How often to vacuum?

[Angelbettas]

Hi! I have a 20 gal with 9 female Bettas, 2 panda corys and 2 Siamese Algae Eaters. I typically do a 25% water change each week and vacuum the gravel. About a month ago, the water didn't clear up after the water change and hasn't been clear since. I've continued my water changes, but lost a few girls to disease. Am I vacuuming too much and eliminating the good bacteria?

Thanks,
Anne

 

[Tanked]

I vaccuum weekly and all is fine. are you vaccuuming just the surface or are you digging the vac way down deep into the gravel? I skim 100% of the surface every water change, but only shove the vac down deep on 25% of the gravel and rotate which 25% each week, so once a month I will deep clean an area. I hope that makes sense to more than just me...


almost forgot to ask a few ?'s. how long have you had the tank? what are your water parameters, ie: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph levels?


hth,

richard

edit: and how rude of me to forget to the forum Angelbettas, I hope you enjoy it as much as I, BTW, your name consists of my 2 favorite types of fish

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi Angle and welcome

I wouldn't have thought it would be the vacuming...

....has anything else changed in the tank?

....filter working properly?

....and tanked's q's above...

 

[Tanked]

have you ever cleaned the filter?

 

[Angelbettas]

The ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and pH is 7. The tank has been set up for about 6 months without any problems. It has a Biowheel 125 filter and artificial plants. About 2 weeks ago, I replaced the biowheel thinking that might be causing the cloudiness. I also have another 20 gal, 2-10 gal. and a 5.5 gal set up with perfectly clear water and happy fishies! All have female Bettas and the larger ones have 2 Siamese Algae Eaters.

Do you think I should just break down the whole tank, throw the gravel away and start again?

Thanks,
Anne

 

[Tanked]

an entire tank breakdown is very extreme. I would start with 10-15% daily water chnages for about 7-10 days. if all of your fish are currently healthy something may have caused a bacterial bloom. just an fyi, you never have to clean or replace a biowheel. just clean the bearings about once a month so it will stay free spinning. the dirtier, nastier brown clor it gets the better!!! I do put mine in a bucket of tank water every for weeks and swirl it around gently.

 

[impur]

It was a bad idea to replace the biowheel. That is where most of your bacteria is growing. This is probably the source of your problem. I imagine you will experience a mini cycle.

I am with tank on vacuuming. I vacuum half of my 55 gal tank each week. I take about 20-25% of the water out durning this vacuum. Since i have the biowheel as well, i don't have to worry about the bacteria growing in the gravel.

 

[Angelbettas]

The algae eaters and corys seem healthy, but some of the female bettas have had problems. I've recently removed 2 more with illness - one has popeye and the other has a swollen face. Both of these girls are still eating, but their fins are clamped and they aren't very energetic. A couple days ago, I noticed another female in that tank has cloudy eyes.

I replaced the Biowheel because it was slimey. I've used a Biowheel filter for years in 55 gal goldfish tanks and never had it look like this Biowheel did. Someone had sent me Java moss and it had gotten into the filter itself. I completely cleaned out the filter before replacing the Biowheel and still the water was cloudy. I was getting desperate for things to try. The females in this tank are all adults, but shouldn't be dying from old age yet. I have 70 male Bettas and about 30 other females and all are healthy. I don't want to lose these girls!!!

Anne

 

[wetwetwet]

As impur said....

Though I'm not familiar with 'bio-wheels' changeing this and the filter would have drastic effect on your bacteria colonies much more than compared to what will be living on the gravel....

If things have been going through a mini cycle then there would have been fluctuations in ammonia and nitrite. This would severly stress if not kill the fish. Unless you were testing for these substances daily then they could easily have been missed.....

Can you move fish from your other tanks to free up a tank (maybe one of the 10g) to be a hospital tank untill we find out whats wrong with the 20 - or untill it finishes its mini cycle (if thats what it is)

 

[Tanked]

in the future if your biowheel looks slimy, syphon some tank water from the top of the tank (so it is clean water) into a bucket and swish the biowheel around in the water. you can wipe down the pastic edges as well, but don't touch the membrane in the middle. that bacteria culture on a 7" biowheel has about 30,000 time the amount of nitrifying bateria as 50lbs. of cultered gravel.

 

[impur]

I also read in my emperor 400 instruction book that you should never have to replace the biowheel unless it becomes damaged. As tanked said, you can just clean it in the water you siphon out of the tank.

Hope all goes well, keep us informed.

 

[Jamnog]

could this be bacterial bloom? how old is the tank?

 

[Tanked]

The tank has been set up for about 6 months without any problems.

 

[Angelbettas]

I really appreciate everyone's help and concern - this has been such a frustrating experience, but a learning one, I guess. When I got home this afternoon, I saw another female Betta has cloudy eyes and is acting lethargic. I did a 10-15% water change.

Everything was fine in that tank until I added the Java Moss. That's about the time the girls started getting sick and the water turned cloudy. I thought maybe the moss was the cause and tried to get rid of it first.

If the tank is going through a mini-cycle, would the ammonia and nitrites be 0?

Thanks,
Anne

 

[Tanked]

If the tank is going through a mini-cycle, would the ammonia and nitrites be 0?

bo they would not, but monitor daily for about a week and they won't always present them selvbes immediatly. my tank took 6 days for ammonia to show up at initial setup and hiving replaced your biowheel your about 1/2 way to initial setup. you still have bacteria cultures in your substrate and on the decor, but nothing like what your old bio wheel had.

the bettas may have been from a weak bloodline. do to their increasing popularity they are hevily inbred, cross-bred, etc. and it has greatly weakend the species as a whole