Insufficient Filtration
- Thread starter messesb52
- Start date
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The same thing happened to me, and only once. And it sucks and is one of the most stressful things to deal with.
I see that you're in NY, where there's a lot of rain/snow this time of year. Some water treatment facilities add additional amounts of chlorine (which is a gas), or possibly Chloramine (which is a solid) depending on where you live, during high rain situations. If you haven't researched this topic, do it.
If this is true, you have killed most, or all, of your bio load with those 50% water changes. Moreover you continue to kill your bio if you're not purging the chlorine before you add it to the tank. The fact that you ran the tank fine for a year almost confirms my theory. You may have enough bio media now, more never hurts, but it's not going to fix your problem at this point.
First, you need to get a TOTAL<--- Chlorine Test Kit like this and test your tap water. Also, get with the treatment facility and find out if they use chlorine, and then start using a bucket with an air bubbler to remove chlorine before you add it to the system (again, research). If they use Chloramine, an air bubbler will not work and you’ll need to research how to remove it.
Second, get the fish out of there. All of us have a few LFS with which we have good relations, and they may board your fish until the issue is resolved.
DO NOT add ammonia remover. This would be silly since the new nitrifying bacteria need that ammonia to start the new cycle.
The ONLY chemical you should be adding at this point is some sort of "bottled bio". BUT DO NOT ADD bottled bio before you're certain the chlorine is gone, or you’ll simply kill it. After you do add the bio, you basically have to stop analyzing it and walk away for a couple of weeks (painful, I know).
The bottom line is, you have to start the cycle from scratch.
Good luck, and I feel your pain..
I see that you're in NY, where there's a lot of rain/snow this time of year. Some water treatment facilities add additional amounts of chlorine (which is a gas), or possibly Chloramine (which is a solid) depending on where you live, during high rain situations. If you haven't researched this topic, do it.
If this is true, you have killed most, or all, of your bio load with those 50% water changes. Moreover you continue to kill your bio if you're not purging the chlorine before you add it to the tank. The fact that you ran the tank fine for a year almost confirms my theory. You may have enough bio media now, more never hurts, but it's not going to fix your problem at this point.
First, you need to get a TOTAL<--- Chlorine Test Kit like this and test your tap water. Also, get with the treatment facility and find out if they use chlorine, and then start using a bucket with an air bubbler to remove chlorine before you add it to the system (again, research). If they use Chloramine, an air bubbler will not work and you’ll need to research how to remove it.
Second, get the fish out of there. All of us have a few LFS with which we have good relations, and they may board your fish until the issue is resolved.
DO NOT add ammonia remover. This would be silly since the new nitrifying bacteria need that ammonia to start the new cycle.
The ONLY chemical you should be adding at this point is some sort of "bottled bio". BUT DO NOT ADD bottled bio before you're certain the chlorine is gone, or you’ll simply kill it. After you do add the bio, you basically have to stop analyzing it and walk away for a couple of weeks (painful, I know).
The bottom line is, you have to start the cycle from scratch.
Good luck, and I feel your pain..
This link, and others like it may be helpful: http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/waterfaqs/f/faq0050.-5eR.htm
Another way to partially test my theory - and this way is obviously not foolproof - would be to shake your bio balls around in your sump (I hate bio balls) and watch what happens. Live bacteria partially floats around. Dead bacteria sinks like carbon ash.
The worst part is that i just had to watch him die from the ammonia knowing there was nothing i could do to help since I couldn't figure out the problem.
What is the pH in the tank? I skim-read quickly, didn't see you post it (but might've missed it).
Also, I can't really tell from the pics on page 1. Is there a drip tray spreading the water over the balls? Is the white fluffy pad on top of the balls or on the bottom of a drip tray? From the picture at least it seems possible the water might not be being dripped evenly over the balls, in which case only a small percentage of the balls are filtering the water.
Low pH or channeling of the water onto the balls are what I'd suspect here.
Also, I can't really tell from the pics on page 1. Is there a drip tray spreading the water over the balls? Is the white fluffy pad on top of the balls or on the bottom of a drip tray? From the picture at least it seems possible the water might not be being dripped evenly over the balls, in which case only a small percentage of the balls are filtering the water.
Low pH or channeling of the water onto the balls are what I'd suspect here.
What is the pH in the tank? I skim-read quickly, didn't see you post it (but might've missed it).
Also, I can't really tell from the pics on page 1. Is there a drip tray spreading the water over the balls? Is the white fluffy pad on top of the balls or on the bottom of a drip tray? From the picture at least it seems possible the water might not be being dripped evenly over the balls, in which case only a small percentage of the balls are filtering the water.
Low pH or channeling of the water onto the balls are what I'd suspect here.
Like i just said, the PH isn't relevant as ammonia is what killed the ray. And yes there is a drip tray spreading water over the bio balls. And i don't know what you trying to say ... the pad is in between the drop tray and the top of the bioballs like it should be. The water is evenly dripping over the bioballs like it should be. I think i'm going to just completely tear down the tank when i come back from vacation and recycle it. I'm at the point where thats my best option.
pH could be entirely relevant. You're asking for help, why not answer a simple question?
The pad should be in the drip tray not on top of the balls - if it's on top of the balls, dirt can easily cause the water to follow only a few specific paths off of the pad and not spread correctly on the balls at all. Especially in the case of the type of pad you're using. I strongly suspect removing that white batting and putting some proper flat blue/white aquarium prefilter in the bottom of the drip tray will solve your problem.
The pad should be in the drip tray not on top of the balls - if it's on top of the balls, dirt can easily cause the water to follow only a few specific paths off of the pad and not spread correctly on the balls at all. Especially in the case of the type of pad you're using. I strongly suspect removing that white batting and putting some proper flat blue/white aquarium prefilter in the bottom of the drip tray will solve your problem.
