4 dead 2 more sick

[Lester]

Hi All Thanks in advance

Here's what I've got:

I checked on tank at 0800 4 pregnant platies are dead 2 don't look so good. The rest of the fish are at the service gulping for air. Snail even crawled out.

37 gallon tall with small sponge filter, 307 fluval with under gravel input and spray bar output. Gravel substrate 9 inches in the back 3 inches in the front with bags of fluval stratum aquasoil. Medium planting. Heavy stocked due to platies breeding. Lights on for 11 hours mounted 4 in over tank. No lid. 1 year old.

Coop test strip:

No chlorine I'm on a well.

Ph 6.4

Kh 40

Gh 300+

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 50 to 100

No ammonia 

Tds 850(not sure I believe this going to order a new meter)

What I've done recently(3days): 

I did a normal water change 25 percent.  I use rodi water. I reminiralize to 200 tds and aerate with sponge filter for at least 24 hours and heat. I trimmed a bunch of stems out. I added 40 blue dreams from another one of my tanks. 

I removed dead fish.

I'm happy to supply more info.

What should I do?

[Fish Folk]

Beautiful. Very sorry to hear.

Temperature??

I would add an airstone or two.

Gulping sounds like low DO or sudden temperature change.

[Theplatymaster]

raise PH!

[Theplatymaster]

On 11/28/2022 at 3:31 PM, Fish Folk said:

 

Temperature??

 

Gulping sounds like low DO or sudden temperature change.

Unless you water is less than maybe 40 the fish should be fine. I listened to the Ted Colleti Aquarist Podcast talk and he said Platies can handle pretty cold. I wouldn't worry about temp

[Fish Folk]

On 11/28/2022 at 3:54 PM, Theplatymaster said:

Unless you water is less than maybe 40 the fish should be fine. I listened to the Ted Colleti Aquarist Podcast talk and he said Platies can handle pretty cold. I wouldn't worry about temp

Agreed. Was thinking a stuck heater. High temp / low DO. But that 6.4 pH is probably an issue. I’d probably opt to mix RO with tap.

[nabokovfan87]

Nitrates are really, really high.  If that's from waste (not dosing) then you're talking about that also being an issue.  I would be doing daily 50% WCs to drop nitrate to at least below 30, preferably 10-25 range as a limit.

Gasping for air, I usually almost habitually add salt + airstone and do a 50% water change.  For some instances, bad test result, I will do a bigger water change to correct things more quickly.

The fish deaths could also have spiked the nitrates pretty bad on you too. 

[Lester]

Thank you for all the advise.  Checked temp is good 75. Did a 25 percent water change and added air stone, fish all seem to be back to normal. No more dead fish.  This is last test results below. TDS down to 700.

I did do ph test with api and got 7.4 to 7.6. I will test again in the morning. Then do a 25 percent water change and lightly clean filter and add more crushed coral. I think this will increase flow and I have spray bar pointed towards surface.

Thanks to everyone who responded.  I sometimes feel like I'm in over my head and your responses are very helpful.  

I think I will also go donate a bunch of platies, as this is not the only tank of them. 

[nabokovfan87]

@Lester Any idea on hardness?  Maybe the test got contaminated from water on the other pads? (see below)
 

 

On 11/28/2022 at 6:15 PM, Lester said:

I sometimes feel like I'm in over my head and your responses are very helpful.  

we've all been there, don't worry!  It's a great group, very helpful.  Might take longer than sitting in front of the tank chatting, but it's a great place to get some guidance.

[Lester]

On 11/28/2022 at 6:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

@Lester Any idea on hardness?  Maybe the test got contaminated from water on the other pads? (see below)
 

 

we've all been there, don't worry!  It's a great group, very helpful.  Might take longer than sitting in front of the tank chatting, but it's a great place to get some guidance.

I will use this advise.  Thanks

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/28/2022 at 9:15 PM, Lester said:

I did do ph test with api and got 7.4 to 7.6. I will test again in the morning. Then do a 25 percent water change and lightly clean filter and add more crushed coral.

If your pH is reading at 7.4 to 7.6, I would not recommend adding any crushed coral, as the crush coral raises pH.  You are already in the correct range for your platies, corydoras, and blue dream shrimp.

What is the pH of the new water going into the tank at water changes?

Edited November 29, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea