New Tank, Questions.

[OldMan47]

There is no reason to run an air pump on a tank unless you have poor circulation of the water. An air stone can really move a lot of water by having the bubbles stir the water so well. If you are injecting CO2 and using an air stone, the stirring effect will indeed make much of the CO2 that you inject escape at the water's surface.
There is no problem using a dechlorinator that converts ammonia to the less toxic ammonium. The bacteria basically don't know the difference.

 

[Anna Robinson]

API Stress Coat is just a dechlorinator, but I also read it converts Ammonia into Ammonium, which the beneficial bacteria can still munch on, but keeps fish from swimming in toxic stuffs.

That's true, although Stress Coat is designed to detoxify the residual ammonia that results from the chloramine in tap water. It is not really suitable for detoxifying large amounts of ammonia in the way you mention, you'd use Ammo-Lock (or equivalent brand) for this.

 

[OldMan47]

I just did a Google of Ammo-lock and according to the API website, it is made by API, it is a dechorinator that also makes ammonia less toxic. That sounds like Prime or Stresscoat to me. It is just one more brand of the sodium thiosulphate with the additive to deal with traces of ammonia.

 

[Norvu]

Okay, I'm not loosing any fish (despite it still being over stocked) and all the fish seem healthy. Cloudiness has gone away (although their is still a subtle mist) and after Christmas I'm going to see if the fish shop will take all my guppies and most of my Platies (might leave 2 females 1 male), and the two Sterbai Corydora I have, as they don't seem to be interacting with the 3 Albino Corydora at all!

After I replace my sand/gravel with substrate/black sand and add my FE CO2 system after Christmas, I'm going to get rid of most of the platys (maybe leave 1 male, 2 females), all of the guppies and the two Sterbai Corydora I have as they don't seem to interact with my 3 Albino Corydora I have who all love each other (if you look at my original post, all 3 lay on top of that rock when they aren't looking for food. It's pretty cute).

That'll leave me with 3 Albino Corys, 3 Platys and 1 Yoyo Loach.

What I want to do is add another 2 Yoyo Loaches (there used to be 4 of them, but 3 died over time my mum said) and add 8 Blue tetras (LFS sells them for £8 for 8) and I'm scratching my head about what else to add. I know my mum is terrified of snails invading the tank again, so maybe a couple of Assassin Snails, but do they count towards the inches per gallon rule?

I really wanted to get 3 Kuhli Loachs but I was out voted by my mum and brother, who deemed it "ugly" Oh well, maybe a good thing. Don't want to over stock again.

 

[finalfantay85]

Not sure about the blue tetra mate. I was told that they are really bad fin nippers and need quite a big tank. Not too sure tho someone will correct me if i'm wrong but they are lovely. I wanted some but my tank is too small

 

[OldMan47]

Many tetras have a reputation for fin nipping but I am sure in many cases it is not well deserved. I have no experience with that particular kind so am unable to say from experience. If you need a few more fish and only have 3 albino cories, I would suggest more of those. Each cory species does better in larger groups than in small ones. It seems to bring out their playful nature better. If you can't take back the C. sterbais, try adding 2 or 3 more instead. My sterbai cories are great little fish in appropriate sized groups.

 

[finalfantay85]

The bit about the blue tetra was told to me by a guy who had a little experience with them and from what i've read online but i've not kept them myself so can't say for definate. I'd love some tho they are so pretty

Edit - I asked him about them over in the tetra subforum a while back

 

[Norvu]

Hey guys, Christmas is over and I hope everyone had a nice one.

Quick update on my tank. Getting a testing kit tomorrow from the LFS and then am going to ask about giving them some of our Platties and Guppies (they took my pleco in). If they ask why, I'm going to just say my next door neighbour is getting rid of their tank as when I gave them my pleco they tried to sell me a new tank to keep him in instead of me giving it to them, kind of annoying. My LFS is a 10 minute walk away, there are a few knowledgeable people there, but its just a fish shop that's apart of a larger Garden Centre in a national trust park.

Had a big bacterial bloom recently after a water change, but its slowly fading away again. I keep getting moaned at for doing water changes, because they think that is what is causing the bloom and my next door neighbour said I might get white spot if I keep doing it... which is annoying. I think they expect a brand new awesome tank straight away, because they don't understand cycling.

I was going to borrow and use my next door neighbours sponge from her fresh water fish and just squeeze one out into my tank, but she said she cleans them once a month under the tap... so never mind.

 

[OldMan47]

You could offer to clean it for her next time, in your tank. That filter will have some beneficial bacteria in it, even with the tap water approach. In a month, with fish in the tank, it is bound to contain some of the right bacteria.

 

[Norvu]

Okay, I'll ask her when the next time she cleans hers out is and offer to do it for her. Do I just squeeze out the pads (its an internal filter she has) into my water near the intake?

Also, found 4 dead platies just a moment ago and whilst I'm not sure how old they are, I doubt 4 would die at the same time from old age. I guess my lack of cycling has caught up with me and my fish. Hopefully I'll have that test kit tomorrow and can see where I am at. With an over stocked and non-cycled tank (apart from some old fish water from my old tank), I'm sure there hasn't been a lack of ammonia, but I also very much doubt my tank is even near cycled.

Need to reduce the number of fish I have as quickly as possible it seems.

 

[OldMan47]

If you are losing fish, the rest probably are not at their best either. Do an immediate 75% water change while you are waiting for the test kit. It is not safe to just sit and wait and a large water change will always help the fish survive.

Don't forget the heater and filter cannot work without water. Both will be damaged if you leave them plugged in when the water level gets too low.

 

[Norvu]

So I done a 50% water change today... got some AquaSafe dechlor, but I think I put more in than the recommended dose, can this be dangerous? Also I lost 3 more fish today and my yoyo loach, pretty sad about that. He was our favourite in that community

I also got some fluval ammonia remover, which I put in the bottom tray of my canister. I know you're not supposed to use this if you're cycling, but I didn't want already stressed fish being stressed any more than they need to be. I won't keep it in there for too long, as I'll be doing daily water changes this week and then take it out so they should have good fresh water for a while, then do large changes once a week.

 

[Norvu]

Hello again!

Just a quick question, got some white spots on the side of my glass and have NO idea what they are. My immediate reaction was that they were eggs, because they're just round, pale balls on different areas of the glass. I've looked around, but most of the time when people talk about white spots on glass its a marine tank, mine is tropical! Any idea on what this could be?

Also, we now have blue tetras (4). It seems my brother heard me saying the tank was too full to add new fish and when we had a bunch die, he went out and got some for a fiver. Really annoying, I'll have to take them back on the weekend.

edit seems my platies are happily eating the white dots. Not sure what they are, if they're fish eggs I'll be a tad upset.

 

[Norvu]

Crap! After further research I figured out that they are Corydora eggs, so I ran downstairs to protect the ones who hadn't been eaten yet by the platies. I saved the majority I think. This is pretty cool though, first bunch of eggs in the new tank, and we've had these Corys for a couple of years.

 

[Norvu]

So after a couple of days there are still eggs in the tank, but significantly less. Looks like, even with what I did, the platies still munched on quite a few of the eggs Shame, but there are still a lot. Next time I'll be more prepared.