I found my new female GT this morning nearly black with clamped fins struggling. A water test showed near lethal levels of nitrite in the tank so I did a 60% wc and will do another in a few hours. I moved over about 20-25 ceramic bio rings from established tanks into the new filter when I added her and since she is under 3" I figured it would be plenty. I'm wondering if these little rings don't house the quantity of BB that I imagined.
Questioning the efficacy of bio rings
- Thread starter Aqua410
- Start date
-
- Tags
- bio efficacy questioning rings
MarkK
CCA Members
You do not indicate the rest of the characteristics of the tank, how new was the tank and filter when you added a few bioballs?
I recently set up a 20Long with a brand new matten filter, brand new decorations of various sorts and a pair of Julidichromis transcriptus bemba plus a well established but smallish sponge filter. I probably had just the sponge filter and matten filter and decorations for a few days and then added the fish.
Fish showed no problems and spawned within a month.
I would wonder in your case how new everything else was, how long the tank was running prior to adding the bio balls and fish?
I suggest you transfer a well established sponge or a lot (most) of the filter material from a well established tank. Should not affect a well established tank.
I recently set up a 20Long with a brand new matten filter, brand new decorations of various sorts and a pair of Julidichromis transcriptus bemba plus a well established but smallish sponge filter. I probably had just the sponge filter and matten filter and decorations for a few days and then added the fish.
Fish showed no problems and spawned within a month.
I would wonder in your case how new everything else was, how long the tank was running prior to adding the bio balls and fish?
I suggest you transfer a well established sponge or a lot (most) of the filter material from a well established tank. Should not affect a well established tank.
mchambers
Former CCA member
I don't think any of us have the capability of measuring the amount of beneficial microbes in our biomedia, unfortunately!
How long has the fish been in the tank? I'm surprised you have such a high buildup.
How long has the fish been in the tank? I'm surprised you have such a high buildup.
The fish has been in there for 48 hours with two partial WC. I'm adding more media when I get home I just didn't want my other GT tank to go into a mini cycle due to removing so much media. Everything in the new tank is brand new including the filter. It's just PFS and some clay pots in the tank.
mchambers
Former CCA member
I guess. It seems strange to have high nitrites so quickly, but I don't have a better explanation.
Yup something goofy is going on here. Ammo is zero and reading 5ppm nitrates but still have this:
One on the right is treated tap water for reference.
I just did another PWC and added as much media as would fit from two other filters on other tanks. I also added some prime to help detoxify the nitrite for a bit while the BB gobbles it up. Hoping it was just an issue of not transferring enough media which is the only thing that makes sense. It's still a little odd that the media I moved over was converting ammo to nitrite much faster than nitrite to nitrate.
One on the right is treated tap water for reference.
I just did another PWC and added as much media as would fit from two other filters on other tanks. I also added some prime to help detoxify the nitrite for a bit while the BB gobbles it up. Hoping it was just an issue of not transferring enough media which is the only thing that makes sense. It's still a little odd that the media I moved over was converting ammo to nitrite much faster than nitrite to nitrate.
Last edited:
dogofwar
CCA Members
Seems strange that a fish would produce that much waste in such a short period.
In fish shows, it's not uncommon for a 8 or 10" fish to be crammed into a 10g tank with nothing but an uncycled sponge filter for 3 or more days.
First, I don't trust aquarium test kits, especially with water treated with chloramines and/or Prime (or similar products). False results send people into tizzies.
Is it possible that the fish was just stressed out from being a lone fish in a new tank (and not nitrate poisoning)?
You can't do wrong doing a water change but even if the bio media contained no beneficial bacteria (which seems strange, as just about anything in a mature fish tank is covered in the stuff), it would hard to foul the water that fast.
If in doubt, add a sponge filter from a mature tank and some air. And add a couple of dithers. See if that works. And don't feed the fish
Matt
In fish shows, it's not uncommon for a 8 or 10" fish to be crammed into a 10g tank with nothing but an uncycled sponge filter for 3 or more days.
First, I don't trust aquarium test kits, especially with water treated with chloramines and/or Prime (or similar products). False results send people into tizzies.
Is it possible that the fish was just stressed out from being a lone fish in a new tank (and not nitrate poisoning)?
You can't do wrong doing a water change but even if the bio media contained no beneficial bacteria (which seems strange, as just about anything in a mature fish tank is covered in the stuff), it would hard to foul the water that fast.
If in doubt, add a sponge filter from a mature tank and some air. And add a couple of dithers. See if that works. And don't feed the fish
Matt
Seems strange that a fish would produce that much waste in such a short period.
In fish shows, it's not uncommon for a 8 or 10" fish to be crammed into a 10g tank with nothing but an uncycled sponge filter for 3 or more days.
First, I don't trust aquarium test kits, especially with water treated with chloramines and/or Prime (or similar products). False results send people into tizzies.
Is it possible that the fish was just stressed out from being a lone fish in a new tank (and not nitrate poisoning)?
You can't do wrong doing a water change but even if the bio media contained no beneficial bacteria (which seems strange, as just about anything in a mature fish tank is covered in the stuff), it would hard to foul the water that fast.
If in doubt, add a sponge filter from a mature tank and some air. And add a couple of dithers. See if that works. And don't feed the fish
Matt
Thanks Matt. She's swimming around and isn't dark black any more but still isn't colored up. Could certainly just be stress. I'm just going to keep up with good tank maintenance and I'm sure she will be thriving in no time.
I figured out what happened and its probably a valuable lesson for anyone who is interested. I realized at some point today that the sand I used for this tank was not entirely new. About a week ago I took about 3-4lbs of sand out of my other tank and threw it right on top of the sand in my sand bucket. I'm assuming a bunch of bacteria and other biological material was breaking down in the sand and I threw it right in the new tank without thinking about it. The amount of filter material I moved over was probably enough to handle the bio load of my new fish but I probably bombed this poor fish with dead bacteria and other stuff that the BB in my new filter couldn't handle. The cycle has finally caught up and all is well.
