Tank Set Up, Fish Added

[marsdenj]

I'm new to the forum and to fish keeping in general. I have read the beginners resource centre regarding the cycling process but this was after I added the fish. I know, a stupid mistake but I've done a lot more of research now. The tank hasn't been cycled fully but has been running for about 24 hours now. I would appreciate some advice on what to do next. I'll explain what I've done so far.

I have the tank set up; including gravel, filter and heater. I rinsed the tank out properly first, along with the gravel, filter and ornaments I have included in the tank. I then added tap water and enough dechlorinator for the amount of water I added. The tank has a 60 litre capacity. I then switched the filter and heater on. The heater is set at 28 Degrees Celsius. I then added some Nutrafin Cycle and Nutrafin Aquaplus to the water. I then left the tank to filter for a few hours and then put the fish into the tank whilst they were still in the bags used to transport them from the fish shop. Around an hour later I then added them to the tank. The fish I added were; 6 neon tetras, 6 harlequins and 1 common pleco. 18 hours later the neon tetras died and then around 24 hours later 1 harlequin died.

I fed them a few pieces of flakey food this morning. Some bits sunk to the bottom so I used the fish net to remove the excess food.


I really do not know where to go from here so any advice would be really much appreciated.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I'm notan expert but I think your heat is too high. You should turn it down to about 25.

I suspect the neons died because they need to in mature water which yours isn't. I don't think they're very hardy. Also that might have been too many fish in one go?

LOl, i'll turn you over to one of the experts tho. I'll be interested how you get on coz I have a 60l tank too which I am currently fishless cycling

 

[Hunterprey]

I would suggest returning the common pleco they get to like 18 inches, too big for your tank and produce a lot of waste, especially for a tank thats not fully cycled.

Maybe do 50% water change for now will help too, u gonna have to be doing a lot of waterchange if u wanna go for a fish-in cycle and get some water test kit, API water test kit is what most of them recommend here. That's all I can suggest for now, others will respond to help you.

 

[oneblondebrow]

I also made this mistake at first but luckily only had 6 cherry barbs (unfortunately lost 5 of them before knowing about cycling) and i also had 2 Zebra Danio's, I had to do daily 30 - 50% water changes for around 4 weeks until it all started cycling nicely. Just remember keep an eye on the Ammonia, NitrIte and Nitrate's in the water, If you get a trace of Ammonia or NitrIte then water change as much water as you can to get the traces down as low as possible, Problem you may have is you have to many fish for a fish in cycle so twice daily water changed may be needed.

 

[Harlequins]

Hi & welcome

Well you have read the beginners section which is good,you are currently in a fish in cycle,now this can be hard work,with daily sometimes more than once to keep the ammonia/nitrite building up,anything over 0.25ppm will be harmful to your fish.

Right for one i would advise taking the common plec back,this plec will grow far to big for your tank,they grow 18 inches upwards,the neons sadly died probably due to ammonia &/or nitrite poisoning,i would suggest you buy a liquid test kit,so you can test the levels in your water,depending what the results are determine how much of a waterchange you do.

Filters are the main heart of a tank,and needs to be cycled,this can take 4-6 weeks to cycle before your fish are safe from the toxins in the water,

So 2 choices really take the plec back and do a fish in cycle with the harlequins,testing water 1-2 times a day and doing however many w/c needed to keep levels below 0.25ppm,zero is ideal. or
Take all the fish back and do a fishless cycle using ammonia.

At this moment if you don't have a testing kit, i would do a 75% water change

Good luck

 

[marsdenj]

Thanks for all your replies.

An update on with the situation.

All the fish have died apart from the pleco which seems to be doing fine apart from a bit of white around his eye. I bought some anti-fungal to put in the tank and it seems to have helped as the white around the eye is pealing off.

I bought a liquid test kit and amonia, nitrates and nitrate were all 0. The ph level was 7.8 but I added some ph neutraliser and tested again and is now ph 7.

Some of the gaps where the water enters the filter seem to filling with black stuff which seems to be a good sign I think?



Is all of this a good sign?

 

[marsdenj]

Also, is there any way to test the oxygen level of the water?


Which fish species are usually good for cycling a tank?


Can anyone recommend any good books for tropical fish keeping?

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Marsdenj.
There are methods that can be used to test oxygen in water but there is no reason to do so in a typical fish tank. If you have decent flow from your filter and do not have a stagnant tank, the water in the tank will be at fairly close to the maximum possible oxygen content for its temperature. Temperature is something that I have noticed about your tank. Almost no fish require a tank at 28C and most do much better at 25C or even a bit lower. As others have already noted, a common pleco will grow far too large for your tank. One of my local fish shops has a few common plecs in a tank near their entrance, I assume as a warning for people. Some of those are as big around as my forearm and are still only about a foot long and growing. After seeing those fish, many people are not surprised that the shop does not carry common plecs for sale.

 

[waterdrop]

Which, to my mind, means it will be an important project to re-home that last fish, the common plec, marsdenj. Freeing yourself of that last fish, which would need to be done anyway, will allow you to prep your biofilter with help from the members, here in your thread. At the same time you can be taking your time and working on a really good stocking list for the next attempt. There are various little tips people will have about various species, like when they are best introduced, what size group they need to be in, how they interact with other species and the like.

~~waterdrop~~