Whoops apocalypse

[fishycanuck]

I've had a disaster!
I have three tanks which have been stable for months.
25G community tank, usual pH 6.8, no ammonia or nitrites, maybe 5 nitrates
10G number one, usual pH 6.8, same chem readings
10G number two, usual pH 7.0, rest same.
Temperature a stable 76-78 F in all.

Two weeks ago, I introduced a cherry barb, pineapple sword into tank two, and a G. Brasiliensis into the 25G. Since then, I have had a number of deaths...

25G no deaths but tonight the pH was 6.0 (I double checked) and nitrates 40

10G number one, one dead fish, nitrates 10 to 20

10G number two,  one frog and the barb died out of the blue, the resident betta had to be removed (and subsequently died) due to fungus, the pH is now 7.8 and nitrates 40.

Temperature, ammonia, and nitrites remain stable.  All last week I treated the 25G and number two with melafix and had the carbon out.... I do weekly pwcs of 30 to 40 percent.

What went wrong?

[BigDaddy]

You didn't follow quarantine procedures....

If you want to play it safe, even plants should be quarantined.

PS - A pinapple plant is not a true aquatic and will eventually die and rot in your tank.

[charlie]

Two weeks ago, I introduced a cherry barb, pineapple sword into tank two, and a G. Brasiliensis into the 25G. Since then, I have had a number of deaths

...

Big Daddy i think he meant pineapple sword as in fish.
Regards

[BigDaddy]

bahaha... okay.. time for me to go to bed...

lol

but the quarantine advice holds true

[Marx]

maybe you had something on your hands? chemical or something i have never hear of ph flux due to adding fish or plants..

[Mettle]

High nitrates and a falling ph... Sounds like you need to do some water changes. Also. How often do you do water chances/gravel vac your tanks?

[darkdep]

Although I agree with BigDaddy on the quarantine procedures in general, I do agree that sometimes it isn't feasible or convenient.  The fish could have been sick, and spread something to kill the other fish.

Now, with that being said, I doubt very much that anything a fish could have been sick with could have altered your water chemistry so drastically.

How did you introduce the new fish to the tanks?  Did you dump the fish-store-water-from-the-bag into your tanks?

Soap on your hands?  Any chemical of unusual origin?

Could a fish have died and sat in the tank for a long time?  That could affect nitrates in a quick fashion (although I don't think it would affect pH like it did).

[Julie]

Are you over feeding?  Any food left in the tank?

[fishycanuck]

A lot of good questions and advice, thank you.
I have had fish for two years and do weekly pwc with gravel vac. I remove 30% or more of the water each time.
The pineapple sword is a fish, not the plant.
I acclimate new fish by dumping them with their store water in a bucket that is only used for this purpose. Over 5-6 hours, I add a few cups of tank water and remove store water so that by the end, most of the store water is gone.  All the fish appeared healthy when I bought them from the store/club member
The 10G tank two is the quarantine tank. It also houses my son's betta - a bad idea, I know.
The nitrates I can understand more readily... I don't think I overfeed, but maybe one of the fish was dead for a day or two before I noticed.  There haven't been any deaths in the 25G though, so I am puzzled.
Unless I had something on my hands, I don't get the pH fluctuation at all.
I'll be doing daily pwcs until things are back to normal!

Please don't hesitate to give me more ideas....