Flash Wilson
January 24th 04, 06:40 PM
I looked at the tank today to find
1) the light not working
2) one large fish dead
3) ammonia nil but nitrite off the scale
So I am assuming this is what happened; the fish died for some
unknown reason, and because the light wasn't working I didn't
spot the corpse for a few hours. This meant that it rotted a
bit in the tank and so produced a higher load on the filter.
As ammonia is nil, I'm assuming the filter is not screwed for
some other reason (like it's just not working well), and has
in fact been working overtime to turn all the ammonia from the
rotting fish into nitrite... and was just waiting for extra
nitrite-eating bacteria to grow, when I noticed. (Usually if
the filter is screwed I will notice an ammonia spike first.)
Nothing else has changed on the tank lately; all fish have
been well. I last took readings a month ago and the water was
fine then. I did a 20% water change ten days ago because it
was due for one (and I've done a 50% one today and upped the
flow rate on the filter, as well as the oxygenation).
I fixed the light by replacing the tube.
Any other ideas what might have happened? For example I
wondered if the tube might have blown and something been
released into the air around the tank, causing my fish to
die. Or whether (it was a catfish) the continuous "night"
caused him to get overtired and become unwell... but the
answer above seems the most logical to me.
Also, any tips welcome - I'll keep monitoring the nitrite
and will change water again tomorrow. Earlier it was at
the top reading in my test kit - >4ppm(!) The fish all
look happy now though - they were gasping a bit before
I did the water change (and after I could see them again).
I've got some nitrazorb recharging, I'll stick that in
the filter tomorrow too if necessary.
--
Flash . o O ( www.gorge.org )
1) the light not working
2) one large fish dead
3) ammonia nil but nitrite off the scale
So I am assuming this is what happened; the fish died for some
unknown reason, and because the light wasn't working I didn't
spot the corpse for a few hours. This meant that it rotted a
bit in the tank and so produced a higher load on the filter.
As ammonia is nil, I'm assuming the filter is not screwed for
some other reason (like it's just not working well), and has
in fact been working overtime to turn all the ammonia from the
rotting fish into nitrite... and was just waiting for extra
nitrite-eating bacteria to grow, when I noticed. (Usually if
the filter is screwed I will notice an ammonia spike first.)
Nothing else has changed on the tank lately; all fish have
been well. I last took readings a month ago and the water was
fine then. I did a 20% water change ten days ago because it
was due for one (and I've done a 50% one today and upped the
flow rate on the filter, as well as the oxygenation).
I fixed the light by replacing the tube.
Any other ideas what might have happened? For example I
wondered if the tube might have blown and something been
released into the air around the tank, causing my fish to
die. Or whether (it was a catfish) the continuous "night"
caused him to get overtired and become unwell... but the
answer above seems the most logical to me.
Also, any tips welcome - I'll keep monitoring the nitrite
and will change water again tomorrow. Earlier it was at
the top reading in my test kit - >4ppm(!) The fish all
look happy now though - they were gasping a bit before
I did the water change (and after I could see them again).
I've got some nitrazorb recharging, I'll stick that in
the filter tomorrow too if necessary.
--
Flash . o O ( www.gorge.org )