fish at surface last night???

[Larry]

I knew something was wrong the second I saw most of my fish near the
surface last night Even with my rookie status I knew something had to
be done fast.

I have a 26g, planted tank with CO2 bubbler. Tested water and all was
fine. This problem would be related to O2 in some way. I did a 25%
water change. This morning my Red tail shark and one tetra were dead.
So I tested the water again and all areas were within specs. I did
another 25% water change(treated for chloramine). All fish look
healthy. Some mouths seem to be moving more than usual (could be my
imagination) but they are back all over the tank again.

Any thoughts?

This reminded me of Steffs recent postings about mysterious fish
deaths. I don't want to see any more from my tank. d_m!!!!

All the best,

Larry

[Gill Passman]

"Larry" > wrote in message
...
> I knew something was wrong the second I saw most of my fish near the
> surface last night Even with my rookie status I knew something had to
> be done fast.
>
> I have a 26g, planted tank with CO2 bubbler. Tested water and all was
> fine. This problem would be related to O2 in some way. I did a 25%
> water change. This morning my Red tail shark and one tetra were dead.
> So I tested the water again and all areas were within specs. I did
> another 25% water change(treated for chloramine). All fish look
> healthy. Some mouths seem to be moving more than usual (could be my
> imagination) but they are back all over the tank again.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> This reminded me of Steffs recent postings about mysterious fish
> deaths. I don't want to see any more from my tank. d_m!!!!
>
> All the best,
>
> Larry
>
I think you are probably right and is an oxygenation problem especially as
you found the problem in the morning after the plants haven't been
oxygenating the tank overnight. Have you got an air brick in there? If not
it might be worth a try. Also check out what is going on with your CO2
unit.....I don't know much about them but maybe it could be disconnected at
night time.

Gill

[Elaine T]

Larry wrote:
> I knew something was wrong the second I saw most of my fish near the
> surface last night Even with my rookie status I knew something had to
> be done fast.
>
> I have a 26g, planted tank with CO2 bubbler. Tested water and all was
> fine. This problem would be related to O2 in some way. I did a 25%
> water change. This morning my Red tail shark and one tetra were dead.
> So I tested the water again and all areas were within specs. I did
> another 25% water change(treated for chloramine). All fish look
> healthy. Some mouths seem to be moving more than usual (could be my
> imagination) but they are back all over the tank again.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> This reminded me of Steffs recent postings about mysterious fish
> deaths. I don't want to see any more from my tank. d_m!!!!
>
> All the best,
>
> Larry
>
Couple of thoughts.
1. Nitrite or chloramine poisoning, but you tested the water.
2. Too low 02, and water changes are only a temporary fix for that. An
overheated tank or plants using too much 02 at night can cause this. You
have to add an airstone to the tank if fish are gasping - a correctly
sized airstone will fix the problem in minutes.
3. Too much CO2. It can have similar effects to low 02. Fish gasp
because they can't rid themselves of blood CO2. Again aerate heavily to
drive off excess CO2. You may have too much during the day and not all
tanks are safe with CO2 at night.

I would monitor nitrites, turn down the CO2 during the day, turn it off
completely at night, and run an airstone overnight. Hopefully that will
prevent further losses. If it does, you might want to consider running
the airpump on a timer.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[CanadianCray]

CO2 levels have no bearing on the O2 content of your water. You should be
able to crank you CO2 level up & have perfectly comfortable fish. Air stones
are ok but not very efficient for getting O2 into the water as the bubbles
themselves do nothing but add turbulence at the surface. You would prob. be
better off adding a good power head or something to increase water
circulation.


"Larry" > wrote in message
...
>I knew something was wrong the second I saw most of my fish near the
> surface last night Even with my rookie status I knew something had to
> be done fast.
>
> I have a 26g, planted tank with CO2 bubbler. Tested water and all was
> fine. This problem would be related to O2 in some way. I did a 25%
> water change. This morning my Red tail shark and one tetra were dead.
> So I tested the water again and all areas were within specs. I did
> another 25% water change(treated for chloramine). All fish look
> healthy. Some mouths seem to be moving more than usual (could be my
> imagination) but they are back all over the tank again.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> This reminded me of Steffs recent postings about mysterious fish
> deaths. I don't want to see any more from my tank. d_m!!!!
>
> All the best,
>
> Larry
>

[Dick]

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 12:57:13 -0400, Larry > wrote:

>I knew something was wrong the second I saw most of my fish near the
>surface last night Even with my rookie status I knew something had to
>be done fast.
>
>I have a 26g, planted tank with CO2 bubbler. Tested water and all was
>fine. This problem would be related to O2 in some way. I did a 25%
>water change. This morning my Red tail shark and one tetra were dead.
>So I tested the water again and all areas were within specs. I did
>another 25% water change(treated for chloramine). All fish look
>healthy. Some mouths seem to be moving more than usual (could be my
>imagination) but they are back all over the tank again.
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>This reminded me of Steffs recent postings about mysterious fish
>deaths. I don't want to see any more from my tank. d_m!!!!
>
>All the best,
>
>Larry

What is your partial water change procedure. Something about the way
you phrased the 25% water changes gives me the impression you do not
change regularly or else not frequently.

