Any Help Appreciated!

[bmonki]

Hi everyone, I'm new here, but was hoping to get a little advice.

We got our first Fish tank about 8 weeks ago now, and have had a few problems with various things so I'm hoping posting here could either help me get rid of the problems or at least let me know they are normal! (This is the first time I've kept fish so I've more than ;likely made some schoolboy type errors - please dont tell me off!)

After cycling the filter for about a week we stocked it with about 15 fish (it's a 4' 140lt tank and the woman in the local aquarium shop said that would be fine) I've since been told we stocked too many too soon. Well, long story short, we lost a few fish and took a water sample in to be tested - the ammonia and nitrites were pretty bad - we were told to do partial water changes and add these funny bacteria ball things into the filter. Well we were messing about with all that for a while and it seems to have ALMOST settled now although the ammonia is still showing slightly. I'm doing 3x per week 30% water changes and only feeding 3x a week too - planning to continue the water change routine anyway. Any ideas on what i can do to get rid of the last little bit of ammonia?

We started developing a brown algae on the gravel about 2 weeks ago - and was then advised by our local shop to get a clown pleco to eat it. So I got a clown and he's spent the entire time hiding and not eating algae which now i've done some research seems to be normal for them, so I'm looking to find an algae eater that will do the job and not be majorly sensitive to little changes in water - we have some wood in there for the clown now (something the shop didnt tell us again) but dont have live plants if that makes any difference. I'll attach a pic of the algae growth as it stands today (i did wash all the gravel when we first noticed it and scrubbed it all off - it grew back within 2 days)

Also - we have an internal filter - to provide enough oxygen for the water how much of the top should have bubbles? (the filter box said we didnt need an air pump aswell?)

Apart from all this i just wanted to say how much I love my fishies, I neer had much of an interest in them until i started caring for my in-laws tank after my father-in-law passed away... now i love to just sit watching them swim around At the moment we have (and these are the names the shop gave us so forgive me if they are wrong) 3x Honey Gourami, 3x Lyretail Swordtails, 3x Peppered Corydoras, 5x Black Neon Tetra, 6x Red Parrot Platy, 1x Clown Pleco and 5x assorted baby guppies from the in-laws tank.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

hi bmonki! Welcome to the forum!

It looks like you've had a bit of a rough time, sorry about that, you're not alone though!

My first recommendation would be to buy yourself your own water test kit. Most here use the API Freshwater Liquid Test Kit. It'll cost you around £25 but will last you a very long time. Once you have that you can test your water daily and then change as much water as needed in order to reduce your ammonia and nitrite to 0 (happy fish!). Anything over .25ppm or over is regarded as bad and deserving of a water change with 0 obviously being the goal.

As long as your filter is rippling the surface of the water in your tank, you don't need an airstone, but some people like the way they look, up to you! (I think it's just more plugs to use and they are noisy!)

I can't make recommendations on you overall stocking and compatability but I can tell you that your corys would be happier in a bigger group, a minimum of 6 but the more the better! They would also rather have a sand substrate instead of gravel as it can damage their little whiskers (barbels).

Lastly, your algae. What you have there looks like what is called diatoms to me and is very common in new tank setups. You have two options, keep cleaning it and eventually it will go away OR get something like a bristlenose pleco as they loooove the stuff. If you get a baby one, they seem to be more eager algae eaters than the adults. I would maybe swap it out for the clown pleco though, but like I said I'm no good at advising people on stocking levels so maybe someone else can help there!

 

[the_lock_man]

Well, you already know about the major schoolboy error, so no worries on that one. How much ammonia is "the last little bit"? Ammonia is processed efficiently before the nitrite is, so I think you may well have some nitrite there too. Have a read of the link in the grey text in my signature area. It gives you the background info on why you're doing the water changes, and may well lead you to tweak your schedule to suit your situation better.

Do you have your own test kit yet?

There are a few comments I can make regarding the stocking. Both the corydoras and the tetras are shoaling species. To feel comfortable, they need at least 6 in their group, and preferably more.

The swordtails and platies are closely related and can (and often do) interbreed. Ideally, you want at least a ratio of males to females of 1:2, and preferably 1:3 or more, so that the males don't hassle each female to much.

