# Cyanobacteria, Popeye, yellowing plants, Dead guppies, Dead Snail.



## GreenAquaria (May 23, 2011)

0ppm Nitrite
0ppm Ammonia
5>ppm NitrAte
6.8-7.0 PH (down from 7.4, after a week of peat treatment.)

Zoo Med Aqua Sun T5
2x 24w fluorescents w/ one 5000k, one 6500k

Cryptocorne 
Hygro Compacta
Amazon Sword
Java Fern
Anubias 
Dwarf Baby tears

5 (now 1) Fancy Guppy
1 Blue Dwarf Gourami
2 Siamese Flying Fox Algae eaters
2 Panda Cory Cats
3 (now 2) Zebra Snails
∞ little snail infestation 

Two weeks ago our 10g had cracks in the glass. We did an emergency tank shift to a 28g Bow front. The fish went into VERY thoroughly rinsed tupperware with water siphoned from the 10g, we added 2 bags of Eco-complete plant substrate and put the substrate from our first tank on top in the new setup. We moved all of our plants (live) into the new substrate.

Before this move, our guppies started slowly dying one by one since January, one every few weeks without warning. There has never been a NitrAte or NitrIte spike since we first cycled. We also had a patch of cyanobacteria.

Now we are down to 1 guppy. The rest have died, this one looks to have dropsies and finrot. Our Gourami has severe, bleeding, popeye. This morning I found one of our snails dead. I am at a loss to solve all of these problems. My Anubias has started to yellow on some of the leaves, and the dwarf baby tears has started to as well (they and the Anacharis are only a week old for this tank).The rest of the plants seem to be thriving, though I have had suspicions of some kind of bizarre crossing with the crypto and the compacta...

If anyone has insight let me know. I've been treating the Popeye since last Tuesday with Antibacterial fish food. Thats the only thing I've done to resolve anything. I wanted to dose the tank with maracyn to kill the CBA and the popeye but my LFS said that my plants wouldn't faire well, so I went the food route. 

Thats the jist of it. Thoughts appreciated.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

what you are describing almost sounds like hydrogen sulfide poisoning. i keep relatively deep substrate in some of my tanks, and if too much organic matter gets too deep into the substrate i end up with plants and animals dying. for me, it usualy starts with the plants(roots dying) and the smaller fish, and then snails start dying. you can check for it by stirring the substrate, if large bubbles are released, then that might be your culprit. one of the symptoms of hydrogen sulfide is bloody legions, especialy around the gills and eyes. if you find that this your problem, you can correct it by lowering the amount of substrate and cleaning it.


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## GreenAquaria (May 23, 2011)

I'll give the substrate a scrape in the morning, my question would be how long that process would take since this substrate has only been settling for two weeks. Its hard to tell if roots are dying since they were replanted so recently, the only negative plant effects right now is some yellowing of the Anubias and the Dwarf baby tears, all of the other plants have new beautiful leaves and the anacharis has grown 2-3 inches in one week.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

i have done tests on some empty tanks before and noticed hydrogen sulfide building up i as little as two days... but i also had fine sand and i burried a clump of dead plant matter, about the size of a large marble. my worst experience with hydrogen sulfide was with a ten gallon heavily planted tank that had ten cardinal tetras in it. one day i re-arranged the tank and burried some java moss without realizing it, and over the next seven days lost all but one tetra. it wasnt untill i moved the fish and started breaking the tank down that i realized there was a rotting ball of java moss burried in the sand.


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## GreenAquaria (May 23, 2011)

In that case I'll definitely do some poking around. I've done so much re landscaping I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something. What do you suggest for treating the CBA and the popeye issue?


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

the CBA is usualy caused by excess nitrates in the water. in my experience, reducing nitrates(and phosphates) is really the only way to get it under control. i use water changes for some of my tanks and i ad sugar for some others, at a dose of just under a gram per ten gallons of water. i am still testing the sugar method for effects of using it on fish, but so far, after a year, no ill effects and no algae. you can read about it here:
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f5/fighting-algae-sugar-15086.html
so far as the popeye goes, i have only had it once, in an angelfish. i treated the fish for bacterial infections(cant remember what i used) and it recovered. you might try this:
Popeye in Tropical Fish


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## GreenAquaria (May 23, 2011)

Sounds like it wont hurt to try it...


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

word of caution about the sugar method: start small. if you put too much sugar in at once, the dissolved oxygen levels can come crashing down and that would kill all the fish. in a 28 gallon, i would use about 1/8 of a teaspoon every other day. once the nitrates are down, the CBA will start to recede.


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## GreenAquaria (May 23, 2011)

My nitrates are always near to bottomed out. 20ppm is abnormally high for my tank, they tend to be under 10ppm, so I don't think that high nitrate is causing the CBA. Are you sure that sugar wont just feed the bacteria, the sugar method doesn't quite make biological sense to me since its a form of easily accessible energy.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

actualy, feeding bacteria is exactly how it works. i gives the beneficial bacteria that remove nitrates a boost, turning the nitrates into a gas form that can evaporate from the water. it works the same way in saltwater tanks.


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