What I can possibly test the water for?

[Urgula]

I have this replacement tank, for the tank whose stand gave up on life and I've been having problems ever since.

The fish go pale and gasp for air at the water surface. Pleco and the rope fish are the only ones not doing this since they just get a bubble of air from the surface and use that for air.

I thought at first that I was having amonia or nitrite spikes and basically did water changes almost daily at first.
Then I've blaimed it on the bacteria bloom (water did get cloudy, but not that much since I've kept old media and didn't wash anything after tank swap).
Then I've started to test water daily and amonia, nitrite and nitrate are perfectly fine.

I've then blaimed it on the plants that I've stuck in. I thought that I didn't wash the roots good enough that they werer releasing fertilizer into the water.
That theory was also not true. I've stuck some of the plants in my nano tank with an eldery betta and raspboras. If the plants were releasing anything in the water, raspboras would be dead already.

It's also not the tap water because my other fish tank is fine whenever I change water regardless of the amount changed.

The issue did seem to decrease a little, however, this might be because initially I did have the nitrite jumps and now I don't have them.
The fish also have fin rot.

The tank seems to have new silicone on the botton seams. Is it possible that non-aquarium silicone was used or the fish would be dead by now?
The only time when I had a similar issue is when I've stuck tile in the fishtank to make maintenance easier, however, in that case there was no decreasein how bad the fish feel.


Did I simply get a tank that hosted sick fish? I did wipe it with 70% isoprophyl alcohol before putting anything in.

What I can possibly test the water for to identify the source of the problem?

Is it time to nuke the tank with some General Cure, Furan-2 and General Fungus from API or this sounds more like a chemical issue and I have to replace the tank (again)?
Halp!

 

[Jim bean 20055]

maybe you need an air stone since you said that the fish are gasping for air

 

[tlindsey]

I'm going to assume that it's possible the wrong type of silicon was used and very well is leaching hazardous chemicals. That's if the aquarium was resealed at the bottom like you stated.

 

[Urgula]

maybe you need an air stone since you said that the fish are gasping for air

I think I'm good on the oxygen in the water since water oxygenagion happens because the surgace of the water moves, not because there's bubbles of the water.
The water surface is moved by the pump output tube.
I have the same equipment as before, so if the air stone was the issue, it would be present in the previous tank.

 

[Urgula]

I'm going to assume that it's possible the wrong type of silicon was used and very well is leaching hazardous chemicals. That's if the aquarium was resealed at the bottom like you stated.

That's the fear I have, but I wonder how to test it. Throwing $500 - $2000 on an aquarium is not cheap per say.
The fish do have fin rot, so I wonder if it's something that's curable or if it's a bad silicone type of situation.

The thing is that if it's a sickness thing, I'm going to throw 2k on a fishtank and it won't fix the issue, but if it's silicone problem and I throw a mixture of meds in the tank, it's going to make it worse, since meds in water = harder to breathe.

 

[tlindsey]

That's the fear I have, but I wonder how to test it. Throwing $500 - $2000 on an aquarium is not cheap per say.
The fish do have fin rot, so I wonder if it's something that's curable or if it's a bad silicone type of situation.

The thing is that if it's a sickness thing, I'm going to throw 2k on a fishtank and it won't fix the issue, but if it's silicone problem and I throw a mixture of meds in the tank, it's going to make it worse, since meds in water = harder to breathe.

I definitely wouldn't throw meds in the aquarium until someone can give you a definite answer on what's actually happening. I suggest placing the fish with fin rot in a tote or spare aquarium and treat.

 

[Urgula]

I definitely wouldn't throw meds in the aquarium until someone can give you a definite answer on what's actually happening. I suggest placing the fish with fin rot in a tote or spare aquarium and treat.

I don't really have the means to separate the fish. Also, all fish had fin rot, but kinda are done with it.
The fish who has the most rot is my texas and he's too nervous to sit in a tote. I don't have a spare tank of that size, nor the space for it.

Unpaired fish have fin damage due to fights, but nothing out of ordinary for cichlids.
Those that fight had rot previously, but they've successfully re-grown everything and ripped it again, but this time no rot occurs.

The texas stopped showing his breeding colors and sometimes goes "white". Before the swap he'd dig the biggest hole and try to pair with a random convict.
He even had paired with another male for a month, but that didn't work out ?

Before the tank move he'd constantly be in his breeding colors (half black, half blue), now he's either bright blue, either white.

Rest of the fish (convicts) breed as normal, the eggs hatch, however, I don't know if they get eaten by the rope fish and pleco or if the fry dies.
Before the tank swap, convict babies number would be "halfen" by every morning, which is normal with 2 nocturnal carnivorous fish, specially in combination of lesser feeding.

