I'm surprised I was right about the test kit. I believe the ammonia is your problem still. if it's constantly at that level it can cause the problems you are having. Most important question is what size is the tank? Based on your stock list and the size of the tank, you may be overstocked and not have enough media to break down the ammonia.
fish getting red eyes and dying
- Thread starter tattoochick
- Start date
It's good you got to the bottom of it. Daily 25% water changes while it re-cycles. Now you have to get the tank cycled, if you have another tank running steel some media out of it or better yet if you have an extra filter running use that too. The only thing left is to figure out is what caused the tank to crash like that? The red eyes are usually ammonia or a form of septacemia.
I don't have an extra tank...have a 280 gallon being delivered tomorrow morning. Its a 120 with 2 ray pups, 4 tetras, 4 gouramis and 10 young giant danios. We are running a marineland C-530 with trays containing bio balls, ceramic rings, charcoal, polishing pads and filter pads...also running a marineland magnum 350 with ceramic rings. We have an additional C-530 that we haven't used yet. We plan on putting all 3 filters on the 280. The substrate is the cari-sea live gravel (very fine grained).
The fact that there are no nitrites but there are nitrates present in the tank means that it has cycled....so its like the tank is going through a mini cycle.
Have you added any fish recently or
Cleaned any of the bio in the filters?
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Cleaned any of the bio in the filters?
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Did this problem you are having start to happen after adding those fish? The bio could be trying to catch up to the new load put on by the fish. In the mean time, I would clean the canister filter out to get the optimized amount of flow. Make sure you rinse the bio in tank water and do small water changes to keep the levels normal. You can also use prime or some equivalent to detoxify the ammonia while it catches up. You should be fine in about a week.
Yea it started after adding the danios...they were the most recently added. And its only happening to those ones, which is why im wondering if maybe they had something wrong to begin with. I looked up that septicemia that was suggested as a possibility and it sounds as if it may be that. Didn't find any info on if that can be passed along to the other fish, just said that its from poor water quality. So if its only them im assuming they didn't get it in our tank....I could be wrong on that. But they are the only ones with symptoms. Are my stingrays in danger if that's what it is?
Septicemia it is not comunicable however the rays are at risk from the nitrites.
Here's what I would do if it was me. First get the water issue under control. Do daily 25% water changes. Clean the filter as Alex suggested using tank water only. Get some Seachem Stability or similar type product and add this to the water a half hour after completing the water changes. This should get the tank under control in a week or so. Once the water is back to normal we can adress the fish if it still appears to be an issue. Lets see what things look like once you get the water strightend out, which may slove the problem. A mild dose of aquarium salt will also help the fish deal with the nitrites. Use 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water. Teaspoon not tablespoon.
If this should turn out to be Septicemia the 1st choice anti-biotic would be Oxytetracycline this is not found too easly unless you know a vet that will give you some. The second choice would be Maracyn-Two but your GH should be no higher than 200 max or it will be ineffective. We'll cross this bridge if we come to it.
Here's what I would do if it was me. First get the water issue under control. Do daily 25% water changes. Clean the filter as Alex suggested using tank water only. Get some Seachem Stability or similar type product and add this to the water a half hour after completing the water changes. This should get the tank under control in a week or so. Once the water is back to normal we can adress the fish if it still appears to be an issue. Lets see what things look like once you get the water strightend out, which may slove the problem. A mild dose of aquarium salt will also help the fish deal with the nitrites. Use 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water. Teaspoon not tablespoon.
If this should turn out to be Septicemia the 1st choice anti-biotic would be Oxytetracycline this is not found too easly unless you know a vet that will give you some. The second choice would be Maracyn-Two but your GH should be no higher than 200 max or it will be ineffective. We'll cross this bridge if we come to it.
