Sudden ammonia spike in established tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ouch man sorry for your loss :( Really hate to see that, especially when you're doing all you can to find the problem.


Is it possible you have large chunks of uneaten shrimp/etc in your canisters? Maybe this could foul the water.../shrug, just a guess.

Goodluck :(
 
well if the filter is slowing down, it could be affecting your filtration. your gph dropping significantly would reduce the effectiveness
 
OK I turned the filter off, took it to the kitchen, yanked out the media, no clogs. The water inside the empty FX5 was relatively clean - I could see the bottom. I emptied it, rinsed the inside out with the hose, pieced it all back together, let the tank fill it back up (damn thing lowered the water level a good inch), and turned it back on. Flow is back to normal. It still seems to be occasionally sucking air though and making that annoying noise.

So, to sum up - nothing was clogging it, I didn't do anything, yet now it flows better.

I caught the smaller arowana chasing and nipping at the larger one. Incredible. Maybe it was them all along. They always schooled together happily but who knows what happens at night.
 
This is now happening in another tank of mine. My african cichlids hyperventilate like you wouldn't believe after eating. It's as if something in the local water chemistry changed and wiped out all my bacteria. It's not completely better in the original tank either, though it seems to stop within a few hours in there now, at least.

I'm totally confused.
 
dude you got something going on and i'm not a good enough detective to pinpoint it
 
I'm not so sure the heavy breathing directly after feeding is a problem at all

I think its normal.

after my fish pig out (stuff themselves which your fish and esp. your africans do) they all breathe heavily. its because they expend a lot of energy dashing around to get the food. they stuff themselves and it shows..

unless they are always gasping, I wouldn't worry about that at all..

do you still have an ammonia problem? I know you metioned attacks, and I know some of your fish can be quite nasty (esp. the awesome distichodus in your avatar - I had to get rid of a 14" one I had because it was killing my other fish once it grew bigger than they were). I am thinking that aggression effects might be most of the problem that you are seeing..
 
The usual post-feeding breathing is something I'm familiar with and why the main tank (original post) no longer worries me. This in the African tank is another story entirely. These fish are in SEVERE distress. One of them looks like she's going

In this tank it started happening when I switched to Ken's food. For some reason I get a surface haze and suspended particles afterwards that I never got before. They have been a bit more gaspy after this food but I figured it was a difference in protein content or something. Today was just a whole different story entirely though. I did a water change today too.

This tank is very warm (83) and very hard water and high pH, if perhaps that magnifies the effects. The Ken's that I feed my south americans hazes up the water a bit there too but doesn't really seem to bother them.

Still, I ordered the Tetra Veggie flake again today just because they never had any problem for 2+ years with that. I just had heard so much good about Ken's that it seemed worth trying.

edit: another 1/3 water change and they're fine within minutes.
 
have you checked the parameters in the african tank? If youre getting a negative affect that fast from a food i would get rid of the food. no food should leave such a mess unless its live
 
Yeah, I'm not going to feed them this stuff anymore. Maybe just the flake in small doses for the next day til the old stuff arrives, but not these pellets. I think maybe a few aren't being eaten and just completely dissolve and mess up the water. Not worth the trouble.
 
Well the good news is that an hour after a BIG feast (did it as a test), the big tank in back is all breathing normally. So it seems it's all set. That makes me happy.

The African tank is all OK except my girlfriend's favorite fish, who is still freaking out and breathing so fast it looks like she's going to explode. I wonder if maybe she just got a pellet lodged in her throat funny or something. It doesn't make any sense otherwise since the other fish are all breathing at least 50% slower.
 
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