Did you check your water temperature?

Most of my fish go to the bottom overnight. I would be concerned as
you are, if my fish were staying at the top. I have never lost a
tetra in over 2 years, they are hardy fish in my experience.

You didn't mention population density or size of your fish. Do you
have an air bubbler?

Hard to deal with an unseen enemy, I don't envy your situation. My
questions deal mostly with what I didn't see in your post, not any
special hints to a solution.

dick

[Larry]

>>
>>Larry
>
>What is your partial water change procedure. Something about the way
>you phrased the 25% water changes gives me the impression you do not
>change regularly or else not frequently.
>
>Did you check your water temperature?
>
>Most of my fish go to the bottom overnight. I would be concerned as
>you are, if my fish were staying at the top. I have never lost a
>tetra in over 2 years, they are hardy fish in my experience.
>
>You didn't mention population density or size of your fish. Do you
>have an air bubbler?
>
>Hard to deal with an unseen enemy, I don't envy your situation. My
>questions deal mostly with what I didn't see in your post, not any
>special hints to a solution.
>
>dick

Hi Dick,

I do regular 25-35% changes once a week. Nitrates are always 20-40
max. before the change. Nitrites -0
I treat water and let it stand for about 10 minutes until chloramine
has been taken care of.

I have a bubbler but it is on low setting (for aesthetics only).
CanadianCray suggested additional water turbulence, so I kept the air
stone on lowish setting but increased the flow from my filters and
turned it toward a wall. I believe he/she also suggested that the
CO2 yeast type bubbler would not be an issue in this case.

So far so good. Now that I know what a Red Ram is I am going to
replace my red eyed tetra and RTS with a pair of the Bolivians.
I have two mature keyhole cichlids and they are absolutely gorgeous
and gentle. They will hopefully go well together.

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated.

[Elaine T]

Larry wrote:

> So far so good. Now that I know what a Red Ram is I am going to
> replace my red eyed tetra and RTS with a pair of the Bolivians.
> I have two mature keyhole cichlids and they are absolutely gorgeous
> and gentle. They will hopefully go well together.
>
> Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated.

I've kept keyholes with Bolivian rams. No troubles at all and they're
gorgeous, great fish! The Bolivians stay down low like blue rams and
the keyholes up a bit more towards midwater so there's not even any
territory clash in the first place.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Scott]

What tests did you do on the water to assure yourself that all parameters
are normal? I am specifically thinking of pH since you have a CO2 bubbler,
especially a homebrew one. I tried it once and it is so hard to regulate the
amount of CO2 that enters the water that your pH varies widely. And being a
logarithmic scale, a wide variation on pH can end up being a HUGE difference
in water quality.

---scott

"Larry" > wrote in message
...
>I knew something was wrong the second I saw most of my fish near the
> surface last night Even with my rookie status I knew something had to
> be done fast.
>
> I have a 26g, planted tank with CO2 bubbler. Tested water and all was
> fine. This problem would be related to O2 in some way. I did a 25%
> water change. This morning my Red tail shark and one tetra were dead.
> So I tested the water again and all areas were within specs. I did
> another 25% water change(treated for chloramine). All fish look
> healthy. Some mouths seem to be moving more than usual (could be my
> imagination) but they are back all over the tank again.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> This reminded me of Steffs recent postings about mysterious fish
> deaths. I don't want to see any more from my tank. d_m!!!!
>
> All the best,
>
> Larry
>

[Happy'Cam'per]

"Scott" <smaxell1{at}hotmail.com> wrote in message
...
> What tests did you do on the water to assure yourself that all parameters
> are normal? I am specifically thinking of pH since you have a CO2 bubbler,
> especially a homebrew one. I tried it once and it is so hard to regulate
the
> amount of CO2 that enters the water that your pH varies widely. And being
a
> logarithmic scale, a wide variation on pH can end up being a HUGE
difference
> in water quality.


Indeed, I'll bet he's got a low kh aswell.
--
Kind Regards
Cameron