My filters must have died......

[mattrox]

I did my regular water change yesterday and everything seemed fine until the afternoon. One discus started to look a bit dark and was acting different. I tested the water and the pH was slightly down, but not drastically. Anyway, I did a big water change and tested the for ammonia. There was a positive test, not a huge concentration ~1 ppm. The Nitrate reading was negligable, slight pink colour.

So I got up this morning to do another water change. The pH was ~6.6 and ammonia ~ 1ppm. I did another change and tried to recolonize the filter sponge from a filter already running on another tank. I hope that helps. I also re-adjusted the flow of the water.

My tanks have had the 8 discus in them for a week now without problems. It was fully cycled before any were added.

Any further suggestions? And does anyone know at what pH the filter bacteria start to be killed?

[Carol_Roberts]

Has something happened to kill the filter? Some water conditioners give false positives for ammonia - or maybe the filter was cycled , but just not enough good bacteria for the actual fish load.

or maybe the filter was cycled , but just not enough good bacteria for the actual fish load.


I bet thats exactly what the problem is...Keep up the water changes and the filter should be up to speed in a week or two

Tony

[slicksta]

for you to have killed your bio...you would have had to..add allot of untreated water, some type of med or cut off circulation to your filter...

what had you used to cycle the filter....was the load equal to what is in there now....if not....Tony and Carol have given you your answer....

[mattrox]

I cycled the filter with fish. I had it established and then had 4 Discus in the tank. A week later 5 more were added. One was removed for treatment seperately, but no meds were used in the tank. The water was fantastic until yesterday.

The only thing different was the water conditioner. I used Wardley Tristart. Perhaps I overfed yesterday and had too much food in the system. Still puzzled though... hmmmm :-\

[mattrox]

This evening the pH has stabilised to what it is normally. (As judged by the colour of the test). The ammonia levels have dropped, only a faint colour is produced. No nitrItes detectable.

After tonights water change things should be fine.... (Finners crossed)

Thanks for all the input.

Matt