Couple Of Questions..........

[scooterchick]

Ok, this is a daft one but is there an easier way to do water changes? ATM I have to rely on hubby to do the old sucky sucky syphon trick with the gravel cleaner, I can't bring myself to do it. Is there a way to get the flow going without sucking on it? The tanks would get cleaned more often if there is!!!!

Also, went to get a testing kit for nitrates and nitrites but the shop didn't have any. He had just enough to test the water I brought him for nitrates which are very high. Couldn't give me a reading but the water was a dark red colour. Now this was just after a water change, the fish are most def not being overfed, the only thing I can put it down to is overcrowding and a huge pleco. Pic supplied. I will now have to rehome the pleco but in the meantime, frequent water changes the way to go? A couple of the guppies in that tank (tank 2) have fin rot, due tp the high nitrate you think?

Now tank 1, there is also a pleco. He's looking kinda peaky, a bit thin, and he has soe discolouration to his skin, all the other fish in the tank are healthy and he's looked like this for weeks. The guy in the fish shop (what does lfs stand for) thinks he's burned himself on the heater, he really can't think of what else it could be. I think perhaps he's malnourised so I've been giving him cucumber about once a week and 6 nights out of 7 putting in an algae wafer after lights out. Any ideas? Pic supplied. You'll be able to tell the difference!!!

Oh, one other thing, pleco in tank 2, the big one, has a hole in his fin, you can see it in the pic, any ideas?

 

[gilaesther]

Get the API master test kit, so you can test all the water parameters as once. It goes for 600 tests, I believe - a huge bargain over the strip tests that don't cover everything.

The finrot is definitely due to poor water quality. Take the siphon, put your finger over the tube outlet, fill the siphon tube part with the aquarium water and raise it so that some water start going a bit down the tube, put the siphon part open part up in the aquarium to fill it with more water, turn it down to the gravel, remove your finger from the end of the tube and put it in the water bucket - the water should start flowing.

Do more water changes until you get the water parameters down to a tolerable level - even 20% twice daily isn't excessive, just don't forget the dechlorinator.

 

[scooterchick]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go!!! Def going to do daily water changes til I get things under control. We got the tank about 4 weeks ago and it was filthy. The owner had died and although she obvously loved her fish and cared for them, in her ill health and after her death I don't think the tank had been cleaned for months. Her son had only been topping up the evaporated water. We didn't want to shock the fish by putting them in new water so brought about half the water with us, it's obviously very dirty.

Any idea what could be happening with the other pleco?

Oh and if anyone could identify what breed the pleco's are that would be great, I don't think they're the same.....

 

[Christine1014]

How big is your tank? There are a couple kinds of plecs that only get to 7 inches or so, but most will grow to over a foot in length. As they're huge waste producers, even as juveniles, they need pretty big tanks.

As for the water changes, you should be doing weekly changes. With a standard vac, to get a syphone going, either submerg the tube horizontally, then move back and forth vigoursly to force water through the tube and into the hose, or as someone on here recently suggested, submerg the tube until it's full of water. Then slowly tip it up (it can come out of the water) and let the water go into the hose. Before the tube empties out, put it back under water and your syphon should be going.. hope that makes sense!

But for any tank over about 10 or 15 gallons, I'd highly recommend getting a Python. It's a gravel vac that attaches to your sink faucet. No more worrying about spilling buckets of water, and you use your own water pressure from the faucet to generate a syphon. Then when it's time to re-fill the tank, you can reverse the flow and fill directly from your tap. (Oh, and 'cause everybody asks, you add your tap water conditioner straight to the tank immediately before you start refilling). It's kind of hard to explain here, but I sure if you do a search someone will have explained it better than me! Anyway, depending on the distance from your tank to your sink, there are different hose lengths to chose from. I have a 50-foot Python, and I think I got it for about $60. Worth every penny, in my opinion.

 

[scooterchick]

Hi Christine,

Thanks for that, will def look into the python thing!!!

The big huge pleco is in a 31 gallon tank and the smaller pleco is in a 37 gallon tank. I'm planning on getting rid of the 31gal tank and I'm afraid that means the big pleco will have to go too. The small, frail looking one has had several owners over his lifetime and I'm determined to be the last!