Every time I..........

[Freshwaterfishlover]

used to clean my original first filter I would get a Bacteria Bloom and I would have fish lose. it was a Pen Plex Cascade 1500 canister. I would clean the 5 Phosphate Pads in tank water and clean the filter case in tap water nothing else. when I would clean the other filter nothing would happen. Last week I replaced it with a Fluval 407 Canister.

first time I cleaned the Filter:
1 stingray death

second time:
1 Stingray death

Third time:
2 Stingray death and a few weeks later lost a Tiger Shovelnose Catfish

Fourth time:
last week I cleaned the filter and a week later I lost my Longnose Gar. Since then I replaced the filter.

in the last week I did 2 65ish Gallon water changes and treated the water with Prime. The water has definitely cleared up, but there still is a small haze to the water.

Any Idea what I may have done wrong and what to do to prevent this happening in the future?

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Filter giving off some sort of chemical? Water changes not very good? Not enough prime? Dosing too much prime? Idk. These are just guesses. Maybe duanes and kno4te can help. Tho I would LOVE to see your tank

 

[kno4te]

Think you have to stop cleaning the filter case with tap water. Maybe bio crash vs mini cycle. Check the water quality with a test kit. What’s the tank size? Id dose some prime every 2 days till things settle down.

 

[A201]

I'm not your go to guy for canister filter information, but maybe consider stuffing the canister with foam sponges.
Cleaning is as simple as squeezing them out in a bucket of old tank water.
Very small chance of catastrophic fish death due to cleaning mistakes.

 

[Freshwaterfishlover]

My tank is a 180g.

timeline:
Tuesday cleaned filter
Thursday water became cloudy
Saturday tested water Ammonia .25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 30 .Did a 65ish gallon water change and dosed tank with prime.
Sunday bought new Fluval 407 to replace cascade 1500 Canister filter. Hanged Bio Filter media from old filter in the tank.
Monday did another 65ish Gallon water change, dosed tank with prime and cut up Bio Filter media and put it in the new filter.
Tuesday found Longnose Gar dead
Wednesday(Today) Tested Ammonia at 0.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Aren‘t u supposed to add prime before the water change??

 

[duanes]

We need more specifics.
How do you clean the filters, as in...
How is the media rinsed? old tank water? Tap water?
Is there heavy amounts of chlorine/chloramine in the tap water?
Before doing a water changes what is the pH of the tank water? What is the pH of the tap water?
What is the temp of new water compared to tap?
Do you live in a place where tap water is super saturated with gas because the tap water is comparatively cold?
If you draw a glass of water (this goes with the question directly above) does it appear cloudy and clear from the bottom up?
What are the sizes of the dead fish?
How many fish in the 180?

 

[duanes]

Here are some "why's", to my questions above.

In the past I livedinWisconsin,andmy tap water was very cold compared to the ambient temp.
So under pressur(in the pipes) super saturated was trapped, and when added to the aquarium, all that gas was released as micro bubbles, that have been known to cause gas embolism in some fish, if added directly to the tank.
I wonder if the cloudiness is caused by micro bubbles?
So I never (unless warm in summer) add water directly to the tank, but to the sump first to allow these micro bubbles todisaccociate with the water.

I asked about pH, because if pH would drop between water changes, and a much higher pH water was added, this is another stress factor.

I asked about chlorine in tap water, because if the biomedia is rinsed in a high chlorine dose water, it could significantly reduce the biofilm population.

And to me, a 180 gallon tank is quite small, (its what I have) and if your rays and gar, and whatever else are even half grown, I can't imagine the bio load on a tank that size.

I attended a talk by one of the foremost ray experts in North America, who said (even the smallest ray) need a minimum 300 gallon tank, with the emphasis on footprint.

 

[spotfin]

Sounds like too much live stock for your tank and the biofilter couldn't keep up/wasn't established. You were only a canister filter for 4 rays, a big catfish, and gar?

 

[Freshwaterfishlover]

Aren‘t u supposed to add prime before the water change??

prime can be used without a water change, but best after a water change.