HELP! Desprate

[Stefaie]

I have a 80 gallon tank and its our first time with a big tank. we had a high fin shark, 3 clown loaches and 2 angel fish in it which died. we tookt he water to our local store to find our nitrate levels had turned acidic. we put a silver dollar in there and some other hardy fish and let it finish its nitrate cycle. we tested the water frequently and now two months later i decided to re stock the tank with fish. we test frequently and do partial water changes every week. we got a iradecent shark, 2 clown loaches, and a pleco (not sure his type but would love to find out)
then today came home and my pleco wasnt doing well at all. moved him to my smalled tank which has never had any problems and he seems to be doing better.
I dotn understand however what could be making my fish sick if all my readings for ph, nitrates, ect. are normal.


and another thing, i have never actually seen any of my plecos eat. i put algea flakes and blood worms in there but never see them go anywhere near the spot the food was. nor do i really see my shark or my clown loaches eat.

[emc7]

Try a sinking pellet or algae wafer right before lights out. You may never see nocturnal fish eat.

[Stefaie]

thank you. but do you have any idea why my fish might be getting sick if all my readings are accurate and not hrarmful

[emc7]

You tested for ammonia and nitrite, too right? and checked the temp? Are the fish chasing each other? Its always stressful when fish are moved (for the new fish and the old) and new fish can introduce disease if they aren't quarantined.

[Betta1]

I rarely see my pleco's eat. How old is your pleco? Older plecos start to eat more protien then algae. I've never seen my clown loaches eat either though since I moved them to my 29g the snail population has gone down and they have gotten bigger.

It's gonna be tough to determine whats wrong with your tank as in short all you've told us is that you had a problem long ago which wiped out your tank and recently the only symptom is a pleco who isn't feeling so well. Thats a little vague and tough to trouble shoot, is there anything else to go on? Anyone else acting odd, any markings or anything else out of the ordinary? I'm assuming that since you've got a test kit theres nothing wrong with your water quality so like emc mentioned something could have been introduced into your tank.

How long ago did you add your last fish? Did you add everyone at once? How soon after adding your last fish did symptoms appear?

Adding alot of fish at once to an established tank can cause a mini-cycle where ammonia spikes while the bacteria catches up, during this time fish can become stressed making sickness easier to occure. Though again you said you've been testing so I'm sure you would have noticed this.

Side note: clown loaches like to be in groups of 3 or more though 2 is better then 1

[Ice Prince]

Originally Posted by Stefaie

we tookt he water to our local store to find our nitrate levels had turned acidic. we put a silver dollar in there and some other hardy fish and let it finish its nitrate cycle.

nitrate turned acidic? do you mean ph? once a tank has nitrate and no nitrite and ammonia then it has finished its cycle. what do you mean by finish its nitrate cycle?

[Fishfirst]

You must read some info and do some water tests and posts those results on the forum before we can even begin to help you.

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/gene...le-basics.html

[emc7]

nitrate turned acidic?

I'm thinking the pH crashed due to really high nitrate and low hardness. Its not uncommon.

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by Stefaie

... we tookt he water to our local store to find our nitrate levels had turned acidic.
... I dotn understand however what could be making my fish sick if all my readings for ph ...are normal.

Steph:

Nitric acid is HNO3 and if an acidic condition was present in your tank and was generated by nitrates is the most probable acid which was present.

Latic acid or other organic acid is the 2nd most probable acid which was present in your tank.

Hydrochloric acid is HCl is the least probable acid which was present in your tank (IMHO) and would most probably have been produced by "something being wrong with your dechlorinate".

The problems are twofold.

1) This is the first time that I "have heard of" a high nitrate concentration generating an acid and

2) If your Ph was in the range of 6 to 7 then the probability of an acidic condition producing lethal conditions for your fish is virtually zero.

Originally Posted by Stefaie

and another thing, i have never actually seen any of my plecos eat. i put algea flakes and blood worms in there but never see them go anywhere near the spot the food was.

Welcome to the Club. I had several Queen pleco's and had not seen them "at all" in many months (not just eating but not at all) but when I was accomplishing a major tank cleaning they were all there".
You did not "say" but I presume that the flakes/blood worms were consumed the morning after feeding.

TR

[emc7]

have heard of" a high nitrate concentration generating an acid

I have heard of this. I don't know that its the nitrates specifically, but there is a "syndrome". A tank is about 2 years old and has never had a water change or has had a lax schedule (i.e. 10% once a month), suddenly fish die or act sick when "everything has been fine". When tested, the water is off the chart high in nitrate and pH is < 6. Sometimes as low as 4. Organic acids have accumulated and used up all the buffering capacity of the water. This is called "crashing".

[Fishfirst]

Stefaie: what were your parameters?