Urgent Aquarium Help - Please Read...

donal7

Hi All,

I purchased some King British Safe Guard online for my water changes. I now fear this is a dodgy product as I have lost 6 fish in the last couple of days and my Tetra's fins look like they are burning.

Can anyone recommend a legitimate product I could get to remove the chlorine/chloramines from my tank?

Anybody know off hand how early Kinsealy Pet Shop/Petstop in Santry open?

Cheers all in advance

dsane1

Hi one thing i know is to do a water change maybe 1/3 if you think its an overdose it will help . .good luck

donal7

Cheers.

Have been doing partial water changes every day for the past 3 or 4 days.

I have now ruled every other factor out. Need to get something in there soon to get rid of the chlorine/chloramines fast before I wipe out the whole tank.

Freaked if I find my suspicions to be correct.

ValerieR

Hi Donal7

Sorry to hear about your problems. I don't know but it might just be the actual tap water that is dodgy and not the water conditioner ... When the water authorities do work on the line, they use products which are not quite compatible with fish !... Resulting in heavy losses.
Maybe you should try and do a very large water change with water from another network than your own!
From what I gather, this water 'conditioner' is quite standard and should not be the cause of your problem.
I hope this helps.
Best of luck with your tank!
ValerieR

donal7

Hi Valarie,

Thank you for your response.

That never actually crossed my mind and it's a very good point.

I'm going to get some other water treatment in the morning, if that doesnt work then I know it's probably the water supply.

Many thanks for your help on this one.

Donal

donal7

Hi Valerie,

Thank you again for your tip yesterday. As I thought about it more last night our water was cut last Sunday so it's very possible like you say they did something with the water supply. I could kill them!!!!

I did a huge water change at the crack of dawn this morning (unfortunately lost another 2 fish overnight - 1 Neon and 1 Harlequin). I got my water from another network and I'm hoping that will solve matters. I will just leave the tank for a few days and monitor it closely.

I'll let you know how it goes.

(Going forward it my other network works I think I'll just use that for my water changes).

Thank you again

ValerieR

You're very welcome !
Some people on the www.irishfishkeepers.com discussion forum have had a very similar problem which ended up with heavy and expensive losses this year and your post just reminded me this.
It's a bummer when you lose fish like that especially when you are applying good housekeeping rules and end up suffering it because someone added chemicals added to your water!!!:mad::mad:
I hope you didn't lose too much and that things will stabilise in your tank.
Let us know how you get on.
ValerieR

donal7

Hi Valerie,

The fish count loss is now up to 11. I lost more over the weekend.

I went to my LFS and they tested my water (he said I was about the fifth person in recently with the exact same problem). Looks like ammonia is really high so I suspect I have new tank syndrome - possibly all the good bacteria has been killed off for whatever reason I don't know.

I am going to do a partial water change now everyday for the next few days and add in some Nutrafin Cycle after each change (I had been using King British Safe Water previously). I won't touch the filter or gravel just simply syphon out the water. I have an airstone running too which will hopefully help the oxygen levels in the tank. I'm hoping the filter will recover soon and I won't lose anymore fish.

Donal

ValerieR

Hi Donal,
Oh dear ... if your tank is not cycled yet, you definitely have to keep a very close eye to your water parameters ...
The fish and food waste come up in a tank as ammonia. You need your filter to develop a set of beneficial bacteria which will transform it into Nitrite. Equally bad to the fish, you need to keep your water changes so that the levels stay at zero!!
In another while (depends on the tank, set up ... could be another 2 or 3 weeks), another set of beneficial bacteria will colonise your filter and transform your nitrite into nitrate (plant food - not so harmful to the fish within reason).
Your best bet is to invest into a test kit (with re-agents rather than the paper strips which are reputedly unreliable) to test ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and test daily for another while rather than having to go to the LFS to get your water tested.
Hopefully (but likely) you won't lose any more fish. If they have been poisoned, you might suffer more deaths in your tank.
Tell us more about your tank... How big is it ? How long has it been set up ? What fish do you have ?
You can read up more on the internet about the 'nitrogen cycle' if you're interested. However, keep up the water changes for a while so that your poor little fish don't suffer any more :-)
Get yourself a test kit as soon as possible - it's handy to have as the most important thing for your fish is to keep your water with a constant pH and in clean water ! :-)

I hope this helps.

ValerieR

donal7

Hi Valerie,

The tank had been previously cycled. The tank is up and running approx. 1 year. It's a 60 litre tank. Nothing had changed with my cleaning schedule - cleaned filters weekly in water removed from tank, treated tank water with King British Safe Guard to remove chlorine/chloramines then add a little hot water before adding to tank. I would then treat the full tank with King British Safe Water which helps the friendly bacteria.

