
Darter fish colorations
#1
Posted 04 November 2021 - 01:47 PM
#4
Posted 05 November 2021 - 08:21 AM
Uneaten foods will foul the water. A tank that is not established with a healthy load of beneficial bacteria (i.e. a new tank that have not been "cycled" properly) will sometime experience spike in ammonia. Until the bacteria has built up to levels that can handle the nitrites/ammonia (toxic to fish), the spikes in ammonia can cause fish deaths. Look up "cycling new aquarium". With the tank only being a month old, I suspect this may be the issue. Can you test the water? There are some cheap water quality testing strips sold at most pet stores. If you aren't sure of the cause and can't test the water for nitrites/ammonia, I suggest a partial water change.
As the name suggests, partial water changes are when you remove a portion of the existing tank water and replace with new treated water. Usually this is paired with a gravel vacuum, which will syphon water out of your tank while sucking up fish waste and uneaten food items from your substrate. This will "freshen up" your tank while removing common culprits of ammonia spikes. When adding new water, make sure it is properly treated for chlorine/chloramine, and close to the same temperature as the existing tank water. For your fist water change, I suggest doing a 1/3 water change, and maybe continuing with 1/4 water changes every couple of days until you can get the ammonia until control and bacteria can start to keep up. Feed sparingly too.
So sorry about the darters!
Willie P
#5
Posted 06 November 2021 - 02:09 PM
#6
Posted 12 November 2021 - 07:32 PM
What are your water parameters? Ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc.... If the tank isn't cycled and the bacteria established that turns the ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate, THAT kills fish quickly. Nitrite is more deadly than nitrate, but nitrate is still deadly to fish, it just takes a lot longer.
That being said, uneaten food rots and turns into ammonia which turns into nitrites. If the tank isn't cycled and you have food rotting on the bottom, that can do it. The craws just come by and eat what's left. Go and buy a water test kit. I myself like the 10 in 1 test strips that test ph, hardness, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc... The way I seed my tank with bacteria is to get a quart jar of water from where I caught the fish at and add that water into my tank. It jump starts the bacteria culture.
Check your parameters.
The Grumpy Old Man.
Reply to this topic

1 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users