New And Need A Little Help

[emarie2470]

My husband and I bought some fish for our kids. So far for about 5 months we've had some Triops. They were getting big, so 2 months ago we got a 6 gallon Marineland tank with filter. So the triops stayed in there by themselves for about 2 months. Now the last of the triops died when we came back home from buying 3 baby Chinese Algae Eaters and 1 (i think baby) Pristella Tetra this past week. Before we put them in we installed a in take thermometer and pH & Ammonia tester. We discovered the pH was high and treated it and only managed to get it down to about 7.3 (around there). My husband emptied the tank and cleaned the gravel then put the fish in. Within the first night one of the Chinese Algae's stomachs enlarged then it wedged itself between the tank and the thermometer and we found it dead. I exchanged it the next day and had the store test the water, they said it was fine except for a slightly high pH level.

It's been about 4 days since we got the fish and the tank clouded and cleared and now the ammonia tester is saying the ammonia is in the CAUTION level. I'm not sure what to do so the fish won't get poisoning or shocked. I'm not sure what would be best. I'm trying to understand the whole cycling thing and I'm not sure if having the triops in there did anything. I haven't cleaned the entire filter, just changed the pad.

I've looked up the signed for ammonia poisoning and the fish don't seem to be exhibiting it. they're not lethargic and the algae eaters are bottom feeders. they don't gasp for air on the top of the tank (they mostly stay on the bottom). i think one of the algae eaters (the smallest one) gills look a little red (i looked online to see what that would look like) but my husband doesn't think so.

If anyone has any advice on this or anything I'd need to do it would be great. My husband even thinks we have too much fish in there for the small tank. It's been a while (since elementary school) since I've had fish and my mother took care of everything. I just asked her what she did and she said she didn't do much, just cleaned the tank once a month and that was it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Harlequins]

it sounds like your tank isn't cycled,changing the filter pad is removing the good bacteria,you need to read about cycling.at the moment you need to do a water change to get the ammonia level down,have you tested for nitrite?

The experts will be able to help more

 

[Marve99]

Like harlequins said, you need to cycle you tank/filter. Read the pinned topics within this section to see how to do this. I have recently completed cycling my tank, so be prepared to perofirm water tests twice a day and water changes every day to control the lethal build up of ammonia and nitrite.

Best option would be to return your fish and start a fishlesss cycle, this would be easier for you and better for the fish. Your fish store should accept the fish back as I would say you have been mis sold the algae eaters as they can become large, and would be more suitable in a 20 gallon tank rather than a 6 Gallon

 

[NathanS]

I'd agree with what others have already said: your tank won't be cycled yet, and you're going to have to work quite hard to keep the fish alive during a fish-in cycle. You should either return the fish and perform a fishless cycle, or be prepared to do water changes and tests every day, as well as possibly considering purchasing a water conditioner such as Prime or AmQuel+ which detoxifies Ammonia and Nitrite into forms which are more readily removable by your bio-filter - thus does not interfere with the cycle.

 

[Curiosity101]

I'd like to echo what everyone else has said.
But also want to add...

What is your pH? If it is 8 or below then that's fine. Adding the pH adjusting liquid such as 'pH Down' from API, isn't the best way to lower it anyways. If you really did want to lower it then you're better going for something more permenant such as...Adding some bogwood, adding some peat to the filter, or buying RO water so you can dilute your tap water a bit.
pH is determined by something called GH and KH.
Basically the more things you have dissolved in your water the more acid your water can absorb, so you pH stays alkaline (above pH7)
A high GH gives a high pH
A high KH gives a high pH
But the things that dissolve to give a high GH are different to those that dissolve to give a high KH.
(Hope that make sense, I tried to simplify as much as possible)

Secondly, your husband is correct. It's not that you 'have too many fish for that tank', but the fish you have aren't suitable for that tank.
Chinese Algae Eaters - Should grow to 6"+ (15cm+) and get very very aggressive if not given enough room. You're looking at more like a 40gal to keep only ONE of these fish successfully as part of a community.
Pristella Tetra - Grow to 5cm (Almost 2") and are quite active so really shouldn't be in anything less that 10gal (40l). They are also a shoaling species and will suffer if kept alone long term. You need to keep 5 or more to make them feel secure.

As new fish keepers I would really suggest the fishless cycle route. And then in the future when you want to stock the tank there aren't a huge amount of fish that will be 'comfortable' in a 6gal.
But you should aim for 1" per gal to begin with. So you want roughly 6" of fish (based on their adult size).
Some ideas:
3-4 Male Guppys + A couple of shrimp
Or A male Betta + A few pygmy Corys
Or 5 x Micro Rasbora

And as for maintenance. Once you have a cycled filter you only need to do water changes once a week.
I'd aim for 20-30% water change a week.
And if the filter ever slows down a bit cause it's getting clogged up, give it a quick swish around in the bucket of water you've just taken out of the tank. Never clean them in tap water.
Only replace filter pads when they're literally falling apart, and even then only replace half (presuming their are two pads?), if not then I'd cut the pad into two halves.

 

[Ben M]

they're right you know!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum EMarie.
Where you are today, with the ammonia thing saying that you have too much, is that you need a large water change. I would do at least a 50% water change right away and use a proper dechlorinator for the new water. If that clears the ammonia alert it means that you may have done a big enough change for now. The next thing you will need, since you are starting a fish-in cycle, is a good liquid reagent water test kit. The one most of us seem to use is the API master freshwater test kit, but any liquid type kit that can test ammonia, nitrites and nitrates will work. With all of your fish in a small tank like that, you will probably be doing at least a daily water change for quite some time while the cycle becomes established in your tank. If you can return the fish and do a fishless cycle, it will certainly involve less work but you will need the test kit anyway to monitor that cycle approach.