I think I had a problem with my filter and the bacteria died. It's quite frustrating as the tank had been up and running for over 1 year and had no problems up to this point.

The tank is a 60 litre and currently has 1 Swordtail, 4 Cory's, 3 Harlequins & 4 Cardinals.

Thanks for all your help/suggestions to date. Hopefully the end of my problem is in sight!

balon

Did you add the hot water to the filters or the tank? Either way I don't think this would be a good idea and if added to the filters, is likely to be what killed your bacterial load....

donal7

I normally add a little warm water to the water in the bucket before adding to the tank (just so as the water I add to the tank doesnt shock the fish with it being possibly too cold).

balon

Fair enough... I had visions of a kettle being poured over the filter pads!

Sorry about your losses, it is often the case that problems in smaller tanks are amplified just because of their size. Larger tanks can with stand proportionately more stress

You need your tank to cycle again and this just takes time. If you don't have a test kit, I'd recommend you get one and monitor levels until back to normal. Be wary of how much/often you change the water as you may end up slowing the process down. Small amounts every few days.

Something like Nutrafin Cycle or Stress Zyme can help build up your bacterial load more quickly.

If possible, let your new water sit for a day or two in the bucket. This can allow some of the chlorine/chloramines to evaporate and lessen their negative affect before going in the tank. It also allows it get to room temperature and you won't need to add hot water..

Good luck and hope your little guys survive..

KhuntChops

Hi all,

Im really sorry to hear about whats happening to your tank,ive a bit of a probelm like yours so I thought id add it here instead of opening a new thread but if you feel it takes away from yours I will have it moved asap..

The Oh came home with a Jewel Trigon 350L with 1,000 euro worth of Living Rock included with it,we have never kept fish before but it is something the OH has been interested in and when we went into Aquatic Village the other day he made his mind up and got the tank,filters,test kit,salt etc.

We think we may have a probelm tho,to transport the tank and cabinet they had to empty the wter and put the rock in bags,id say it was out of the water for an hour and then put back in the tank and filled with tap water with little salt,we explained to someone in Brittas what had happen unaware of the damage it may have caused the rock,its been 3/4 days now and I no he told us you can smell the rock if its dying/dead but all I can smell in the kitchen is my dogs farting lol Is there any other way of telling?

Any info would be greaty appreciated as the OH really wants to do his best with this tank.

serratus

Hi, to Donal, great advice above, also try to get safestart by Tetra, it REALLY WORKS!!!
To KhuntChops, (cant believe im writing that!!!)
Have you tested the water??? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate PH??? If the rock has died/or dying it will cause ammonia/nitrite spikes, the water may also go cloudy???? If it hasnt started to smell by now you might be ok.....Is the sea urchin you found still alive??? If he starts to shed his spines hes not happy!!!!!

ValerieR

balon wrote: »

If possible, let your new water sit for a day or two in the bucket. This can allow some of the chlorine/chloramines to evaporate and lessen their negative affect before going in the tank. It also allows it get to room temperature and you won't need to add hot water..

Balon, This is good advice for the chlorine which does evaporate. Some people even reckon and advocate a good stir of the water before adding it to the tank without adding any chlorine removing product.
However, I believe Chloramine does not evaporate. These products mentioned previously claim they do eliminate chloramines ... I give them the benefit of the doubt

KhuntChops wrote: »

...,ive a bit of a probelm like yours so I thought id add it here instead of opening a new thread but if you feel it takes away from yours I will have it moved asap..

KhuntChops, This is a marine question which could be useful to other marine keepers. It might be a good plan to get it and Serratus' reply moved to a new thread :-)

Thanks and kindest regards,
Valerie

KhuntChops

I just asked to have it moved,thanks

And how did one Serratus no about my Sea Urchin,I didnt mention a Sea Urchin <_<

balon

ValerieR wrote: »

Balon, This is good advice for the chlorine which does evaporate. Some people even reckon and advocate a good stir of the water before adding it to the tank without adding any chlorine removing product. However, I believe Chloramine does not evaporate. These products mentioned previously claim they do ... I give them the benefit of the doubt

Hi Valerie, Yes, stirring is also a good idea. I stand corrected on the chloramines! I generally use a water conditioner to good effect also. Aqua plus I think it's called and bought by the 2l for economy

ValerieR

Balon, I use this product too :-)
ValerieR