Hi All!

[richie_bhoy1983]

hi guys an gals
i've got a fluval roma 90 tank that was a present for my 4 year old daughters b/day. we were going to put red claw crabs in it but the local pet shop had none in stock with no knowledge of when they would so we got wee fishes instead! i actually got into having the fish and i like the wee guys now but i will admit i'm still a novice a this hobby so i hope you can help me out to keep them all happy and healthy.

currently we have: 1 red tailed black shark, 6 neon tetras (our oldest and bestest wee fish!!) 3 x-ray tetra, 5 albino corydoras and 6 otocinclus. we also have a piece of driftwood with a plant on which we had shrimp living in but they all died
we use a fluval 2plus filter and add cycle and stress coat every water change. i feed em once a day using 1 pleco wafer, some flake and a small bunch of crab cuisine pellets that the corys just love! lol.

we're having problems just now, the tank is about 4 months old now and the ph keeps droping to 6 and below. ammonia always seems to creep up also to around 2-4ppm. i believe these water conditions are why the shrimp all keep dying?? i had a cory whos tail fin defo look liked it was rotting so i put him in a small tank we used to have the neons in on his own and treated him with anti fin rot meds. he lasted a few days but died all the fish in the big tank seem to be acting as normal but theres obv something not right if the ph and ammonia keep going off the chart.

i change 10 litres twice a week and always add api tap water conditioner.

substrate is 3/4 sand 1/4 gravel.

water is currently cloudy and has been for about a week. i'll try and get some pics if the water can get cleard up.

so please...any help, hints, tips, pointers please??

richard

 

[aly_starh]

hi guys an gals
i've got a fluval roma 90 tank that was a present for my 4 year old daughters b/day. we were going to put red claw crabs in it but the local pet shop had none in stock with no knowledge of when they would so we got wee fishes instead! i actually got into having the fish and i like the wee guys now but i will admit i'm still a novice a this hobby so i hope you can help me out to keep them all happy and healthy.

currently we have: 1 red tailed black shark, (going to get too big) 6 neon tetras (our oldest and bestest wee fish!!) 3 x-ray tetra (need atleast 3 more), 5 albino corydoras and 6 otocinclus. we also have a piece of driftwood with a plant on which we had shrimp living in but they all died (need a really mature tank)
we use a fluval 2plus filter and add cycle and stress coat every water change. i feed em once a day using 1 pleco wafer, some flake and a small bunch of crab cuisine pellets that the corys just love! lol.

we're having problems just now, the tank is about 4 months old now and the ph keeps droping to 6 and below. ammonia always seems to creep up also to around 2-4ppm. i believe these water conditions are why the shrimp all keep dying?? (correct!) i had a cory whos tail fin defo look liked it was rotting so i put him in a small tank we used to have the neons in on his own and treated him with anti fin rot meds. he lasted a few days but died all the fish in the big tank seem to be acting as normal but theres obv something not right if the ph and ammonia keep going off the chart.

i change 10 litres twice a week and always add api tap water conditioner. (water changes need to be more frequent and larger, if reading is 2-4ppm, i reccomend doing 50% water change every 4 hours in one day using dechlor, then take a reading the next day) (with low amount, less frequent water changes your ammonia levels will never get down)

substrate is 3/4 sand 1/4 gravel.

water is currently cloudy and has been for about a week. i'll try and get some pics if the water can get cleard up.

so please...any help, hints, tips, pointers please??

(also, you have added too much fish in without it being cycled, Some more might die during the process, but, if you can, try to ask the LFS, to keep some of your fish on hold for you and let it cycle using the otos)
richard

Anyways WELCOME!

 

[richie_bhoy1983]

thanks for the speedy reply betta! the tank was (or at least i was led to believe it was from LPS) cycled before i added any fish and i added them a little at a time a few weeks apart.
forgot to say, all my water stats are are in the good/ok range. just the ph and ammonia is off.
i'll up the water changes and see how that gets on.
also gona leave getting shrimp again for a while.
i'm already getting the feeling the shark will out grow the tank he already has a wee fat belly on him and is about 3 times the size of when i got him! lol.
i did have 6 x-rays but 3 have went to the big tank in the sky

any idea how i delete posts?? my post went on 3 times! lol.

thanks again

 

[aly_starh]

All the other fish and shrimp have most likely died from too much ammonia.


The mods will delete the other 2 posts once they find them.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,

I'm a novice as well, but am hoping to help. . .I just googled the Red Tailed Black Shark and they sure are beauties!

Since you are already aware the the shark is going to grow too big, is there any way you can return him to the store for credit/exchange? Most of the pet stores around in my region offer such a deal. Recently, while I was in looking at fish, a guy came in and brought back a fish of some sort that had gotten too big too fast and he didn't have a place to put him and the pet store put the hefty fish back in a store tank.

How long have you had the otocinclus? They produce a ton of waste = ammonia. We tried one for a day and my son pointed out the sudden occurance of "black worms" in our tank but nope, it was that, something much worse: massive quanitities of oto poo (and I returned him)! They may be the cause. . .but, also, you should consider changing the water more frequently till the levels are opptimal = doing 50% changes. That's what I've been doing in my overstocked tank.