Whole colony wiped out. How should I proceed?
Background on the tank
I have had my 55 gallon tank running for 3+ years. I had occasional fish that died, when I started and didn't know much about keeping fish. After some deaths and research I started keeping Mbunas that I bought from stores. I would buy from the mixed african tanks and specie only tanks. I had 9 larger A Cichlids, which lived in my tank for months with no issue. Eventually I sold them a year ago to be able to have proper male to female ratios of each species. I bought 30 P. Acei fry and 11 Yellow lab fry to raise and sex, then sell the rest.
Filter
The tank had an Aqueon 55 filter with the filter media made for it for years. I switched over to Aqueon sponges a few months back in the filter. Then a week ago I added two aqueon 110 BioMax in the aqueon. Last Thursday I finally went and got a 2nd filter, an AquaClear 110 ( that I bought second hand ) and put two of the Biomax and 3 aquaClear 70 sponges inside.
Water tests
My ammonia has never been 0. It was always a constant .25 until a couple months back when it really got out of control.
My nitrate has as well always been 5 pm till a couple months back when it also got out of control.
Nitite for some reason would always read as 0. However if I left the test tube alone after a while it would show signs of nitrite.
Dead fish and Question
If you have read other posts of mine, I have had some issues with sick fish. The fish would twirl and swim upside down. Some got ick but would recover the next day. I believe it was due to the ammonia and nitrate in my tank. I tried helping them by doing water changes, stirring the sand to do a better vacuuming of the sand and even adding the 2nd filter.
During a water change on Friday I saw soap bubbles on the hood. Apparently there was some soap bubbles in my shower that I didn't see when filling up my bucket. A little might have gotten in which killed off all my fish. If it was not that, then filter I bought might have had something that killed of my fish. I don't believe it is was my water parameters as that shouldn't kill off all my fish in 2 day period.
What should I do know? Should I just go out and buy new fish? Should I do a complete water change off the whole tank and recyle the whole tank? Should I soak both filters in water with bleach? I have no idea what to do so my next fish don't die off again.
Thank you!
Background on the tank
I have had my 55 gallon tank running for 3+ years. I had occasional fish that died, when I started and didn't know much about keeping fish. After some deaths and research I started keeping Mbunas that I bought from stores. I would buy from the mixed african tanks and specie only tanks. I had 9 larger A Cichlids, which lived in my tank for months with no issue. Eventually I sold them a year ago to be able to have proper male to female ratios of each species. I bought 30 P. Acei fry and 11 Yellow lab fry to raise and sex, then sell the rest.
Filter
The tank had an Aqueon 55 filter with the filter media made for it for years. I switched over to Aqueon sponges a few months back in the filter. Then a week ago I added two aqueon 110 BioMax in the aqueon. Last Thursday I finally went and got a 2nd filter, an AquaClear 110 ( that I bought second hand ) and put two of the Biomax and 3 aquaClear 70 sponges inside.
Water tests
My ammonia has never been 0. It was always a constant .25 until a couple months back when it really got out of control.
My nitrate has as well always been 5 pm till a couple months back when it also got out of control.
Nitite for some reason would always read as 0. However if I left the test tube alone after a while it would show signs of nitrite.
Dead fish and Question
If you have read other posts of mine, I have had some issues with sick fish. The fish would twirl and swim upside down. Some got ick but would recover the next day. I believe it was due to the ammonia and nitrate in my tank. I tried helping them by doing water changes, stirring the sand to do a better vacuuming of the sand and even adding the 2nd filter.
During a water change on Friday I saw soap bubbles on the hood. Apparently there was some soap bubbles in my shower that I didn't see when filling up my bucket. A little might have gotten in which killed off all my fish. If it was not that, then filter I bought might have had something that killed of my fish. I don't believe it is was my water parameters as that shouldn't kill off all my fish in 2 day period.
What should I do know? Should I just go out and buy new fish? Should I do a complete water change off the whole tank and recyle the whole tank? Should I soak both filters in water with bleach? I have no idea what to do so my next fish don't die off again.
Thank you!
