New Tank Set Up For A Siamese Ff

[Fishfan76]

Thanks for the tip, will try that this evening.

 

[Fishfan76]

Please please help! I'm having a bit of a panic

Everything seemed to be going fine until this morning. I noticed that my Kuhli loaches did not feed at all this morning. Spooky (my Betta) did.

Came home this afternoon and my Kuhlis were acting very odd. 3 of them sitting up between the thermometer and the glass and not moving like they used to. The other two also acting odd and dont seem right.

I have done some water tests and have got some Nitrite, and my readings were:

Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0.2
Nitrate <5
Temp 26
pH 7.8

I did a water change and took out about 8 litres (its a 35 litre tank). There was also a bit of food/detris on the bottom so when I did the change I used a siphon to remove this as well. Before the change my Betta was swimming about but kept going to the same place on the bottom and just sitting there.

After the change he has seemed to swim about more and looks more active. My Kuhlis still seem inactive and two are still sat between the therm and the glass

The new reading of Nitite after the change is 0.1 and seems a little less in colour in the test kit than before the change.

The other three are down on the bottom as usual but seem very inactive and slow. The apple snail that I added on sat is still motoring around the tank.

When I did the water change I also did the filter and this was the first time since the tank was set on on 15th May as I was advised to let it run for a few weeks before I cleaned it for the first time. I rinsed the sponges in the tank water along with the carbon pods (its a Stingray 10 filter) before placing back into the tank. It did seemed quite gunked up and the pads were quite shrunken.
I added some Seachem Prime to the water to make it safe and this also says in makes Nitrite safe as well?

I am really worried that I am going to loose my Kuhlis and my Betta. Should I do another water change soon?

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[BethK]

Try 40% water change every 2 days, do you have a breeder's net or breeding trap available? Or anything that you can keep your betta in, during feeding time. That way you can feed your other fish, then once they have finished,let your betta back in and feed him?

Is there water movement in your tank? Could be a lack of O2 in there, if the water is still.

 

[Fishfan76]

The filter moves the water quite a bit and there is an airstone that is agitating the waters surfaces.

I am now really panicking! Just done a Tetra O2 test and the result shows about 2mg/L which seems really low! I have moved the filter up slightly so its moving the surface more but pointed to the glass as I dont want it to blow by Betta away.

Could this be the problem? Why such low O2? I did have a lot of floating plants and I did take some out earlier as the surface was almost covered and I wanted space for by Betta to breath. Could too many floating plants have caused a lack of O2?

I'm really worried now

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

What is the water temperature? If it's too cold for the fish they'll hug the thermometer.

 

[Fishfan76]

The tank is at 26 c . Just about to test the water again so see if theres an improvement after the big change last night. The Kuhlis have gone back to the bottom where they were before and Spooky the Betta seems fine so far.