[spada]

I cleaned the media in my eheim 2026 two days ago. I rinsed the mech. noodles in tap water also the blue sponge. I replaced the white pad with a new one. The bio-tray was very dirty and this is where I made a big mistake. I gave it a quick rinse in tap water not submurged just a four second spray. I think I killed off my bacteria,as the next day all of my fish were struggling to breathe. I didnt associate this with my filter as I had been making major water changes the past three days to lower nitrate. I had added baking soda and epson salts to increase ph. and kh. and I thought the fish were suffering from ph. shock. I changed 75 percent of my water immedately. I then tested for ph. =6.8 , kh.=17 amm.=0.0. I got a big suprised when I checked nitri and it was 20. I then decided the fish were shocking out from nitrite poisoning. I went to lfs and bought boi-spuria in an effort to jumpstart my bio-filter. I lost two large rubens a full grown masons peacock a yellow tailed acei and a two year old lions cove.The remaining six fish are still not right breathing a little heavy. nitri. is still high. I hope I dont wake up to six more dead fish. Is there anything I can do now to lower nitrites? Dave Spada [email protected]

 

[zazz]

i would have thought with heavy water changes that the figures would get a lot better... maybe you should remove the substrate or clean it but it sounds to me like you should pull the fish out into another holding tank short term until things calm down a bit in the main tank. Looks like its gone into a cycle with spikes and all.

also you should add some kind of stress/ bio starter straight away to kick start it asap.

i would also add that i am no expert in these matters ...just what i would do personally :wink:

 

[Deeda]

I'm sorry for the loss of your fish.

The bio-spira should help jump start the good bacteria again. I am assuming you have city supplied water and that you used conditioner when you added new water. Also that this is an established tank & not a new one.

Do you have gravel or sand as your substrate? This should retain the majority of your BB unless you did a thorough cleaning of it also. If you didn't do a gravel vacuum, don't do one now.

What is the pH & kH of your new water out of the tap?

 

[IrkedCitizen]

That sucks. Lesson learned I suppose. You should always wash filter media in water drained from the tank because depending on your tap water it will have chlorine or chloramine in it. Those will kill your beneficial bacteria. and can cause your cycle to start over.

To get rid of nitrite you just have to keep doing water changes until your bacteria recolonizes.

Hopefully you can save the rest of your fish.

 

[Eb0la11]

Water changes daily for sure to remove the waste the fish will create. I'd prob do like 20% a day for at least a week and keep testing the water to see where to go from there...

I've had something similar happen and lost all my fish except for plecos and cory cat fish which survived and still are thriving now.

Just have soltice in the fact that you'll be a better fish keeper after the incident... I know I was...

Also. I'd strongly suggest taking them to a LFS and having them kept there for a week/until the tank is established again. Most of them will do this for you.

Lastly, you could get some established filter media from the LFS too.