Unlucky, fish dying

[Vitor da Fonseca]

Hi,
Very much new to fishkeeping, and looking for advice.

Have a BOYU 198l with a few fish, plants and bog wood, cleaning the tank every week and the filters every two weeks, I use Stress Coat+ when I change the water, Nitrate seems low (below 20) but for some reason I had a few losses recently, in particular my pride and joy an "apistogramma agazzi manure red tail", leaving is mrs alone :'(
Am I doing anything wrong? Should I add anything to the water?

Any advice is most welcomed.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up for?
Was the tank cycled before you added the fish?
How do you clean the filter?

How much water do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

How often do you feed the fish and what do you feed them?

Have you check the ammonia, nitrite, pH and GH levels?

 

[Vitor da Fonseca]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up for?
Was the tank cycled before you added the fish?
How do you clean the filter?

How much water do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

How often do you feed the fish and what do you feed them?

Have you check the ammonia, nitrite, pH and GH levels?

Apologies for the time lapse in replying.


How long has the tank been set up for? Over two months
Was the tank cycled before you added the fish? Yes, for about 3 weeks
How do you clean the filter? With the water from the tank

How much water do you change? about 25%
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank? No, I was adding the "Tap Safe" directly in the tank after adding "warmist" (about the same temperature as the tank water) water
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change? Yes

How often do you feed the fish and what do you feed them? Daily feed in the morning, with flaks or a Tablet, and every other day at evening frozen bloodwarm

Have you check the ammonia, nitrite, pH and GH levels? Yes, I try to check the levels before water change.

I've just learned that I was doing a few things wrong, like:
> Adding warmish water to the tank (removes iron 'pH' and 'GH')
> 'Over' zealous, washing filter with every water change and in fact I did change my filter about three times in the space of two months

I do appreciate any comments that you or anyone else have, as I am keen to further expand my knwoladge in been an 'aquarist'.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Guppylover3x]

Apologies for the time lapse in replying.


How long has the tank been set up for? Over two months
Was the tank cycled before you added the fish? Yes, for about 3 weeks
How do you clean the filter? With the water from the tank

How much water do you change? about 25%
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank? No, I was adding the "Tap Safe" directly in the tank after adding "warmist" (about the same temperature as the tank water) water
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change? Yes

How often do you feed the fish and what do you feed them? Daily feed in the morning, with flaks or a Tablet, and every other day at evening frozen bloodwarm

Have you check the ammonia, nitrite, pH and GH levels? Yes, I try to check the levels before water change.

I've just learned that I was doing a few things wrong, like:
> Adding warmish water to the tank (removes iron 'pH' and 'GH')
> 'Over' zealous, washing filter with every water change and in fact I did change my filter about three times in the space of two months

I do appreciate any comments that you or anyone else have, as I am keen to further expand my knwoladge in been an 'aquarist'.

Thanks in advance,

Hello and welcome to the forum
Did you change the filter media everytime you changed the filter? If so then your cycle would have started again everytime you did so. This is where the natural bacteria lives.

 

[Vitor da Fonseca]

Hello and welcome to the forum
Did you change the filter media everytime you changed the filter? If so then your cycle would have started again everytime you did so. This is where the natural bacteria lives.

Hi GuppyLover,
Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, you are right, I did clean the media twice :'( as I add a bog wood and teh water was so 'brown' that again I believe I was over zealous.
After speaking with the guys at my local fish shop, I have now also add live bacteria to the tank, and I may add, since last Sunday the aquarium seems a lot 'happier' and no more fatalities, just regret that my Apistogramma Agazzi Anure Red Tail (male) have died as he was so beatiful :'(

Thanks for all advice,

 

[Guppylover3x]

Hi GuppyLover,
Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, you are right, I did clean the media twice :'( as I add a bog wood and teh water was so 'brown' that again I believe I was over zealous.
After speaking with the guys at my local fish shop, I have now also add live bacteria to the tank, and I may add, since last Sunday the aquarium seems a lot 'happier' and no more fatalities, just regret that my Apistogramma Agazzi Anure Red Tail (male) have died as he was so beatiful :'(

Thanks for all advice,

You are very welcome
It’s recommended that you don’t clean the media in the tank during the cycling process at all. But you know this now and we are all here to help each other. You mention adding live bacteria, I use tetra safe start and have recently started adding this at the end of my cycle after recommended. Live bacteria is always useful in the cycling process, especially when carrying out large water changes. During the cycling process it’s recommended to do weekly water changes of at least 50% you have been testing the water which is excellent news. I am glad your fish is doing better now.

 

[Vitor da Fonseca]

Thanks Colin_T and GuppyLover,

Amazing advice, which for sure I will take into consideration and will put in practise, maybe I've been watching too many video clips on You Tube, I may need more knowledge on my OWN tank and ensure the species that I keep are treated in the most adequate way.

Thanks again guys,

 

[Colin_T]

Do not clean the new filter for the first 6-8 weeks. This allows the filter bacteria a chance to settle in properly and stick to the filter media. Two weeks after the filters have finished cycling, you can start to clean the filter.

Established filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better.

If you change the filter media, you remove the beneficial bacteria and the tank cycles again. The only time you need to replace filter media is if it starts to fall apart. Then you replace a bit of the media, wait a month and then change a bit more. The new media should not be cleaned for at least 6 weeks.

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Do a 50-75% water change each week instead of a 25%. The bigger water change will dilute nutrients and disease organisms more effectively than small water changes.

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You should always dechlorinate tap water before adding it to the tank. If you add straight tap water to an aquarium containing fish or shrimp, you can poison them with the chlorine/ chloramine in the water.

Get a couple of new buckets (big plastic rubbish bin, storage crate, etc) and use a permanent marker to write "FISH ONLY" on them. Use those buckets for the fish and nothing else.

Fill the fish buckets with tap water and add enough dechlorinator to each bucket to treat the water in the bucket. If you have a 10 litre bucket, add enough dechlorinator for the 10 litres of water in that bucket. Aerate the mixture (water & dechlorinator) for at least 5 minutes and preferably 30 minutes or more, then use that water to fill up the tank.

If you make the water up before doing a water change, the dechlorinator will have time to neutralise all the chlorine/ chloramine while you drain and gravel clean the tank.

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Adding warmish water to the tank (removes iron 'pH' and 'GH')

That is not correct. You can add warm water if you need to and it won't make any difference to pH, GH or anything else except perhaps oxygen. Warm water holds less oxygen than cool water but if you aerate it for a short time before adding it to the tank, it allows the dissolved gasses to balance.

 

[Vitor da Fonseca]

Thanks for all the advice, I have follow it and seems that the fish are more healthy, however I still have a low PH, but bar that all seems good.

 

[Colin_T]

You can add shells, limestone, sandstone or coral rubble/ dead coral skeleton to the tank or filter and it will help raise the pH. Add a few small bits to begin with and monitor the pH over a week. If it is still too low after a week then add a bit more and monitor for another week. Continue adding them until you get the right pH.