10 Gallon Issue...

[fyrefaerye]

I have a 10 gallon tank that has been running with fish for a few months after doing a fishless cycle. It's currently stocked with 1 male crowntail, 2 veiltail females, and 3 hatchetfish. Water levels have been stable. pH of 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrite 0. Today when I checked the water everything was normal except the ammonia had jumped up to 1.0. I'm not sure what's going on. Nothing has been added to the tank since the last time I checked the water (a week ago). Food quantities have been roughly the same (a pinch of crisp every other day and a pinch of bloodworm on the other days). Water remains clear. No room sprays, deodorizers, etc near the tank. I'm at a loss. Please help?

 

[JellOh]

1) Male bettas should -never- be kept with other bettas as a permenant home under any condition. Ever. No exceptions. Unless you are breeding he should be flying solo or with other community fish that aren't bettas.

2) Hatchetfish need to be kept in a group of 6 or more with 8 or more being preferable.

3) Hatchetfish need a minimum of 15 gallons.

I'm guessing your ammonia is going up due to your overstocking issues. Take the bettas out and get them their own heated tanks and then get a new, bigger tank for the hatchetfish and more hatchetfish. You could even just get a tank for your hatchets fish and then divide up the 10 gallon for your bettas. But, the bettas need to come out very soon. Like, yesterday.

 

[fyrefaerye]

So if what you're saying is true why is it that everywhere else I have looked (and for the record I didn't just throw them in there I did plenty of research first)says that depending on the temperament of the male betta they can be in a community tank with females as long as there is more than one female to prevent possible aggression issues. I'm not trying to be mean but I haven't had the first issue with the contents of this tank. They've been in there for almost a month with not the first issue of any variety. and as far as the hatchetfish yes I know a larger school is generally preferable. However these three are more than content in their current environment. I'm truly starting to get frustrated. Every step of stocking this tank and the other tank I have I have asked about before I did anything. Now all of a sudden every step I take is wrong.

Oh and I haven't gotten more hatchetfish because I didn't want to overstock this tank. Plus I was told a group of three would be alright since the tank is smaller.

 

[Nik00117]

For the tank yes that's true for the well being of the fish no. You can't fit that many in that small of a tank which is why the recommendation is for a bigger tank.

 

[TallTree01]

1) Male bettas should -never- be kept with other bettas as a permenant home under any condition. Ever. No exceptions. Unless you are breeding he should be flying solo or with other community fish that aren't bettas.
2) Hatchetfish need to be kept in a group of 6 or more with 8 or more being preferable.
3) Hatchetfish need a minimum of 15 gallons.
I'm guessing your ammonia is going up due to your overstocking issues. Take the bettas out and get them their own heated tanks and then get a new, bigger tank for the hatchetfish and more hatchetfish. You could even just get a tank for your hatchets fish and then divide up the 10 gallon for your bettas. But, the bettas need to come out very soon. Like, yesterday.

I agree 110% with this.
Other experienced fishkeepers will say the same.

 

[newfishgirl]

Huh, I was reading this and am also confused. I read on here that you could get away with 5 Myers hatchet fish in a 10g. Is this not true?

 

[FishHelper101]

Hi and welcome! Now, male bettas should not be kept with another fish but A female betta if you are encouraging reproduction (which I highly don't recommend you do.) Females should be kept with 4-5 if you are going to keep them together at all (yes you can mix species but 4-5 is a must!)  Hatchet fish should be 6 or more, they are schooling fish. Your fish should not be fed "crisps" pellets for the bettas and feed the hatchet fish another time. Bloodworms are freeze-dried, meaning that if fed to much they could bloat a betta. So I recommend BW as a treat, not a stable diet. And lastly, I believe the sudden ammonia spike is due to the bio overload. I suggest taking the bettas out and getting more hatchet fish with a min of 15 gallons or more. Hope this all helps and no offense meant!

 

[fyrefaerye]

Okay so update. We lost a hatchetfish two days ago. found him in the filter with a red eye. though no other physical issues. I have moved the two remaining hatchetfish to my 36 gallon and the female bettas I quarantined. They have blood around their gills so I'm thinking ammonia. I don't know if I can save them but I'm certainly going to try. I have done two massive water changes (50%) the last two days running to lower my ammonia with no changes. I'm officially at a loss.

 

[the_lock_man]

What's your latest ammonia test reading?
 
50% isn't massive, 90-95% is massive. 50% is on the high side of normal, and will halve the ammonia in the tank. Doing a further 50% change will halve the half, taking the ammonia down to 3/4 of what it was.

 

[fyrefaerye]

Okay well I consider it massive as opposed to the 20% I normally do. the ammonia this morning was 2 still. It has been at 2 for three days even with water changes. So as of right now the on thing in the 10 gallon is my male crowntail. I bought some prime and used that instead of the aqueon water conditioner I've been using. I think I read that after you add prime to wait 24 hours to check the ammonia. Is that correct or do I need to test again sooner?

 

[fyrefaerye]

Anyone?

 

[the_lock_man]

It depends on the test kit, I think the API is ok, but since I use Salifert, I don't know.
 
If you have ammonia at 2ppm, and you do a 50% change, then it's only coming down to 1ppm. This is still massively toxic. This is still burning the betta's gills, causing him breathing difficulties.
 
I strongly suggest you do a 90% change, and then see what your ammonia level is.

 

[fyrefaerye]

I've done a 50% and the ammonia level didn't drop. I did two 50% over a 24 hour span, neither time the ammonia went down at all. I bought a bottle of prime and used that because from what I've read prime converts ammonia into less toxic ammonium. 

 

[CoryLover95]

the_lock_man is right.  With him, I'd recommend a 90% water change.  ANY amount of ammonia is toxic for fish.

 

[This Old Spouse]

If you're doing a 50% water change (not enough, but for this example it works) and you're ammonia reading isn't moving, something is obviously wrong. Either you need a new test kit, or there's a lot of ammonia in your tap water. If you switched to Prime for dechlor, it also doesn't make sense that your readings haven't dropped.