EMERGENCY!!! NEED HELP ASAP

[The Masked Shadow]

So what I am hearing is you left, and you let somebody feed, etc. I did the same. So much food in my tank at the end. Nitrite level was high. My prized Congo Tetra died. I added API Aquarium salt. I did the same. A lot of people do. But your stock is crazy, even if it is 3 inch cichlids. You would be needing to do biweekly or even triweekly water changes. And you euthanized the Pleco for doing the natural thing???

 

[Charney]

Sounds like a densely stocked tank. Wonder if initially low dissolved oxygen values killed your fish and set them up for illness. What filtration/air/water movement do you have on the tank?

 

[Krismo962]

A

You've totally lost me. Posts 1-24 are sketchy enough but then in post 25 you suddenly state that a "caretaker" has been in charge of the tank whilst you were on "spring break"?

Where is this tank? At your school? And you look after it whilst you're there but the caretaker takes over when you're not?

Is this a case of you instructing the caretaker what to do whilst you're not there and just letting him get on with it until you returned, because if it is then it's no surprise to me that you returned to tank carnage.

How many threads have we seen where hobbyists instruct others to "care" for their fish whilst they're away and the whole situation goes sideways?

A tad too many...

 

[Gourami Swami]

We all learn some lessons the hard way in this hobby. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong in your tank because there are too many variables and potential issues. Highly stocked tank, left with caretaker, cabbage and dead fish left in the tank, HITH developing. I don't think one single thing went wrong, seems to be a snowball of a bunch of poor decisions and mistakes. Like I said we all make them, don't mean to beat a dead horse. Seems like this tank was a bit of a disaster waiting to happen. The term "tightrope tank" is pretty good. I would re-home your current fish and start over personally.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

As you are going to Portugal, I would rehome the fish, and sell the tank. Then you could buy another one when you settle in, and stock in more reasonably than before.

 

[KATALEKEEPER]

Sounds like a densely stocked tank. Wonder if initially low dissolved oxygen values killed your fish and set them up for illness. What filtration/air/water movement do you have on the tank?

The biggest aquaclear hob they make

 

[KATALEKEEPER]

We all learn some lessons the hard way in this hobby. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong in your tank because there are too many variables and potential issues. Highly stocked tank, left with caretaker, cabbage and dead fish left in the tank, HITH developing. I don't think one single thing went wrong, seems to be a snowball of a bunch of poor decisions and mistakes. Like I said we all make them, don't mean to beat a dead horse. Seems like this tank was a bit of a disaster waiting to happen. The term "tightrope tank" is pretty good. I would re-home your current fish and start over personally.

Am moving so starting over is a given. Thank you for your help.

 

[Charney]

The biggest aquaclear hob they make

Love aquaclears but really worry about oxygen with your bio load and that being the only source of water movement

 

[KATALEKEEPER]

update: So the caretaker said there was a dead fish in the tank for a couple of days while we were away.... that maybe could have been the cause other then overstocking

things seem to have stabilized.

I've been doing a 50 percent wc every day for the last 4 days

it turned out to be ich, but I think I killed it off with the high temps and salt. None of the surviving fish show any signs of it.

lost 4 fish in total. Lost the "alpha of the group" my red shoulder. RIP to a beautiful fish. Both the "babies" survived though which is great!

 

[skjl47]

update: So the caretaker said there was a dead fish in the tank for a couple of days while we were away.... that maybe could have been the cause other then overstocking

Hello; Let me try to explain how it can work. In an sustainably stocked tank the death of a single fish should not start a domino sort of reactions which lead to a spoiled tank. In an overstocked tank the death of a single fish can and does trigger such a chain of events. This is one of the reasons why overstocking is so often the base cause of serious tank problems.
If a tank is properly stocked then the death of a single fish can be absorbed without serious effects. Same for a power outage or some slight overfeeding.