Hello I have a 55 gallon tank and had a few questions. I have a 7" common Pleco, a clown Pleco, 4 black skirt tetras, and a Dinosaur birchur........more small plecos to come. it has been set up for a 3-4 months. I recently lost a rubber lip Pleco. (he had a tumor and this caused stress or something and my tank got Ich. It is all treated now and I am using copper safe from now on as a theraputic remedy. I also use aquarium salt, and have live plants.

My questions are:

What is the correct temperature for this selection of fish.
How often to do water changes/gravel vac. and what to clean?rocks, plants,and filter pump parts etc.......
is there a way to monitor aquarium salt? I monitor ammonia, Ph, and Copper levels.
any other input would be appreciated!!!!!

There is more but I can't remember with a loud 2 year old on my lap

Thank you very much for your help!!!!!!!!

This post has been edited by rickisrad: Dec 12 2007, 01:36 AM

You'll want the temp around 78-80 degrees. With the plecos I would do a gravel vac/ water change once a week I would remove at least 30% of the water each time.

What kind of filter do you have on the tank?

Salt shouldn't be added with the plecos in the tank. A tank w/o plecos should have 1 TBS per 5 gal of Aquarium salt. I don't know of any way to monitor salt levels. Salt can only be removed from a tank through water changes, it can't evaporate or be remove by the filter.

Thing you should be monitoring in your aquarium are ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and PH.

As for the fish, a common pleco is going to get to big to keep in a 55gal. I'm not sure on the Dinosaur bichir, I'm guessing it is a Senegal Bichir. I don't really know anything about them, but it might get to big too.

Common plecs will get big, 12" for a more petite specimen, 24" for a big healthy one. That being the case, your tank will be too small for the fish it contains. Water changes of 30% twice weekly will keep the nitrates down, without a doubt you should be doing a gravel vac with each change.

Any med as a therapeutic treatment is a bad idea, unless you are receiving wild caught fish, and this is just a worming routine in those cases. You risk developing resistant strains, and specific to copper, it will concentrate in algae, poisoning any algae eating fish.

Thanks for the replys!!

I have a Penguin 350 Bio-wheel Power filter.
The Pleco is around 7" now and I have had it for 3 years now (in a smaller tank) I plan on getting a 100+ gallon some time around May or June.
I will have to do more frequent water changes I only go about every 2 weeks. I will buy the Python system to make it a little easier. When I Vac should I clean the ornaments and live plants? Also how often to change the filter media?

I moniter ammonia and PH frequently. The ammonia has never been an isuue. The Ph is usually ok, but I do struggle to keep it at a constant value. I will have to get some tests for the nitrites and nitrates.

Just for future reference what is the best way to treat ICH with the type of fish I keep? What I have been told is to turn the heat up to 84 degrees and use the copper safe. is this correct?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!- and patience : ) I greatly appreciate it. I just want to be sure I am doing everything correctly.

This post has been edited by rickisrad: Dec 12 2007, 10:31 PM

Well in further research I decided to stop the coppersafe. It is not right for the birchur or anything else at that.

temp 76-80