Is there any other decor in the tank? The reason I ask is that I recently had a very similar problem and it turned out that a flowerpot I was using was leeching some sort of chemical into the water that was killing my fish in 2 or 3 days but left my huge population of snails unharmed.
tank of death :(
- Thread starter kallmond
- Start date
My son is 2, but as of now the tank is set up in the fishroom which he doesn't have access to. (yay for those doorknob childproofing things). So its not him, he currently has a 5 gallon in his room and its been running since the week before he was born without any trouble. I bet you could guess that his nursery had a fish theme!
The only other decor in the tank is resin bridge that I bought in the fish section at walmart. I guess i could take it out.
i don't think its bleach, as i've dumped massive amounts of dechlorinator into the tank (the appropriate amount with every water change), that 10 gallon tank has had 100's of gallons of water in it since I got it, as well as a solid scrubbing with ammonia and then tons of rinsing.
The air stone in the tank is really slow. The air line is T'd off the old (maybe 15 years?) air pump from the 30 gallon, which is also split into 2 bubble bars. The 10gal only has a single airstone, and it bubbles pretty slowly. Its a heavily planted tank (for a 10g) almost every square inch of substrate has something growing. I wonder if the 12 on 12 off light cycle is depleating the o2 in the water. Anyone have any input on that?
When I introduce fish I usually cut the lights way back, they're REALLY bright and the fish dart for cover when the lights are on. With this last group of cardinal tetras, I only had 1 light on for about 4 hours a day. i seem to recall that plants use CO2 when the lights are on, but use oxygen when they're off. Anyone with more aquatic gardening skill know more about that?
The only other decor in the tank is resin bridge that I bought in the fish section at walmart. I guess i could take it out.
i don't think its bleach, as i've dumped massive amounts of dechlorinator into the tank (the appropriate amount with every water change), that 10 gallon tank has had 100's of gallons of water in it since I got it, as well as a solid scrubbing with ammonia and then tons of rinsing.
The air stone in the tank is really slow. The air line is T'd off the old (maybe 15 years?) air pump from the 30 gallon, which is also split into 2 bubble bars. The 10gal only has a single airstone, and it bubbles pretty slowly. Its a heavily planted tank (for a 10g) almost every square inch of substrate has something growing. I wonder if the 12 on 12 off light cycle is depleating the o2 in the water. Anyone have any input on that?
When I introduce fish I usually cut the lights way back, they're REALLY bright and the fish dart for cover when the lights are on. With this last group of cardinal tetras, I only had 1 light on for about 4 hours a day. i seem to recall that plants use CO2 when the lights are on, but use oxygen when they're off. Anyone with more aquatic gardening skill know more about that?
kallmond;3990663; said:
u migth have a point with the CO2 thing.....
But you should have no ammonia readings, if the tank is cycled. remember a 0.25 reading of ammonia is a lot more concentrated in a 10g than say a 30g. (im sure the same applioes to CO2) .
With such a small tank, water parameters are never ever gonna be that stable.
Cardinal tetra, are no way nearly as hardy as they were 10 years ago, especially the tank bred ones, and they thrive in soft water as well.
Have you ever rinsed the bio media in anything else but old tank water?
Err, No.. 0.25 is 0.25 weather its in a 10 gallon or a 1,000 gallon. It means that for every 4,000,000 water molecules there is 1 ammonia molecule.
In the very first post I said I filled the filter with media from established tanks. That doesn't instantly cycle a tank, but it does get it 80 or 90% of the way. Seeing a spike up to .25 in ammonia is indeed a sign that the tank isn't fully cycled.
0.25 ppm ammonia is not going to kill a fish in a matter of hours, or even a day. It may shorten their lifespan, it will be detrimental in the long run, thats why as soon as I saw it I did a pretty big water change. I am also aware that cardinals are not hardy fish. I'll even admit that I got them mostly because they're cool looking and they were $1 each at petsmart.. (Given this tank's propensity to kill fish, I wasn't going to invest much in that last batch).
