Fish keep dying in two tanks.
- Thread starter IFLAquatics
- Start date
A 10" pleco can easily overwhelm a penguin filter in a 75 g, especially if you have other fish, don't do enough water changes, and denitrification going on in your sand bed.
Going forward, keeping only the bichir would keep that 75g full with just the penguin biowheel. I would get a sponge filter and air pump, should cost no more than $30 total for the additional filtration, unless you can afford a canister filter. I would also keep no more than 1" of sand.
Do you have a water changer hose, like the python no spill, that can connect directly to the faucet for re-fills?
I'm thinking
Rocksor
is correct. Sounds to me like you let the tank get filthy, have a heavy stock on an underfiltered tank, and then tried to do a huge cleaning, probably killing your beneficial bacteria as well. Bacterial products won't prevent fish loss in the long run, that's up to you to take good care of the tanks.
You also say your cichlid tank doesn't get dirty, but unless you do weekly water changes, there are chemicals in the water building up that you couldn't even test for, which harm the fish.
Not trying to be rude here, you asked a question and I believe this is the answer. Life gets tough, but if you don't have time to do a single water change a week, maybe you should downsize to one tank, or take a break from the hobby. Doesn't matter to the fish if you have time to do a waterchange or not.
Rocksor
is correct. Sounds to me like you let the tank get filthy, have a heavy stock on an underfiltered tank, and then tried to do a huge cleaning, probably killing your beneficial bacteria as well. Bacterial products won't prevent fish loss in the long run, that's up to you to take good care of the tanks. You also say your cichlid tank doesn't get dirty, but unless you do weekly water changes, there are chemicals in the water building up that you couldn't even test for, which harm the fish.
Not trying to be rude here, you asked a question and I believe this is the answer. Life gets tough, but if you don't have time to do a single water change a week, maybe you should downsize to one tank, or take a break from the hobby. Doesn't matter to the fish if you have time to do a waterchange or not.
Yeah we have an aqueon brand python setup. I had no idea plecos were that terrible with their bioload. I think i may stop getting commons from now on. And that makes sense now. Thanks everyone that has helped to explain it.
And usually, when someone says not trying to be rude, its followed by them being rude. Lol. What you said is true though, yes we have fallen behind, we normally have water changes weekly but when it comes down to it, where do you home 4 full tanks of fish in a rush because your place to live just turned intl a truck, it isnt about life being busy so much, just alot of things we havent been able to do much about. Like i said we are getting them back to strict weekly cleanings. I had no idea the pleco was such a load on the filter and that the few fish i had were too much. I am fairly new to the hobby or i wouldnt be asking these questions. I was never aware of "untestable chemicals" in the water. Usually when you go into something you dont know about the things that people dont really know much about. Its a learning experience. I dont expect anyone to know everything about anything and i expect there to be mistakes. Thats part of growing and learning and thats how you get wisdom and knowledge is through learning. Not giving up because i have to accept im not doing good enough at something..... Ill put it this way, im a very compulsive person and i will sit there and make sure the tanks are pristine and clean looking, algae free, decorated nicely and functionably, what i didnt know, which nobody has a chart that says, this is how much waste is prpduced by this fish at this age with this much food and this type of diet and this tank and this filter and blah blah blah. Thats called learning. You cant read that out of a book.
And usually, when someone says not trying to be rude, its followed by them being rude. Lol. What you said is true though, yes we have fallen behind, we normally have water changes weekly but when it comes down to it, where do you home 4 full tanks of fish in a rush because your place to live just turned intl a truck, it isnt about life being busy so much, just alot of things we havent been able to do much about. Like i said we are getting them back to strict weekly cleanings. I had no idea the pleco was such a load on the filter and that the few fish i had were too much. I am fairly new to the hobby or i wouldnt be asking these questions. I was never aware of "untestable chemicals" in the water. Usually when you go into something you dont know about the things that people dont really know much about. Its a learning experience. I dont expect anyone to know everything about anything and i expect there to be mistakes. Thats part of growing and learning and thats how you get wisdom and knowledge is through learning. Not giving up because i have to accept im not doing good enough at something..... Ill put it this way, im a very compulsive person and i will sit there and make sure the tanks are pristine and clean looking, algae free, decorated nicely and functionably, what i didnt know, which nobody has a chart that says, this is how much waste is prpduced by this fish at this age with this much food and this type of diet and this tank and this filter and blah blah blah. Thats called learning. You cant read that out of a book.
On my last test strip i had before i cleaned the tank, evrrything was in the safe zone except water hardness.
After being pointed in the right direction and doing a little side research ive found the exact symptoms and their root to the ph being extremely low. The cloudy eyes and excessive slime coat are what tell me that, yes there was bubbles also and im not saying denitrification was not an issue, but what caused the exact symptoms i was able to see was the drop in ph
And im sure the extra aerator and leaving the lid open just made it even worse by introducing it all to advanced levels of oxygen.
Very low pH can be caused by lack of maintenance. The pH in a tank will drop as the water condition gets poorer. You may be right that low pH is a problem, but the pH is probably low because of the poor maintenance.
Also the "test strips" are pretty worthless, I would recommend you get a liquid kit. The strips are pretty inaccurate.
Also the hardness is not the type of thing that there is really a "safe zone" for per se. Some fish like hard water, some like soft. African cichlids like rock hard, SA cichlids like soft, for example.
I don't believe I actually said anything rude, but I also think you are taking the constructive criticism well.
I get that you are new to the hobby and it's good you are asking questions. It is fairly obvious that the problem you are having is due to poor maintenance. So I am hoping to let you know. The general consensus of succesful fishkeepers, is that at least once a week you need to maintain the tank. How much water you take out will depend on a few factors, like the stocking level, and filtration of the tank. On a 75 gallon tank with large fish like a 12" bichir and large common pleco (waste factory) I would be doing more like 60% every week, or 2x 40% a week. If you can do that, great. If not, you will probably keep having the same problems and keep killing fish.
Also the "test strips" are pretty worthless, I would recommend you get a liquid kit. The strips are pretty inaccurate.
Also the hardness is not the type of thing that there is really a "safe zone" for per se. Some fish like hard water, some like soft. African cichlids like rock hard, SA cichlids like soft, for example.
I don't believe I actually said anything rude, but I also think you are taking the constructive criticism well.
I get that you are new to the hobby and it's good you are asking questions. It is fairly obvious that the problem you are having is due to poor maintenance. So I am hoping to let you know. The general consensus of succesful fishkeepers, is that at least once a week you need to maintain the tank. How much water you take out will depend on a few factors, like the stocking level, and filtration of the tank. On a 75 gallon tank with large fish like a 12" bichir and large common pleco (waste factory) I would be doing more like 60% every week, or 2x 40% a week. If you can do that, great. If not, you will probably keep having the same problems and keep killing fish.
I would purchase an API freshwater master test kit when you get the funds. This is a liquid test and way more accurate than test strips. Test your tap water, and test your tank. If you are doing enough water changes, the water from the tank and tap shouldn't very by much. PH from the tap should be tested after sitting out for 24 hours. Check your water quality reports, which is done yearly, for information on the general hardness of your water, as well as buffering capacity. You could also purchased a API GH/KH test kit and test the water yourself since the water report doesn't provide daily information, just an average for the year across different locations. A nice to have, but not necessary, is a total dissolved solid meter. Once you get a handle on how dirty your tank water becomes over the course of a week, you can use the TDS meter to do a quick check of when you need to do a water change.
