HELP!!!!!!!!CO2 Disaster

[pringle]

Hi Anyone there?????!!!!!

Just got home about 1/2 an hour ago to find that my CO2 is bubbling like crazy. Got 3 juvenile discusses + other fishes in there. 1 juvenile discus is gone, other 2 is breathing very slowly.

I have transferred them into another tank, but since it is a very small tank, I might not be able to keep them there for long. I do not have any airstones, so I have ytaken off some water from my small tank in order to create more current.

In bigger tank, some community fishes still inside, but can't seem to find all cos of all the plants.

I have kept changing the water . siphon off and putting in fresh tap water, with dechlorinator.

My tank is anout 170L.


Anyone come across this situation before?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[seecuta]

the excessive co2 wouldve dropped the ph quite significantly if your kH is low. i would try to get an air stone in there and pump as much O2 into the water as possible.

if you have pH up or pH buffers or kH powder lying around that would be good too.

[apistodiscus]

The water changes should have done trick.

[pringle]

Finally stopped doing water changes.

Had to use fresh tap water, with seachem prime dosed straight into the aquarium.

All the other community fishes seem to be doing fine, with the exception of 1 bristlenose unaccounted for.

2 peppered corry; 2 sterbais; 3 siamese algae eaters and 1 otto, seem to be doing quite well now, foraging etc.

1 turquoise lost :cry:

Do you think I should transfer the discuses back into my main tank. Right now I have them placed in a small 'splish splash' tank, which was initially used as a quarantine tank for 2 other juvenille turquoises.

The 2 turquoises that was from the main tank looks like they are recovering, but still not moving around.

[pringle]

I have added some kH powder. I will try and test my water parameters again shortly.

One of the affected turquises seem to be slightly constipated, long slimy dropping coming out. I hope they will be OK.

Anything I should do you reckon guys?

Don't really want to spook them too much again.

[apistodiscus]

I would put them back into the original tank, to be honest I wouldn't have moved them. A quick waterchange would have sorted the problem in the first place. CO2 is a gas and once you get some surface movement and also change water it wil dissipate quite rapidly.

[pringle]

Thanks apisto.

I have transferred the affected discuses back into the main tank and though they look to be quite timid, I have caught one of them starting to feed.

My plan to quarantine the 2 other discuses in the small 15L tank has failed I suppose the moment I placed those CO2 affected discus in the qurantine tank, so I have transferred the quarantine discuses into the main tank now.

Have anyone experienced something like this before? Is the damage already done to the affected discuses? I am worried that the CO2 might have affected them internally. Colour seems to be back through, but stress band still more noticeable than usual.

Thanks.

[Merrilyn]

The extra C02 has not only lowered the pH in your tank, it will have driven off some of the oxygen, so in other words, your fish have been suffering from an oxygen shortage.

That doesn't usually have any long term effects. The fish seem to recover quite rapidly once extra oxygen, in the form of an airstone or water changes, is added.

The stress bars in this case, would probably be caused by the move from one tank to the other.

It's always wise to have an airstone bubbling away overnight if you use a C02 system. At night, plants give off carbon di oxide (CO2) and take in oxygen, which may leave an oxygen shortage for your fish. It's only under strong light that plants take in C02 and give off oxygen.

[pringle]

Thanks for the advises everyone.

So everyone thinks there should not be any long term effects done to the fishes?

The discus that I lost had a 'burn' sort of mark on one side of the body (white), and one of the eyes had gone opaque. It passed away with me by its side :cry:

The other 2 discuses affected are now feeding, but still a bit skittish, but they are feeding, which is good. However, the depth of its colour has not yet returned. and I am sure it is due to the CO2, not from the move.

Would anyone recommend any sort of medication or just to leave them alone, for them to pull through by themselves?

Thanks,
Pringle

[apistodiscus]

Nope, just leave them be. Once they are feeding they are over the worst of it.