Lost some angelfish trying to figure out if my water levels are ok

[batson325]

Hey guys, I have a 215 gallon aquarium with rainbowfish, angelfish, tetras (red eye, Congo, rummy nose, hi511), plecos, Cory cats, and ocats. I lost a few o cats(5 or 6) since I put about 20 in the tank this weekend and just attributed this to their hardiness. I have lost a couple of small tetras over the last several days and again, wasn't overly concerned. Yesterday I noticed that one of my neon praecox rainbows developed a dry white spot on his body, so I took him out and flushed him. Today I noticed that my other praecox is starting to develop a white spot as well (picture below). I switched from peacock/Malawi cichlids about 2 weeks ago and now have theses community fish, so the water is well cycled as the tank has been up for over 6 months. About an hour ago I found 2 dead angelfish and a red eyed tetra dead, so now I am starting to get a little concerned. I am not sure if the issue with my rainbowfish has anything to do with the angelfish deaths either. I have also added a lot of fish over the last 2 weeks, but have not added any since Saturday. I did not see anything unusual on the angelfish or tetra when I scooped them out either. I have done weekly water changes and add prime and epson salt each time i do them. My water parameters are below:

temp:80
ph:7.6
ammonia: 0.25
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 80
gh: 180
kh: 180

any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[eklikewhoa]

The presence of ammonia shouldn't be there.

The "dry white spot" is the slime coat shedding.

I would test your water source for the above as well as chlorine if possible.
I would imagine that the recent rain caused the change in water source.

Add salt to the tank, sodium chloride, to help with the stress levels/slimecoat/nitrogen cycle.

[troy tucker]

how big are your water changes?
How big(old) were the angels and other fish?
Also how much flow do you have?
If the fish are juv. they can't take the stress of the high ammonia, the high nitrates and just all the other fish.
Adult angels are easy to stress. adding new tank mates can stress.
how many Fish in the tank?

[batson325]

The presence of ammonia shouldn't be there.

The "dry white spot" is the slime coat shedding.

I would test your water source for the above as well as chlorine if possible.
I would imagine that the recent rain caused the change in water source.

Add salt to the tank, sodium chloride, to help with the stress levels/slimecoat/nitrogen cycle.

thanks. Now that I'm looking closer, I see a Congo tetra that has a pinkish spot that looks dry on his 'skin'. I will add some salt and see how that helps. Would this explain the fish deaths that I have had?

[batson325]

how big are your water changes?
How big(old) were the angels and other fish?
Also how much flow do you have?
If the fish are juv. they can't take the stress of the high ammonia, the high nitrates and just all the other fish.
Adult angels are easy to stress. adding new tank mates can stress.
how many Fish in the tank?

I usually change at least 25% once a week. The flow is good, I have 2 bubble wands, 2 eheim filters breaking the water surface, and two fans? Down toward the bottom blowing water. The angelfish and tetra I lost were not juvenile, they were adults. I did throw most of the fish in here over the last two weeks, so they could be stressed, although, one of the angels I lost seemed to be one of he more aggressive. There are about 30 fish not including 10 small rummy nose tetras and about 15 o-cats.

[LooksLater]

If you've got ammonia present, you're still cycling (or mini-cycling as the bacteria catch up to the new bioload). Try water changing until ammonia reads zero, then start using some Stability to help the fish out.

[mistahoo]

Re: Lost some angelfish trying to figure out if my water levels are ok

Usually when it rains the water treatment facility adds more chlorine in the water to kill off pollutants from the rain traveling through the polluted atmosphere and getting into the reservoir. I would add a dechlorinator and salt then tomorrow or the day after do a large water change. Make sure you add the dechlorinator before filling the tank back up

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[eklikewhoa]

If you've got ammonia present, you're still cycling (or mini-cycling as the bacteria catch up to the new bioload). Try water changing until ammonia reads zero, then start using some Stability to help the fish out.

if the water source is the culprit of the ammonia readings this should be addressed first.
Op stated the tank has been set up for 6m now but there was a new addition of 20 fish with some dieing... Op, have all the fish been accounted for? anything dead that is rotting in the tank?

Usually when it rains the water treatment facility adds more chlorine in the water to kill off pollutants from the rain traveling through the polluted atmosphere and getting into the reservoir. I would add a dechlorinator and salt then tomorrow or the day after do a large water change. Make sure you add the dechlorinator before filling the tank back up

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

That would be Chloramine which would be giving the ammonia reading if this is the case.

[batson325]

if the water source is the culprit of the ammonia readings this should be addressed first.
Op stated the tank has been set up for 6m now but there was a new addition of 20 fish with some dieing... Op, have all the fish been accounted for? anything dead that is rotting in the tank?



That would be Chloramine which would be giving the ammonia reading if this is the case.

everything has been accounted for and removed immediately. Should I add regular table salt, or uniodized table salt? I don't have any aquarium salt on hand right now and think I would have trouble finding some his late.

Water straight from my faucet tested as follows:

ph: 8.0
ammonia: 0.25
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
gh: 30
kh:240

i don't have any way to test for chlorine

[eklikewhoa]

Looks like your ammonia is coming from the source.

You can use kosher salt from walmart or whatever as long as there isn't any anti-caking agent.
If you can find water softener salt it works as well, homedepot/lowes sells the big bag of this stuff for a few bucks.

[Ogrodii]

Re: Lost some angelfish trying to figure out if my water levels are ok

I need salt myself where can you find the most for cheap ?

[batson325]

Looks like your ammonia is coming from the source.

You can use kosher salt from walmart or whatever as long as there isn't any anti-caking agent.
If you can find water softener salt it works as well, homedepot/lowes sells the big bag of this stuff for a few bucks.

how much? 1tsp/ 10 gal? 1tsp/5 gal? Btw... I just euthanized my other neon rainbow he started swimming funny and kept running into plants.

[eklikewhoa]

I need salt myself where can you find the most for cheap ?

HomeDepot, they sell the water softener salt which is sodium chloride for a few bucks for a large bag which I think is 20lbs
Think cuongsays mentioned SAMs club having a good deal on magnesium sulfate which is epsom salt

how much? 1tsp/ 10 gal? 1tsp/5 gal? Btw... I just euthanized my other neon rainbow he started swimming funny and kept running into plants.

I would do 1tablespoon per 5g. remember that salt does not evaporate and the only way to remove salt is through water change with fresh water. So when you go to do another water change, only replace the salt for the volume of water removed.

[batson325]

HomeDepot, they sell the water softener salt which is sodium chloride for a few bucks for a large bag which I think is 20lbs
Think cuongsays mentioned SAMs club having a good deal on magnesium sulfate which is epsom salt



I would do 1tablespoon per 5g. remember that salt does not evaporate and the only way to remove salt is through water change with fresh water. So when you go to do another water change, only replace the salt for the volume of water removed.

thanks, I just added kosher salt. Do I need to do this every water change in addition to Epsom salt and prime?

[eklikewhoa]

You don't necessarily have to but if your params continue to read the way they are I would.