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Dosing Ferts Question


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#1 cameroncuz

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Posted 12 March 2017 - 12:03 PM

Can anyone help?
Just dosed my planted tank for the first time in a while and my Dwarf Neon Rainbows I bought a week ago are gulping for air at the surface. 

I had fed them a hour before I dosed. Do you guys reckon that is the issue or something else? 

Tank is a L6xW2.5xH2 running at PH 6.7, KH of 6 and a temp of  23.  



#2 Westie

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Posted 12 March 2017 - 12:07 PM

What did you dose the tank with?
And have you changed anything recently? For example: have you cleaned the filter, added new fish, or had a power out recently?
Do a full test on your water, and see what it says

#3 cameroncuz

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Posted 12 March 2017 - 12:35 PM

Chelated Micronutrience mix (powder) and a liquid "Water Plant Fertilizer" Both from Aquotix If that helps. 
The fish look much happier now I'm running my skimmer for extra surface agitation. 

Tests so far  KH 6 Amonia 0ppm Nitrite 0ppm Nitrates 10-20ppm PH 6.6-6.8

Cleaned one of the 2 canisters 2 weeks ago and had a clean test one week ago 0ppm for Amonia Nitrite and Nitrates. Then I traded in 6 large Danio's for 10 small Rainbows last weekend. 

 

Other stock in the tank is about 10-15 common bristlenose, 3 flying fox fish and RCS 


Edited by cameroncuz, 12 March 2017 - 12:43 PM.


#4 Delapool

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Posted 12 March 2017 - 10:33 PM

Are you running CO2 injection at all? Just looking at the ph and kh.


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#5 cameroncuz

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Posted 12 March 2017 - 10:42 PM

Are you running CO2 injection at all? Just looking at the ph and kh.


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Yep, running off a ISTA PH controller 



#6 Delapool

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Posted 13 March 2017 - 07:23 AM

Yep, running off a ISTA PH controller 


I'm not sure if timing fits but on mine that's borderline for fish. I know the CO2/kh/ph charts are out but got about 40ppm. So all depending on tank flow and where equipment sits on if it could be higher or lower as well.

Have you got drop checkers?

I've noticed that at high CO2 some fish will get sluggish and off-food while others are fine as.




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#7 Westie

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Posted 13 March 2017 - 09:40 AM

Running off a controller the co2 shouldn't be the problem. It's encouraging that the fish seem better with the added skimmer.



#8 cameroncuz

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Posted 13 March 2017 - 11:21 AM

Running off a controller the co2 shouldn't be the problem. It's encouraging that the fish seem better with the added skimmer.

I am thinking the same. They didn't display any kind of biting the surface behaviour for the week before, running the same co2/ph/kh. It started about 10 minutes after my first dose of ferts yesterday. 

They aggressively ate all the food I offered today which is also good. They are still occasionally biting the surface though. 



#9 Delapool

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Posted 13 March 2017 - 09:58 PM

Oh for sure - to me the ferts dosing sounds like the trigger. I find it puzzling though as those ferts sound like a non-event in dosing normally.

 

I had a look at the cut-off for mine and it is 6.6. Below that the tetras were having issues. Similar kh - mine perhaps slightly higher on last reading.

 

If you do have a drop checker or timing doesn't work (ie gasping when CO2 not on) then that would close that out. That would be my thought - check the ferts but also check the CO2 dosing is correct (ie controller has been calibrated recently, drop checker looks good, etc). Just in case. If all good and ferts must be solely responsible, then I'm not sure. I dry dose ferts and glut with no issues like that so can't help unfortunately.



#10 Westie

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Posted 14 March 2017 - 09:17 AM

It could be 101 different things that cause it. There could even be a bacterial infection in your tank, through no fault of your own. Never know what crud is in the water supply.



#11 cameroncuz

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Posted 14 March 2017 - 07:20 PM

It could be 101 different things that cause it. There could even be a bacterial infection in your tank, through no fault of your own. Never know what crud is in the water supply.

I did a waterchange yesterday. Today I did a weekly dose of ferts divided by 7 today (I'm going to try daily instead),

Fish reacted the same way again except it was for around 5 minutes or less before they went back to normal. They fed aggressively 2-3 hours later when I fed the tank. 

Should I ditch these ferts? I am planning to mix up dry after this bottle due to it being much cheaper! 






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