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Im so lost

4K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  RegalT 
#1 ·
Hi can somone plz help me ive been having trouble with my aquarium lately. Just recently my 2 favorite fish died, the tinfoil barbs. ive had them over a year and they were 7 inches long. i have no idea how or why they died because they were doing just fine all that time. Also last week i got a pleco and a day later it died as well for no apparent reason. can someone plz help me on what i should do?
 
#2 ·
I"m sorry to hear of your fish loss!! Stinks to lose fish, especially ones you've had for quite sometime...

Some general questions...
Tank size?
filtration?
water parameters?
feeding schedule?
pwc schedule?
planted?


answering some of these will be able to help us get down to the root of your problem....

PS - love the dog!!!!! I"m getting the same breed as soon as we get a house! is it a english or american lab?

PS
 
#4 ·
55 gallon tank. im using a marinelandvbiowheel power filter penguin 350. the nitrite is 0 ppm, ammonia is 8.0( but that looks incorrect becuz the rest of my fish are just fine), nitrate is 20 ppm, and the ph is 7.4. i feed them 2 times a day one in the morning and one at night tetra cichlid crisps.and it is non planted.

PS: my dog is a mutt half lab, half pit bull but shes really nice
 
#6 · (Edited)
Is this tank also holding silver dollars,angelfish,and bala shark along with the tinfoil barbs and pleco?Are you changing a portion of water each week?(topping off aquarium doesn't count).
Are you cleaning your filter material in dechlorinated water or aquarium water you take out during water changes or have you cleaned it with tapwater?
Are you using a good dechlorinator such as PRIME or AMQUEL+ that detoxify AMMONIA, CHLORINE,and CHLORAMIES?(I would)
Tin foil barbs can grow to 12 inches maybe a bit larger. As fish grow, we have a tendency to offer more food and as fish grow they also produce more waste. Could be larger ,more frequent water changes are in order.
Would also submit that I would want a second opinion on test results for ammona,nitrites,and nitrAtes. Ammonia and Nitrites must read zero between weekly water changes in a cycled tank and nitrAtes should remain low as well with 20ppm being ideal.
Tinfoil barbs as well as siver dollars are largely vegetarians (herbivores). Same for pleco. They need staple( regular )foods like spirulina flake,perhaps Omega One veggie flakes,lettuce,spinach leaves,and occasional meaty foods like bloodworms,or brine shrimp.
You say all of your other fish are fine,If your ammonia levels are anything but zero in a cycled tank,, your other fishes may perish as well.
P.S. Love your dog, I had a black lab/Pit bull mix (Jake) . RIP
 
#5 ·
That ammonia is through the roof! I'd recommend doing big water changes to bring that down. Was the pleco in the tank for a long time after it died or something? That could lead to a giant ammonia spike like that. But yeah, I would definitely do a 50% water change, test the water, and continue to do 50% water changes until the ammonia level is as close to zero as you can get it. Maybe double check that ammonia? That seems really, really high and I don't see how your fish could be surviving in that, especially since your pH is greater than 7.0.
 
#7 ·
I do weekly water changes taking 25% of the water out from the gravel and there are 3 angelfish and 2 silver dollars as well. yes i am using a good chlorinator that takes all those chemicals out. The thing is the ammonia reading has been 8.0 every since a month after i started up the tank. the tank is a year old and i dont think i cycled it properly that is maybe why the readings are so high and if this is the case then is there a way i can cycle it right now? and no i took the pleco out as soon as it died.
 
#9 ·
I have little confidence in the ammonia readings you are getting especially considering the tank has been running for a year,.At some point the tank did cycle. Unless you have done something to destroy the biological filter perhaps changing out substrates? switching old filter for new filter ,or as mentioned ,,cleaned filter material in tapwater , then the tank still has biological filter and should be cycled.
Might test some tapwater for ammonia,Might take sample of water to fish store and get second opinion.
If you think you may have destroyed some good bacteria and you have another tank? or a friend with a tank, then borrow some filter material from them or from other tank and place the material in your filter.
Some water conditioners will affect readings for ammonia with some test kit's. If you tryuly had 8.0 for ammonia, fish would begin dying in short order.Expired test kits will give false readings as well.
If you had levels of ammonia at posted levels you would also see elevated(high) nitrites as well.
The thing I would do is purchase the API freshwater master kit,or take sample to the fish store as has been suggested to get second opinion. I would perform as suggested 50 percent water changes each week or twice a week.
I don't know what might have killed the fish but with increase in size and number of water changes,, along with proper diet, the fish will have the best chance.
 
#10 ·
Another thing I feel I should mention.. It is quite possible that the fish are producing more waste than the biological filter can address meaning at some point during the day or evening ,such as after feedings, the filter is struggling to consume the ammonia created by fish waste and or excess food being offered.
For the few minutes to hours that the filter is trying to catch up,, the fishes are being subjected to perhaps increased levels of ammonia. This would represent a chronic condition that fish are subjected to each day. The stress that the fishes go through each day in this instance,,would /could,, lead to their death.Reducing the amout of food ,and frequency of feedings can help, and I might consider adding another smaller filter to this tank if you can't provide a larger tank. I would run both filters together on the tank and rotate the cleaning of the filter material. Clean one filter one week,and the other filter the next week.
 
#12 · (Edited)
i have the same filters on my 55G (use to) do you mean that the blue filter pads don't have food/fish waste build up on them??? Thats a little odd...do you rinse them off in a bucket of tank water during your water change everyweek? I find it weird that theres no build up on those pads...mine were pretty mucky after about 2 weeks worth....espically with the load of fish you have...

is your filter running smoothly? nothing is clogging it up??

when you say you switch filters, you mean you used another filter during this past year? if so, what kind and when did you switch?

1077, might be on to something regard the lone 350 not able to handle the bio load of a big tank. I use to run two of those bad boys on my 55G and I never had a problem. Two really seemed to handle whatever the tank threw at it.
 
#13 ·
yes the filter pads dont have any waste build up on them and i am using another 10 gallon filter to help the 350 and i had returned the first one which was the same exact one and bought this one a couple months back.and ive looked inside and nothing is clogging it up.
 
#15 ·
just going to throw this out there, but i had problems keeping fish alive going into this winter and I believe it was do to the PH level being so off. it was around 7.8 and as soon as i buffered it back to 7.0 i stopped losing fish and have had a death in 3-4 months. granted i now buffer my water, but it seems to be working for me and my plants have not been affected at all which was one of my biggest concerns in buffering.
 
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