Can’t seem to get water levels down

[Miffyiscute4]

Hello! I am very new to fish keeping . I got a 20 litre tank about 2 months ago (the pets at home one) . I cycled it and then added 2 mollies , 4 neon tetras and 2 shrimp. All started well but then one of the mollies just randomly died . I thought it was just a classic pets at home thing so I left it a couple of days but the other mollie started to kinda swim in circles a lot (started as soon as the one died) . I brought in a sample of water for pets at home to test . They said my nitrates were high and so I needed to do regular water changes and also I brought some treatment for water bladder as they thought that was the issue . However I did see that the mollie tank was covered up with stickers saying how they are under quarantine due to illness and this was only a few days after I got my fish so I was a little SUS about that. But anyways all goes well and the mollie stops spinning and I eventually feel that the tank had settled down and about a month after the first fish dying I added another 2 mollies . These were females the previous ones were males . Everything was going good and then suddenly out of nowhere the “old” mollie dies . I checked water levels and brought a test into pets at home and this time my ammonia was high . The neons and shrimp have been totally fine this entire time . I am just not sure what I can do to get the tank levels right . Could it be the filter is bad ? I have been doing regular water changes , rarely feed them and when I do it’s a very little amount . But today when I did a water change the nitrates were high again (I don’t have any ammonia strips left , I’m ordering more now) , and when I was putting new water in there seemed to be a lot of debris floating around . Sorry for the long post but if anyone has any ideas what I can do please let me know!

 

[Oblio]

Welcome Miffy,

More experienced will offer more suggestions regarding Mollies (re: hardness, pH), but I would get a liquid test kit rather than strips.

You mentioned that Nitrates were high, what was the reading?

What is the Nitrate reading of your tap water?

You don't mention Nitrite reading, that should be zero, along with Ammonia.

Unless you have a very high Nitrate readings in your tank, >100 ppm, you can't go wrong with a 50-75% water change. I assume you are conditioning the water to remove chlorine/cloramine during your water changes.

 

[Miffyiscute4]

Welcome Miffy,

More experienced will offer more suggestions regarding Mollies (re: hardness, pH), but I would get a liquid test kit rather than strips.

You mentioned that Nitrates were high, what was the reading?

What is the Nitrate reading of your tap water?

You don't mention Nitrite reading, that should be zero, along with Ammonia.

Unless you have a very high Nitrate readings in your tank, >100 ppm, you can't go wrong with a 50-75% water change. I assume you are conditioning the water to remove chlorine/cloramine during your water changes.

Thanks so much for your reply! Ooh ok I’ll look into getting one of those . I’m using the tetra test strips so I’m not sure if the numbers are the like levels but here is what they are (I did a 50% water change last night and they haven’t been fed since that) . NO3 - 50. NO2 - 1 . GH - between 8d and 16d . KH - 6d . Ph - between 7.2 and 7.6 . CL - 0 . A test strip that’s just water straight from the tap is as follows - NO3 - between 10 and 25 . NO2 - 0 . GH - between 8d and 16d. KH - 6d . Ph - the colour isn’t on the chart . CL - 0 . I do use tap safe every time I do a water change . Should I just do daily water changes until the NO3 is down? And then do ones every other day maybe?

 

[MonsieurLaGrenuoille]

Hello Miffyiscute4 and happy new year, is this right you are speaking of 20 litres and not 20 gallons? If you have litres, you cannot by no means keep these fishes in a realistic way, it's impossible I'd say, it's much too little.

