New To Hobby And Having A Few Problems/questions...

[rabidmoo]

Hi all,

First of all I should say I'm new to the hobby, but the fish tank and bits are mostly quite old (over 10 years I think, originally my partners ex's tank).
Tank is old style about 24x12x12 foot I think (its not at my flat to measure), it has a few plastic plants/ornaments, an old temp guide/heater, and plenty of gravel. There's a few issues (and probably some that I've not thought of!)

Firstly the main problem, quite a few fish have recently died. This is over a quite a few months, but makes me feel something is amiss naturally.
2 Rosy Barbs have died (one with pop-eye, we got some stuff from the local shop to help with that, he survived for a while with one eye), another died a few weeks ago without any warning signs. Also one fish here (can anyone identify? Came with the tank) died, but looked like it had been nipped slowly and then eventually died. Also another fish that I'm not sure of type.

Whats left in the tank is 1 rosy barb (seems a bit stressed, but is now on her own after having 2 mates), 1 other (hangs out a bit with the other rosy, but is bit slower/more delicate/bit stressed), 4 tetras (happy), 3 neons (happy), 3 corydoras (happy), and 2 of the fish from the link above (dominating/bullying). The 2 fish on that page basically seem to dominate/bully the other bigger fish when about, and it "appears" to stress them out.

I've since read that rosy barbs are happier in groups of 5 or more, so am contemplating getting some to try and reduce the dominance of the other fish. That is once I'm happy tank is ok, and if they are compatible with the 2 in the pic. So hoping someone can help give advice on me getting the tank into shape and if it would be good to add more rosys.

I bought a test kit, and results were PH 7.2 , AM 0.6, NO2 0.1, NO3 5.

2 things that haven't been happening (but will start this week), the water hasn't been regularly replaced, I made the mistake of cleaning the filters with tap water. I've topped water up, water with some stuff added to make water safe from the local shop though. I've also cleaned all gravel, tank, ornaments. Since reading the forum, I know cleaning the filters with tap water is bad, but now I realise, should I get new ones, or will it slowly be fine if I leave it and just wash with tank water ?

(p.s apologies for the link to the fish, only way I could get the photo off my phone!)


Any help greatly appreciated. Especially what the above fish is, if the filter is ok after me washing with tap water (probably chlorine in there), and any other advice!

 

[m00se]

Unless I'm very much mistaken, that is a Penguin Tetra. Nice little critter

It looks from your story and your results that your tank is still in the middle of a slow fish-in cycle. This explains your slightly high nitrites and also the fish deaths. If you have been washing your filter media in tapwater this would further support the idea that your bacterial colonies just aren't big enough yet to handle the fish that were in there, and have been struggling to keep up, resulting in your fish dying and the test results you have posted. You can either carry on as you are with large-volume daily waterchanges, and hope for the best, or, better yet (for the fish), would be to take the fish out and sell them to you LFS or anyone else who wants them, and perform a fishless cycle. That way, your tank will establish itself without fish in, which is kinder to the fish, and means that at the end of the cycle you could stock the tank fully.

If you want to continue on with the fish in, you'd be looking at daily water changes to keep your nitrites and ammonia under control, and something of a slow grind through the cycle, with probably more fish deaths in the meantime.

There is an excellent stickied article on the forums here that will talk you through both fish-in and fishless cycling - you can make your own mind up.

Of course, Sod's Law says that this is where someone with more experience than me points out that I'm wrong. I'll let them take over

Edit: I should also add that I seriously hope that you meant your tank is 24x12x12 inches, not feet, otherwise you have yourself a several thousand-gallon tank

 

[rabidmoo]

Hehe Yep, inches rather than feet! I always did overestimate . That does look like the Penguin Tetra thanks! I'll have a read through the thread you suggest as well, many thanks.

I have a feeling the LFS wouldn't take them as I don't think most of them came from there, and I think the Penguin Tetras are a few years old (think they are sole survivors from the dark period of the tank before I arrived).

 

[waterdrop]

I think the analysis by moose is basically correct but I might worry about "old tank syndrome" (OTS.) This is a condition where a tank has experienced water top-ups (perhaps for years) rather than actual water -changes.- All sorts of trace elements and organics and minerals can get more and more concentrated under this situation, with the fish acclimating to it because its so gradual. Then when someone comes along and finally does a proper water change, the chemical change shock to the fish is just too great and they die or grow sick.

Of course analyzing whether this is the case with a tank that is also not fully cycled and has probably not had good upkeep is very difficult. I'd say the timing of the deaths might be the best sign one could look at. If the majority of the deaths did not occur fairly quickly after the first remedial water change and there were a string of them -before- that water change then I guess the OTS wouldn't matter so much in the bigger picture.

Let us know the size and frequency of water changes in the recent history since you've been helping and also try to give us as an accurate picture of previous gravel cleaning and water change maintenance as best you can by interviewing your partner with this goal specifically in mind.

I think the members should take a look at those results plus keep you on track with good fish-in cycling technique depending on what they see here after you respond.

~~waterdrop~~