Hello,
I'm new to the forum. I've been lurking a while and have learned a great deal from you all. Unfortunately I have a very frustrating situation and am trying to find answers. I hope that the experts out here are up to the challenge.
My 18 year old son and I setup a 20g tank in his room (ML Penguin 150 filter, heater, LED hood, fine gravel/sand bottom, artificial plants and decorations). We decided to do a "fishless cycle" after much research (mostly here). We bought the ammonia from Ace HW, Test Kits, etc and proceeded. It took over 3 months to completely cycle the tank - daily monitoring, maintaining all levels, etc. We tried everything - filter media and gravel from another healthy established tank, Fritz-Zyme 7 (twice). Finally we got it to the point that adding 2ml of 10% ammonia (bringing the level up to about 3ppm) would result in 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in less than 24 hrs. We have a pretty robust Bio filter going.
We did a couple of water changes over a few days to get the nitrate level down to about 5ppm and the next day added 5 small fish to start up a Community tank (1 Platy, 2 Diamond Tetras, 1 small Bala Shark, and 1 Dwarf Gourami). I didn't want the Bala because of how big it might get but my son really wanted it.
We were very careful in acclimating the fish to the water and temp and were also very careful not to get any LFS water from the bag to the tank. Never-the-less, the Gourami died after 2 days without any outward signs of illness. It had been somewhat lethargic from day 1 and I think that it was injured when the LFS guy netted it. They replaced the fish with another one - again very careful acclimation process and it was doing fine - very active.
We fed them mostly flake food twice daily (only 2 mins worth) and some small pellets every other day or so. I monitored the levels daily - ammonia and nitrite always 0 and nitrate climbed slowly to 15 or so pH always at 7.4. After one week, we did a 35% water change to get the nitrate level down. After a couple of hours, we added another Platy and a Silver Molly from another tank we've had setup for 5 months or so. The Molly has been very healthy since day one. Continued daily water tests show healthy clean water and temp maintained at 79-80F.
Then on the 14th day, the Bala Shark suddenly died and we noticed a white cottony fiberous stuff all over the Silver Molly and on the fins and tail of both Platys. I had been out of town for 2 days but my son was home - I don't think the Bala was dead long but it could have been up to 24 hrs. I checked the water and nitrate was up to about 30 (ammonia and nitrite were 0). We did a 50% water change to get the nitrate down and I started doing research on-line.
I concluded that it was Cotton Fungas. It definitely is not ich. I went to the store (the only thing open on Sunday night was WalMart) and got some Jungle Fungus Clear fizz tabs (Methel Blue). This seems to get good reviews on-line as a medication for fungus so I dissolved two tabs in a large glass of tank water and added it to the tank. I removed the filter cartridge with the carbon in it and replaced it with some floss.
Now, since Sunday, both Platys and one of the Tetras has gotten the fungus on them and died. The Molly looks as bad as ever and the remaining Tetra and the Gourami now have the fungus on their fins. In know that it has only been 2 days but this medication has really had no effect at all.
So after 2 weeks with fish after over 3 months of just water, my son and I are watching all of our brand new fish die while looking at a tank full of blue water that I understand causes Cancer wondering what to do next...
Frankly I'm starting to ask myself "Why am I doing this again?".
Once they are all gone (probably tomorrow or the next day), what do I do with the tank full of Carcinogenic water? I can start doing massive water changes to get rid of the medication but I'd rather not have to start over with the Bio. I can start manually adding small amounts of ammonia again to keep the Bio going.
What about whatever is in the water that is making the fish sick? How do I get rid of that?
Seriously 2 weeks and they have all died in a fully cycled tank with clean water and solid temp? I've verified with water testing at 2 different LFSs that the cycle is complete and the Bio is strong. We cannot find any fault with the water maintenance.
How could all of the fish get this fungus and die so quickly? How do I ensure that it will not happen again with new fish?
I definitely don't want to go another 3+ months re-establishing the Bio only to have all of our fish die within weeks again of some disease.
We're just looking for some experience here to guide us as to what to do next. We're not quite ready to give up (too much $ invested) but are very frustrated so far.
Thanks in advance.
