Major Tank Issues

[richierichdollar]

nitrates cannot be at zero, thats almost impossible...

Could be possible if his tank isnt cycled and i think that is the problem for some reason even tho he has had the tank for 5 months. ask dad if he washed the filter out in tank water or tap water that could be the problem

 

[HoochieCoochieMan]

No, I had both running for a couple days and I took my bio media out of the old one and let it hang out in the tank while more fish died.

Fish didn't die from nitrates or nitrites. And now you're splitting hairs, no, my Nitrates were not at 0, but they were nowhere close to being harmful that's why I said 0, as that I believe the nitrates and nitrites were not a factor. I just am not conveying my data right, just kinda summarizing it.

I have no more fish dying, I am also doing frequent water tests throughout my day to see if any funky stuff pops up in the chemistry tests.

 

[texasguy]

Are you testing with a strip or drop tests? The way you say that Nitrates are too low to even bother to mention gives me the feeling that you are using strip tests.

 

[epond83]

Testing tells you the most about what is going on with a tank, all three are very important, ammonia, nititres, nitrates. This is way liquide test are better to use, and specific numbers help. As mentioned it is basically impposible to have 0 nitrates on a cycled tank so when some says it's zero we think they test was done wrong or the tank is not cycled.

You havn't mentioned specific ammoina number. Also asked, was about cleaning the filter while you were gone. Did anything happen that could have disrupted the benifical bacteria in the tank?

 

[richierichdollar]

No, I had both running for a couple days and I took my bio media out of the old one and let it hang out in the tank while more fish died.

Fish didn't die from nitrates or nitrites. And now you're splitting hairs, no, my Nitrates were not at 0, but they were nowhere close to being harmful that's why I said 0, as that I believe the nitrates and nitrites were not a factor. I just am not conveying my data right, just kinda summarizing it.

I have no more fish dying, I am also doing frequent water tests throughout my day to see if any funky stuff pops up in the chemistry tests.

we are not splitting hairs we are trying to help you, by eliminating problems one by one, something tells me either your father did to much water change without dechlor, or cleaned the filter with tap water and killed most if not all good bacteria

 

[therevolution]

To me, your problem seems like your tank went through a cycle. Something was disrupted, maybe you forgot to use dechlor or something, but either way you say it's fine now so it's over now.

For the future, make sure you don't forget dechlor or rinse the media with regular tap water. Some people talk about not using dechlor and being fine but in your 10 gallon with your smaller fish and bacteria population it will seriously mess things up.

Also, a lot of people don't realise it but it is harder to maintain the chemistry in a smaller gallon tank. One drop of dye will make ten gallons darker than 100 gallons. What I mean is your chemicals will build up faster in a smaller tank