I think I'm going to try turning up the air volume a bit and see if that helps 1 last batch of fish survive. Otherwise I'm making this a permanent home for snails and plants.
I have a 5 gallon now that is solidly stable. Its all about getting the routine down. it gets a 1 gallon water change once a month, has 3 mollies and 1 ramshorn snail in it, and it never has any stability. But it does get regular maintenance.
In the very first post I said I filled the filter with media from established tanks. That doesn't instantly cycle a tank, but it does get it 80 or 90% of the way. Seeing a spike up to .25 in ammonia is indeed a sign that the tank isn't fully cycled.
0.25 ppm ammonia is not going to kill a fish in a matter of hours, or even a day. It may shorten their lifespan, it will be detrimental in the long run, thats why as soon as I saw it I did a pretty big water change. I am also aware that cardinals are not hardy fish. I'll even admit that I got them mostly because they're cool looking and they were $1 each at petsmart.. (Given this tank's propensity to kill fish, I wasn't going to invest much in that last batch).
I think I'm going to try turning up the air volume a bit and see if that helps 1 last batch of fish survive. Otherwise I'm making this a permanent home for snails and plants.
I have a 5 gallon now that is solidly stable. Its all about getting the routine down. it gets a 1 gallon water change once a month, has 3 mollies and 1 ramshorn snail in it, and it never has any stability. But it does get regular maintenance.
Ever use any fertilizers for the plants?
Like Conner said in his first post, you would think the snails would be more susceptible than the fish, but this tank is strange, so I still haven't ruled out the silicone leaching.
Got pics of the snails? I thought this was interesting: Toxic snails
This thread has me curious, something has to be poisoning the fish to be killing them that fast.
Like Conner said in his first post, you would think the snails would be more susceptible than the fish, but this tank is strange, so I still haven't ruled out the silicone leaching.
Got pics of the snails? I thought this was interesting: Toxic snails
This thread has me curious, something has to be poisoning the fish to be killing them that fast.
I haven't ever fertilized the plants. I got them from that fish place, they were growing in a tank, not one of those "live plant packs" you get at petsmart or petco.
I don't have any pics. Their shells are elongated, not a straight spiral. They are, at least until the snail reaches pencil eraser size (thats about the biggest one I have right now) translucent, almost transparent except for a black hexagonal pattern.
I looked at all the snails that that fish place sells, but none of them looked exactly right. It may be that when these are no longer juvenile their shell changes though.
There are a "few" ramshorn snails in there, i've seen 2 or maybe a third, hard to tell when they're this small. I've stopped pulling them out and feeding them to the loaches. When a couple of them get bigger i'll get some photos.
I don't have any pics. Their shells are elongated, not a straight spiral. They are, at least until the snail reaches pencil eraser size (thats about the biggest one I have right now) translucent, almost transparent except for a black hexagonal pattern.
I looked at all the snails that that fish place sells, but none of them looked exactly right. It may be that when these are no longer juvenile their shell changes though.
There are a "few" ramshorn snails in there, i've seen 2 or maybe a third, hard to tell when they're this small. I've stopped pulling them out and feeding them to the loaches. When a couple of them get bigger i'll get some photos.
kallmond;3990663; said:
You answered your own question.
The plant cells consume oxygen at all times. Only during photosynthesis is oxygen produced (& in excess). Furthermore, as algae is starved (by cutting way back) it dies. As the algae dies and begins to decompose, it consumes oxygen like there is no tomorrow.
I learned this the hard way (actually already knew it but wasn't thinking). I had hundreds of goldfish and koi in my swimming pool. The suspended algae was really thick to where you could barely see into the water. I bought some fish safe algaecide and dumped it in. The following day, the algae was dying but the fish were all dead. The algaecide didn't kill them, the dying algae did. It sucked all of the oxygen out of the water.
The solution for your tank is to get a dedicated air pump for it. You can get a good one at Walmart for five dollars. Buy new air stones too. They cost fifty cents at Petsmart (they are in a bulk box but sold individually). As airstones age, they get organic buildup in them and clog. You can rejuvenate them by soaking them in hydrogen peroxide or bleach.
