White Sludgey Stuff

[SullenGirl]

hehe yeah i'm definitely going to buy them some new food. I've actually prided on how resiliant my cardinals are (were) because they managed to survive for 2 years now with no losses only gains. Its funny cause i was saying the other day to someone that i'm surprised my fish have lasted so long....and look what happens!

Well if its a bacterial bloom then i guess i shouldn't replace the substrate? Keep that and just clean the sides off to get rid of the gucky stuff in order to keep as much good bacteria as possible? I'll have to buy new plants though cause i threw out the other ones mainly due to all the algae and gunk growing on them and they looked to be on their last legs anyways.

I have lots of surface aggitation, i have the filter water falling into the tank and i have an air pump running. I increased the pump to full strength once the fish displayed the gasping behaviour but that didn't deter them at all. They all still died anyways

The temperature doesn't fluctuate much during water changes as i usually add lukewarm water or as close to their current water temperature as possible. Which I keep around 75F

 

[FroggyFox]

Yeah in that case I'd just clean as best as you can, do some big water changes and don't add any new fish until the tank settles down and clears up. ...sounds like something got out of whack in there. I don't know what replacing the substrate would do. Do you do regular gravel vacuuming? You can also just rinse/squeeze lightly scrub your filter cartridges in dechlorinated water, instead of replacing. The only time they really need to be replaced is if they are so gross that they're cutting down water flow after having been rinsed out. A lot of my cartridges I haven't ever replaced or don't do so more than every 6 to 12 months.

 

[SullenGirl]

Yes after reading it on here awhile ago, i stopped replacing my filter cartridges until, like you said, its so full that the water just trickles out of the filter. I vacuum every time i change the water (which is a 1/3 every one or two weeks depending on circumstances) but I don't vacuum as deep as i probably should because my substrate is just a bit larger in size than sand and when i do a deep vaccum a bunch of gravel goes up my syphon. But i try and do it as much as i can. Maybe investing in bigger gravel with help with a more thorough clean?

Thanks very much for the help, i feel less stressed by the big loss and i'm ready to fix the problem. i'll definitely look at this as a learning experience.