Another Noob Fishkeeper :(

[dimah]

First I just wanna say thanks to this forum, there's tons and tons of info that I really wish I had known when I set up my new tank!!

I've tried to follow what I've found as best as I can, and was hoping to get some expert opinion on whether there's anything I can do to save my remaining fish.

Alright. So I set up a new tank with the mindset of a 110% ignorant fishkeeper. I put some tap-safe in the water, left it standing for a couple of days, thinking it would all be fine. I moved the fish from our old smaller tank to the newer 60LT one. After a week, our five year old clown loach was the first to go. Then the silver shark succumbed. Then I saw our common pleco covered in Ich! So, at this point I started my emergency googling, realising there was definitely something wrong here.

I then learned about fish cycling - or, as I should have done, fishLESS cycling. By this point we had already gotten rid of the old smaller tank, so I couldn't even salvage the filter media. Doh. At this point I started daily water changes (20-30%)

So, then another catfish bit the dust. (Which I am really sad about )
I read about testing the water to see how the cycle is doing, and learned about the ammonia, nitrite, nitrates etc cycle.

So from here, from reading other people's advice I've been continuing the daily water change (with de-chlorinator), today I got a liquid water test kit, and these are the tanks current numbers:

Ammonia - 0.50
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 40-80 (colour was very close )

From what I understand, do these numbers mean that my aquarium is close to finishing cycling? As I read that nitrates are produced towards the end of the cycle? Also, I suppose I can note that I stopped feeding the fish (apart from one algae wafer today) since the first fish died.

I put three tablespoons of freshwater aquarium salt, as I read this helps with nitrates and also with the Ich. I turned the heater up to 80 (gradually, during yesterday). I put 4ml of Protozin, and plan to follow the days as instructed on the bottle.

Is there anything else I can do? Or anything I have done wrong?
Currently left in the tank is the Common Pleco and an Asian Striped Catfish. The striped catfish is looking a little better today, instead of hiding with his fins clamped he came out to eat at the single algae wafer I dropped in.

I really appreciate any help anyone can give me, and thanks again for such an informative forum!

 

[Jenste]

ok, first of all you need to research your fish - - the silver shark, is it a bala? balas, plecos and loaches DO NOT belong in a 60 liter

common plecos grow 18" +
clown loaches also grow large,
bala sharks need huge tanks to have "Territories"

research research research....




your stocking is to the point where this seems like a troll

 

[dimah]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I understand what you're saying - and do agree now that I've been reading and learning more on tropical fish.

However, the clown loach and shark lived in an even smaller tank (gosh, I feel terrible now) for several months without any illness that I could see. I'm aware this doesn't mean they would have been fine had I left them in the even smaller tank, but as soon as they moved to the new tank, I believe I caused both their deaths in 2-3 days due to not cycling the water.

This is kind of what I was requesting help with. I don't know if you read my entire post, but the shark and clown loach are dead. All I am left with are two two-inch fish currently.

I understand you pointing out my badly stocked fish tank. But I am trying to learn and move on from my mistakes now, perhaps someone could answer my questions in my original post? I would really appreciate it, thank you in advance.

 

[Jenste]

ok, the common pleco though is going to get between 18 and 24 inches....that is probably longer than your tank -- for the fish's health, you need to rehome him.

you will be close to the cycle when you have repetitive readings of ammonia and nitrIte staying 0 - - this is from test results before the water change.....once you have test readings of 0 for over 2 days....again, prior to the FREQUENT waterchanges, then you can say you are cycled. for now though, keep doing as large of water changes you need to make your results 0....

for instance, if your ammonia or nitrite is reading at .50, do a 50% waterchange, then retest. if you have any more ammonia or nitrite readings, do another water change and keep doing water changes until it reads 0. a few hours later, test again. if you have any ammonia or nitrite readings above 0, do water changes.


when you see readings for ammonia or nitrite, it means that your system has absorbed what it can, and this is the extra remaining in the water. by doing the water changes every time you see a reading, you give your natural bacteria a chance to keep growing to handle large amounts of ammonia


go easy on treating the tank chemically - - if you have carbon in your filter then the chemicals are being removed anyways, so you are giving your fish flash periods of stress, only to have to be repeated.


right now, the best thing for your fish is CLEAN water at a stable temperature.

also, stop adding salt. salt does not evaporate and stays in your water. so if you remove 50% of water, at MOST you need to redose is 50% of salt....

but salt can also do more harm than good....most often, just clean water can do wonders for your fish!



for your asian striped catfish, and your common pleco - - you need MASSIVE tanks, your best bet for the fish's health and life, is to take these fish to a fish store, continue cycling your tank, then let people on here help you build up a stocking that works for you and your tank

 

[karin]

Given your ammonia and nitrite levels you need to be doing bigger water changes. Try 80% until those numbers come down. For now don't worry about the nitrates. The other numbers need to be 0 if you want to save those fish. Keep medicating according to directions and keep the temps high. For ich you can go to 30 C or about 86 F. The higher temperature speeds the cycle of ich. And with Ich, when the white spots disappear that is only part of the cycle so keep medicating according to the directions to clear the tank of ich. Once you are done with the medication regime, lower temps slowly to 78 F or there abouts and then keep up with the fish-in cycle. Promise yourself no more new fish until that cycle is done.

P.S. I don't think you are trolling, I get ill every time I go in an LFS and it seems all they have are clown loaches, common plecs and bala sharks oh and oscars and goldfish. And that is every big box fish store I go into in this area. All these are inappropriate for small tanks... anything smaller than 130 gallons.

 

[dimah]

I will carry on doing the water changes but at a larger amount, and testing the water once a day. I'll up the temp just slightly a bit more.
Yeah, I've learned my lesson. No more fish til this tank is healthy!

I just looked up the striped catfish and found another name for it - "Striped Dwarf Catfish" or Mystus vittatus. From what I read the max length is 10-15cm, at the moment he's about 8cm. I can understand about the pleco being too big but won't the catfish be okay?

The clown loach I had was my boyfriend's fish. He had to move house about a year ago and couldn't keep his massive tank anymore.

Thanks very much for your advice, karin and Jenste.

 

[Jenste]

the striped dwarf catfish might be alright in a 60 liter, what are the dimensions? you could probably keep the striped dwarf catfish longterm

but unfortunately, have you figured out what you are going to do about the common plec?