30 Gallon Aquarium Help....

[jclindstrom]

Ok so I'm stumped.....we have been doing everything reccomended and it still is getting dirty. We lost 2 fish already!!! We have 1 bala shark and 2 silver dollars......any suggestions???

 

[mayasmum]

What have you been advised to do?

What filtration/pump are you using?

 

[rdd1952]

Have you tested your water for ammonia and nitrite? Ammonia comes from fish waste and is deadly to fish. If you haven't been testing and doing water changes to lower the levels, that is most likely what has killed your fish. During the first month a tank is set up, you will usually have to do daily water changes to keep the ammonia level as low as possible. Feeding lightly also helps as less food means less waste.

If you don't have a test kit, get a good liquid master test kit that will test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. It's really a must for keeping fish. The API brand (the most popular with members here) runs about $25 at Petsmart (less online and the stores will honor the online price if you print the page and take it to the store - probably will have to get the manager to do it). Also, the bala will definitely outgrow your tank. They need a minimum of 50 to 75 gallon.

 

[jclindstrom]

We basically got a 30 gallon bowfront starter kit so the stuff that came with that is what we are using. I just did a water 50% water change using a syphon gravel vaccum. It helped a bit but not alot.

 

[mayasmum]

I presume you have treated the water with a de-chlorinator as if not this may be killing your fish.

Also it may just be residue from the gravel, it took our tank a good few days to completely clear up when we first set it up.

 

[rdd1952]

The tank kits don't have the test kits in them but they are essential. Unfortunately, all the literature that comes with the starter kits gives terrible information about how to set up the tank and add fish. It says to 'cycle" your tank by setting it up and letting the filter run a few days before adding fish. That really doesn't do anything except clear the water. Just so you know how the "cycling" process works, here is a brief summary.

Ammonia comes from fish waste and is also emitted through the gills. It is toxic to fish. The higher the pH of your water, the more toxic it becomes. A type of beneficial bacteria which takes a week or so to build in the tank will process ammonia and turn it into nitrite, another toxic chemical. Another type of bacteria processes nitrite and turns it into nitrate which is toxic but only at very high levels. The weekly water changes remove the nitrate from the water. The whole process takes about 3 or 4 weeks to happen. At that point, there is enough bacteria present on your filter and media to process the waste of all the fish you have. Adding more fish though, means that the bacteria has to catch back up so you will start to see ammonia and nitrite present again for a couple days. This is called a mini-cycle. The bacteria colony can usually double in about 24 hours so it is best to never add enough fish to more than double your load.

The best way to cycle a tank is without fish using pure household ammonia (just water and ammonia, no cleaners, perfume of dye) instead of fish waste. Here is a link to a pinned thread on it if you would like to read some of it (it's a very long thread now). Since you already have fish, it won't help you much now though.