First of all, I know I made several mistakes, after doing some research, but I'm hoping it's not too late. This is gonna be sort of long, but I want to get all the info out there.
In early December I set up my first aquarium. It is 25 gallons. I did not cycle it prior to adding fish. I set it up with gravel substrate 1" thick at the bottom, and a bunch of decorations. Plastic plants and props, and one rock that I think is limestone.
I added two fancy guppies (1 male, 1 pregnant female) and three "painted" tetras.
All my levels were fine for the first couple weeks. 0 nitrate, nitrite; almost zero ammonia, pH 6.5 (maybe a little low; more on that later), KH 60, GH 120. However both guppies started to look like they had sort of like mold growing on them; they looked sort of dirty (might be a better description) on their faces, mouth, back, and head. However they showed NO other ill effects, they happily played and swam and ate, and the tetras were fine.
Three weeks after I set it up (three weeks ago now) the female had fry. There were probably more than 20 of them (that I saw). At my wife's assistance, we "saved" 16 of them and have them in a 'baby saver' breeding net inside the tank. I have no secondary tank.
At some point after this, I seemed to notice a few different issues developing. KH was down to more like 40, GH was up over 180 (the highest my test strip registers), pH now down to more like 6.2 or 6.3. The biggest problem though was ammonia levels. Don't remember the ppm, but it showed up in the "stress" category on my testing kit. Also, some brown algae looking spots have been appearing on the gravel, plants, glass, and ornaments.
About a week ago my female guppy stopped eating, and layed around at the bottom. When she actually did swim, it was all cockeyed. She died a couple days later. The male was absolutely fine through all this (except for the aforementioned dirtyness or moldiness), though his gills may have been just a tiny bit red (from the ammonia?).
(I later found out that this was probably NOT a good idea) My wife and I were very upset. We went out and got some more fish (we had planned on adding some anyway). We got two female guppies, three red-eye tetras, and one red tail black shark. I know this is too many at once, but we were ignorant; didn't start doing much research until this week.
In the few days since we added these fish, the ammonia levels are still high, now near the "danger" zone of the test kit. Since before the original guppy died, AmmoniaSafe did nothing whatsoever; it just sort of clumped up and fell to the bottom. I got tablets also that were supposed to dissolve and neutralize ammonia; no effect. Did 30% water change every day for five or six days straight: no change.
Right now, one of the new females is now starting to hover near the bottom a lot. It may just be because she's very pregnant; she still swims around on occasion, and comes to the top to eat. BOTH new females had clear skin/scales when I got them. Now BOTH of them look sort of dirty/moldy like the old ones; the more pregnant of the two showing more extreme signs.
Every other fish in the tank seems happy. The shark is really cool; he's even been nibbling at the brown algae. He has established a little greek ruins prop as his territory and stands guard with quick patrols of the tank at regular intervals. The six tetras all get along and I've seen some schooling behavior here and there. The other two guppies look fine (except for the 'dirtyness').
The babies seem to be growing quite slowly; I've been feeding them mostly crushed flakes a few times a day. I'm afraid they're being stunted by the confines of the breeder net... but they're still far too small to have in the general population.
Sorry for the long winded account; hopefully somebody will read it
Main questions are about the ammonia control, mold or dirt on guppies (ONLY the guppies are affected by this), and seemingly slow guppy fry growth.
I'll provide as much more specific info as needed if anybody has any ideas. Thanks!!
In early December I set up my first aquarium. It is 25 gallons. I did not cycle it prior to adding fish. I set it up with gravel substrate 1" thick at the bottom, and a bunch of decorations. Plastic plants and props, and one rock that I think is limestone.
I added two fancy guppies (1 male, 1 pregnant female) and three "painted" tetras.
All my levels were fine for the first couple weeks. 0 nitrate, nitrite; almost zero ammonia, pH 6.5 (maybe a little low; more on that later), KH 60, GH 120. However both guppies started to look like they had sort of like mold growing on them; they looked sort of dirty (might be a better description) on their faces, mouth, back, and head. However they showed NO other ill effects, they happily played and swam and ate, and the tetras were fine.
Three weeks after I set it up (three weeks ago now) the female had fry. There were probably more than 20 of them (that I saw). At my wife's assistance, we "saved" 16 of them and have them in a 'baby saver' breeding net inside the tank. I have no secondary tank.
At some point after this, I seemed to notice a few different issues developing. KH was down to more like 40, GH was up over 180 (the highest my test strip registers), pH now down to more like 6.2 or 6.3. The biggest problem though was ammonia levels. Don't remember the ppm, but it showed up in the "stress" category on my testing kit. Also, some brown algae looking spots have been appearing on the gravel, plants, glass, and ornaments.
About a week ago my female guppy stopped eating, and layed around at the bottom. When she actually did swim, it was all cockeyed. She died a couple days later. The male was absolutely fine through all this (except for the aforementioned dirtyness or moldiness), though his gills may have been just a tiny bit red (from the ammonia?).
(I later found out that this was probably NOT a good idea) My wife and I were very upset. We went out and got some more fish (we had planned on adding some anyway). We got two female guppies, three red-eye tetras, and one red tail black shark. I know this is too many at once, but we were ignorant; didn't start doing much research until this week.
In the few days since we added these fish, the ammonia levels are still high, now near the "danger" zone of the test kit. Since before the original guppy died, AmmoniaSafe did nothing whatsoever; it just sort of clumped up and fell to the bottom. I got tablets also that were supposed to dissolve and neutralize ammonia; no effect. Did 30% water change every day for five or six days straight: no change.
Right now, one of the new females is now starting to hover near the bottom a lot. It may just be because she's very pregnant; she still swims around on occasion, and comes to the top to eat. BOTH new females had clear skin/scales when I got them. Now BOTH of them look sort of dirty/moldy like the old ones; the more pregnant of the two showing more extreme signs.
Every other fish in the tank seems happy. The shark is really cool; he's even been nibbling at the brown algae. He has established a little greek ruins prop as his territory and stands guard with quick patrols of the tank at regular intervals. The six tetras all get along and I've seen some schooling behavior here and there. The other two guppies look fine (except for the 'dirtyness').
The babies seem to be growing quite slowly; I've been feeding them mostly crushed flakes a few times a day. I'm afraid they're being stunted by the confines of the breeder net... but they're still far too small to have in the general population.
Sorry for the long winded account; hopefully somebody will read it
Main questions are about the ammonia control, mold or dirt on guppies (ONLY the guppies are affected by this), and seemingly slow guppy fry growth.
I'll provide as much more specific info as needed if anybody has any ideas. Thanks!!
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