# Tank chemistry frustration!



## jeffnc (Oct 30, 2010)

We (my son and I) are intermediate/semi-experienced at this, on our second tank in the last 5 years, currently a 75 gal cichlid tank housing 4 silver dollars, a Jack Dempsey, a red head cichlid, and a pleco. The tank has recently changed and it's driving us crazy. It originally had an extra silver dollar which died several months ago. It had a small catfish that finally got attacked by the Jack Dempsey, which died from the wounds. It had a firemouth that got some kind of fungus - we put it into a quarantine tank and put it back when it seemed recovered, but it soon died. That was the most recent and that seemed to start a downward spiral.

We treated the main tank with Paraguard. Soon after the firemouth died, a convict died for no apparent reason. We then tested the water (had not tested it for many months because it had been stable for so long after the original cycling that we took it for granted. We learned that the ammonia was alarmingly high, and the acidity alarmingly low. We have a UV filter, a good amount of algae on the glass for the pleco to eat, and 2 driftwood pieces. The plants are artificial. Our water tests at 8-8.5 pH, so water changes should keep it high-ish, but the water was at the low end of our scale which goes down to 6.0.

For the past month or so we've been doing 15% water changes from every day to twice a week, been adding Stability every day for 10 days, been treating with Prime, and vacuuming and cleaning the filter (typical 3 stage Eheim with Matrix). I had to add some baking soda at one point to get the pH closer to 7. It keeps creeping down in spite of the water changes. I took out the wood just in case but that didn't seem to change anything. The algae is completely gone and we don't know why. The UV filter has been off for about 10 days now. The ammonia is never below 1.0 and usually 2.0+ppm no matter how often we treat. The nitrites have gotten up just a bit to .25-.5, and nitrates have gotten above 5, which made me think there was some biological activity, but only occasionally. Both usually at 0. Water temps stable at mid 70s. Surviving fish have seemed happy and healthy during this time. We introduced the redhead at the beginning of this and he seemed to not be doing well at all at first, that's when we started checking chemicals. He's improved tremendously since then despite these issues.

Help please! We can't get this aquarium stable without adding Prime all the time! This and the Stability are expensive!


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## jimsz (Oct 11, 2011)

Have you tested your tap water parameters?

Did your aquarium crash and start a new cycle?


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## jeffnc (Oct 30, 2010)

Yes, as mentioned the tap water is pH 8.0-8.5. It contains some ammonia - maybe .5 ppm - but of course we always treat it with prime.

I don't know if the tank "crashed" or not, not sure what would cause that. However if it is in the middle of starting a new cycle, it's taking an awfully long time. It's been about a month, and ammonia levels are high and nitrites and nitrates are zero? Nitrite and nitrate have tested slightly higher during this time, but I don't know if bacteria is taking care of it or all the Prime we've been adding.


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## jimsz (Oct 11, 2011)

jeffnc said:


> However if it is in the middle of starting a new cycle, it's taking an awfully long time. It's been about a month, and ammonia levels are high and nitrites and nitrates are zero? Nitrite and nitrate have tested slightly higher during this time, but I don't know if bacteria is taking care of it or all the Prime we've been adding.


A normal cycle can 8 weeks. Adding chemicals may cause it to take longer. See if yo can obtain used filter media from an established tank and add it to your current filter or hand in in a bag.


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