Long-term ammonia

[This Old Spouse]

I'm on another forum and we're trying to help a guy who inherited a large tank with all its inhabitants. The tank hadn't been cleaned in years, literally, and we're leading him through the steps of getting his parameters in order.

Long, long story short, his fish are dying one by one and we're trying to figure out why. Does anybody know if it could possibly be from the water being TOO clean for these fish? Sounds crazy, I know, but could maybe the shock of going from pure hell straight to heaven be too much for the poor guys?

Just wondering if anyone has seen anything similar. Thanks ...

 

[fisher12889]

If nothing was done to the tank for a long time, I'm sure the ph has changed significantly since the tank has been messed with. I would look into that....

 

[THE Shiner Guy]

I have experienced pretty much the same type of problem you are describing in my shiner tanks. There is a chemical sold called "safe" which will dissapate all ammonia in the water. After one water change, you should start seeing a difference..Of course, this is only an opinion from experience.

 

[Owain4]

Does he have a cloudy tank because of the cleaning? if so maybe he cleaned too much even though its really messy, he could have taken out alot of BB even though there is still alot of ammonia and nitrites which could make the parameters worse.

 

[calioutlaw1a]

We need more info: Water parameters, tank size, filtration, inhabitants, feeding schedule, maintenance schedule, etc. What has he done since inheriting the tank?

The water isn't "too clean," but this may be a form of old tank syndrome where the pH has crashed from prior lack of maintenance which knocks out the biofilter and subsequently ammonia levels begin to climb. Doing a large water change without detoxifying the ammonia can result in a sudden pH increase where nontoxic ammonium converts to toxic ammonia.