Tank Crisis

[rufusstone]

Hi, i am new to the forum so please be gentle with me.

I have a 28litre tank which has been running for about 6 months. I've had a platy explosion and the tank is currently over populated with the following: 2 adult female platies, 9 baby platies approx 2 months old and ranging from half to quarter adult size, 2 well grown adult cardinal tetras (was planning on increasing to 5 until platy explosion), 3 amano shrimps, 1 tracked nerite snail and about a billion impostor snails. the tank is well planted with plenty of hiding spaces.

For xmas i got a 190l juwel corner tank. i set this up saturday, is well planted with lots of hiding places. the water is up to temp and treated with tap safe. im running an external maidenhead aquatics own brand external filter. All fish are destined for the new tank.

The problem i have is that my small tank is suffering from the over population. both adult platies are not happy, and havent been for some time (about 6 weeks). they look perfectly healthy and feed well but aside from feeding time they hide and clamp their fins. i noticed the bigger baby platies chasing them about and giving them gip, so i think this is a case of bullying and too many fish im doing 30% water changes weekly and water chemistry is fine, except for the ph being high at 8.2. this has always been the case, and this is the ph of our water from the tap. the lfs advise that their ph sits just over 8 too. I have taken the water from my old tank water change and added it to the new tank and will add some media from the old filter too.

If i wait 4-6 weeks to do a fishless cycle i fear i will have casualties in my old tank. Should i wait and risk losing some, move the adult platies to see if they cheer up, move some of the bigger babies over, take over my two cardinals who are v happy healthy little fish?

grateful for advice

 

[the_lock_man]

Put all the media from your old tank in the filter of the new tank, top the filter up with the new media, and then, assuming the water is up to temperature, transfer the fish over. If you take all the media, the majority of the bacteria will also be transfered. Just keep monitoring the ammonia levels, at pH of 8.2 you won't want the level to go much more than say 0.5ppm. If you see more than 0.25ppm nitrite, add a little salt.

 

[rufusstone]

thk you. do u mean taking all the water, filter and ALL fish, shrimps, etc in one go?

 

[Seal36]

Yes I had a 40 litre but got a 70 litre for Christmas and I transferred all the filter media over and put it in the new filter. I made sure the water was at the same temperature and after adding sand as a substrate I moved all the fish across with not losses. I also used all the water from the old tank in the new tank then topped it up with new water so It was just like a big water change. I also moved all of the decorations across and then 4 days later changed all the decorations as I need more and wanted a more natural look from Tom

 

[rufusstone]

ok, that's fab advice thks. i am going from a 28 to a 190 though which is a much bigger atep, but in theory i have enough good bacteria in my small tank so, as you say, most of that should transfer, though i wont be taking any of the substrate and want to clean existing plants and decor to try to prevent taking all those pesky snails over.

my only other concern is there is still a lot of air bubbles in my new tank and every now and again the filter pumps out some more. will this be a prob?

should i add a bit of salt before i transfer the fish for therapeutic purposes? will this upset my nerite snail or shrimps?

 

[Blobfish]

To my thinking, the bacteria levels in a filter are about the number of fish rather than the volume of water as it is the fish waste that feeds them.  So you should be fine to transfer all of them over if you move all the media across,  You could always run both filters for a while.
 
Air bubbles won't harm your fish.  If your filter keeps kicking out air then it is taking it in somewhere but I would give it a few weeks before you worry, it wouldn't stop it working as a filter.
 
I don't think you need the salt myself.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thinking should be perfectly fine to transfer all your stocking to the 190l, as long as water temp is matched and de-chlorinated, filter media transferred to new filter etc etc.
 
And keeping an eye on water parameters will ensure that you know if you need to do water changes.
 
And no real need for salt i don't think.
 
Let us know how you get on.

 

[rufusstone]

cool. done. all have survived the transition. lets see what happens. enjoying exploring their new home.
thanks guys, any ideas on suitable tank mates that can tolerate my high ph, once these guys and the tank have settled obviously.

 

[rufusstone]

update - all fishes and shrimps survived the transfer and are doing well. the two adult platies have cheered up no end too. only possible casualty is my tracked nerite snail who doesnt seem overly happy or active. did try to feed it algae wafers until algae established itself but the pesky shrimps just run off with them. anyone got any ideas why my nerite may not be happy? do they have/like any particular conditions?