Questions Questions!

[lightswitch]

Hello

I have a list of questions which I am hoping someone can help me with?
I have a 37 Litre tank with a filter pump, with large stoned gravel, two plants and a top light.
I started with an Albino catfish, which had to go back as it was very aggressive, 5 Neons (2 of which have died) a red tailed shark, which has only half a tail left because of the catfish, and a BN Pleco, which keeps itself to itself!

So to round up, I have 3 Neon Tentra's left, half a Red Tailed Shark, and a BN Pleco!

I have had a battle with my tank considering it is only a few weeks old. I am currently treating my fish for white spot (Ich) which seems to be going well, as all the spots have gone from the Neons, but the Shark still shows some.

I changed 25% of my water yesterday and treated it accordingly, for my usual cleanout, and left things to settle overnight. I tested the water this morning and its showing the NO3 at 100mg and my NO2 is at 5mg. I dont have many fish, I have just done a 25% water change, and im sure the levels should be better than that? The PH is fine, which is good, and the water in my area is hard anyhow, so thats ok.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this would be? I am not over-feeding either, I give them a very small amount once a day, and sometimes every other day instead.

Help, thanks!

 

[Kiwigirl]

I have had a battle with my tank considering it is only a few weeks old.

How many weeks have you had your tank for exactly??

its showing the NO3 at 100mg and my NO2 is at 5mg.

The No2 is your Nitrite, the No3 is your Nitrate.

What are your ammonia readings??

Sounds like your tank may still be cycling.

Please post the requested information as soon as possable so we can give you a more informative answer.

Sorry I cannot help you with the ich, I have never experienced it, suggest you continue to administer as directed.

When you can afford it set up a 5 or 10g tank to use for quarintine, this will help to avoid any further outbreaks on you main tank.

 

[lightswitch]

I have had a battle with my tank considering it is only a few weeks old.

How many weeks have you had your tank for exactly??

its showing the NO3 at 100mg and my NO2 is at 5mg.

The No2 is your Nitrite, the No3 is your Nitrate.

What are your ammonia readings??

Sounds like your tank may still be cycling.

Please post the requested information as soon as possable so we can give you a more informative answer.

Sorry I cannot help you with the ich, I have never experienced it, suggest you continue to administer as directed.

When you can afford it set up a 5 or 10g tank to use for quarintine, this will help to avoid any further outbreaks on you main tank.

I have had the tank for just over two weeks.

My test strips dont tell me the amonia readings? Just Nitrite, nitrate, water hardness etc and PH levels.

The Ich is going thankfully, the treatment seems very effective.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Kiwigirl]

I have had the tank for just over two weeks.

Sound like your tank is defintaly cycling, I suggest you do some research about the nitigen cycle.

My test strips dont tell me the amonia readings? Just Nitrite, nitrate, water hardness etc and PH levels.

I don't know much about the test strips or how accurate they are, I suggest you get your ammonia tested at your local fish supplier. And work towards getting a master test kit from API they are one of the most highly recommened ones by the more experienced.

Just a quick look at your cycle process.

Fish waste and food decay = ammonia (continue feeding your fish only once a day for now)
Ammonia is converted into nitrite, nitrite is then converted into nitrate.
When the ammonia and nitrite have both fallen to 0mg/l or ppm your cycle is complete.

Continue doing your water changes.

Is your tank cloudy??? and what colour???
Are seing signs of algae.
Have you also tested you tap water against ph, nitrite and nitrate.???

 

[Miss Wiggle]

how did you cycle your tank before you put the fish in?

it sounds to me like the ich is because of poor water conditions caused by your tank cycling. This is exactly why you should do fishless cycling before adding any fish.

I'm glad your ich treatment is going well, keep up the good work, but while you are getting nitrite and nitrate readings you should be doing daily 20% water changes and testing the water daily as well, until the levels of nitrite are at 0 and the ntirate returns to an acceptable level.

good luck

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this setup was never going to work. 37 ltrs is just under 10 US gallons. This will only take about one or two slimbodied 2-inch fish for the first few weeks (unless you have done a fishless cycle) and when fully mature about five fish of that size. You might just squeeze a bristlenose in on its own if you add extra filtration, but that won't leve room for other fish. The red-tail shark definitely needs more space. The neons are dying because of poor water stats, and this will also make fish more susceptible to disease. Ideally, you should rehome the shark straight away, but that is hardly possible since he may be carrying disease. Keep struggling on with the water changes, but think about adjusting the stocking as soon as everything is under control and all disease eliminated.

 

[lightswitch]

I have had the tank for just over two weeks.

Sound like your tank is defintaly cycling, I suggest you do some research about the nitigen cycle.

My test strips dont tell me the amonia readings? Just Nitrite, nitrate, water hardness etc and PH levels.

I don't know much about the test strips or how accurate they are, I suggest you get your ammonia tested at your local fish supplier. And work towards getting a master test kit from API they are one of the most highly recommened ones by the more experienced.

Just a quick look at your cycle process.

Fish waste and food decay = ammonia (continue feeding your fish only once a day for now)
Ammonia is converted into nitrite, nitrite is then converted into nitrate.
When the ammonia and nitrite have both fallen to 0mg/l or ppm your cycle is complete.

Continue doing your water changes.

Is your tank cloudy??? and what colour???
Are seing signs of algae.
Have you also tested you tap water against ph, nitrite and nitrate.???

I will try and buy an ammonia test kit on the way home.

The tank isnt cloudy no, but the water is a yellow colour, although I cannot see that in the tank, only when I take the water out. No signs of algae either. I havent used a test strip on the tap water, I didnt think of that. Does it sometimes contain nitrite and nitrate?

Thanks again!!

how did you cycle your tank before you put the fish in?

it sounds to me like the ich is because of poor water conditions caused by your tank cycling. This is exactly why you should do fishless cycling before adding any fish.

