Well guys I lost two of the 3 rays I had. It was an ammonia spike. So needless to say last night really sucked. I did do a 40% water change last night and added a ehime canister filter to the other end of the tank. The stuff I read on the daily here and other sites came back to haunt me. The biggest of the three is still doing well this morning so i hope it gives me some time to finish my other tank these next three days. Any suggestion on media for my sump other than bio balls, which i have plenty of?
HELP!!
- Thread starter polachecksaquatics
- Start date
Did you test pH at any point?
I think there may be a good chance your pH dropped over time, likely below 6. This would result in the biological filter largely going into hibernation and ammonium building up in the tank. Your original water change quite likely increased the pH so that the ammonium reverted to ammonia (I don't know the exact terminology so 'reverted' is a stand-in word).
I think this is a pretty common set of events for newer ray keepers due to the sheer amount of waste these guys produce and wouldn't be at all surprised if it's what happened here, it would explain why they were fine before the water change. I seriously doubt your filter was managing ammonia fine one day and next day suddenly couldn't handle it. Bioballs will be fine.
Sorry to hear of your loss.
I think there may be a good chance your pH dropped over time, likely below 6. This would result in the biological filter largely going into hibernation and ammonium building up in the tank. Your original water change quite likely increased the pH so that the ammonium reverted to ammonia (I don't know the exact terminology so 'reverted' is a stand-in word).
I think this is a pretty common set of events for newer ray keepers due to the sheer amount of waste these guys produce and wouldn't be at all surprised if it's what happened here, it would explain why they were fine before the water change. I seriously doubt your filter was managing ammonia fine one day and next day suddenly couldn't handle it. Bioballs will be fine.
Sorry to hear of your loss.
No, like a big dummy, I didnt check the ph. I plan on making some practice change (testing the water, etc.) in hopes this doesnt happen again. I did go ahead and clean the filter out, which was due, so hopefully between that and canister filter it will hold me over till i get this big tank set up. I hope what i did last night reversed the devistation.
I'm sorry you lost your Ray's...must have been a devastating find, to come home to...I'm sure the new larger tank and beefed up filtration will make a world of difference. Good Luck...
Thanks, yea I'm really bumbed out about it. I just hate i got stuck at work when something like this happened. Just gotta work at making sure this doesnt happen again.
Get some good media in the eheim too, not just foam.
Do not forget that the filter needs time to get going.
Until you have your bigger tank do not buy more fish, it seems quite common in the hobby for people to overstock.
Regularly check Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and also PH and do not just do it once and assume all if ok.
I try to test mine weekly and this soon shows up if anything is starting to go wrong. My Africans can get the Nitrate from regular 25ppm to well over 100ppm if I miss a water change for a week or two.
Do not forget that the filter needs time to get going.
Until you have your bigger tank do not buy more fish, it seems quite common in the hobby for people to overstock.
Regularly check Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and also PH and do not just do it once and assume all if ok.
I try to test mine weekly and this soon shows up if anything is starting to go wrong. My Africans can get the Nitrate from regular 25ppm to well over 100ppm if I miss a water change for a week or two.
Sorry for your loss man. I had an ammonia spike when I was working 2.5 hours from home a few weeks ago. Needless to say I was exhausted the next day at work. At least you can learn from your mistakes, although they're terrible when they happen.polachecksaquatics;4098108; said:
Very sorry for the loss of the two rays. We all learn the hard way. Ive been in the same situation with a lot of sand in my pond and now its bare bottom. Lost a lot of money over the years so now i check my water EVERY day. Look me up when you get things going again.
There is media in the eheim, no foam, they look like little rock beads, two levels. Today has been a long day with 5hrs sleep doing a 12hr shift. Comes with the territory when it comes to caring for animals. I'll be ready Dan when ur have your next batch of pups so just let me know. Thanks everyone for ur input, I know I dont frequent this site or any site that much (Busy,Busy,Busy), but it's always nice to know the support is here when I need it. I'm hoping things are coming around at the house with my last little fella.
What pete said about ph is massively understated. My tapwater comes out at ph8 yet has such low carbonate hardness will drop to 6 in a matter of minutes of coming out the tap.
Combine this with the bioload on the rank and it could drop to 4.5 in a matter of hours. Just the ph change alone stress's the ray. Like pete said your filter bacteria all but stop to function at this ph. And they take time to recover from the osmotic shock. Look at aquaman(uk ray keeper who breeds the best quality marbles in the world) he has a load of coral gravel in each of his dumps to maintain a constant ph. I probably chech ph mote than anything else. On a separate note my flower ray dealt with ph fluctuations better than my Peru motoro!
Combine this with the bioload on the rank and it could drop to 4.5 in a matter of hours. Just the ph change alone stress's the ray. Like pete said your filter bacteria all but stop to function at this ph. And they take time to recover from the osmotic shock. Look at aquaman(uk ray keeper who breeds the best quality marbles in the world) he has a load of coral gravel in each of his dumps to maintain a constant ph. I probably chech ph mote than anything else. On a separate note my flower ray dealt with ph fluctuations better than my Peru motoro!
