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i friend of mine has a 15gallon planted tank with sand in, like mine.
he's been lossing fish over the last 2 weeks 5neons and 3 platies fry. seeing his shrimp 'jummping' on the neons when near the bogwood, we came to conclusion the shrimp were attacking the fish. After removing the shrimp he lost 1 neon and 2 more fry. i tested the water for him, ammonia was sky high being an old setup we asked at local store why the sudden increase??
They said
Water changes?
10% biweekly
How many fish before deaths?
9 neons, 3 platies, 6 platies fry, 2 corys and 4 shrimp
Substrate?
Sand.

Shouldn't have sand in tropical tank, it holds ammonia and the releases it.

is this ture???
Why???
anybody else had this problem???

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

Where is that quote from? I think i remember reading something about how marine sand should not be used in a freshwater aquarium, but regular sand shouldnt pose any problems. As a matter of fact, i take care of alot of tanks that have a sand substrate and have never had any problems.

the quote is what the LFS said

Thanks for the reply

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

hey
I use coral sand in my malawi tank and its fine the only reason i use it is because it boostes the PH as it is realy just chrushed coral.
Darryle

This only happens when their is a layer of sand over a inch. If the sand bed is not stirred up every week bacteria forms because there is no oxygen getting down between the sand. When you stir up the sand this prevents pockets where there is no air. If the bacteria is realesed when it has a chance to build it up it produces high levels of ammonia because it dies in contact with the air

[span class="edited"][Edited by fish_dude 2004-07-09 16:27][/span]

Also did you use live or dead sand. If it was live sand there is marine creatures living in it and they will die when they enter saltwater.

LFS is wrong. Some fish need it to live happily. It doesn't hold ammonia. Because of it's fine grain size, detritus gets stuck on top where it can be vaccumed away. It produces the ammonia. 10% biweekly water changes are probably the reason. Try 25" weekly ones if it's not too much trouble. At least the LFS knew what ammonia is/does.

Live sand in a fresh tank? Yiu said live sand has saltwater creatures in it that will die if put in saltwater.

[span class="edited"][Edited by TheGoldenDojo 2004-07-09 18:58][/span]

biweekly changes, i meant 10% change twice a week.

it's not coral sand, it's just normal sand. it was over a inch, and so is mine.
Should i change to gravel to be save??

my friend has now emptied the tank and put in gravel.

thanks for all the replies.

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

9 neons, 3 platies, 6 platies fry, 2 corys and 4 shrimp

It is an overstocked tank, which might have been the cause the ammonia and the killing of the fish, not the shrimp

Did he change the filter or anything to do with the filter?(it is common LFS lie to change the filter cartridge weekly)

The ammonia killed the fish

it's not coral sand, it's just normal sand. it was over a inch, and so is mine. Should i change to gravel to be save??

my friend has now emptied the tank and put in gravel.

Sand is perfectly fine, and like Dojo said, some fish need it in a tank, don't change it

If your friend changed the gravel this could be a HUGE mistake
Much of the nitrifying bacteria lives in the gravel, so the rest of his fish might die soon
The nitrifying bacteria in the filter and other places will most likely not be able to cycle the tank
If he has a test kit tell him to test for ammonia for the next week or so and if its ever high, do a water change

How often does your friend do water changes?

It is an overstocked tank, which might have been the cause the ammonia and the killing of the fish, not the shrimp

i know that ammonia killed the fish, he hadn't had any problems with filter or water, then when fish stated dying and were being eaten by the shrimp, then seeing the shrimp jumping on them, we came to that conclusion. after testing the water we knew what problem was.

i was asking why the increase so quickly? why sand holds the gasses?

How often does your friend do water changes?

10% twice a week. i'll tell him to test, thankyou

[span class="edited"][Edited by shekoi 2004-07-10 02:29][/span]

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

well my first question is how long do you mean when you say "old set up". well i would be asking the same question why the sudden deaths? here a thought did he over feed the fishes? cause that would definitely boost up your ammonia levels. well did he check his water levels and performed schedule water maintence on a regular basis, if so what were his levels prior to t he deaths? if not maybe the ammonia levels had a chance to build up way to high resulting in the deaths. another thing is were any fishes showing symptoms of illness..ich or other parisites? i use crush coral and my ammonia has stayed at 0. we need more info did he change the filter media prior to the deaths? what kind of filtration does he have? what does he use for biological filtration?

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-12 01:05][/span]