My Tank Is Struggling

[Hockney160]

Hi,

Abit background info, I have being keeping trophical fish for the last 2.5 years, unti3 3 months ago I was running a 60litre and a 120 litre jewel, with no real problems.

I moved house 3 months ago and to make it easier I bought a new secondhand tank. It is a HOCKNEY fish tank measuring
39"x 15" x 22". Its a great looking tank but I beleive it is and old tank they were apparently all the rage in the 1990s.

Filtration: It has a built in filter system which uses a reverse flow technique sucking water through holes which then passes through a type of wool material to filter the large waste then through the pump which pumps the water back up through the gravel.

Apparently it uses the gravel as a biological filter as apposed to a typical sponge. There is nowhere within the system where friendly bacteria can be stored except the gravel and the pre filter wool which i have being replacing ever couple of weeks.

THE PROBLEM: my fish are not doing well over the last week or two I have noticed white spot I have treated it twice however it still persists, I have just came home on my lunch to find my beloved cory vic on his side dead along with one of the older platies.

I have done a 50lt water change using the required aqua safe, all the fish seem very active and at the moment dont seem to be doing and body scraping which has being happening since the white spot.

Does anyone have any experiance or no of hockney tanks, please ask me any question which might work out whats going wrong.

Thank you very much

Ollie

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hi Ollie! Welcome to the site I just wish it was under different circumstances! Would you please complete this form? It answers the most common questions people have when trying to solve a problem One of the things the form asks for are water test results. If you do not have a water test kit, it is reccomended that you get a liquid based kit like API. If you are not able to purchase one many LFS will test your water for free on your behalf.

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[big_sw2000]

Ive no experiance with that tank, but the filter system sound backwards to me, altough im sure its working correct.
Have you tested the water quilty.
I think i would e tempted to put a 2nd filter in the tank, maybe an external. Im going to see if i can find any info on that make of tank now

Steve

 

[cynic]

My daughters tank had something similar in it when i picked it up, it made no sense to me and i wanted sand so i junked all the rubbish in the top and have an internal in there for now.

 

[Hockney160]

Thank you all for your responses.

Hi 'Almost awesome' answers to the questions. I do test the water regulary. Just done it now all seems ok, NO3 is showing a reading of about 30mg/l so possibly it was a little high as i have done a 35% water change 4 hours ago.



it is 150 litres
23 degrees
Fish after the water change seem happy white spot not as apparent.
Black guppy male has it bad though
slight signs on one femal guppies tale fin
3 neon tetras with very slight signs as well as one baby female guppy
one serpae tetra seems pale however all 3 at some point seem to loose their bright colour for a day now and again.
all live plants
3 pieces of bog wood part wrapped in moss
small natural rocks from a beach near fort myres fl

Occupants maybe verging on too many however try to make up with regular small water changes but maybe its not enough.

Red fin shark
4 corys
10 neon tetras
Plec
4 adult and 4 baby femal Guppies
8 female red Platies
1 female blue Platy
3 Serpae Tetras
4/5 algea shrimps
5ish Melanoides Tuberculata snails

I have a twin outlet are pump

and only add water or treatments for illnesses.

How do I load a picture for you?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Well I would increase your water temperature up to 25-26 just as a norm. But while you are battling the ich I would increase the temperature to 28 and add an airstone if you have one as warmer water holds less oxygen, this speeds up the life cycle of the parasite and allows your medication to kill it faster.

I would also invest in either an internal (aka not under gravel) or an external filter for your tank. I should say that I'm no expert but I think that the under gravel filters probably fell out of fashion for a reason ya know? And if you are heavily stocked you will need really top notch filtration and lots of filter media for your bacteria to grow on - in which case, an external is probably a better option for you.

Edit: Regarding your water tests, don't worry about your nitrate it is only harmful at very high levels. Just as long as your ammonia and nitrite are both 0.

 

[Hockney160]

 

[big_sw2000]

Thats a cracking looking tank, but i think i would deffenty invest in a new filter, prefibly external.

Steve