sorry, but that colored and maybe coated gravel breaks down and becomes really toxic
all on its own, even without being the site of anaerobic digestion. you are not over
cleaning your gravel, it has gone toxic. get it out, if you must use plain old pea
gravel.
yes, the black crud could be a toxic type of algae. bleach the lid, rinse well of
course. and get and use some organic dolomitic limestone. you can get this at
garden centers. it is usually quite gritty, white powder with darker gritty pieces.
try it out in a bucket of water for 2-3 days first, pHing it to make absolutely sure.
make sure it doesnt have any additives. mine actually just sits on the bottom of my
bare bottom tanks. please, dont consider using plaster of paris in any form. it
wont work. Ingrid

"Kodiak" wrote:
Thanks ingrid, i like where your going with this.
I have standard rainbow coulored Aquarium gravel,
bought it 5 years ago and been using it ever since
with no issues.

What I noticed that is weird is, i'll approach the tank
around feeding time, fish seem allright, they hang out at the
surface, i turn the lights on and feed them, they eat a bit,
then they dart around like mad and stop eating alltogether.
Could it be the black crud that accumulates on my aquarium
lid (i'm using egg crate material like the stuff to diffuse lights)
leaching back into the tank surface water? Is that stuff toxic?
Am I overcleaning the gravel? Is 10ppm Nitrates actually a
good thing?

I know the food is good cause I use it in my other tanks, no issues
with the other fish.

Still I suspect my water hardness is too low. My KH out of the tap
is around 30ppm or less, and when this whole thing started the PH crashed
and KH was 0, could toxins cause something like that?

...Kodiak


wrote in message
...
when there is an inobvious problem with fish acting toxed out, or worse,
fish dying
move the fish to a bucket of fresh water and then clean the tank out.
your gravel
sounds like it has gone toxic. Jo Ann had every test known and she would
get a
situation going where the fish were acting weird and NOTHING showed up on
the tests
and she would just move the fish out to a new tank and she would empty and
clean the
old one. some things cant be "figured out" in time to save the fish.
the longer any tank has been set up the more likely the tank has gone
toxic somehow.
what kind of gravel you got?
Ingrid

"Kodiak" wrote:

PH crashed in my 33gal three days ago.
stats were ammo 0, Nitrite 0, nitrate 10
but PH crashed to 6.0, KH was 0, kaput, nonexistant.
GH was very very low like 10. My Pleco died.

Did 50% water, PH only went up to 6.5, KH was still really bad.
Waited 12 hours and added 1 teaspoon baking soda.
PH went back up to 7.5 KH was 60 and GH 80. Fish got much
happier.

Today fish are acting all funny like they are hurting again.
Some are sitting on the bottom, most are bunched
together and hanging out near the filter inlet. Two of them
have minute signs of fin rot or look a bit frayed on the tips
that seems new. I rechecked stats all seems normal.
PH 7.5 KH 50, GH 60, ammo 0, nitrite0 nitrate10.
Did another 30% water tonight and they seem much happier
again.

Tank is a bit overstocked but it's been running a long time
and never had these problems. I'm running a good airstone,
an Aquaclear300 with lavarock and biomax media, temp is
72, i use 48hour airstone aged temp matched water with
recomended shot of dechlor. I also run a 0.05% salt solution.

I usually do a 30% water
with gravel siphon once a week. However, now i really
really siphon the gravel, I run a garden hose to the basement
so it really gets the krud out. My Nitrates are really low now,
always less than 10ppm. Could it be i'm overcleaning the gravel
and killing off good bacteria? If so shouldn't I see ammo or Nitrite
spike? Did the PH swing cause long term damage that will take a
while to recover? Did the PH swing hurt my biofilter? If so wouldn't
I see a spike?

Anyone have any idea what's going on here?

...Kodiak




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.