New disease-free fish were added to an established aquarium, almost doubling the stocking rate in a tank with water volume that could easily hold four times the number of fish. Within 3 days, the tank started going a little cloudy and fish started dying. Deaths ceased after a 50% water change and ammonia absorbing product was added to the tank.
A picture of the aquarium and setup was provided. I noticed that the biofilter portion of the filter constituted only 15% of the entire volume and the remaining space was instead, occupied by old activated charcoal (6 months old) and filter wool.
I investigated for ‘new tank syndrome’ as a cause. So I ran tests for the minimum data set. Ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm and pH 7.0. Puzzled, I asked,”When was this water sampled?”
“After the water change and adding AmmoLock.”
Ah! No wonder!
Make sure you take a water sample for testing prior to making water changes.
All too often, people are misled by products that aren’t properly designed. The owner had understood that the filter was suitably assembled because that’s what it said on the box.
Did you know that there is a way to upgrade your filtration without having to buy a new filter? This can be done by substituting the filter media with high quality ceramic filter media.
This client was asked to increase the biofiltration capacity by substituting the carbon, for ceramic filter media.
