Help urgent

[pitchblack]

hey guys I did my regular water change today as usual. The water seemed a bit cloudy as usual when you disturb the tank but came home to this !!!!!!!! AHHH lost 2 discus and 20 runny noses. The fish were all up the top of the water gasping for air. Im going to empty my tank, put new water in but now Im worried about cycling. My filter is aged will it have any effect????
I dont know what went wrong????
Any suggestions

[Ben]

let us know how you get on, and the best of luck,
ben

[leanne31]

Did u test your water for any obvious problems :?: What area are you from :?:

[pitchblack]

yes I did the tests. everything normal except an
the nitrate it read 160ppm. Spoke to a few guys from the forum they suggested its my filter that did it???

[Merrilyn]

As you have already discovered, a nitrate reading of 160 is sky high, and lethal at that level. It should be below 20 and for discus preferably below 10.

An immediate and very large waterchange will help. You may well have an accumulation of uneaten food or even a dead fish somewhere. If you have a planted tank, vacuum all the gravel thoroughly, and search for any dead fish or rotting plant matter.

It would also be a good idea to test the water coming out of your tap for an excess of nitrates.

[pitchblack]

Ok just an upate its 12:15 nitrate is at 10ppm now changed and cleaned the canister filter ready to add the fish. Nitrate from the tap is zero. Im baffled as to what has happened. Cleaned the gravel lost a few rummy noses and bristlenose, four discus but ill live
going to aqua force tom to get cycle to stop ammonia and nitrate building up again anything else I can do
:cry:

[leanne31]

How often do u do wc :?:

[pitchblack]

once every friday ie weekly

[Merrilyn]

How big is the tank, and how many fish did you have in there. What is the frequency of your water changes, and how much do you change.

The test you did this morning, was that before or after you changed the water.

Are you running Co2 on that tank, for the plants.

[leanne31]

Maybe for the next couple of weeks do wc two or three times a week antil you find out for sure what caused it.

Leanne

[pitchblack]

ladyred readings were normal
ph 6.7
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
iron 0.25
gh 6
kh 2

im running a diy co2 system 2ltr coke bottle with yeast and sugar

my water changes are every week my tank is 4x2x2

8 discus 20 rummy noses 3 brislte nose and 4 flyig foxes

now I have 4 discus 5 rummy noses and 3 flying foxes a huge loss

[Merrilyn]

Take your Co2 system off immediately. It's poisoning your water.

[Merrilyn]

Do another nitrate test. If it's gone up again, do an immediate water change. Your fish are dying from Nitrate Poisoning.

[pitchblack]

Check its already in the bin!!!!!! Do you think that mabey did it cause the water was very cloudy do you have emal ladyred cause ppm me and ill post you the pics staright away the before and after

[Merrilyn]

Email me at robkofoed@hotmail.com.

[pitchblack]

ladyred nitrate at 5ppm is that ok??? check your email

[Merrilyn]

That's fine. Good job.

[pitchblack]

ladyred the first two pics are of what happened and the last was taken 2 weeks ago not now I hope i didnt get you confused

[Merrilyn]

Email must have failed - nothing arrived so far. Re-send?

[DiscusMad]

I had a mate that had a home made co2 set up and it was slowly leaking small amounts of the mixture into his tank and it gave a white cloudy tank

[pitchblack]

I think so mate diy co2 never again... lets hope and pray for a miracle I think ive dine everything i can. oh ladyred chech now 2 emails

[DiscusMad]

I wouldn't pass it off to quickly

you might need to add a nother bottle to it and slow down the bubbles

try it on a bucket of water first for a week or two as a test

[pitchblack]

so how do you add another bottle it it drill another hole nest to the outlet and add another bottle with misture or without???? and how do you slow down the bubbles

[DiscusMad]

you should have normaly one bottle with your mixture in it and the next bottle a dry one as a catchment

you can slow down the bubbles by going to a chemist and arsking for a catheter clamp or thumb clamp from a hardwear store

[pitchblack]

thanks guys for the help last night. Fin the task at 2am. This morning reading as follows

ammonia 0
nitrate 0 yeah!!!!!
gh 6
kh 2
iron 0.25
ph 6.7

off the the aquarium now

[Merrilyn]

Are the fish looking better today?

[pitchblack]

yeah a little bit stressed but swimming around like not tomorrow. I brought some ammonia lock up, nitrate remover for the filter and some cycle. So hopefully the tank wont get a rise in any?????