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RE: NO2 Spike / dead fish

Thanks for the reply Tom!!  See me responses below (if you have time).

>Why use a solenoid, especially if it doesn't work well?

Good question!  Actually, the valve was finicky when I first got it from M3, 
and had been fine for several months.  I guess that I dislike the idea of 
pumping CO2 24/7 into 3 tanks (one of which is only ~ 1.5 gal). Do you think 
Ed would exchange the solonoid even though the system is ~9 months old? :-)

>If the fish are at the surface this typically means not enough current(then
>you get too much CO2 build up-this can be tested for though- or not enough
>O2 if the plants slow their growth down for some reason). When you did the
>water change(it's not going to be NO2 after all those water changes-but 
>will
>removed the low levels of O2), the timing involved in your case, it really
>seems like the O2 is getting too low.

That is what it seemed like - low O2.  Like I said, this tank has been fine 
for 2 months with the same fish load and never showed problems.

>I'd increase the current and I suspect it is quite low in this tank(due to
>overgrown plants, lack of surface current- a little, not zero,
>?Higher current should help overall.
>Try it and see.

I have a surface skimmer, so there is some movement.  The spraybar return is 
all the way at the bottom, and I don't want to move it.  I could throw in a 
power head I guess.

>Has the tank undergone a large reduction in plant mass?
>Slowed plant growth, more feedings etc?
>NO2 is going to appear if there is a large amount of NH3 produced to the
>point where the plants cannot take it all in and NO2 is produced by
>bacteria.

This is the weird part -- this tank hadn't had any changes prior to my 
problem, EXCEPT the addition of the 2 Blyxa, 2 stems of Rotala 'Nanjenshan', 
couple P. fluitans and 2 Toninia spec. I received...  No changes in feedings 
or anything.  Again, the only things I can think of besides the plants are 
(1) the lack of CO2 for most of the day, (2) my arm reaching in to plant the 
new plants...

>Some reasons for this happening can be slowed plant growth/reduction in
>plant mass in the tank. CO2(lack of) is often the culprit.

I will look into this.  I turned off CO2 for the day to see what happens.  I 
need to get the tank refilled soon, so I might as well do it today.

>Just take a look at that one and current. Those are the only two things I
>see that will cause this beside some unknown chemical contaminant source.

Okay. Thanks again.  I think what makes the whole thing weirder is that I 
had problems in the 60G tank yesterday (see post More Fish Death) and that 
is where most of the new plants went.  The 29G seems perfectly fine now.  Go 
figure.  I think someone out there is doing some weird black magic... Maybe 
RN is out to get me for my auction donations to the defense fund... :-)

-Tony
PS Thanks to "Mz Ananthema" for the replies too -- interesting website you 
got there! ;-)


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