What’s going on with my 240 gallon tank????

[duanes]

I try to keep nitrates on my 180 gal tank to below 10 ppm, so I do at least a 20 % water change every day.
The only realistic way to lower nitrate is thru water changes, although plants help remove a little nitrate (aquatic and terrestrial plants)
If you don't normally have ammonia or nitrite readings, then you have enough media.
I believe a higher plant to fish ratio can really help the health of the system.

 

[Joshv]

I’ll be honest I’ve never been a big plant in the tank person but I’m going to remove the plastic ones and get real plants. So do you QT the plants?

 

[Joshv]

The API nitrate test tends to clump up if not used for a week. This will skew your test to be lower. Even then, I shake bottle number 2 for at least 2 minutes.

What did you treat for during quarantine? How long was the quarantine period of the new fish?

how long have you had the rope fish? Not all internal parasites show up immediately, and with wild caught fish, I end up treating then with Prazipro and levamisole HCL.

I hadn’t treated with anything during QT. What do folks routinely treat with in WT tanks?

I had the rope fish about 4-5 months before it got ill and passed. I’ve moved out the 2nd rope fish to QT and treating with Prazi. Took out all the carbon in my filter.

Doesn’t Prazi kill off your biological bacteria?

 

[duanes]

I do not QT plants, but I'll bet some do.
I did acquire some a few years back and put them in a fry tank, and fry soon started disappearing.
Couldn't figure out why until I found this, which probably hitched in on the plants.

It was then fed to my large cichlids.
Some people give plants a quick dip in alum to remove snails, and things like the nymph above.

I also "don't" treat a Quarantine Tank unless I know what I'm treating for.
If I notice Ick, I use 3 lbs of rock salt per 100 gallons.
Other parasites might require different treatment types, such as a chitin inhibitor for certain copepod parasites.
Bacteria may require an antibiotic, and one may even need to specify whether its gram negative or gram positive bacteria, because each might need a different antibiotic to be effective.
Too many "ifs" that may, or may not be effective, or even harmful by using random treatments.

 

[Joshv]

So big question. Should I treat my main tank since I did a poor job so that all the fish get treated preventatively and if so with what?

 

[Joshv]

 

[skjl47]

Is it bad to do multiple water changes over consecutive days?

Hello; There is only one issue with altering a water change (WC) schedule from somewhat low and infrequent to large and often I have read about. That being a sort of shock when the water parameters get too rapid of a change when someone goes from say 30% a week to say 80% every other day. The way to avoid the issue is to do a series of small WC over a few days while gradually upping the percentage of water amount or frequency. You have been doing WC at 30% each week so maybe do 30% every day or two for a few days. Then 40% to 50% each day or two for a few days. Then 60% to 70 %. Once the fish have acclimated over a few days to this modification then large and or regular WC is just fine is my understanding.

enough biological media in my filter.

Hello; Bear in mind my next comments are contrary to some thinking about colonization of beneficial bacteria (bb) in a closed system such as a glass box. I am not among those who think the bb are dependent on the media in a filter. I am of the mind set the bb are on surfaces throughout a tank. In the filter and on the media for sure since there is regular flow. But also on many other surfaces as well. Note I am not saying having more filter media is bad or a mistake, more that I sorta doubt a lack of places for your bb has been a problem. My guess is the bb have colonized the tank to match the bio-load from your fish.

I am going to go out on a guessing limb a bit here. I am also going to use a term I associate with duanes, that filters can become "nitrate factories". First I am not suggesting your filter directly has caused the death of your fish, I tend to agree that a week of QT was not enough and some pathogen or parasite was introduced. The high nitrates may add stress however.
I am also going to guess a bit further on that limb and figure you may practice the concept of not changing the filter media in a filter. A guess inspired by the comment that you sloshed the media in tank water and perhaps put it back into the filter. I have read about this practice since I joined this site in 2011. I get the concept but do not use it. I look at it another way.
To me some of the filter media is intended to trap waste (detritus) such as fish poo, uneaten food, plant parts and such. That filter media I throw out and replace with new from time to time. Depending on the filter I can have some other media behind that first layer suited for colonization by the bb. Back in past decades I have used glass marbles but now there is stuff just for the purpose.
The trick I use is to not discard all the media at the same time. My filters have more than one slots/place for media. I replace in one slot one time and another slot later.
I suspect you disturbed a filter that had been chugging along for some time and released into the tank enough to raise the nitrates. Bear in mind I am guessing. Also bear in mind I cannot back up my views directly so feel free to discard. I have been keeping freshwater tanks since 1959 is my main excuse for having contrary thoughts.

 

[skjl47]

I also "don't" treat a Quarantine Tank unless I know what I'm treating for.

Should I treat my main tank since I did a poor job so that all the fish get treated preventatively and if so with what?

Hello; Have you determined what the problem is? If so then treat. If you do not yet know what the pathogen/ parasite may be then seems you will be just guessing about what medication to use.
Some times getting the water quality better is enough. Good luck.

 

[Rocksor]

I hadn’t treated with anything during QT. What do folks routinely treat with in WT tanks?

I had the rope fish about 4-5 months before it got ill and passed. I’ve moved out the 2nd rope fish to QT and treating with Prazi. Took out all the carbon in my filter.

Doesn’t Prazi kill off your biological bacteria?

no Prazipro doesn’t kill off bacteria. Prazipro doesn’t treat all internal parasites. Round worms like calamanus are nasty enough that by the time it shows itself, you can no longer save the infected hosts. Prazipro doesn’t kill round worms