I feed less because I've lost 2 diamond cichlids, both of witch were "extra fat", having a quite big head hump and "flowerhorn doublechin", to the point of looking square, rather than fish shape.
I don't know if they've died because of the tank or because of obesity or both since I've lost 2 diamonds before the tank swap aswell and they were equally fat.

 

[esoxlucius]

So, this is a new tank, you experienced some "cloudy" issues, and you had a "nitrite jump?" Sounds like a bit of new tank syndrome going on, though you say all parameters are fine? Parameters are rarely "fine" during new tank syndrome, if that is indeed what's going on here. First thing i'd do is rule out once and for all any potential problems with the tests you did. Is each test kit bottle in date? Do you test to the letter as per test instructions? If the test kit/testing procedure is ok then i'd move on to the silicon issue.

You say new silicon is only on the bottom seam? This sounds like a botch job because you don't just reseal part of a fish tank. The relationship between new and old silicon isn't a good one, anyone doing a proper job on that tank would be aware of this and would have stripped out and redone ALL the seams. And in any case, anyone who knew what they were doing would have used the correct fish friendly silicon.You need to speak to the previous owners, maybe they have a part tube leftover of the silicon they used.

The only other thing I can think of is that anyone who is unsure what thay are doing and botches a sealing job like that, could have potentially, prior to you receiving the tank, cleaned it out with any old chemical. Maybe the residue from such a chemical is causing an issue.

Other than the above that's me out of suggestions, I wish you luck, it's not always easy turning detective when a problem occurs but speaking to the previous owners can only help you at this point.

 

[Urgula]

So, this is a new tank, you experienced some "cloudy" issues, and you had a "nitrite jump?" Sounds like a bit of new tank syndrome going on, though you say all parameters are fine? Parameters are rarely "fine" during new tank syndrome, if that is indeed what's going on here. First thing i'd do is rule out once and for all any potential problems with the tests you did. Is each test kit bottle in date? Do you test to the letter as per test instructions? If the test kit/testing procedure is ok then i'd move on to the silicon issue.

You say new silicon is only on the bottom seam? This sounds like a botch job because you don't just reseal part of a fish tank. The relationship between new and old silicon isn't a good one, anyone doing a proper job on that tank would be aware of this and would have stripped out and redone ALL the seams. And in any case, anyone who knew what they were doing would have used the correct fish friendly silicon.You need to speak to the previous owners, maybe they have a part tube leftover of the silicon they used.

The only other thing I can think of is that anyone who is unsure what thay are doing and botches a sealing job like that, could have potentially, prior to you receiving the tank, cleaned it out with any old chemical. Maybe the residue from such a chemical is causing an issue.

Other than the above that's me out of suggestions, I wish you luck, it's not always easy turning detective when a problem occurs but speaking to the previous owners can only help you at this point.

The nitrites and "cloudy water" was when I've first brought it, which was in Ddecember. Right now, water params are fine, testing twice a day doesn't show any jumps. I have the strips kit which expires 12/2021 and the liquid kit which expires on 03/2022. I do test as per instructions, not really new to testing water... my pleco is 15 and I had fish before that. Quite honestly, my fish rarely care about "new tank syndrome" or chlorine and other chemicals in the water.
Even when there were nitrite spikes, before this tank, the fish wouldn't show any different behaviour (I'd only know by the water tests).

The guy I've bought the tank from said he had angel fish in it right before the when he sold it to me, but the tank was "too clean" when I've got it.
I was late due to traffic and when texting him, he sayed "no problem, I'm still emptying the substrate from the tank". I think that was a lie since when I was emptying the old tank, I was never able to get it as clean.

When we've brought it in, to me it was smelling like AXE male spray, but bf couldn't smell anything.
I've brushed it off to the dude rubbing his armpits against the tank while cleaning (I can smell the person for about 30-40 min after they leave the room, physical contact with anything is very smellable to me, when other ppl can not smell it. I'm also allergic to perfume and had a reaction... hense I've cleaned to the point where it no longuer gives me a reaction... lots of rubbing alcohol and paper towels basically).
I've then contacted the dude asking about anything sprayed in the tank and he told "the tank was filled yesterday and had fish in. There was lots of plants and a CO2 fertilizer. It should not cause any trouble to fish".

So if the guy re-sealed it and used chemicals, he's not going to tell me anything because he lied the first time.
Going to try to call him tomorrow, but I don't think I'll get anything.

PS: I agree it's a sloppy silicone job. The sides need re-siliconning and it's quite visible. It was a very emergency replacement. Never going to buy a used fishtank again

 

[fishdance]

Assuming the "wrong" silicon such as anti mold silicon was used, the volume of silicon compared to volume of water is miniscule especially for larger tanks. The chemicals used will rapidly degrade under water and several water changes is all that is needed.

Additionally these chemicals are quite large organic (long chain) complex molecules which are very easy to remove with activated carbon.

I say these things to give you some perspective and reassurance.