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  1. #21

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    you are so welcome, but you are going to hate me when i tell you that the peacock fern is a marginal and will rot and die submerged :-(
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  3. #22
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Quote Originally Posted by deranged chipmunk View Post
    you are so welcome, but you are going to hate me when i tell you that the peacock fern is a marginal and will rot and die submerged :-(
    My lfs sucks! They said it would be a nice addition?
    I have no idea what marginal means?
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  4. #23

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    marginal is the area between aquatic and terrestrial. otherwise knows as the bog area. java fern would be better. or an anubias species. those people at petsmart have no clue
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Quote Originally Posted by deranged chipmunk View Post
    marginal is the area between aquatic and terrestrial. otherwise knows as the bog area. java fern would be better. or an anubias species. those people at petsmart have no clue
    Erk, I guess I'll return it.
    Yeah, they really have no clue! (it was the other big chain store, not that it matters, they're both equally bad).
    The plant was packaged as an aquatic plant (in a tube), and when I asked about it the kid said, "Oh yeah, those are really cool in an aquarium, and they don't get too big.."
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    100+ Post Member Bolisnide's Avatar
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Are Carlos and bill still around? Long time since I've been on the forum, hope you're well!
    My tank was doing well with all of your help until this past Friday..
    Over the past two years I lost my algae eating shrimp, and a couple of snails. Other than that my tank flourished. Plants all looking beautiful, fish doing great.
    Friday my son talked me into getting two mystery white (albino?) snails, and boom this morning every single glo light tetra dead. I know they were at the end of their life cycle, but all of them?
    I checked water chemistry, and all seamed typical- 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 80 nitrate, ph at 8 (which it always had been).
    So I did a water change any way and doses with melafix.
    No I have heavy cloudiness going on.
    Albino pleco seems fine.
    WTF is up? Should I do another water change?
    I currently only have one zebra snail, 2 mystery white snails, and my little pleco....
    I can post a pic tomorrow if you think it would help diagnose...
    TIA!


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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    With the high nitrates, cloudiness, and the recent addition of the snails, it sounds like your tank is going through a mini nitrogen cycle. The addition of the snails (mystery snails are HUGE waste factories and are really too much for a 10 gallon to handle long-term) added too much poop and resulting ammonia for your established beneficial bacteria to handle. If your tetras were old or weakened at all they could easily have died because of this ammonia spike. The bacteria eventually would have converted it to nitrates, but cloudiness in the tank (unless it's green algae clouds) is a classic sign of the nitrogen cycle.

    Its always possible that that the snails had brought home an illness from the pet store if they weren't quarantined first, but it is extremely unlikely that your fish would all die so quickly without showing symptoms first.

    How often do you perform water changes? What percent of the water do you change each time? Did you also change the filter cartridge at the same time?

    For now you will need to do daily partial water changes (up to 50% at a time, but no more or you risk killing beneficial bacteria) to keep ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels safe. Also, I hate to tell you but really neither the snails nor the Pleco are suitable for a ten gallon tank. I wouldn't add any new fish while your tank is cycling. Wait until it is stable before adding any new fish.

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  9. #27
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Yes, thank you.
    I'll try and answer all your questions (I'm on my phone so please excuse me)..
    So I was previously doing water changes once per month, and changing out only about 30% of the water.
    Usually my nitrates are at about 40 ppm.
    The snails are tiny, they could have caused that much damage to my water chem in 2 days? Wow.
    I did not quarantine :/
    Tetras were about 4 years old, so yes oldish I suppose.
    No green algae, looks like a white cloud in the tank..
    Currently I have the bristle nose pleco, it's full grown albino, 4 inches long. And the 1 old zebra snail and the two new white snails purchased Friday.
    I was told, the pleco isn't ideal for a 10 gallon, but he's survived several years now, and I don't know what to do with him otherwise- a bigger tank not an option due to space issues.
    So it's not bacterial, it's a messed up nitrogen cycle?
    I will do daily water changes, what else should I do?
    And do you think there's any hope for adding any fish ever?
    Thanks for you're help


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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    You can definitely add more fish eventually! Sorry, I didn't mean to make you think you could never have fish again! You just need to wait until your tank finishes this mini cycle and is a better environment for them. Here is an article that explains the nitrogen cycle if you aren't familiar: http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/bi...rogencycle.htm

    Snails produce a shocking amount of waste for their size. In a small tank like yours, it certainly could have been the tipping point since the waste doesn't have 50 gallons of water to dilute it. Ideally I would recommend returning at least one of the snails if possible to reduce the bioload (aka amount of poop) in your tank. I'd also recommend, once your tank is done cycling, to start doing weekly 25% water changes instead of monthly. 40 ppm nitrates is a bit high. I would recommend testing your tap water directly out of the faucet to see if it already has that nitrate level present. If not, then it is probably a symptom of the infrequent water changes, so weekly partial water changes will help lower nitrate levels and the stress on your fish.
    Last edited by Crispy42; May 3rd, 2015 at 10:41 PM. Reason: Forgot to add link. Oops!

