# DISASTER! Help!



## BANANAHANDS (Mar 22, 2007)

I had a major issue 2 days ago. Long story short I had my bio wheel filter fail (sand got in the motor housing somehow) on my 29g tank. I'd been treating the tank with "metro" for bloat because one of my red zebras had it bad, it looked like a balloon. But it seemed to be getting better. 
I'd just set up a brand new 50g tank and planned on trying a fishless cycle. My plan was to cycle the new tank while I treat the 29g in hopes that all would be healthy in time for the move. I'm still waiting on my c-360 to arrive in the mail tomorrow but luckily i'd just set up a brand new penguin 350 to supplement my 360. 
I realize that it probably wasn't the best idea, but when the filter died I panicked, so I took the bio-wheel out of my 200 and put in it the 350. I also moved over some sand in hopes of getting as much of the good bacteria as I could. I moved over all of the fish except the sick red zebra. So I seeded my new tank from a sick tank. Horrible idea, I know, but like I said i panicked. 
Today I noticed several strands of white feces floating around. judging by the amount, it didn't come from just one fish. WHAT DO I DO??? Metro didn't seem to remedy the problem in the first place. I went through three 100g containers of it and nothing. I don't want to use clout since it is a brand new tank and don't want to dye the silicone. Any other suggestions? I
My water parameters are:

PH- between 7.8-8.0 (hard to tell, the color was right in between)
Ammonia- .50
Nitrites- 0.25
Nitrates- 10ppm
temperature -80

Stock list:

2 yellow labs
1 red zebra
2 albino zebras
1 red topped zebra
2 johanni males 
1 P. elongatus
2 synondontis petricola

I know, I know, Horrible mix. Thanks LFS! :thumb:

Oh couple more things. when I was treating my 29g, I added epsom salt and raised the temperature to about 82-83. And I can't use the 29g for clout treatment, its already been promised to my girlfriend so she can get some fancy goldfish :lol:

Heres a link to my original thread about my sick red zebra http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=171852

Thank you for any help.

Khris


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## BANANAHANDS (Mar 22, 2007)

Oh one more thing. I am planning on almost completely changing my stock list but I have to get them healthy first. I can't in good conscience trade them in to a lfs or sell them when they're sick. :thumb:


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi Khris,

first of all white feces doesn't always meant bloat so we're not going to worry too much about that at the moment. 
Whats of more concern is your ammonia and nitrite readings. In an established tank ammonia and nitrite should always be 0. So what I would do today is a partial water change of 40%, siphon the gravel and then add salt at the rate of 1-2 teaspoons per ten gallons. (Salt: sodium chloride, plain old table salt without any additives. 'Aquarium Salt' from the LFS will work. A cheaper alternative is Kosher salt from the grocery store). The salt will help to detoxify the nitrite. 
Also make sure you're using a good quality declorinator. 
Additionally: feed the fish sparingly for the next couple of days. One very small feeding a day.

Not exactly sure which tank ended up being seeded from the sick tank but if it was in fact bloat that your fish were sick with then seeding from a sick tank probably wont' be much of a threat to any new fish. For the most part fish get sick when their immune system gets suppressed from some kind of stress. (Stress: poor water conditions, aggressive tankmates, improper diet, etc). This is especially true with bloat. So keeping your fish in optimum conditions will go along ways to keeping them healthy.

If you need to treat your fish for bloat again a good alternative to Clout is Jungle Parasite Clear. It won't stain your tank and it has metronidazole in it.



> 2 yellow labs
> 1 red zebra
> 2 albino zebras
> 1 red topped zebra
> ...


Are these fish presently in the 29g? If so then aggression may work against recovery. If you can't separate them then I would try putting several large fake plants in there. There's a brand called Fancy Plants that I find works well for this. Hang them from the top of the tank. This will help to create a visual barrier between fish and hopefully prevent the more aggressive fish from getting a clean shot at anyone.

Please post back with any additional info or if there's anything I've missed.

Robin


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## BANANAHANDS (Mar 22, 2007)

Thanks Robin :thumb: 
I just completed about a 30% water change during which i siphoned the gravel so I hope that helps. I use Stress Coat+ for my tap water treatment. 
My new 50g was seeded from my 29g. All of the fish are now in the 50g, except for the red zebra which has since died. My water parameters are out of whack because its a brand new tank and not properly cycled. The bio wheel from the 29g should help but I may try and find some Bio-spira to help it along. My C-360 filter arrives tomorrow, I was thinking install it then use bio-spira in hopes that the new canister filter would be seeded almost instantly. what do you think? 
The fish really seem to be enjoying the extra space in the 50g(its a 50g by the way, the same footprint as a 55g just a little shorter). I have 40lbs of lace rock in the tank and they're all swimming around investigating all of the caves. They're all quite eager to eat as usual. Kind of reminds me of piranha. :lol: 
Thanks again for any info,

Khris


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## BANANAHANDS (Mar 22, 2007)

Just to clarify, the red zebra was left in the 29g then died. it never made the move to the 50g.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

I don't know if there's a difference between Stress Coat and Stress Coat+ but as far as I know Stress Coat won't properly deal with chloramines. Check out the article linked below. You may want to switch to something else.

Yes, use the bio spira and seed the new filter with the old filter and do daily partial water changes to help with the ammonia and nitrite. You really don't want the fish to go through any part of the cycling process--even small amounts of ammonia and nitrite can cause internal damage and stress them to the extent that they become susceptible to illness and disease. A declorinator such as Seachem Prime will help by removing ammonia and detoxifying nitrite.

If you're going to use the old filter to seed the new tank you should do so right away. Without fish in the tank a filter will quickly lose its beneficial bacteria and with it its ability to keep a tank cycled.

Your new tank sounds great. 8)

Robin


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## BANANAHANDS (Mar 22, 2007)

Thanks Robin,
I'll go pick up some Prime. 
As for seeding the filter: I moved the bio-wheel from the 29g to the penguin 350 I have on the 50g before I moved the fish over. 
Here's a link to a thread I just started about my new setup. Its kind of simple as far as aquascaping but I kind of like that. 
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=172476

THanks again for all your help. I'll keep you posted,

Khris :fish:


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## fumoffu (Apr 23, 2008)

If you have no fish in the 29g, just move the rest of the filter to the 50! This really just start the new tank very quickly. My guess is because you were fishless-ly cycling the new 50 is the reason the ammonia is so high?

Good luck


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## BANANAHANDS (Mar 22, 2007)

no, I wanted to fishless cycle but never got a chance. equipment failure on my 29g forced me to move the fish to the 50g prematurely. So I moved the fish as well as the filter media(bio-wheel)over to the 50g. So it has a head start on the cycle but is not yet completely cycled.

Khris


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