer to each.

Not sure what else I can do.

So what are your water readings now? Are ammonia and nitrite still at 0 or have they risen again? Are the fish acting OK? If it's just nitrate that's normal, all tanks will have nitrate as it's the by-product of the conversion process (ammonia>nitrite>nitrate). A good water change schedule will keep nitrates <20. If they are rising too high between water changes then you're likely overstocked. But nitrates aren't as toxic as ammonia or nitrite so if you can keep them <40 max then they should be OK. I wouldn't change out any more media unless it's falling apart.