Fish Not Growing And Plants Dying?

[bhoyo]

hello!wondering if yas could help me?im fairly new to fish keeping!and a total newby here!

right so i have a juwel vision 260 and its up and running since about augest, the fish seem to be fine?none have died or anything since putting them in in about september!
but the only thing i dont understand is they hav nt grown at all!!and the plants keep dying?leaves turn a kind of transparent brown?(amazon sword, and had amazon frogbit)

the fish in at the moment are some blackskirt tetra, a pair of sajica, a pair of firemouths and an angelfish!!but are all still as small as when i got them!i dont have a testing kity but brought a sample to the shop and they tested it and said it was perfect?

i was wondering would taking out the nitrate sponge help the plants?thats the green one under the carbon sponge ye??

any help apreciated!cheers

 

[windhopper]

hello!wondering if yas could help me?im fairly new to fish keeping!and a total newby here!

right so i have a juwel vision 260 and its up and running since about augest, the fish seem to be fine?none have died or anything since putting them in in about september!
but the only thing i dont understand is they hav nt grown at all!!and the plants keep dying?leaves turn a kind of transparent brown?(amazon sword, and had amazon frogbit)

the fish in at the moment are some blackskirt tetra, a pair of sajica, a pair of firemouths and an angelfish!!but are all still as small as when i got them!i dont have a testing kity but brought a sample to the shop and they tested it and said it was perfect?

i was wondering would taking out the nitrate sponge help the plants?thats the green one under the carbon sponge ye??

any help apreciated!cheers

Very stange for the fish not to grow, but are you sure theyre the same size? Sometimes things grow without you noticing but i agree an angel should be getting rather large - or bigger at least.

As for the plants, do you have any fertiliser and co2 going into your tank? If not then its highly recommendable, you probably dont have enough bioload for your plants to make use of any nutrients, also some plants require a large ammount of light so this could be your problem

I would not take the nitrate sponge out, it doesnot take anything away from the plants and if you do take it out then you are removing the bacteria in your filter and could end up with an ammonia spike. I would invest into a test kit for yourself, but if your levels are perfect then the water quality shouldnt be an issue. Do you know the hardness and ph of the water, this could have something to do with it as might the ammount you feed (however i doubt it).
Jorel

 

[Truck]

Very stange for the fish not to grow, but are you sure theyre the same size? Sometimes things grow without you noticing but i agree an angel should be getting rather large - or bigger at least.

As for the plants, do you have any fertiliser and co2 going into your tank? If not then its highly recommendable, you probably dont have enough bioload for your plants to make use of any nutrients, also some plants require a large ammount of light so this could be your problem

I would not take the nitrate sponge out, it doesnot take anything away from the plants and if you do take it out then you are removing the bacteria in your filter and could end up with an ammonia spike. I would invest into a test kit for yourself, but if your levels are perfect then the water quality shouldnt be an issue. Do you know the hardness and ph of the water, this could have something to do with it as might the ammount you feed (however i doubt it).
Jorel

get rid of the nitrate sponge theyre a waste of money and time, they are robbing the nitrates from your plants, which maybe why they are not doing very well, what is your lighting like? T5's or T8's ? and total wattage?

 

[windhopper]

get rid of the nitrate sponge theyre a waste of money and time, they are robbing the nitrates from your plants, which maybe why they are not doing very well, what is your lighting like? T5's or T8's ? and total wattage?

I was under the impression after a certain ammount of time the nitrate sponge just had a colony of bacteria on it? Guess I'm wrong lol

 

[Truck]

yeh they will but once exhausted they do more bad than good apparently just dont buy them in the future, they are a waste of time.

 

[windhopper]

yeh they will but once exhausted they do more bad than good apparently just dont buy them in the future, they are a waste of time.

Oh right then, when mine needs replaing ill just get a fluval sponge or something to sqaush in lol

 

[Truck]

yeh they will but once exhausted they do more bad than good apparently just dont buy them in the future, they are a waste of time.

Oh right then, when mine needs replaing ill just get a fluval sponge or something to sqaush in lol

ive replaced all my sponges with ceramic media

 

[bhoyo]

cheers for the replys so far!ye il invest in a test kit this week!theres no co2 in the tank i did buy a fertilizer but it dosnt seem to be doing much good!!recommend any type of fertilizer?i dont know what the story is at all with the angelfish!still only bout an inch and a half?the blackskirts have grown!but they didnt have much growing to do!i want my "bigish" fish to get big....

 

[OldMan47]

Amazon swords are root feeders. They are not like so many other plants that get their nutrients from the water. You will need to get some root feeding material. In the US that is in the form of little fertilizer stick things that can be put into the substrate. The nitrate sponge may or may not be just a home for bacteria. I have never owned one so I can't say from experience how they work. If your nitrates in the water are less than about 20 ppm, you need more nitrate. In my planted tanks, I add a little nitrate daily because my fish do not provide enough for the plants. I also add some phosphorous, and potassium as the other 2 major nutrients besides nitrogen. Those tanks have fairly high light in them and also get daily doses of trace elements and CO2. Amazon swords should not be consuming enough nutrients from the water that you would need to supplement them with fertilizers in the water column like I do. If they are getting about 1 to 1 1/2 watts per gallon of light and you feed the fish, the plants should grow or at least stay green with no more care as long as you also have the roots being fed.

 

[Truck]

Amazon swords are root feeders. They are not like so many other plants that get their nutrients from the water. You will need to get some root feeding material. In the US that is in the form of little fertilizer stick things that can be put into the substrate. The nitrate sponge may or may not be just a home for bacteria. I have never owned one so I can't say from experience how they work. If your nitrates in the water are less than about 20 ppm, you need more nitrate. In my planted tanks, I add a little nitrate daily because my fish do not provide enough for the plants. I also add some phosphorous, and potassium as the other 2 major nutrients besides nitrogen. Those tanks have fairly high light in them and also get daily doses of trace elements and CO2. Amazon swords should not be consuming enough nutrients from the water that you would need to supplement them with fertilizers in the water column like I do. If they are getting about 1 to 1 1/2 watts per gallon of light and you feed the fish, the plants should grow or at least stay green with no more care as long as you also have the roots being fed.

an amazon sword will be fine without root fertilisation, they can take nutrients through their leaves when need be.