water toxins need help

[dbfzurowski]

just setup my new system yesterday, with a diy sump. today 3fish dead, 3 almost dead. I take it there is toxins in water from pvc glue or something.
Floating on top, gasping for air, very poor gill function with visible slime coming out of gills.
New 55 with 4air stones, cycled filters and all. Doing water change, what else would help??? I did prime 3x dosage trying to eliminate toxins plus 2tbs salt/10gal. What else can I do>???????

[dbfzurowski]

4th died and all rymmys but one. doing 2nd wc

[Second Hand Pat]

Maybe add carbon if you think toxins are in the water.

[dbfzurowski]

30buckets later......doesnt look anybetter

[dbfzurowski]

Totally forgot about carbon, thanks Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

Hope it helps...You definitely need a different way to do your WCs. Some long vinyl tubing, a pump and a brute (new and clean) trashcan could replace your bucket brigade.

[Jennie]

so..when they are all dead, cycle your tank properly before adding new fish. Not trying to sound heartless, but will save you further grief

[Second Hand Pat]

Jennie, first post indicated the filters were cycled. But with that in mind testing the ammonia level couldn't hurt.

[dbfzurowski]

Pat, just got this up and running yesterday and I haven't purchased the garden hose yet. But my main reason for building this was to eliminate the buckets.
Jennie, yesterday when I got it up and functional, I thought about putting in rummys in it for few days to see what happens.
Unfortunately I was so amazed and satisfied with my creation I placed my home grown discus in there, im so mad ... no one to blame but my self

[Second Hand Pat]

Oh man, that hurts. How about placing the discus in a QT with clean water until you figure out what is going on with this new setup.

[Jennie]

are the discus also dead?? the rummy's are super sensitive to ph...check your parameters

[dbfzurowski]

4/6 discus dead
I scraped of the silicone from the QT tank as it looked like it was rusting away in one spot, so yea, was going to re-seal it today. Ummm, ammonia is @0, ph @7.6 like always
I just dont understand, the pvc glue doesn't dissolve, I used 100%silicone... unless its my tap, then I'm doomed

[William Palumbo]

Not your tap Dominik, if you're getting in Lake Michigan water. Something poisoned them. Re-check the glue, or if you used any of the PVC cleaner, before you glued. Something's not right. When I was working with my PVC, I always let everything "cure" for a day or more....flushed a few times, then added fish...Bill

[Second Hand Pat]

Can you move the two left back to the tank they came from?

[dbfzurowski]

Old QT became my new sump, old tank new QT that has no silicone now.

I figured it out, GE silicone II for kitchen/bath is the problem. Damn me for doing poor research!!!! I just looked for 100% silicone, didnt know GE II had anti mold stuff.
Ok, ummm back to buckets

[William Palumbo]

Yea...they just started adding it not too long ago...before it was OK to use. Is why when I re-seal. I bit the bullet and pay the xtra $$$ for the ALL-GLASS brand of silicone. Never, ever a worry about it. Sorry you(and fish) had to find out the hard way...Bill

[Jennie]

well here may be another problem.. have the cycled sponges been ruined..Someone else will need to confirm???

[Second Hand Pat]

Can you rehome your fish with friends until you sort this out or maybe go buy a cheap tank. At least you found the problem but painful lesson.

[dbfzurowski]

last remaining discus in a bucket, starting to swim around. I cant believe I didnt look this silicone up

I assume I lost my bio filtration as well

[Jennie]

Yes, as it has absorbed toxins.. just change water allot!

[dbfzurowski]

what you think about sand that was in the tank??? thr to rinse it?

[Second Hand Pat]

Replace it just in case. It's cheap.

[Skip]

Old QT became my new sump, old tank new QT that has no silicone now.

I figured it out, GE silicone II for kitchen/bath is the problem. Damn me for doing poor research!!!! I just looked for 100% silicone, didnt know GE II had anti mold stuff.
Ok, ummm back to buckets

if it says.. its 100% Aquarium Safe.. that should not be the problem.. if not.. OOPS! :(


i just googled it.. GE I is safe.. GE II.. not so much..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1017&bih=628&q=GE+silicone+II+for+kitchen%2Fbath+aquarium+safe% 3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

[dbfzurowski]

unfortunately i found one of those that said "as long as it says 100% silicone its all good", guess not
one lone discus remains....
Not going to mess around, LFS silicone it is, I didnt save $$$ by going home depot. Lesson learned

[Jennie]

Well I am sorry for your loss:( I would get a new tank up and running and get some more fishes.

[Second Hand Pat]

Me too. Really sorry about your babies. You raised these yourself?

[roundfishross]

for what its worth I always use ge one silicone to reseal all my tanks. there are never any problems but I do always let it cure for at least 24hrs 48 hrs even better

[dbfzurowski]

Brings a tear to my eye when I think about it. 1year 3months ago I got them @2" and placed them in my 37G community tank with 5angels, big common pleco and a bunch of other fish... Total disaster lol

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn29/wadopl/100_0414.jpg

Somehow, someway I managed to grow these babies to over 5 inches in that 37G. Finally, with some days off I decided to award their struggle with a 55, a nice 10G sump....
My fiancée helped a lot during that time so shes pretty sad too

[dbfzurowski]

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn29/wadopl/55G%20tank/IMG_0368.jpg

already took it all down. For some reason I siliconed the bulkheads in the tank, which I've been scrubbing for about an hour now. Im going to reseal it later and hope my last survivor will get to enjoy it.

[Jennie]

well, sad indeed..my suggestion is use a guinea pig fish to be sure it isn't toxic

[William Palumbo]

well, sad indeed..my suggestion is use a guinea pig fish to be sure it isn't toxic

That's what I ALWAYS do...I keep Discus culls around and livebearers. I test everything with them, from new batches of peat moss, vinyl hosing, "scrubbies"...everything that is NOT bought at a LFS...Bill