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Hi guys , i have a serious problem on my hands , my block had a blackout and the air pumps in my tank probably stopped working for about 3-4 hours while i was at school. Fortunately the sole inhabitants of my tank , two bagarius yarrelli's survived. The problem.now is that i realised the bacteria in my filter probably died out , and my tank is now uncycled. To make things worse , one of the fish has developed a strange breathing pattern. The gill covers remain still , then flares open every few seconds. I put in some qurantined goldfish and to my surprise , they overturned and died a few hours later. Im very vexed if anyone could help or have any opinions on how to set up a cheap qurantine tank , it would be much appreciated. Thanks

I understand your tank is filtrated through the air pumps.

Firstly, I'd remouve the material from the pumps. After all, this is full of dead acteria. Then the emptied filter should be restarted - in order to get as much air into the water as possibe.

filling the filter with new material is a good idea, alternatively you can clean the material a few times and put it back tomorrow.

Secondly, change water.
The goldfish will most likely have died due through nitrite poisoning - while the catfish may have adapted to this - or just can have more. Nitrite is poisonous because it destroys the ability of blood to carry oxygen. Therefore you will need to get as much oxygen into the water, and the fishes need for oxygen als low as possible

Do not feed them, and make the temparature as low as possible - technically possible and possible for the fishes. Is their temp range 22 - 27 C, make it 22 - that idea

waterchanges should be large - 80 % or more, and will most likely be needed the next week at least

You may assume the bacteria which have died in the filter will still be alive in the tank, and therefor in a week the population might restore itself - and than you can try to feed the fishes again, and reduce the waterchange to normal levels

Before doing ANY of the above (good suggestions) test your water for ammonia and nitrite. The point of this is that I don't personally believe the bacteria will die in three-four hours, but the lack of circulation would mean that:
1. The oxygen level falls
2. The ammonia level increases.

Both of these are BAD for the fish. If you also have dead fish in the tank, it may increase even faster, as the dead fish is being attacked by various forms of bacteria.

The point I'm trying to make is that if the bacteria is NOT dead, you are just making things worse by removing the media itself.

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Mats

Thx for the quick replies , currently doing water changes hope the bagarius gets better

Waterchange is definitely a good idea, but a test to see if you have ammonia or nitrite in the water is critical at this point - particularly over the next 24-48 hours, to see if your bacteria has actually died or not. It will also tell you when/how desperate it is that you need to change water.

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Mats

My old liquid test kits may not be so accurate , but definately some.traces of ammonia and nitrite. Water change wise im doing 50% , pretty labour intensive considering im doing it bucket by bucket and its a 5ft tank.

Suggestion: next time you go to the hardware store or fish-shop, get a long hose! I do 50% water changes on my tanks every week.

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Mats

Definately will get that hose soon. Ive changed the water , but the nitrite and ammonia are still present. Any ideas? And the bagarius seems to be getting worse.

More/bigger water changes is the only thing I can suggest. [Big diameter host e.g. 1" helps a lot here...]

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Mats

Ive seen products in shops claiming to get rid of ammonia , is this usable for my situation? I just want to keep my fish alive.

Don't know. Zeolite supposedly adsorbs ammonia, so that may well work (I would probably buy zeolite catsand if I wanted Zeolite - but I don't know how easy that is to get in Singapore).

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Mats

Seachem Prime dechlorinator might buy you a little breathing space, detoxifying ammonia nitrite if overdosed upto 5x standard dose, so 25ml per 200l.

Ive seen products in shops claiming to get rid of ammonia , is this usable for my situation? I just want to keep my fish alive.

No chemical treatment is going to get the tank back in shape faster than water changes. Three days of large water changes (60% plus) will have the tank stable again.

Can you post more info, maybe even some pictures, about the tank? You say the power was out 3-4 hours and the "air pumps" were off and the "filter probably died out." I am trying to imagine what your filtration system consists of. 3-4 hours without power should be no big deal at all. I do not have power between two and six hours a day almost every day and it has never had a negative impact on my fishes or tanks.

Unless your filter completely dried out there should be no issue with it working just fine.

In a healthy, properly stocked tank filtration is not even necessary. Its only real purpose is to slow the accumulation of waste (and its by products) between water changes. I keep my tanks lightly stocked and every tank gets an 80% water change on Saturdays.

-Shane

I cannot be sure of exactly how long the power was out. my estimation was 3-4 hours but it may have been as long as 7 hours but if that was the case , i dont think my fish would have survived. The tank just doesnt seem to be cycled anymore , every night I detect some levels of ammonia. I checked the canister filter i was using , it was sill wet inside. I am now changing 50% of the water every day. Could i possibly set up a temporary quarantine tank while i re-cycle the main one? And just to add I really appreciate the help , thanks alot everyone.

The ammonia comes from the fish so if you haven't got a different tank with a filter that is cycled and capable of coping with the fish's waste production [on top of whatever is in the tank right now].

Of course,if you have multiple fish, you could reduce the ammonia production by splitting them over multiple tanks. But cycling the filter is how the ammonia gets taken care of...

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Mats

So would it be feasible to put the two yarrellis in a qurantine tub where i change the water very often while i cycle.my tank?

Why would that help - you should within reason end up changing the same amount of water. If the tub is smaller, it will need more frequent water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels the same. In a bigger tank, you need to make less frequent water changes, as the amount of ammonia is diluted over more ammonia.

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Mats

Alright then...will the tank cycle if i continue water changes?

Stackdeck wrote:Alright then...will the tank cycle if i continue water changes?

Yes. It won't cycle if you take the fish out (unless you start adding ammonia some other way).

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Mats

At first , two of the yarrellis were breathing ver rapidly probably because of nitrite or ammonia. while one has stopped this , the other continues to breathe very rapidly , could it be some disease? because with such frequent WC it might be stressed.

If I were you I'd just continue with the large water changes. The normally breathing yarelli is a sign things are getting better. The second fish should come around. I'd refrain from panicking now and adding a chemical while they are still in a weakened condition; when you've gotten so far. Plenty of good clean water flowing through the tank and their gills seems to be the answer. Once the second fish calms its breathing, then I'd wait maybe 4-6 days before feeding a small amount of food.

goodluck

I hope this is the case , but the other yarrellis breathing is still very bad. Breathes very fast with jolts in between as if it was choking. Gills look red and also flashes occasionaly.

You are using 'conditioned' water for the water changes? Not just straight out of the tap?

Yes in using conditioned water.

Just an update , one feeser molly dissapeared yesterday , probably taken by the healthy yarrelli. The other yarrellis still not looking so good though

Maybe slow down on the waterchanges just a little. You may not be giving beneficial bacteria a chance to get well established. Maybe change water every 2nd day?

How big is your tank? How big are your fish?

Trying to feed these fish right now is probably not a good idea. The cats themselves produce ammonia (which is part of why you dont want to feed much right now). But putting in a bunch of feeder fish is going to produce a lot of ammonia also. The stressed cats gill filaments may be damaged from the ammonia spike. Or there could just me a mechanical obstruction in the air passage. At any rate try and let the fish work it out. They know their body better than you do.

If I were you, I'd continue with waterchanges every other day. Dont change the filter unless its just really gunky. And try not to feed the fish unless they are really responding to 'food ques'.

I agree with Natural art, except I'd add that you need to monitor the ammonia levels. If the level is (noticeably) more than 0.25, you need to make water changes for sure.

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Mats

Ok , noted guys. . . The tanks a 5x2x2 and both fish are 12 inches long

Both my yarrellis are eating now , but one is constantly flashing against the gravel...what could be the reason for this?

Fish have.recovered , thanks to everyone who chipped in.