I Have Got Several Problems

[southyorkshireguy]

I am new to fishkeeping, i have had my 3 foot tropical fish tank running for 10 weeks now.

I always use aquasafe water conditioner when changing my water and i have always used king british safewater everytime i change the water to help produce more bacteria in the tank.

The fish i have in there are 4 platys, 5 guppys, 2 plecos, 4 corydoras, 4 neons, 4 black neons, 3 rasboras, 4 glowlights tetras, 2 black mollies, 1 swordtail, 2 cherry barbs and i have 16 baby fish in a breeding net.

My ammonia levels last week were very high, the level was 4mg per litre, after doing 10-15% water changes everyday the ammonia level is now around 0.8mg per litre.

My nitrate level is 50mg per litre and my nitrite level is 10mg per litre.

The problem is over the last few days my 2 black mollies have developed white spot, so what i did was i done a 50% water change and then i added some anti white spot formula into the tank, i have to put the second dose of it in tomorrow, so far no other fish have developed white spot.

The problem is i really need to get the ammonia and nitrite levels down further otherwise i am going to lose alot of fish but i cannot do any water changes due to the white spot.

I have also raised the temperature in my tank to 28C which is 84F as i read somewhere that raising the temperature greatly reduces the lifespan of the parasite.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what i can do in this matter.

Thanks for reading and i look forward to some replies

 

[WILDER]

Like to look at size of tank in gallons or litres, plus which type of filter as you have quite a few fish there in that tank.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

Like to look at size of tank in gallons or litres, plus which type of filter as you have quite a few fish there in that tank.

My tank is 120 litres (almost 30 gallons)

 

[WILDER]

Is it a juewl tank as you are overstocked, i would buy another filter like a fluval two to help with the load, as i have juwel tanks and run two filters in all of them.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

Is it a juewl tank as you are overstocked, i would buy another filter like a fluval two to help with the load, as i have juwel tanks and run two filters in all of them.

Yes it is, my tank is a juwel rekord 120, how much would a fluval two filter cost?

I was hoping to add a few more fish such as clown loaches and some rainbow fish and maybe one or two others.

 

[donna123]

hi,
i bought a fluval 2 plus for 15 pounds from down town, you could prob get them cheaper on the net.

 

[Cheffi]

Hi Sorry to hear about your troubles. Are you the other half of southyorkslass?

 

[southyorkshireguy]

Hi Sorry to hear about your troubles. Are you the other half of southyorkslass?

No i'm not the other half of southyorkslass


Is the ammonia and nitrite and nitrate high because my tank is overstocked and i need another filter? if i put another filter in will i be able to add afew more fish?

 

[Flunter]

Your tank is already overstocked, the second filter will help take the load.

I wouldn't advise putting any more fish in. The Clown's you mention grow to over 12", unless you intend to uprgrade in the very near future your tank simply isn't big enough.

HTH

 

[WILDER]

No clown loaches even when little they need bigger tanks, as they grow you are going to need a least 90gal, and the tank is already overstocked, that why i suggested another fitler so you can keep the fish you have, but no more or you will be asking for trouble.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

The Dimensions of my tank are

101cm X 46cm X 31cm.


How many fish can i keep in this tank? just so i know what is a safe limit, i am going to take afew fish out and take them to the local fish store as soon as the white spot has disappeared.

 

[brittlestar]

To work out your stocking level, you can multiply the length by the width of your tank, this will give you the cubic centimetres your tank surface area is, then divide by 1000, this will tell you how many inches of fish you can house. You should have 1inch of fish per 4.65 sq inches, although ideally less!

I actually believe calculating by volume is a better way to do it as it also takes into account how deep your tank is and the amount of decor, e.g substrate depth and ornaments. Remember its a rough guide though and it doesn't mean you can have something like 3 x9"fish or 30x 1'' fish! Always understock, and something like an external filter which circulates your tank capacity several times an hour is a great investment.

Clown loaches grow very big and I bet your LFS didnt'tell you that mollies actually benefit from living in a slightly saline environment rather than fresh water? If you have a whitespot problem you need to treat this ASAP. Remove the carbon from your filter as you add meds or it will just remove it. Don't add any more fish until the problem has gone away.

I quote this from PFK website:

If you have a 91 x 30 x 38cm/36" x 12" x 15" tropical freshwater tank, calculate the volume by multiplying the length by the width by the depth (approximately 106 l./23 gal.) and then knock off about 10% to make up for the displacement caused by your décor. This gives about 96 l./21 gal.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

I have lost my swordtails and now one of my adult guppies has white spot and one of the baby fish has it as well, also the 2 black mollies which had the white spot first, they look like they might be dying as well, i think i'm going to lose alot of fish.

 

[WILDER]

Remove black carbon and don't forget to increase aeration in the tank as the high temp and med will reduce 02 inn the water, good luck.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

I have removed the black carbon from the filter, how long do i need to keep this out for?

Around 4 of my fish have white spot now and i dont know how many more are going to get it but hopefully it will go away soon.