Urgent Help Required With Small Tank

[Anneuk]

Hi Everyone,
I am not totally new to fish keeping and in fact had a 400l tank 4 years ago, but when it split and flooded us, we gave up the hobby.
My daughter recently asked for a small tropical tank and as we had wanted to get back intot he hobby, we thought a nice small tanlk might be the way to go.

We purchased her a EC hexa5 21 litre tank, with the idea she could have 5 -6 small fish in it.

The tank was set up and after 2 weeks the water chemistry was perfect, so we introduced two guppies which were fine for a week, the water remained perfect and all chemistry within acceptable limits. So we added another two guppies. Within a day the nitrite had shot up to over 10 .. all other chemistry remained acceptable... PH 7.5, temp 27deg. One of the fish quickly died and was removed immediately.

We did a 20% water change but left the filter as their was very little yuck on it and we thought the filter (an external 3 stage filter which came with the tank) needed to get going.

The next day the nitrite was back to over 10, nitrate was off the scale all else unchanged. One more dead fish.

I added a 'bactinette' to the filter as advised by the local aquarium shop after he told us to change 50% of the water but leave the filter untouched.

1 week on, the nitrite and nitrate are still high and one fish is very sick, looks like fin rot, the other has got ich.
Today the chemistry is:
Nitrate: 100-250mg/l
Nitrite: >10mg/l
PH 7.6
KH: 6
temp 26

I just don't know what to do for the best.

I have heard smaller tanks are harder to maintin than larger tanks, but I never had any problems like these before, and short of stripping down and tring again I am at a loss.
My ex told me to be patient with the tank, but i can't just eave things the way they are, and when I medicate the tankl, surely this will cause even more probs with the filter?

Please can anyone advise...

Anne

 

[Anneuk]

Can noone offer any help on this matter?

I have this evening done a 50% water change....

As chemistry was the same ...
Anne

 

[thegnu]

if you set up a new tank and after 2 weeks the water chemistry was perfect well it would be because you havent got fish in their to make ammonia to seed the tank. the same if you are not adding pure ammonia yourselves. if like you state your tap water chemistry is perfect and your tank is only small then large water changes with chlorine, chloramine removed should be just the ticket until you no longer see nitrites and low nitrates. it might take longer for your tank to mature (seed with growing bacteria) but your fish should live through it but you need to add a good whitespot remedy and melafix to your tank

 

[Tolak]

Small tanks are tougher than larger ones, as you are unfortunately finding out. Your tank is still cycling, which explains the elevated levels. Check out http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099 to learn more about what is happening. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141944 Will also help, there are several links in there.

The best thing you can do is daily 50% water changes to keep the levels down. With a traditional cycle using fish it is suggested to start with 1" of hardy slim bodied fish that grow no larger than 3", per 5 gallons of tank water. That would mean one guppy for your tank. The problem started when you added more fish, causing ammonia & nitrite to rise to toxic levels.

With either a fishless cycle, or a traditional cycle with fish, you have to be patient. Stocking too quickly with a traditional cycle causes the problems you are having. Doing a fishless cycle means having to look at an empty tank for a few weeks.

You may also want to contact someone near you for some cycled filter media. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631

I shipped some cycled floss to another member around a month ago. It worked out quite well, their tank cycled quickly, with no fish losses.

 

[Anneuk]

The best thing you can do is daily 50% water changes to keep the levels down. With a traditional cycle using fish it is suggested to start with 1" of hardy slim bodied fish that grow no larger than 3", per 5 gallons of tank water. That would mean one guppy for your tank. The problem started when you added more fish, causing ammonia & nitrite to rise to toxic levels.


With either a fishless cycle, or a traditional cycle with fish, you have to be patient. Stocking too quickly with a traditional cycle causes the problems you are having. Doing a fishless cycle means having to look at an empty tank for a few weeks.

You may also want to contact someone near you for some cycled filter media. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631

I shipped some cycled floss to another member around a month ago. It worked out quite well, their tank cycled quickly, with no fish losses.
[/quote]

Thanks for your help, I will start on the daily water changes.
Have looked at the filter media links but notice that their is noone near me in south wales.
Is it worth asking someone to mail some media to me? Would it survive?
Anne

 

[Tolak]

It will survive, for at least a couple of days. The nitrifying bacteria in a mature filter can double in 24 hours, so if there is a little dying off it will regenerate in a short amount of time. I included a little bit of frozen food in with the media I shipped, deteriorating food creates ammonia, which feeds the nitrifying bacteria. It cost $3 to ship it a few hours drive north of me.