 

[FishGuyBri]

I think the same two pieces of advice will come from just about everyone - Be patient and yes to water changes. I've kept different fish over many years, salt and fresh, and what I've learned has come from forums like this one (they're amazing!). But here is my experience in short: 1) Cycling a tank is an ongoing process that yo-yo's a little in the beginning (especially when you're new). Every time you change something about your tank (new fish, new animal, lights, substrate, decorations even), the cycle changes a bit and can yo-yo back and forth. Sometimes it's a noticeable change, sometimes it isn't. This leads to my #2 thing: Water Changes. This can be very polarizing topic but at least, until a tank is REALLY established (like 6 mos - 1 year), water changes will solve about 80% of your problems. Be consistent with them. You will get different advice on this one and find what works for you, but for me it's been more frequent water changes with lower total amount of water (i.e. 10-15% every 2-3 days at first, then 30% every week, then 30% every other week, etc.). You will find what works with you on that but remember that water changes truly help fix many, many of your problems. I do like your idea of daily but remember too you're adding in tap water so take that into account.

Now of course your numbers will be different, but your hardness is almost the exact same as mine here and I have a similar stocked 10-gallon (37 liter) tank - the extra water helps me balance the tank better- so consider the tank size too. Less water is harder to balance (sometimes). I have full faith that you will get back into balance and have a happy fish keeping life- just be patient, be aware of changes you make to the tank, and do water changes especially in the beginning. (Oh, and don't take *anyone's* individual advice or experience as the gospel- use multiple sources if you can and a little bit of trial and error). Happy New Year!

 

[FishGuyBri]

Hello Miffyiscute4 and happy new year, is this right you are speaking of 20 litres and not 20 gallons? If you have litres, you cannot by no means keep these fishes in a realistic way, it's impossible I'd say, it's much too little.

I agree with @MonsieurLaGrenuoille - while it's not impossible, it's going to be difficult without amazing filtration and very frequent ongoing water changes, especially when starting out in fishkeeping.

 

[MonsieurLaGrenuoille]

I agree with @MonsieurLaGrenuoille - while it's not impossible, it's going to be difficult without amazing filtration and very frequent ongoing water changes, especially when starting out in fishkeeping.

This is 2 buckets of water, you can fill the aquarium only 16 L, minus objects & gravel, it's perhaps 12 L of water, that's not normal, and the fishes can't turn round their own's back, the neons under such conditions will become one day bad pirahnas, c'est pas du tout possible ca in a long term.

 

[Oblio]

NO3 - 50. NO2 - 1 . GH - between 8d and 16d . KH - 6d . Ph - between 7.2 and 7.6 . CL - 0 . A test strip that’s just water straight from the tap is as follows - NO3 - between 10 and 25 . NO2 - 0 . GH - between 8d and 16d. KH - 6d . Ph - the colour isn’t on the chart . CL - 0 . I do use tap safe every time I do a water change . Should I just do daily water changes until the NO3 is down? And then do ones every other day maybe?

NO2 should be zero if your tank is fully cycled. Daily water changes until it is zero before the change should help this.

If you have between 10-25 ppm NO3 in your tap, you will not be even able to get to that level in your tank with water changes. Periodic water changes will get you close to 10-25 ppm NO3 depending on you stocking level/species. A possible solution to this is having live plants which will take up NO3 from both your fish and the tap water. You might try this method:

Alternative Nitrate Reduction Method$

I had the good fortune of limited access to an ichthyologist and marine biologist who operate an LFS here in Southern California and work at an aquarium in San Diego. We began what became almost a full year of informal but largely quantified gatherings of data on nitrate reduction techniques and...

www.fishforums.net

Caveat: You need to test with a liquid test kit to get accurate readings.

 

[GaryE]

I've done tests here with strips and the standard liquid kits, and both gave the same readings consistently. As long as they are properly stored, strips are good. But they are far more expensive.
20L.
Mollies.
Nope.
I think you are way overstocked. Mollies are very active, which is why we love them, but they need room. As someone who fell in love with mollies at the age of 8, and who is now retired, I can tell you you are seeing a normal situation for a molly in such a tiny body of water. I would never keep a pair in a tank smaller than 80L.
You can stay with the neons and shrimp, but you have bought a very small tank. Small tanks are much more work than larger ones.
Even if you keep the mollies alive, it won't be much of a life for such a boisterous energetic fish.
I'm sorry to bring bad news, but at least you can adjust and enjoy the tank without the impossible task of keeping fish that size in it.