Massive Die-Off
- Thread starter gouramiguy
- Start date
bhappy;4889180; said:
Yes to an extent. Obviously the tank still has some beneficial bacteria if it has been up and running a while, but replacing a filter can cause a spike in ammonia because there aren't enough bacteria right away to handle your system.
sorry for your loss..
this is the exact reason i love to have a refugium. i know lots of people dont use them and have great success but situations like this can be avoided if u have a fuge.
also after all the canister filter horror stories i would never use 1.
this is the exact reason i love to have a refugium. i know lots of people dont use them and have great success but situations like this can be avoided if u have a fuge.
also after all the canister filter horror stories i would never use 1.
Eheim makes such a good filter...that there is no way I could say that I wouldnt ever use one...I do already...but its on a planted tank. 
I agree your nitrates were way too high, and that certainly needs addressing.
On another note, just to be thorough, the only times I have had experiences where everything just died without looking sick, it was temp/heater related.
How's your heater doing? and don't just answer "oh it's brand new so it's awesome" like everyone does. Go check the temp over the course of the day and night. I've had them stick on and cook everything, or look on and not be and everything died, or plain old crack and electocute the **** out of everything (this one was very exciting when I reached into the tank to get the dead fish out - I yelled some bad words).
What I am trying to get across is always be wary that there may be more than one issue. Always try look at everything and you will have fewer surprises.
Finally, losing everything in your tank frickin blows donkey arse. Sorry.
On another note, just to be thorough, the only times I have had experiences where everything just died without looking sick, it was temp/heater related.
How's your heater doing? and don't just answer "oh it's brand new so it's awesome" like everyone does. Go check the temp over the course of the day and night. I've had them stick on and cook everything, or look on and not be and everything died, or plain old crack and electocute the **** out of everything (this one was very exciting when I reached into the tank to get the dead fish out - I yelled some bad words).
What I am trying to get across is always be wary that there may be more than one issue. Always try look at everything and you will have fewer surprises.
Finally, losing everything in your tank frickin blows donkey arse. Sorry.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I know it wasn't the heater because I do check it with a digital thermometer several times a day. I'm going to look into the sump/refugium idea.
