Input For Newer Fish Owner?

[duhockey]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to get some info on what you guys think...

Heres the deal, I had a 25 gallon tank with an oscar who died recently, and rather than get one fish that takes up the whole tank, My wife and I decided to start a little community.

I did a 25% water change and checked the levels and we went out and got some fish... I think we may be slightly overstocked, heres what we have now.

5- neon tetras,
2- zebra danios, we had 3 and 1 died (this worries me, more on this later)
2- algae sucker fish...
3- silver dollars
2- african dwarf frogs
1-black molly (who before the water change was getting white spots, all clear now)

they all seem to get along nicely... although the bigger algae eater has seemed to snap at one of the frogs when it gets really really close.

heres my last couple tank readings, I last did a water change on the Jan 1st, at that point, my Gh-180, Kh-120, ph-6.2, no2-.5, no3-160
after the 25% water change, heres what I got.

Jan 2nd
Gh-60
Kh- 80-120 strips colors right in between
Ph-6.5
no2-0
no3-40-80

Jan 4th
Gh-120
Kh-40
ph-6.5
no2-0
no3-40-80

Jan 6th
Gh-120
Kh-80
Ph-6.5
no2-0
no3- 80

Jan 7th
Gh-120-180
Kh-40
Ph-6.5
no2-0
no3-40-80

all times the ammonia showed as 0

Im worried the ph may be a little to low and after the water change my Kh has stayed a little low, I thought KH was supposed to help buffer to keep the tank stable, worried about that, and the fact I have so many different fish that have different likes/dislikes in water types.. Also, Im a little worried I had a Danio die, considering they are supposed to be one of the more hardy fish out there.

anyways, any input, thoughts would be appreciated.. any possible problems I could encounter?? oh, and my temp is always 77-80 degrees with the heater.

thanks,

 

[Miss Wiggle]

not surprised your oscar died in a 25 gallon tank, they get to 16" long and need a tank around 75-100 gallons as a minimum. they're also massive waste producers and as such would completely overpower a filter on a 25gal tank.

anyway it's done now so I won't go on about it.

the readings you've given, are they from test strips? unfortunately they're not worth the paper that they are printed on, they're massively unreliable. you may as well stop a strange in the street and ask him what he thinks your levels could be.

what you need is a liquid based test kit, i recommend the API fresh water master test kit, it's commonly available on ebay for around 15-20 quid so pick one of those up then re-test the water and post the results up, we can then comment on them.

for a general rule on stocking you can have 1" of fish for every gallon of water, so you should be aiming for 25" of fish in your tank total. you need to work this out on the adult size of the fish.

this is what you have now

5- neon tetras - 5"
2- zebra danios - 2"
2- algae sucker fish - can you confirm the species, post a picture if you don't know
3- silver dollars - 24" (yes they get to 12" each)
2- african dwarf frogs - 4"
1-black molly - 3"

as you can easily imagine the silver dollars will need to go back to the fish shop, a 12" fish is not suitable for a 25 gallon tank, they'll go the same way as the oscar if you don't re-home them soon.

the algae eater you need to confirm the ID of ASAP, this could be a lovely little 2" community fish or grow up to be a 2 foot monster that will eat your other fish.

assuming that the algae eaters are otto's (the smallest of the common one's around) then the tank is sensibly stocked at around 18" after the SD's have gone, you have room for some more fish down the line but you need to give the tank time to settle before you add anything else.

 

[Repeat]

Also just because your white spots ( im assuming ich) are gone does not mean that it is gone! They detach and multiply send spores so to say and will re attach. With more fish in your tanks the odds of re attaching are higher and you will have a much larger problem. A water change can help this, but most likely will not get rid of completely. Also ich will live in the gills make it very hard to see. That is assuming it is ich in the first place

 

[OldMan47]

If you have ich in the tank, wait at least a full week after you remove all fish for the ich parasites to die. Without a host, the parasites won't survive very long in the tank.

 

[Schmill]

and also read the "Ich Info" link in OldMan's signature, I had a read the other day and it's pretty good
Even if you don't have Ich I think it's always worthwhile being armed with info ahead of time

 

[duhockey]

Thanks,

I have read up on "ich" and have seen 0 signs of any symptoms or any spots on the fish in weeks...

as far as the silver dollars... the stuff im finding and the pet store I got them from say they will only get to 5", 6" tops. now obviously, that will still be an issue, considering thats 18 inches in a 25 gallon tank...

I took some pics of the algae eaters...

http/www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=9d270eb...8ba4f373aefff2e

any help on what type. I was going to check out the pet store and see what they were, didnt have time.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok well whatever the max size you agree they're too big for the tank and need to be re-homed.

that file sharing site's well annoying, here's your pic anyway

you've got a plecostomus there of some species, i'm not00% sure what sort you have though.

if it turns out to be a bristlenose you'll be fine as he'll only just get to 4" or so, if it's a common or a gibbiceps it could grow to 24" so again clearly unsuitable for the tank.

 

[duhockey]

the other sucker fish is way lighter and a little bit bigger... yeah, pretty apparent the silver dollars have to go... unless they decide to not grow at all :0)...

did you see the pic of the other algae eater?? was kinda more interested in what it might be... its grown signifigantly since we got it... what type of sucker fish should I have in that tank once I move the silver dollars?? and if the algae eaters start to get too big??

 

[JenCliBee]

the other sucker fish is way lighter and a little bit bigger... yeah, pretty apparent the silver dollars have to go... unless they decide to not grow at all :0)...

did you see the pic of the other algae eater?? was kinda more interested in what it might be... its grown signifigantly since we got it... what type of sucker fish should I have in that tank once I move the silver dollars?? and if the algae eaters start to get too big??

algae eater looks like a gibbicep maybe a common and will out grow that tank very very fast they need rehoming just like the silve dollars as suggested above


jen