Few Questions..

[neilzomg]

Got the aquarium last week, left it until this week after adding de-chlorinizer and Nutrafin Biological fish supplement. 
 
One of the fish out of the three (in a 45l tank or 9.8gallons) always hides in the corner, and when feeding usually stays in the corner rarely eating. is it just nervous or sick? 
 
Although it ate this morning and it seems to be moving about and looking better.
 
Also i have an air pump in the tank along with an air filter, but the air pump says it pumps out 75L of air an hour is this too much and if it is how can i restrict the air flow?
 
Neil.
 

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi Neil, welcome to the forum
 
I'm afraid your main problem is that your tank won't be cycled. A lot of people have used those biological supplements and starters and very few of them seen to do anything of benefit.
 
This means that you will be getting ammonia building up in the water, which could well be making the fish feel sick.
 
Do an immediate large water change (and by 'large' I mean at least 75 or 80%), making sure the new water is warmed and dechlorinated. That will reduce any levels of toxins that have built up and make your fish a lot happier.
 
Longer term, you are now doing what we call a 'fish-in'cycle. You are going to need decent test kits (liquid or tablet based ones, not the paper dip strip kind) for both ammonia and nitrite.
 
A lot of water changes will be needed to keep the ammonia and nitrite under 0.25ppm; any higher and it can make the fish sick, or even kill them. You'll have to test, and probably change water every day for the next few weeks, until your filter bacteria become established. If you know anyone else with a tank, you could ask if they could give you some filter media (that's the sponge or ceramic rings from inside the filter) that you could put in yours to kick start your colony.
 
What species of fish do you have, so we can rule out any other issues (unsuitability, bullying, lack of 'friends')?
 
I don't run air in any of my tanks, but if you think it's too much, you can very cheaply buy a flow restrictor, which is like a little plastic clamp and screw which you can tighten/loosen at your pleasure
 
Hope that helps; do please post again if anything's not 100% clear or you have more questions; we're all here to help!

 

[neilzomg]

I have two black tetras and a white tetra in the tank, The guy at the shop recommended them to start the cycle with fish in it. The two black tetras seem to stick together where as the white tetra seems to stay by itself and hide.. Maybe its being bullied by the other two? 
 
How would i go about the water change? I have a little fish bowl i could maybe place the fish into while i do a change

 

[fluttermoth]

You don't take the fish out of the tank to do water changes.
 
If you don't have any kid of syphon tube or gravel cleaner, that should be next on your shopping list, along with the test kits, but for the meantime, you can use a jug or plastic bowl to scoop out the water. If you don't have a bucket for dechlorinating the water, you can do that in the tank; just add dechlorinator (enough for the whole tank's volume, not just the water you're replacing) before you start refiling.
 
Make sure you turn the heater and filter off first!
 
Are your fish black/white widow/skirt tetra? If so, they are a notoriously nippy fish, if not kept in fairly large shoals (six or eight) but you should not add any more fish while you're still cycling.

 

[neilzomg]

Yeah they're black/white tetra example to this image http/www.ekmpowershop27.com/ekmps/shops/buriramphur/images/black-widow-tetra-3cm--408-p.jpg
 
that will do i'll do a water change now and see how it goes! will post back.

 

[neilzomg]

Was lucky enough to be able to adjust the temperature of the water from the tap, It has a temperature gauge so putting the water back in was easy enough. Tank looks a lot clearer now anyway and the three fish seem to be grouping together at the moment