Troubleshoot my constantly sick tank, please

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
navygirl76;2980590; said:
well everyone here is giving you great advice-i agree that a few degrees difference in temp. variation isnt going to hurt the fish-but i would try to raise them a few degrees.

i add salt to my tanks-i keep africans in one tank, and SA/CA mix in another, it helps to keep my africans regular along with a good diet. you may want to add aquarium salt, but not everyone does..

what are your nitrAte levels? you stated no ammonia, no nitrites-but just curious about nitrates.

id do the weekly waterchanges-and syphon your gravel well. it all sounds good so far- everyone is telling you good info..
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I'm not sure what my nitrate levels are... I do not have a test kit for that. I just cleaned my water yesterday and the tank was very clean. No more worms which is a plus. The only thing that worried me was the fact the Ph was 6.4 before and after the change. The local tap is 7.0 and I did approximately 20-25% water change. I don't want to, but it seems I may have to add some Ph up to help it along... I'm guessing this may be why a few of my fish are scratching?

I also noticed my Rainbow acting a bit funny. (By the way, the dusty look they had looks like it is gone) But one of them looks like he wants to scratch on the plants, but he will kinda just rest up against it like he is about to scratch himself and then swims away. He might swim to another one or two and do it again, but then swims off like nothing is wrong.

Anybody have good input on this info I provided?
 
how much water surface disturbance do you have?
low ph can be caused by excess CO2 in the water. more surface agitation if you have little. turn the filter outlets to create surface movement.
avoid putting bogwood in just now, get something like mangrove root or red moor root as these dont release anywhere near as much tannin, your ph is low enough.

i would guess your rainbow acting odd is because of the acidity of the water. i know they will likely be tank bred and natural water chemistry is generally unimportant but your water is now at an extreme end of the scale. extremes in ph will bother any fish. the flashing is because his skin is getting irritated by the unusually acidic water when naturally rainbows are from harder waters. once the ph is back up to 7+ it should stop.
 
cichlid2006;2984114; said:
how much water surface disturbance do you have?
low ph can be caused by excess CO2 in the water. more surface agitation if you have little. turn the filter outlets to create surface movement.
avoid putting bogwood in just now, get something like mangrove root or red moor root as these dont release anywhere near as much tannin, your ph is low enough.

i would guess your rainbow acting odd is because of the acidity of the water. i know they will likely be tank bred and natural water chemistry is generally unimportant but your water is now at an extreme end of the scale. extremes in ph will bother any fish. the flashing is because his skin is getting irritated by the unusually acidic water when naturally rainbows are from harder waters. once the ph is back up to 7+ it should stop.
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Well I'm glad I was able to figure the flashing was due to the low Ph, but it's good to get confirmation from seasoned professionals. I had already put another piece of driftwood in. I don't know exactly what kind it is though. I'm unsure what bogwood, mangrove root, and red moor root is. I bought this piece from the lfs. It was already set up in his tank, had plants on it, and he sold it to me for a good price. Not only was the price good, but it has provided extra hiding places for the fish being it is shaped like a cave... also took my existing driftwood and propped it up next to it creating even more hiding places... I'm extremely happy with the setup and how it's progressing... hopefully it doesn't promote a drop in ph though.

I will take your advice in the surface movement... I have two airstones on each side of the tank... if that's not enough, would splitting each line and giving myself four stones be better or overkill? I thought the two were sufficient, but then again I'm a rookie as far es everyone else in concerned, HA!

Maybe one day I'll get a pic of the tank up here... I just think it would be embarassing compared to the awesomely elaborate tanks that are on here...
 
tbh airstones arent needed if you have a spraybar on the outflow of your filter. you can angle it to agitate the surface adequately so you wont need the extra equipment in the tank.
for the moment keep the airstones running for a couple of days, angle the spraybar if your have one to agitate the surface and test ph again . you can add a small bag of crushed coral to your filter to buffer your ph higher if CO2 isnt the problem. i cant see it being CO2 as you have 2 airstones running on the tank and that is more than enough for your size tank.
 
cichlid2006;2984476; said:
tbh airstones arent needed if you have a spraybar on the outflow of your filter. you can angle it to agitate the surface adequately so you wont need the extra equipment in the tank.
for the moment keep the airstones running for a couple of days, angle the spraybar if your have one to agitate the surface and test ph again . you can add a small bag of crushed coral to your filter to buffer your ph higher if CO2 isnt the problem. i cant see it being CO2 as you have 2 airstones running on the tank and that is more than enough for your size tank.
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I tried that crushed coral trick once... shot my Ph right up. I was told though that doing so only masks a bigger problem. That it takes care of the problem for now, but it will show back up once the coral loses it beneficial properties. I do have a spraybar, so once I get off of work today, I'm going to attempt the agitation of the surface.

Here's hoping...
 
do you still have plants dying and decaying in the aquarium?????
if you do get them out. any dying plant matter will eventually decay and produce tannins which will radically drop your ph if there is enough, coupled with the bog wood you just got and you have a reason for an extremely low ph.

once you get the lumps of plant matter out, do a big gravel vac around the area where the plants were and there immediate surrounds. you could also give the rest of the tank a quick vac too just to pick any stray bits up.

test your water for ph before the plant removal and gravel vac, then after the water change and then again 24hrs later to see if you get any differences. if your ph remains stable at ph7 like your tap water or just under (it is mixing with low ph water) then you have found your ph problem.
 
Yes some plants seem to be dying... they are standing tall but are turning brown. Some are still pretty green though with no effect from the copper safe. When I changed the water yesterday, I put in some fertilizer afterwards. I just adjusted the spraybar and put in some Ph up. I have been trying to hold out for my lights to come... they are taking their sweet time.

When I cleaned the tank, there was very little dirt that came out, especially around the plants. Can I just clip the bad parts of the plant and have that be just as effective? Also, if anything, the adjusting of the spraybar should show change in Ph over night, no? Since that is when the gas exchange happens?
 
the gas exchange will happen straight away but the ph may take a few hours to start rising but im unsure of this as chemistry was never my strong suite. but if you have been running air pumps all the time then i doubt its CO2.

yes clip the dead/partially dead leaves off but if they are turning brown then they are dying and clipping will likely not prevent death.

if your lights dont arrive soon you may want to consider getting rid of the dying plants until the light arrives and then get some more. lay off the fertiliser for the moment, its just adding more chemicals to an already weak system. dying plants will have no use for it without light anyway.
 
Will lay off the fertilizer. My lights should be here today or tomorrow so I am trying to hold off on yanking the plants. The thing that baffles me is that they are growing runners with no problem and even have a few new sprouts coming up, but yet the larger parts are dying off. I even have a few plants that are not even being harmed at all. I know if I had better lighting, those sprouts would be flourishing much more nicely. Man I have some problems to fix.

One day I'll have a successful tank. . .
 
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