# Can a DIY Co2 system suffocate my fishes?



## Briene24 (Feb 13, 2011)

Hello all

I need help .. looks like my fish are dying slowly by suffocating.

As per title of my thread, is it possible to suffocate fish using DIY Co2 system?

I recently rescaped my 132lt tank 4 days ago .. But 10 of my 15x Neon Tetras died .. 

Yesterday I went to my LFS and ask them to test my water parameters .. They said everything is Normal. So I added 5x Dwarf Gouramis. 

After I added the gouramis in my tank, those fish are always going on top of the water line, looks like they are grasping for AIR, I just let it go yesterday because I think they are still trying to get use to the new environment.

But Today they still goes on top of the water line quite often I think.

My current Tank specs:
* 132Lt Tank
* AquaOne CF1000 Cannister Filter
* 100w Heater
* DIY Co2 System
- 2x 3Lt Bottle
- Mixed each bottle with 2 cupfulls of sugar, 1tspn Baking Soda, 1/2 tspon Yeast
- Bubble Count = Probably 3 - 5 Bubbles per second 

(The bubble count is hard to count accurately because the bubbles it produced is going out too fast on my bubble counter.)

So not sure if the problem is produced by my DIY Co2 system?

But just to make sure, I added Air Pump with airstone and did 40% water change this morning till I find the problem.

any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## Crispino Ramos (Mar 21, 2008)

The diy CO2 wouldn't be a problem if you have good water circulation using a powerhead. It's good to have that ripple on the water surface to add O2 in the water column.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Did your rescape include a new substrate (ie soil or ada amazonia, etc)? 
if so, then your substrate could be leaching ammonia. Neons want nothing to do with ammonia and they are really delicate. 

Gouramis breathe from the atmosphere (labyrinth fish) so their behaviour could be very well normal... do they look distressed/desperate when they go take a breath? 

why would you put new fish in if your other fish are dying? this is not a good sign, and MUCH more accurate than any test result 

Also, the best when using 2x bottles of diy co2 is to stagger them (about 1 week apart) so they're not both on the same level of co2 production; ussualy diy releases a lot more co2 the first few days of a new batch. i've never had an excess co2 from a diy mix.... buy if the diy mix gets into the tank (sucked in) it will kill your fish though...

good luck!


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## Briene24 (Feb 13, 2011)

Crispino Ramos, I have powerhead that I'm not using at the moment .. so instead of using the Air Pump with airstone that I added this morning .. you think powerhead will be enough to add O2 in the water? If that's the case I like that solution better because my damn AirPump is annoying and loud lol

F1ea, mmmn they don't look distressed though just catching for air often I think .. lol good point .. my 132lt tank feels so lonely with only 5x neon tetras so when my LFS told me that my water parameters are all good that's why I decided to add 5x gouramis 

Sorry but when you said stagger my 2x bottles, you mean .. I will put my 1st mixed bottle and let it run for 1 week, then add the other mixed bottle after that? Just want to make sure I got that right


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Briene24 said:


> Crispino Ramos, I have powerhead that I'm not using at the moment .. so instead of using the Air Pump with airstone that I added this morning .. you think powerhead will be enough to add O2 in the water? If that's the case I like that solution better because my damn AirPump is annoying and loud lol


dont use the air pump (unless its an emergency), it will deplete most of the co2 you're adding. The surface ripples allow some o2 exchange, when a pump or filter return creates small waves (not splash), its usually enough.



Briene24 said:


> F1ea, mmmn they don't look distressed though just catching for air often I think .. lol good point .. my 132lt tank feels so lonely with only 5x neon tetras so when my LFS told me that my water parameters are all good that's why I decided to add 5x gouramis






Briene24 said:


> Sorry but when you said stagger my 2x bottles, you mean .. I will put my 1st mixed bottle and let it run for 1 week, then add the other mixed bottle after that? Just want to make sure I got that right


yes. That way you'll be changing 1 bottle weekly alternating them. Each bottle lasts about 2 weeks, so they will compensate each other.


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## H2OAggie (Jan 10, 2011)

Is it safe to assume you do not have a drop checker? How is the CO2 being diffused? 

I would not expect a DIY CO2 system to be capable of gassing fish in that size tank. I had 2x 2L bottles running on a 29 gallon and was barely able to sustain 15-20 ppm, which is half of the recommended 'safe' level.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

Its very unlikly, but with high temps, it could happen. just very, very unlikly.


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## Briene24 (Feb 13, 2011)

Yeh, I thought so too .. because I read quite a few articles in regards to DIY Co2 and all of them mentioned that one of the advantage of DIY Co2 system is you can't overdose your tank with injected co2 .. I may be just panicking because 10 of my 15 tetras died .. 

But all of my gouramis and remaining 5 tetras seems to be acting normal now .. will just keep monitoring them for now.

Thanks all for your help!


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## THHNguyen (Dec 2, 2006)

It used to happen with me all the time before I started to agitate the water with a powerhead. It was definitely too much CO2 because the fish and shrimp would be up at the surface right before the light came on and went back down a couple hours later (O2 from plants?).


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