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  12. #29
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    No no, don't be sorry.
    It's late here...
    So funny how folks at the fish store told me 40 ppm was acceptable, and not to do weekly water changes because water changes stress the fish :/
    I'll try and return a snail, check my tap nitrates (never done that!), and do as you've advised. I really appreciate all who've helped me with such a relatively unexciting aquarium, thank you!
    By the way, I also rinsed my filter out (oops?) this last water change.
    Thanks again!


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  13. #30

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Quote Originally Posted by Bolisnide View Post
    By the way, I also rinsed my filter out (oops?) this last water change.
    Thanks again!


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    There's your huckleberry. Did you use tank water or tap water? If you used tap, you probably killed off all the bacterial in the cartridge, essentially rebooting the nitrogen cycle.

    I agree, that snails are huge waste machines, but 2 mystery snails causing that much death in 2 days? That's a bit unlikely. I've added more snails into smaller tanks and never had any issues. But then again, anything is possible.




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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Hey Bill!
    I rinsed the filter in well water, from my tap - no chlorine in my water, but definitely heavy metals (I do use API tap conditioner with my water changes though).
    I rinsed the filter after the fish died, but didn't experience the cloudy water until after I rinsed the filter, so perhaps the fish death and this now messed up biological filter are unrelated issues?
    Also, those little snails managed to eat a lot of my plants over the course of the weekend, little brats, so now I am left with sword plants that are now half devoured too.
    I did a 25% water change this morning, still have cloudy water.... Checked the water chemistry, and now my nitrates are somewhere between 40 ppm and 80 ppm (I use those little strips, so couldn't quite tell if the nitrates have lowered much).
    My nitrites are still at zero, but my ammonia is looking like a 5? Ugh, so annoyed with myself.
    I also added some of the aquarium bacteria stuff, I usually add it when I do a water change anyway...
    ho hum.
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  16. #32

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Wow. Sounds like maybe there are multiple things at play here.

    I would venture a guess to say that the death of the tetras created an ammonia spike, and that is what is killing plants. Sword are hardy plants, but sensitive to drastic swings in water chemistry. Mystery snails are a small species of Apple snail, and may occasionally graze on plants, but they normally do not destroy plants that fast. Or, at least, I have never had them tear up a tank fast. In fact, I personally have never had them eat plants.

    Weekly water changes will not overly stress out the fish. It's normal procedure for those of us who dose fertilizers using the EI method. Heck, i used to do 2 50% changes on my shrimp tanks back in the day.

    Unfortunately, there's no way to know now why the tetras died. It may just have been coincidence. Did you see all the tetras when you added the snails? Possibly one died, unnoticed, causing an ammonia spike which finished off the rest of the tetras?

    Oh, and get a real test kit, those strips are garbage lol



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  18. #33
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    hmmm, ok ok.. makes sense. Now that you mention it, I don't remember if I saw all the tetras when I added the snails - very good theory.
    I'll get a good test kit, and I'll continue with daily water changes until the water chemistry looks good.
    Hopefully my pleco won't die through all of this havoc I created in his little world
    The plants do look pitiful, assumed it was the snails, but I haven't seen them eat them... so yes it could be the messed up water.
    Thanks everyone!! I'll keep you posted.

    EDIT: BTW, what should my nitrates be at?
    I know the nitrite and ammonia should always be zero.
    And my PH is high, and the general hardness is also very high.
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  19. #34
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    And I forgot to mention, checked my well water with the strips - Nitrate at 10 ppm.
    IS that bad?
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  20. #35

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    10 is an 'acceptable' number. I try to keep my tanks at 10ppm or below for nitrates, they just never stay that low because of how heavily I dose fertilizers.


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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Okay, I'm going to be super annoying. I just came home with a real freshwater testing kit, here's what I got: ammonia 2.0, nitrite 10!, nitrate 80!.
    im going to do another water change... Is that ok? I did only 25% this morning. Should I do another 25% or do 50%?
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  22. #37

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Another water change is ok. You're going to have a lot in your future until you get those numbers down.

    I guess you're learning how bad those strips are now, huh? Inaccurate is an understatement.


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  23. #38
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    yes, no more strips. Surprisingly inaccurate.
    Tested again this morning, and ammonia is almost zero, nitrate is going down and I'm at about a 20. Nitrite is still pretty high, but looks like it is going down too.
    I've pulled out all of the dissolving plant leaves too.
    What is very strange is I've never experienced this white cloudiness, and it's leaving a slime on all of the walls and ornaments, and my plant leaves. It's like a white slime that seems to be getting worse as the water quality seems to be getting slowly better.
    Ugh.
    My pleco is still hanging in there, but I haven't fed him since this all went down on Sunday. Should I feed him tonight? Or wait until this slime goes away and the water quality is a bit better?
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  24. #39

    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    Hold off on feeding the pleco. Let the water chemistry come into it's own.

    Ammonia dropping and nitrites starting to drop means your mini cycle is coming to an end.

    Don't be afraid to change water. I have done as much as 75% water changes on some of my tanks. I would do a 50% change every other day until your parameters get back in line.


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  25. #40
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    Default Re: any aquarists here? I need some help...

    okay, thanks! And I assume the slime will start to go away as things start to balance again...
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