Help With Salvaging A Neglected Tank

[edie]

Hello I'm new here. Great site and I've learned a lot already.

I've become the slightly reluctant owner of a badly neglected tank and need advice.

It's a 44 litre tank with an internal filter, heater and a thing that makes bubbles. The plants are plastic and there's gravel on the base. It's currently occupied by two very cheerful golden panchaxes, all the rest of the fish having died over the last several months.

On Saturday I removed the worst of the hair algae from everything and scraped and washed the stone and plants in plain water. I've suctioned off most of the gunk from the surface of the gravel but they are by no means clear. There's quite a lot of hair algae still there but I thought I could deal with that later. I've had to change the filter foam as it disintegrated but the little ceramic cylinders I haven't touched. I changed about a third of the water and replaced it with conditioned water.

On Saturday the test kit said:

pH 6.4
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 80

I changed a quarter of the water (conditioned, all test results good before adding) on Sunday.

Today the test kit said

pH 6 (and that's the lowest the colour card goes)
Ammonia 1.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 80


The fish are still perky, which is somewhat reassuring, but I'm worried about the rest of the results - especially the ammonia and pH. Especially the ammonia.

I can test the pH more accurately tomorrow (access to pH sticks at work) but not sure whether adjusting is wise/safe/necessary. Won't the phosphates just make my algae problem worse?

Help!

 

[WILDER]

Done the right thing about only half maintaining the tank now, as it could kill the fish if you alter things to much to quickly, the ph will be all over the place as you have ammonia reading so wouldn't worry albout that, i would recommend a water change again, have to look that fish type up never heard of it.

 

[WILDER]

Are these them.
http/www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/239.htm

 

[edie]

Are these them.
http/www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/239.htm

Not sure. The pic looks similar but too blurred to tell. The profile I found somewhere on the internet last week has them as placid fish suitable for community aquaria. They are both less than 2" nose to tip of tail, not grown much in the year they've been in the tank, inquisitive but not aggressive.

Thanks for the advice - I'll change the water again tonight.

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. By changing the filter material you probably lost a lot of your good bacteria causing the tank to go through a cycle again. You'll have to keep testing the water to watch for ammonia and nitrite. If the readings for those get to 0.25ppm or so then you need to change some water. Just do small changes like 10-25% per day, never more than 50%. That way the fish won't get stressed from the ammonia or nitrite. Once the cycle is complete, do water changes such that you keep the nitrAtes at or below 20ppm or so. This should help the fish, and keep the algae down. Don't leave the lights on for more than 8-10 hours per day unless you have real plants that need the light. As for the pH, the best thing is to have a stable pH. If it is somewhere between the 6s and the 8s, the fish will adapt. It is better to just leave it alone, than to try to correct it causing swings. Check the pH of your tapwater, and also check to see if there are any nitrAtes in your tap water also. Let us know what the numbers are, but you are probably ok. The main thing is to keep up with the water changes and don't feed too much! Good luck.

 

[edie]

Hi. By changing the filter material you probably lost a lot of your good bacteria causing the tank to go through a cycle again. You'll have to keep testing the water to watch for ammonia and nitrite. If the readings for those get to 0.25ppm or so then you need to change some water. Just do small changes like 10-25% per day, never more than 50%. That way the fish won't get stressed from the ammonia or nitrite. Once the cycle is complete, do water changes such that you keep the nitrAtes at or below 20ppm or so. This should help the fish, and keep the algae down. Don't leave the lights on for more than 8-10 hours per day unless you have real plants that need the light. As for the pH, the best thing is to have a stable pH. If it is somewhere between the 6s and the 8s, the fish will adapt. It is better to just leave it alone, than to try to correct it causing swings. Check the pH of your tapwater, and also check to see if there are any nitrAtes in your tap water also. Let us know what the numbers are, but you are probably ok. The main thing is to keep up with the water changes and don't feed too much! Good luck.

Tap water pH is 7.2 ish. No detectable ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. I tested it before the water change on Sunday just to be sure I wasn't making it worse. Water in Leeds can be a bit brownish and peaty sometimes which probably means low pH and high nitrates, but it was fine.