I'm new to the forum. I've been lurking a while and have learned a great deal from you all. Unfortunately I have a very frustrating situation and am trying to find answers. I hope that the experts out here are up to the challenge.
My 18 year old son and I setup a 20g tank in his room (ML Penguin 150 filter, heater, LED hood, fine gravel/sand bottom, artificial plants and decorations). We decided to do a "fishless cycle" after much research (mostly here). We bought the ammonia from Ace HW, Test Kits, etc and proceeded. It took over 3 months to completely cycle the tank - daily monitoring, maintaining all levels, etc. We tried everything - filter media and gravel from another healthy established tank, Fritz-Zyme 7 (twice). Finally we got it to the point that adding 2ml of 10% ammonia (bringing the level up to about 3ppm) would result in 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in less than 24 hrs. We have a pretty robust Bio filter going.
We did a couple of water changes over a few days to get the nitrate level down to about 5ppm and the next day added 5 small fish to start up a Community tank (1 Platy, 2 Diamond Tetras, 1 small Bala Shark, and 1 Dwarf Gourami). I didn't want the Bala because of how big it might get but my son really wanted it.
We were very careful in acclimating the fish to the water and temp and were also very careful not to get any LFS water from the bag to the tank. Never-the-less, the Gourami died after 2 days without any outward signs of illness. It had been somewhat lethargic from day 1 and I think that it was injured when the LFS guy netted it. They replaced the fish with another one - again very careful acclimation process and it was doing fine - very active.
We fed them mostly flake food twice daily (only 2 mins worth) and some small pellets every other day or so. I monitored the levels daily - ammonia and nitrite always 0 and nitrate climbed slowly to 15 or so pH always at 7.4. After one week, we did a 35% water change to get the nitrate level down. After a couple of hours, we added another Platy and a Silver Molly from another tank we've had setup for 5 months or so. The Molly has been very healthy since day one. Continued daily water tests show healthy clean water and temp maintained at 79-80F.
Then on the 14th day, the Bala Shark suddenly died and we noticed a white cottony fiberous stuff all over the Silver Molly and on the fins and tail of both Platys. I had been out of town for 2 days but my son was home - I don't think the Bala was dead long but it could have been up to 24 hrs. I checked the water and nitrate was up to about 30 (ammonia and nitrite were 0). We did a 50% water change to get the nitrate down and I started doing research on-line.
I concluded that it was Cotton Fungas. It definitely is not ich. I went to the store (the only thing open on Sunday night was WalMart) and got some Jungle Fungus Clear fizz tabs (Methel Blue). This seems to get good reviews on-line as a medication for fungus so I dissolved two tabs in a large glass of tank water and added it to the tank. I removed the filter cartridge with the carbon in it and replaced it with some floss.
Now, since Sunday, both Platys and one of the Tetras has gotten the fungus on them and died. The Molly looks as bad as ever and the remaining Tetra and the Gourami now have the fungus on their fins. In know that it has only been 2 days but this medication has really had no effect at all.
So after 2 weeks with fish after over 3 months of just water, my son and I are watching all of our brand new fish die while looking at a tank full of blue water that I understand causes Cancer wondering what to do next...
Frankly I'm starting to ask myself "Why am I doing this again?".
Once they are all gone (probably tomorrow or the next day), what do I do with the tank full of Carcinogenic water? I can start doing massive water changes to get rid of the medication but I'd rather not have to start over with the Bio. I can start manually adding small amounts of ammonia again to keep the Bio going.
What about whatever is in the water that is making the fish sick? How do I get rid of that?
Seriously 2 weeks and they have all died in a fully cycled tank with clean water and solid temp? I've verified with water testing at 2 different LFSs that the cycle is complete and the Bio is strong. We cannot find any fault with the water maintenance.
How could all of the fish get this fungus and die so quickly? How do I ensure that it will not happen again with new fish?
I definitely don't want to go another 3+ months re-establishing the Bio only to have all of our fish die within weeks again of some disease.
We're just looking for some experience here to guide us as to what to do next. We're not quite ready to give up (too much $ invested) but are very frustrated so far.
Thanks in advance.