[Augustus67]

After losing all my stock to either a toxin or disease,I'm tearing down and restarting.
Should I pull apart canister filter and clean the bio media,and if so,how?
Or should I just throw everything out and start from scratch?

 

[Deeda]

I had to go back and read your other posts on this tank so a couple questions first.

What media do you have in your filters? I don't see a reason to throw it out unless you are using something not meant for aquariums.

Can you post a link to the exact background you have in the tank?

Have you removed any non-aquarium safe items from the tank?

What are your tank water test results today? Post all that you have test kits for.

Post your tap water test results for the same please.

 

[Augustus67]

Media in canister was standard black foam,eheim bio strata,Purigen and Ceramic rings with a polishing pad.
Media in HOB filter was just the bio wheels and two polishing pads.
Link: https://junglebobaquatics.com/collectio ... -7830-nbsp
There was nothing in the tank that wasn't aquarium safe.
Tank is drained now,last tests were 0 ammonia,0 nitrite,10 nitrate,8.8 ph, 10 gh,14 kh temp was 79
Tap water is 6.9 ph and very soft. I used the buffer recipe from this site to bring it up to required parameters.
I treated with Paraguard and Metroplex in case it was disease,no improvement
Only fish to survive were 1 adult gobie and 2 mid size hecqui and they are now in a 25 gallon tank that I cobbled together.

I've pulled the tank apart,cleaned the glass,threw away 110 pounds of Carib Sea Cichlid sand and am ready to start again.With Haps this time.
All tolled I lost almost $1000 in livestock,It's not the money that bugs me,it's the loss of life.
I just need to know if I should buy all new filter media and start over,or clean it and start over.

 

[Deeda]

Thank you for the detailed info!! I don't know if there is any positive way to determine whether the issue was a toxin or disease.

I would just clean the filter and media using a mild regular bleach/water solution and then use Prime afterwards. Purigen needs to be treated as per package instructions for regeneration.

I did see some complaints on a planted tank forum regarding issues with Carib Sea Tahitian Moon sand causing similar deaths as you experienced but you didn't use that particular product so I can't say if it's related or not.

 

[BillD]

I would bleach (enough to make the water feel slippery) everything that is solid in the tank, including the substrate, bio rings and filters. foam doesn't do well with bleach so , I would replace. I would actually run the filters without the media, except for bio rings.

 

[ken31cay]

When a sickness wiped my 180gal a few years back I put half a gallon of bleach in the water. Took out the filter media and ran the tank for 24 hours. Then emptied it and let it let it sit for about two weeks until everything was completely 100% dry. Filled it with water overdosed with Safe (just to be sure), then another water change before filling it with new stock.

If you follow this method just be prepared to do large water changes, about every other day for at least 4 weeks. I did daily 50% water changes for about 5 weeks. Or you could do a fishless cycle. I prefer the water changes.

 

[Augustus67]

Thanks for the helpful info.
All done and midway through fishless cycle.
The 5 fish that I did save are thriving.

 

[noddy]

Thanks for the helpful info.
All done and midway through fishless cycle.
The 5 fish that I did save are thriving.

I'm just curious what it is that's getting your p.h up to 8.8
Had you recharged the Purigen in the old set up at all?

 

[Augustus67]

Purigen was still basically new.
I'm using Carib Sea African cichlid mix for a substrate and it automatically raised my ph to 8.2 with no additional steps taken.
I then added the Buffer mix from this site and it brought it to 8.8

 

[noddy]

Purigen was still basically new.
I'm using Carib Sea African cichlid mix for a substrate and it automatically raised my ph to 8.2 with no additional steps taken.
I then added the Buffer mix from this site and it brought it to 8.8

I was wondering if the recharging process may have had anything to do with the losses.
Something doesn't add up for me though. I have used the same substrate and it didn't buffer the water at all.
I have also never managed to get my tank water above 8.2ph (not that I would want too) by using a buffer. I would imagine that baking soda is part of the buffer recipe?
Either way, I would imagine that it would be a major pain trying to acclimate new fish to that high a P.H.
I used baking soda to get my K.H up in order to stabilise my P.H for years before I realised that nobody else in my area was doing that and all their fish were doing well and spawning.

 

[DJRansome]

I also have never had a aragonite substrate or rocks or crushed coral in the filter raise pH. I would not increase it beyond 8.2 for sure.