Why did my fish die?????
- Thread starter TheBigB
- Start date
Happy birthday Bryan! I hope you have a good one and your fish are doing better.
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned but it's not safe to clean your filters and do a water change at the same time. It's better to clean your filters first, wait a couple of days, and then do a water change. Just in case you're in the same situation again, just do the water change and the thorough cleaning but leave the filters alone(I doubt your friends/visitors will look in them anyway).
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned but it's not safe to clean your filters and do a water change at the same time. It's better to clean your filters first, wait a couple of days, and then do a water change. Just in case you're in the same situation again, just do the water change and the thorough cleaning but leave the filters alone(I doubt your friends/visitors will look in them anyway).
Why is everyone saying no water changes? Prime neutralizes the ammonia in the tap making it harmless to the fish and allows it to be broken down by the BB in his filter which he just seeded. What you probably did was kill off a lot of the beneficial arterial when you cleaned the filter. Seeding it will go a long way to getting back to normal. You actually can go without water changes if you keep dosing prime but a water change is fine as long as you are treating the tap water with prime
I'm not sure how you cleaned the filters but in the future just shake out whatever you are cleaning in a bucket of water from the tank. You can always replace the floss but the bio media (whether it is a sponge or wheel) shouldn't be replaced or completely cleaned out. Just shake the gunk out of it and keep it wet. That will avoid a mini cycle like this in the future
I'm not sure how you cleaned the filters but in the future just shake out whatever you are cleaning in a bucket of water from the tank. You can always replace the floss but the bio media (whether it is a sponge or wheel) shouldn't be replaced or completely cleaned out. Just shake the gunk out of it and keep it wet. That will avoid a mini cycle like this in the future
Even if its neutralised, it will cause a rocket in nitrite - which will still be harmful.
And can still be neutralized with prime. If he is gonna dose prime anyway because he's going through a mini cycle then why would he be told not to change water at all. I've never heard anyone suggest not to change water in a situation that involved a chemical spike or mini cycle
If thats so, then he will end up with high nitrates. Probably higher than if he didn't do a W/C. He will just be replacing water with high nitrates, with water that is going to be high in nitrates - but is also loaded with chemicals. Vicious circle. I still say no W/C, at least till the BB grow back...
The only way to remove nitrates is with water changes (plants eat some too) so that vicious circle is what we do as fish keepers everyday. Fish make waste, chemical levels spike, we change water.
Let me clarify by saying I may not be as experienced as you. Was just something that surprised me. I spend most of my time on AC and in any situation with a chem spike water changes were the prescription, large percentage water changes at that.
In this situation he can always dose with prime but I would take mostly harmless nitrate over ammonia any day of the week. Ammonia will kill, nitrite will suffocate, nitrate won't do much of anything under 40ppm
Maybe I'm not coming across clear here.
Water changes are fantastic when the water going in is at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and low 0-10 nitrates. However, the water going in is not going to be such, it will also be laced with chemicals to reduce ammonia. IMO, that is worse than letting the nitrates build.
I was reading an article which suggests there is no conclusive proof that keeping a fish in high nitrate water is going to kill it or even harm it. Sure it may have some detrimental health issues at a very high level. But even as high as 75-100ppm the fish are fine and healthy. I am in no means suggesting this should be done, and I certainly don't do it myself.
But letting the bacteria colonise before changing large amounts of water is my suggestion.
I am understanding where you are coming from better here. I'm of the opinion now that both ways will still work (just because if Prime is being used it helps with all sorts of stuff including neutralizing ammonia, nitrite, and fishes slime coat) because I would think he would be dosing his tank anyway with it having a mini cycle to preserve the lives of the fish but now I'm seeing where you're coming from and agree with you to an extent.
After I seeded the filters and let the tank run over night, all the levels started coming back to normal and the tank is back now and doing great. Thanks for all the suggestions!
