Tank Crash?

[georgiagrrl]

Tank size: about 200 l
pH: don't have any of these details, as my dad has *no* test kit. insists he doesn't need all this "new fangled" stuff.
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 24C

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): came in today to find msot of the fish, some bronze corydoras, penguin tetras and zebra danios lying n bottom of tank, a couple of them still moving a little, but then died of shock when put in fresh, dechlorinated, at same temp, water. only fish still living are a pair of 3 spot gouramis, with some brown "burns" on the edges of their fins, and tips of their "feelers"

Volume and Frequency of water changes: about 25 - 30l weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: "snail away" added about a month ago, according to dad. not my tank, so i'm not responsible for it. has some carbon in the filter, and regular sponge type filter media.

Tank inhabitants: 10 penguin tetras, 8 zebra danios, 2 "bronze" orydoras, 2 three spot gourami.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): nothign enw added recently

Exposure to chemicals: nothing as far as i know, except the "snail away" and some "tonic salt"

i've caught the two gouramis, and put them in another tank, which mostly serves as my hospital tank. can anyone suggest anything other than leaving them in peace, in teh dark for a ocuple of days to reduce stress, i should do for them? i don't particularly like these fish, as they bullied everythign in my dad's tank, but he'd like to keep them alive if possible.

also, to add. regarding the actualtank. it was full of comepltely algae covere dplants, which i've pulled out, and i've completely emptied the tank of water, and refilled it with dechlorinated water, and stripped, and cleaned the filter. which was DISGUSTING. i think basically no maintenance has been getting done ont eh tank, since there was very very little flow from the filter, which is now pushing a torrent of water round the tank. so as far as teh actual tank goes, it *Should* be okay, may need to cycle again, but i'll grab a test kit for him and keep an eye on it before adding any fish or plants.

i'm hoping to get some free run of the tank and set it up nicely, with a proper community, not a tank where most of the fish hide from two huge things that hate everythign else.

 

[Spooky76]

Yeh - if he doesnt clean the filter the bacteria wont thrive and therefore wont keep up with the chemicals in the tank.

Clean the filter in fish water you took out and get it running again.

Sounds like your doing the right thing, a test kit will show any high ammonia or nitrite. Sounds like it may be in a cycle now....although that might be a good thing.

What were you saying about the algae and plants ? Did you mean theres alot of algae, if so, always a sign of high phosphates, too much sun, lack of maintenance. You can always buy these phostphate pouches, that remove it, I find them very good.

 

[georgiagrrl]

Yeh - if he doesnt clean the filter the bacteria wont thrive and therefore wont keep up with the chemicals in the tank.

Clean the filter in fish water you took out and get it running again.

Sounds like your doing the right thing, a test kit will show any high ammonia or nitrite. Sounds like it may be in a cycle now....although that might be a good thing.

What were you saying about the algae and plants ? Did you mean theres alot of algae, if so, always a sign of high phosphates, too much sun, lack of maintenance. You can always buy these phostphate pouches, that remove it, I find them very good.

the plants in the tank were covered in hair algae, it was like grass growing on other plants. kinda scary.

dad's decided that if the gouramis survive, they'll go back in the tank, so anythign else he does with it will need to involve bigger or more bullish fish than those, anyhting like a baby tetra will be lunch

i'll get him a test kit, and hopefully he'll come to his senses. i can't bring myself to take him to get fish i know are only going to get eaten in a couple of days anyway

 

[-germ-]

Did you perform the tank overhaul before or after the fish deaths?

 

[georgiagrrl]

Did you perform the tank overhaul before or after the fish deaths?

after. had to rip out plants to catch the two fish that were alive, and then pick out the corpses. after that, it just made sense to do as much maintenance as possible on the tank, since it was pretty bad.

 

[Spooky76]

Hmm, Hair algae is a royal pain to get rid of. IME no chemicals really do it other than phosphate remover.

sounds like some TLC would do it some good though

Your gouramis shoud be OK, I keep some in my community tank and they are fine yes a bit bullish sometimes but otherwise fine. Most fish eat a baby tetra or fry.

I use www.thinkfish.co.uk to see what will go with what. Try it, community creater, add your tank and add fish, it will tell you of any incompatibilities, and even tell you ideal temp, PH, hardness, overstocking etc

 

[indigoj]

I've got opaline gouramis which are basically the same as 3 spot gouramis and kept in suitable conditions and fed a variety of flake, veg and live foods they are pretty active but peaceful. Are they 2 males , females or 1 of each? Mine are a pair but 2 males will be aggressive and depending on the individual fish a ration of 2 females to 1 male could be calmer.

ANY bigger fish will eat small fish, especially fry, but my gouramis are happy with other gouramis and my Plecs and if I needed to put my Platies in the same tank for any reason I wouldn't be overly worried. Just make sure there are hiding places where any smaller fish can go.

If you can get compatible fish then I think you will find the Gouramis are full of character and will even feed from hand.

 

[georgiagrrl]

I've got opaline gouramis which are basically the same as 3 spot gouramis and kept in suitable conditions and fed a variety of flake, veg and live foods they are pretty active but peaceful. Are they 2 males , females or 1 of each? Mine are a pair but 2 males will be aggressive and depending on the individual fish a ration of 2 females to 1 male could be calmer.

ANY bigger fish will eat small fish, especially fry, but my gouramis are happy with other gouramis and my Plecs and if I needed to put my Platies in the same tank for any reason I wouldn't be overly worried. Just make sure there are hiding places where any smaller fish can go.

If you can get compatible fish then I think you will find the Gouramis are full of character and will even feed from hand.

they're a pair, and have been bullies since they were added to the tank, despite having had, variously, plenty of cover, plenty of open spaces, a mix of the two, and some seperate looking sections of the tank. i suspect this particular paid are just bullies. *shrug*. if he's keeping them, then fine. they're looking "okay" not exaclty great, and very skittish, since being in very small tank, compared to what they're used to.