I'm glad your ich treatment is going well, keep up the good work, but while you are getting nitrite and nitrate readings you should be doing daily 20% water changes and testing the water daily as well, until the levels of nitrite are at 0 and the ntirate returns to an acceptable level.

good luck

I had the tank for over a week after putting all the treatments in etc with no fish in it. Isnt daily 20% water changes a bit excessive?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I will try and buy an ammonia test kit on the way home.

The tank isnt cloudy no, but the water is a yellow colour, although I cannot see that in the tank, only when I take the water out. No signs of algae either. I havent used a test strip on the tap water, I didnt think of that. Does it sometimes contain nitrite and nitrate?

Thanks again!!

just as a quick note the test strips aren't very acurate at all, try and get liquid tests your more likely to get an accurate reading. If it's test strips for all we know the results you've got aren't correct so it's nigh on impossible to say what to do.

Ok no fishless cycle then, that definately explains your readings. I suggest you read the pinned topic at the top of this forum about fishless cycling.

and no daily 20% changes aren't excessive at all if your getting nitrate and nitrite readings, in the levels you have both could be toxic to your fish, this has already been proven to be having a bad effect on your fish as they have developed ich.

 

[lightswitch]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this setup was never going to work. 37 ltrs is just under 10 US gallons. This will only take about one or two slimbodied 2-inch fish for the first few weeks (unless you have done a fishless cycle) and when fully mature about five fish of that size. You might just squeeze a bristlenose in on its own if you add extra filtration, but that won't leve room for other fish. The red-tail shark definitely needs more space. The neons are dying because of poor water stats, and this will also make fish more susceptible to disease. Ideally, you should rehome the shark straight away, but that is hardly possible since he may be carrying disease. Keep struggling on with the water changes, but think about adjusting the stocking as soon as everything is under control and all disease eliminated.

These tanks regularily hold around 10 fish, and my pump is meant to be ample to cater for that. This is a normal sized tank that is sold in the UK, and after seeking alot of advice from many different stores and experienced individuals, they all say the same about how many fish this tank will sustain? It is around $99 in the states I think.

The shark is smaller than the Neon tetras at the moment!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if it's 10g you need to work out your stocking on 10" of fish, find out they're adult size and add it all up. It's also not gonna be suitable for anything that gets about 3/4" IMO.

the RTBS and BN Plec will both get aprox 6-8" so you shouldn't have either of them in there. Yeah I'm sure they're small and fine now but it;s the adult size you need to take into account.

I would aim for 2 small shoals of 1" fish.

 

[Creature Seeker]

Just a quick note about White Spot as I've been reading a lot about it recently.

If the white spots dissapear it doesn't mean the medicine is working is just means that the infection has moved onto it's second phase where it leaves your fish and heads for your substrate to spread. In this phase you can kill it with the medicine where as it is immune when attached to the fish so keep adding the medicine even if your fish show no spots.

I think that's right anyway .

...

 

[dwarfgourami]

These tanks regularily hold around 10 fish, and my pump is meant to be ample to cater for that. This is a normal sized tank that is sold in the UK, and after seeking alot of advice from many different stores and experienced individuals, they all say the same about how many fish this tank will sustain? It is around $99 in the states I think.

The shark is smaller than the Neon tetras at the moment!

As Miss Wiggle says, the shark and bristlenose are going to grow. And for mature fish, unfortunately, many shop employees make very poor guides as they only ever see juveniles in the store. It is not just about the pump- it is about catering for the needs of the individual species. Sharks grow quite big, they are extremely active and they need to establish a territory. This tank would not give it enough room to work off its energy- it would be like keeping an active dog confined to a small bedsit all day- might do beautifully for a chichuahua but not at all for a husky. Bristlenoses also need room for a territory, they are less restless but they produce an awful lot of waste.

You can't just say a tank should be able to hold 10 fish- it's about which fish! And here you need to weigh in a number of factors: mature size, how quickly do they grown, how much waste do they produce in relation to size (an understanding of their diet and digestive system helps here), are they territorial, do they need to be in schools, which level of the tank do they occupy, how sensitive are they to nitrates etc

 

[Kiwigirl]

These tanks regularily hold around 10 fish, and my pump is meant to be ample to cater for that. This is a normal sized tank that is sold in the UK, and after seeking alot of advice from many different stores and experienced individuals, they all say the same about how many fish this tank will sustain? It is around $99 in the states I think.

The shark is smaller than the Neon tetras at the moment!

Is your red tailed shark black with a red tail?? These grow to the adult size of up to 5"
Sharks can make a meal out of your neons in time.

Neons grow to the adult size of up to 1.5" 5 x 1.5 = 7.5"

Expand on your pleco (BN pleco) is a bit vague. (some pleco grow very large)

Your already have an overstocking and compatibility problems.

Also pump and filtration systems do not determine your stocking levels. They are there to help with water quality.

Water volume determines tank capacity.

The best you can do is continue with ich treatment and decide what you want to keep and rehome the rest.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

BN Plec means bristlenose..... it'll get to 5-6" i think. One of the smaller plecs but IMO that's still to big for a 10g tank.

 

[Kiwigirl]

BN Plec means bristlenose..... it'll get to 5-6" i think. One of the smaller plecs but IMO that's still to big for a 10g tank.

Thankyou Miss Wiggle. Yes the bristlenose pleco does grow to about 6"

The 10 gallon is way overstocked, there is a total of 18 to 19 inches of fish. Adult size.

The bristlenose pleco will also make a meal of the neons.

You will need to rethink your stocking options.

Hopefully the link below will take you straight to a very informative fish index. Check it out. use a tape measure to change the cm into inch

http/www.aquahobby.com/e_gallery.php