You don't need bubbles to oxygenate the water, rippling of the surface is fine to allow O2 in and CO2 out.

 

[Staxx]

.

 

[bmonki]

hi, thanks for the replies - yes i've got an api test kit now - the ammonia is at 0.25 at the moment, and the nitrite is showing at 0. (i'm using 'ammolock' and a.b.a bacteria - forgot to mention )



re the shoaling - i wanted to get some diamond tetras - would they shoal with the black neons? and i have 1 male 2 female corys - i need 3 more? And assuming i do need to get more i'll have to wait til the water is at 0 right? also what do we think re the algae eater?

we have 1 male 2 female of the lyretails, but i have no idea on the platys - how do you tell which is which on them?

no bubbles? #28### that means hubby was right and i was wrong



i think its 140... maybe i've worked it out wrong... its 4'x1'x15"


cycling it - we washed everything out, filled the tank, dechlorinated, then ran the filter heater etc for a week. didnt add anything in initially which apparently was very silly - as i said we just went on the advice of the local shop who seem to know basically poo all... I wish i had googled!

Alm0stAwesome - sorry i missed your post there! I'd heard the bristlenose pleco was good at that, i may well look into one of those - cant get rid of Stripey Simon the clown though - i've become rather attached

 

[the_lock_man]

With the API ammonia kit, you have to look at the test in natural light, not artificial, otherwise there's a slight green tinge to it. If there's deffo no nitrite, the chances are there's no ammonia either.

Generally speaking, different species won't shoal together, and in an ideal situation, yes you would need 3 more cories. I'm not particularly good at stocking levels on anything over about 80-100l, so whether you've got room for them, or indeed another algae eating fish, I wouldn't like to say.

Sexing any (poecilid) livebearer is the same - take a look at the male swordtail's anal fin, and compare it to the females'. The male's is very pointed and rigid, whereas the females is more like a normal fin (depending on how lyretailed they are). It's the same with the platies. The male has a rigid anal fin.

And, see, sometimes us blokes ARE right

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

and I put all that effort into writing that up for you!

Since we are being useless on helping you stock the tank, maybe you should start a new thread asking for advice on how you're doing with stocking levels and if you have room for more. Also, at the top of the forums page there is a link called "calculator" put your tank measurements in there if you're not sure about how many L your tank holds.

 

[bmonki]

ooh, i'd never noticed that on the platys - 2 boys 4 girls from what i can see - fast little monsters they are.

i've been doing the tests in the morning right by the window so theres definitely some ammonia there

(hmph blokes arent allowed to be right )


ooh one other question - when doing a partial water change whats the best way of dechlorinating the new water? i've been draining to the desired level then filling with tap water back up then adding the dechlorinating conditioner thingy - is that wrong?

ooh thanks, i'll do that - in this section?

used the calculator - 142 litres that was easy!

 

[the_lock_man]

ooh, i'd never noticed that on the platys - 2 boys 4 girls from what i can see - fast little monsters they are.

i've been doing the tests in the morning right by the window so theres definitely some ammonia there

(hmph blokes arent allowed to be right )


ooh one other question - when doing a partial water change whats the best way of dechlorinating the new water? i've been draining to the desired level then filling with tap water back up then adding the dechlorinating conditioner thingy - is that wrong?

ooh thanks, i'll do that - in this section?

used the calculator - 142 litres that was easy!

You really need to put the dechlorinator in before the water. I personally use buckets and put the dechlor in before filling the bucket, that way the dechlor is nicely mixed in by the water, before it gets anywhere near the fish.

 

[bmonki]

ooh thanks will try doing it that way from now on

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

You can do it the way you were, as in adding the dechlorinator after you add the new water, you just have to add enough to treat the whole tank instead of enough for the new water. Also make sure your filter is switched off while refilling so that no chlorinated water gets in there.

 

[bmonki]

makes a lot of sense -, explains why we still have an ammonia problem i guess if theres been chlorinated water getting in the filter

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

That could very well be the case

 

[bmonki]

theres not much point testing the levels today now i've done a 30% change is there?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

If your ammonia was .25 and your nitrite 0 before the water change, then no I wouldn't worry about it.