About a week and a half ago, I had a horrible fish day.

I had just installed the FX5 and removed 3 of the other 4 filters I had on the system. I thought everything in the tank was seeded and it would be ok - but apparantly I was wrong.

My wife woke me up saying that fish were dead...so I ran down & found a nasty mess.

My Golden was belly up - as was my gray leprocanthis. I was actually more upset about the plec. My leopard frog plec was bloated & barely moving. My rams were barely hovering a cenemeter or so above the substrate panting, and the remainder of the discus were dark and gasping at the surface of the water. All my snails were climbing the glass - which as you all know is a horrible sign that points toward serious water problems. I'd never had a discus die on me before, so that really sucked.

So I scooped up a big cup of water to test later and immediately began to drain the tank as quickly as possible. I did a good 75%-80% water change and doubled up on the Prime. Prime detoxifies nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. I do about 2 50% water changes weekly and had just done a bigger one than that the night before.

When I tested the water, I found Nitrates of about 40, Nirites at .25 and a trace of ammonia. I have no clue how it happened - must have been taking 3 of the 4 the old filters off too quickly. It had to have been.

Even worse - when I got suspicious and tested my tap water, I found that nitrates come out of the tap between 10ppm and 20ppm. It hadn't been like that before, so I called the water company who gave me a load of BS about that being normal. So they were going to be no help.

My leopard frog plec died the next day.

Long story short - I've been all over it. Lots of water changes & monitoring. I bought two Fluval Lab Series Nitrate Remover media bags & have been running them often. I now have the tank at 10ppm nitrate, 0 nitrites & 0 ammonia. All the remaining fish seem to be doing great except for a small blue diamond and a small san mernah. Hopefully they'll come around, too.

Everyone around here knows that Omaha water SUCKS for S. Americans - so screw it. I just placed an order for a RO unit. I just hate that i had to lose fish before I did it.

Gary,
Man so sorry to hear that. I think you're right in your assessment of what the cause was even though that's no consolation. I've had things like that happen too. Sorry buddy.
mike

Sorry to hear that things went wrong. Sometimes it takes a catastrophy to make us aware of problems. I'm glad you have things sorted out.

Oh man that sucks Also like mike has said i think you have got it right on the cause, i know it dont help, but in a way it does, if you know what i mean. At least you dont have the added problem of looking for the cause

You know, that doesn't surprise me that happend. A friend of mine (she's an unactive member here) had that same thing happen to her.

It SUX!!!!

I still have a small blue diamond that looks like hell & doesn't seem to be getting better. I hope she does.

Heat her up. My blue diamond doesn't like it any colder than 86*F. He will sit at the bottom of the darkest corner and get very dark.

Hey Gary, try adding more oxygen in the water. It should help out gas the extra nitrogen in the fish's body.

The heat is never below 86f in the 150....and aeration was stepped up immediately.

Good to hear I'm thinking right.

Well you have your bases covered. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Hello Gary, its a gut wrenching feeling when you are awakend by hearing their daed. Then to realize its something or someone that you really care for. Im so sorry that it happened to you and for all who have gone through this.

When I see that my discus are gasping for air I usually add some peroxide to help with oygenizing the water. Wheh the discus are breathing a bit better it is then that I change water. Not more than half till the next day then continue with your regular w/c s.

On a different note, Im in need od 16 adult standard blk angels. I remember you having angels but forgot what types. Or if you know someone would you let me know?

Heres my number if you want to talk discus. 402-721-6287.

Ike

Ike:

The last of my angels went to mpp. I know he has some nice fry, but I'm not sure what type.

Thanks for the advice by the way. I still have two small guys in a quarentine tank, but the rest of the crew in the 150 are doing well.