Need some help figuring out this

[Ava333]

I'm not sure about the catfish but plecos produce a lot of waist from what I've seen. Mind you I only have 2 BN plecos now (one per tank) so I don't have a tons of experience with them.

I made a few changes that have helped. I thinned out the crushed coral substrate to about 2" so I could make sure that I was getting it clean, added 3 plants (and about to order 3 more), and stopped scrubbing my rock work with a brush and just let the BN Pleco clean them, re-homed the larger regular Pleco and 2 catfish (I realized that my Mbunas were overeating by stealing the catfish food at night, even though there wasn't much light), cut back on the amount of food per feedings, and started making sure that I didn't damage my good bacteria when I cleaned the FX5 once a month. I upped the WC to twice a week for 3 weeks before things stabilized. Not everything listed effects Nitrates though. So basicly plants, less poop, thinner substrate, and more WC till stable. I'm currently looking into a specific type of bioball that you can add to a canister filter that is supposed to help some too. Problem is that I forgot which one works with that high of water flow. I'll post it if I find it again.

[Ava333]

Steve, I know I answered the PM you sent me but I wanted to post it here in case someone else was having weird symptoms.

When observing for about 10 minutes I would not see any drastic symptoms and only 3 or 4 fish would act weird in that time. But one would shake it's head weird (NOT mating behavior), one would clamp it's fins and just hang out in place for a minute then snap out of it and go strait back to swimming, one would gently scrub it's self across the gravel a little. If I caught one specific fish acting weird, it might not act weird again for over half an hour. I also noticed that their poop was a lighter color (not white). The Nitrates were staying over 20 ppm but no higher than 40 ppm and I had read that was ok but not ideal. Then one fish ended up with a soar close to it's dorsal fin and few came down with bloat.

I QT'ed the ones with bloat and started Epson salt dips, Metro in the water, then 5 days of Metro soaked sinking pellets after they could eat (I know...over kill). As for the rest of the fish, I started soaking sinking pellets in Epson salt water to keep them pooping until I could get the water right and keep it stable (may not have been necessary but seemed like a good idea after reading a study on Epson salt & Hex). After the 3 weeks was up, they all seemed much healthier but I kept up the ES soaked pellets for an extra 2 weeks.

[mibwb]

I'm currently looking into a specific type of bioball that you can add to a canister filter that is supposed to help some too. Problem is that I forgot which one works with that high of water flow. I'll post it if I find it again.

Please post if you find these special bio balls...the only ones I know...bio pellets, bio pearls, NPX bioplastics.
I'm thinking of hooking up a bio reactor to everything.

[Ava333]

I was wrong, it's not bioballs, looks to be something similar to ceramics. Anyways, I'm researching a few things to add to a canister and should have a list by tomorrow night. I'll start a new thread so we can find out if anyone is using them, having success/failure, so we don't waist out time & money on the ones that don't deliver as promised.

I'm not sure I want to get a bio reactor, for lack of education/experience, but I might need one once my juveniles grow out (basicly half my tank).

I have read in several articles that there is no quick/easy fix if a person wants to keep their current stock (unless the cause is only over feeding and a "dirty tank"). I say that because the most common reasons are overstocked tank, too much waiste, over feeding, and not enough tank maintenance. From what I've read, you need to try a few tactics at once, and each one helps a little, but combined they offer noticeable help. A bio reactor might make a big difference but I have NO experience with them.

Have you considered re-homing 3 of the 4 plecos? Not sure what kind you have but I switched to a BN Pleco. It should stay under 6" and is the second best algae eater/rock cleaner out there (the best can't be homed with African cichlids). It sounds like your doing good tank maintenance. A big part of the problem might be your 4 super poopers...

[Steve]

My 4 plecs are all Albino BNP males so they don't create as much waste as your normal plecos will. Once the 125g is up then I plan to move two of them into that so I can get them out of the 75g tank.

The ceramic balls you are talking about isn't Matrix media is it? That's what I run in my FX5.

Starting this week I'm switching from 7-9 days WC to straight 7days every Sunday. My filter Maintenance I usually do bi-monthly on my FX5 but I'm going to change that to monthly on this tank and see if those two changes make a difference.

[Ava333]

Yeah, Matrix was one of the ones I'm researching. And I would keep the BN Plecos too if your working on another tank.

[mibwb]

I found it Marine Pure Bio Media comes in balls, cubes, slabs, and blocks for Fresh and Salt water.

[fisher11]

greatwaveeng.com/shop/media/biohome-ultimate-media i have been using this for a few mounts now and it has made a big different's   //www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYk5UXaRV94

[Steve]

Made a little change today to it. After taking the canopy off to do a water change I noticed some mold on the underside of the canopy (smelled really bad as well) so I decided to change from the wood canopy covering an open top to some glass lids. I really don't know if mold could leech into and affect water quality or not? But figure better to eliminate every possibility that I can. Plus I like the sleeker look which now will show more of the 125g tank behind it once that's up and running.

[mibwb]

Plus you gain a shelf..

[Ava333]

Steve, i think you might have identified your culprit or at least part of it. I have a Fluval FX5 on my 125 and I do maintanace once a month. I've let it go to 6 weeks before and the Na seems to climb faster and stay a little higher after that point. But It's a 125 with 15 three to four inch fish and 20 smaller juvenile around two inches plus 1 juvenile BNP. And with my Mbunas sneaking the catfish food, I'm positive that they were over eating. So I'm pretty sure that bio-load is more than yours. Keep me posted! I want to know how this works out and if my theory was way off... Best of luck. PM me if I can help. I don't have tons of experience but I've read a LOT. 😂

Not trying to highjack Steve's thread but thanks Mibwb & Fisher 11 for posting on the filter media, I've been trying to find something that actually works as promised.

[Steve]

Hit the tank with Metro 3 days ago, now today hit it with a 2nd dose. The fish are for sure feeling the Metro because they started shaking their heads and rubbing after adding it, but not sure yet if it is helping or not. Just going to keep an eye on them now for the next few days and if they still act weird I'll probably give a round of heat and salt and see what happens then.  I am not sure the Nitrates are causing it to be honest. They never got over 40ppm before and now that I changed to easier to access glass lids I am able to spot vac the waste off the sand with my batt powered vac so now they are staying under 20ppm this week.

[mightieskeeper]

Steve less food more water changes, cleaner tank.  lol  It sounds like normal aggression with mild problem of health issue.  At the same time fish die sometimes for unknown reasons. 

[Steve]

It's not a water quality, feeding, or aggression issue I know that much for sure. I feed vary sparingly, very religious with my water changes, and there is next to zero aggression in that tank these days. Just to update this since it's been a couple weeks..... It was for sure some sort of bacterial/intestine parasite issue. I started hitting the tank with metro followed by API Gen cure and the fish that were showing issues do seem to be looking better now. I can't say 100% for sure but I think perhaps one of the fish I brought home from a recent auction may have introduced something into the tank and just did not show any signs of it for a couple months till recently if I had to guess.