Worried about new Orandas

[matthew xia]

Hi is anyone available to give any advice on the above?

Fish dead.
Removed from tank. And now attempting to cycle the tank.
(I did a 75% water change this morning)

Ph = 7.2 - 7.6
Kh (dH) = 0 - 3
GH (dH) = 28
Nitrate - 50mg/l
Nitrite = 1.0mg/l
Ammonia = 0.5mg/l

Thanks in advance.

 

[utahfish]

The water was most likely cloudy due to an ammonia spike. Gold fish are very dirty fish and create alot of ammonia. In a tank only 30liters with deep bodied gold fish ammonia will quickly build up and in an uncycled tank wont be broken down to the less toxic nitrate form.
Suitable fish for 30 liter would be a single betta and thats about it.
Tetra species are shoalers and need long tanks to swim back and forth. Same with danios. For future reference longer bodied fish need long tanks and taller bodied fish need tall tanks. Also if one wants a betta one will need a heater as well as they are a tropical species. One could also put snails and shrimp in a 30 liter though a betta may eat the shrimp.

 

[matthew xia]

Thanks Utah Fish - I think we're heading towards a betta and a snail (possibly shrimp) set up. We have a heater - but I'm now petrified to put anything live in the tank. I'm going to attempt the fishless cycling method for a bit.

 

[Essjay]

It will be a while before you can get any new fish with the current lockdown, so you have plenty of time to cycle the tank. And during that time, any possible pathogen will die from lack of fish to infect.
In case you haven't already found it, this is the best method for cycling a tank https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
You could also add Tetra Safe Start, though that would make the cycle faster, but then you'd need to keep the bacteria alive until the lockdown is relaxed and fish shops can open again.

 

[matthew xia]

Thanks Essjay - So I've read everything I can about the nitrogen cycle. Including the brilliant link above (thanks). I guess my worry now is that I'm not sure where we are in the cycle, or what the next step should be? Should I do a complete water change? 100%? The water, in the now fisheless tank, is still very cloudy - I did pour some safe start in the filter this morning when changing the water.

Ph = 7.2 - 7.6
Kh (dH) = 0 - 3
GH (dH) = 28
Nitrate - 50mg/l
Nitrite = 1.0mg/l
Ammonia = 0.5mg/l

 

[Essjay]

If you can get hold of some ammonia, add enough to get a reading of 3 ppm. If the bottle gives the strength the calculator on here tells you how much to add. Then just follow that method, it should go quicker than usual if you've added Safe Start.

 

[matthew xia]

Even though there is already ammonia present in the tank? And if I can't is there an alternative method now that the tank has already has fish in and is showing ammonia levels?

 

[Essjay]

There is only 0.5 ppm ammonia there now. it really needs to be 3 ppm.

Though it does depend on what you decide to put in there. If it's just a betta, 1 ppm is plenty.


There is another alternative - put live plants in the tank. Once they are growing well they'll take up all the ammonia made by 1 betta and possibly a snail, so you wouldn't need to add any more ammonia. The same applies if you decide on shrimps. I should warn you though that shrimps and a betta is very hit and miss. Some bettas will leave shrimps alone, others will eat them.