Need help!!

[DesignsOnYou]

Ok, now I have to ask...MissFishy, did I say anything that you felt should have been stated as opinion or was just wrong? I keep re-reading my post to see if I did and I can't find anything, but I want to make sure so that I'm not giving bad advice. brian, I know you said that you think it probably wasn't the filter swap and I said it might be, and I'm ok with that. I just said it might be, and you said you didn't think it was, I was just trying to come up with possible culprits, and you had a different idea. So, to me, that's not necessarily bad advice, just a different thought process. But I want to know if I'm saying things that are ridiculous/wrong. Sorry for the hijack.

 

[BlueStraggler]

Ok, now I have to ask...MissFishy, did I say anything that you felt should have been stated as opinion or was just wrong? I keep re-reading my post to see if I did and I can't find anything, but I want to make sure so that I'm not giving bad advice. brian, I know you said that you think it probably wasn't the filter swap and I said it might be, and I'm ok with that. I just said it might be, and you said you didn't think it was, I was just trying to come up with possible culprits, and you had a different idea. So, to me, that's not necessarily bad advice, just a different thought process. But I want to know if I'm saying things that are ridiculous/wrong. Sorry for the hijack.

my opinion is no ...everything is fine.
Obviously the op has such a unique situation that it sparked a small debate.
With that said, I'm glad this original question was asked because it allowed me to see some varying opinions on what could cause a nitrate spike of this measure. Therefore I will not say any ONE person is wrong only that there are several factors that could have caused it.

 

[homebunnyj]

I know you're not asking me, but IMO.... you're second-guessing yourself for nothing. You say 'it could be...', 'it might be that...', and 'I don't know for sure, but...' so you're not being all dogmatic about ideas that you don't feel confident about. You are throwing ideas out there for consideration, contributing to the discussion with intelligent questions. What more could anyone ask for? Isn't that what we all (most) do?

I think Brian's point about the dead fish and nitrates is interesting. I wondered about that, but since when I net a dead fish out of my tank I tend to do a good-sized water change immediately instead of testing my nitrates, I really couldn't address that idea in any intelligent way. He, however, could, since he has tested for nitrates in such a situation. I do, however, feel as Miss Fishy does that changing out the filter pad didn't help any, in any event. Both viewpoints seem valid to me, as they are backed by experience and not in conflict with known facts about the nitrogen cycle in a tank. Different ideas born from one's own knowledge, research and experience are not the same as spouting 'ridiculous' things.

 

[brian1973]

Ok, now I have to ask...MissFishy, did I say anything that you felt should have been stated as opinion or was just wrong? I keep re-reading my post to see if I did and I can't find anything, but I want to make sure so that I'm not giving bad advice. brian, I know you said that you think it probably wasn't the filter swap and I said it might be, and I'm ok with that. I just said it might be, and you said you didn't think it was, I was just trying to come up with possible culprits, and you had a different idea. So, to me, that's not necessarily bad advice, just a different thought process. But I want to know if I'm saying things that are ridiculous/wrong. Sorry for the hijack.

I usually take no offense to any posts, even when I have different ideas or opinions. The simple fact is we can all throw out ideas but none of us knows for sure, so you are correct it is just different opinions thats all. It isnt about ego it is about varing opinions, rather right or wrong, everyones input is valuable regardless of what a few individuals think. There are alot of grey areas, and as we learn and explore other options we find there are more grey areas than any facts. I was at a public aquarium and the have a beautiful SA biotype, with many species of tetras, arrowanas and other SA fish I have never seen but it did catch my eye that they also had puffers (what looked to be GSP's but I could be wrong) in this mix, this was not a extremely large tank but these fish that from what we read on this and other forums are very aggressive and need this and that, are getting along peacefully and thriving in a community atmosphere, but if those people that set up that tank listened to "facts" I guess they wouldnt have that beautiful natural display. Ok sorry to get off track.

Back on topic....
I think it was a combination of things, if it was only caused by filter media then we would all go thru a cycle whenever we change ours and that simply doesnt happen. Gases can be trapped under the substrate and sit there waiting to be released. So when he did his cleaning IMO that is what happened, he did a good thorough cleaning which released trapped ammonia into the water column, which IMO is what we see by his readings, this in turn killed a few fish, the decaying fish then added to the bioload (figure at 78 degrees the rate of decay is slow but the increase in internal bacteria raises body temps right? so rate of decay would be pretty good), this increased ammonia and nitrites which resulted in high nitrate readings. While he may have reduced his bacteria it is not gone or he would not have the sudden jump in nitrates, IMO the sudden jump shows that the bacteria was working overtime to convert ammonia to nitrites then to nitrates.

That is my theory based on the information provided, if you disagree with it for whatever reason please feel free to voice yours.

 

[MissFishy]

I didn't have time to read all that, but I think everyone has a valid opinion. However, I do think that by changing the filter pads that sparked a new mini-cycle in the tank, thus the ammonia and nitrite spikes. This cycle should take less time than the initial one, but will still be a pain in the b***. Always have to be careful when changing filter media or doing large water changes to check the water parameters a day or two later to see what's going on in the tank.

 

[jo3olous]

Highly agree with Brian about a dead fish spiking nitrate levels. Kind of like how leaving excess food in that the fish dont eat build up more wastes, it's bad. Dead fish not being removed, excessive food being left in the tank, coupled with lack of water changes can = really bad water quality for your fish.

If your fish started getting sick and other freakish things started happening when you finally did some water changes, it could be the water youre putting in, but most likely its old tank syndrome. Fish got used to the dirty water, and its not like its good for them, but if you make a rather large water change it could really shock them after being acclimated to dirty water for so long.

That's the only clear cut info I can provide, you didn't really tell us much about what you had in the tank besides "fish", and all that jazz