I lost two more fish last night. The other gourami and one of the platys. I'm hoping that the only reason is the nitrite spike i spoke to some of you in chat about, and that everything else is alright. I havnt tested yet this morning, I'm waiting to put my daughter on the school bus, but is there anything else I should be looking for? These fish that are dying look fine and are active/eating the night prior, and tehn upon me waking are just dead. They are sinking instead of floating, does that mean anything? lol I'll be testing the water in about half an hour and will be back to post the results.

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Make that 3 more, or at least pretty soon. I went to take the water samples and my pleco was on his back on the bottom, went to net him and he was still alive but went back to being on his back. My assumption is, he's on his way out. So I did the water testing, and even though I havnt been I decided to test the PH levels. This could be a major cause of what's going on actually as my PH was running 8.4 consistantly, and now is down to 7.4. Would the sand substrate do this?

Anyway, here are the levels:

Ammonia:.25
Nitrite: 5ppm (this was 2ppm yesterday and I did a massive water change less than 12 hours ago. Do another?)
Nitrate: 20ppm
PH: 7.4

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

tested the tap for ph. Turns out that dropped as well. It was running a very consistant 8.2/8.4. Now I'm thinknig that this is why my fish are dying. As far as the nitrite spike I have NO idea. I have to run up to the fish store at 10am and get some more dechlorinator before Ican do another water change...

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Looks like the nitrites to me. If you test and a water change is needed, conduct the water change and test again. If it is still dangerously high, then I would do another water change. A nitrite spike of 5ppm will only go down about the % of water you change...so even if it goes down to 2+ppm after a 50%, that is still too high. Just throwing out examples....

I would do at least 50%, if not closer to 75% water change. Test again a hour after and then again in the morning. If it is high again in the morning, do another water change.

Thanks, i'm going to do another huge water change and i picked up some stress zyme at the lfs when i went for dechlorinator.

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Hence why I like fishless cycling.

The dead bodies in the tank are probably adding to the ammonia and nitrite levels. Keep on those PWC's to try and stave off more losses.

__________________
Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

I lost 3 more. I'm down to 3 fish. They all have this white fimy stringy "stuff" on their bodies. Is it a fungal infection?

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Tropical Fish Disease Identification with pictures and cures. I recommend you this site,could help you a lot. Is very good the recommendation here but I see you don't have to much time to wait for an answer.

__________________
55 Gals. Plants Anubias,Amazon Swords and more. Tetras: 6 Sarpaes.4 Red Eyes,5 Black Skirts,4 Giant Danios,2 Lemons, 2 Emerald Cory,4 German Blue.
10 gals. tank : Plants, Full of Guppies; 20 Gals. Tank planted Full of Guppies: 1 gal tank filled with Guppies

Ok I just tested again, after doin a HUGE pwc this afternoon and adding jungle quick start and stress zyme+ as reccomended by the LFS to help w/ the nitrite levels, and IT WORKED!!! Levels right now

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 5ppm

I almost didnt believe my own eyes. I even waited 10 minutes instead of 5 waiting for it to change colors. Am I out of the woods? I doubt it, but i'm hopefull that I can get this under control now.

My only question is, is the damage to the three remaining fish already done? Or do that have a chance of bouncing back from this?

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Changing water is the way to go. I mix for temp right at the tap and transport by hose to the tank, ad the Aquasafe directly into the tank. Even while doing a 75% change it works fine and I have nothing but happy fish to prove it. Once a week for each tank . My angels stay happy. My tap water with Tetra Aquasafe yields consistent ph 6.7 . I am not testing for hardness now except with the occasional dip tab which indicate fine but my living test kits are my fish. I can spot a problem a mile away with the occasional clamped fins and shimmy but on those rare times a quick 50% change will usually fix everything.

Nothing that you added will change test results. The test will still show ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. If you were close, I'd smack you for listening to store personnel

You need to continue to test daily.

OH gosh ben, please don't smack me!!! I just assumed that since the sky high nitrites dropped to 0 after adding it taht it helped. sheesh lol

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Ben and I are of different opinions - I swear by the bacteria-in-a-bottle method for cycling tanks. My preferred choice is Tetra SafeStart, but I've heard mixed reviews on Jungle Quick Start as well. Many will tell you they're useless, and many others will tell you they work. I've had success cycling a tank in about a week with TSS, wringing out prefilters from established tanks into my new tank, and a decomposing piece of seafood as an ammonia source.

You might be out of the woods, but only testing and time will tell. Brace for a nitrate spike (but it will have much less impact than an ammonia or nitrite spike).

__________________
Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!