Newbie Needs Help!

[Monique]

Hi!

My family started this tank about a month ago; it's a 50 gallon tank that was given to us with a 10 inch iridescent shark and a 6 inch tinfoil barb in it. For obvious reasons, I surrendured the big fish for appropriate rehoming, and put gravel and live plants in the tank.

We started out with half a dozen platties, to which I soon added neon tetras, pearl tetras, zebra danios, and rummy nosed tetras.

My neighbor tended our fish while we traveled, and when I came back I found the heater cracked and that several fish had died. My husband ran out and bought a little heater, but it was inadequate. Yesterday I brought home a Fluval E200, on advice of where I buy fish, and a few replacement rummy nosed and three silver hatchetfish.

The heater is only bringing the water up to 75 degrees, even though I have moved it right beside my filter's intake. My established fish seem to be doing all right, although another plattie had died while I was shopping in the city, and the new rummies are pinking up. Two of the hatchetfish seem okay while one is lying on the bottom of the tank, alive, but . . . never mind. I just checked. He tanked.

The filter I have, which came with the tank, is of the type where a single plastic tube goes into the tank, sucks the water up, and runs it through two filters, one a "bio-mass" and the other a replaceable one.

My heater was saying "lo-flo".

The filter was totally cleaned (washed out, etc.) about ten days ago, and I did a 60 percent water change and put in a new filter day before yesterday. However, the current generated by the water returning from the filter doesn't seem very strong. Everything is installed properly according to the diagram . . . what can I do better? Is my filter adequate? Should I put in a bubble wall or something to increase circulation in my tank? I'm hoping my hatchetfish gave up just because he was too shocky . . .

Also, some mud coloured snails came in with some of my live plants, I think. Now I'm observing gelatinous egg sacks on the glass, on leaves, and on stems. Is there a possibility these are fish eggs, or are they just more snails? I already feel that I have too many snails and was considering a cull. I know I must be doing some things right, because I had one batch of platties that are about half a centimetre long, and it looks like one has just spawned again because I observed some very tiny fry this morning . . . I don't know if they too are platties, but I'm assuming at this point . . .

Thanks for your help! I have five kids, breed Bernese Mountain Dogs and Belted Galloway cattle, raise horses, and have cats too . . . but there are days when I have to give my head a shake, tear myself away from the fish tank, and start paying attention to the rest of my responsibilities too! Who knew that fish were so cool?

 

[minnnt]

The fluval heaters seem to be having problems with them always saying lo-flo. There was another thread on here not so long ago reporting the same issues. I think it is just something you will have to ignore.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I have a 55g and during the colder months I run two heaters. I always run two filters, just because the tank is 4 ft long and I didn't think there was enough water movement. That part seems to be working well.

When your heater cracked it's possible your fish were electrocuted.

When you put in a new filter, did you use established biomedia? Do you still have the original filter? Can you adjust the flow on them? What are your water parameters?

The egg sacs are probably from the snails. Take it easy on feeding and they should slow down the breeding a bit.

Keep us posted, and welcome to the forum!

BTW, my husband and I just love mountain dogs. Been wanting one for years!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Monique.
The gelatinous sacs are snail eggs. Remove any that you find to limit the snail population explosion. Stop adding fish to the tank and do not change any more filter media. A thing that is often poorly understood by new people is that a new filter is just a piece of hardware that may actually be able to process fish wastes if it is left to mature properly. All fish produce ammonia from several sources including from solid wastes but also from the gaseous exchange at their gills. Ammonia is lethal in very small doses so it must be removed. At first that is done with huge water changes but as time goes by bacteria will develop in your filter that can convert ammonia to nitrites. Nitrites are also lethal in small doses but again bacteria will develop that can process nitrites into nitrates. Nitrates are relatively safe for fish.
If you go out and change the filter materials every few weeks, the process gets to start all over again and the fish need to suffer through the process over and over. The best approach is to never change any filter material that is not falling apart. When a filter starts to plug up, rinse it out in used tank water and put it right back where you got it. Since you change some water every week, even after the filter is mature, three is always some used tank water for that purpose.
For biological filtration, a low flow is not a big deal. I have lots of tanks that use nothing but a sponge filter with the flow driven by air bubbles and those tanks are healthy biological systems.
In your situation I would ignore the filter low flow and try measuring the ammonia and nitrite levels in your water. It sounds to me like one or both of them may well be too high. Another huge water change may be needed if you find significant amounts of either chemical.

 

[tenohfive]

Your tank by the sounds is uncycled. Have a look in this thread:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Right now you need to go very easy on feeding as the bacteria that Oldman mentions hasn't built up yet. I'd also look at doing 50% daily water changes, or better still getting some mature media in there. Have a look at the thread linked though, it will explain things better than I can.

 

[Monique]

Thanks so much

So instead of changing the replaceable blue cartridge every 2-4 weeks I should just rinse it out in tank water from the water change until it starts to disintegrate . . .

I still have h20 (theoretically) from when I inherited the tank with the two big fish, even though it was practically brown and totally disgusting; I had left about 7 inches in the bottom with the first big water change.

I'll water test right away; tis the season! We're testing wells on the ranch too, so why not the tank?

Fish Addict: Bernese are awesome,especially if you don't mind dog hair in your cereal, 110 lb. lap dogs, and the truth that no matter how often you explain to people that (unless they get out of line) he's an oversized stuffie, some of your friends will always be scared of him . . . the best ranch dog and bff for kids ever!