New To Fish And Need Some Advice/help

Glad he is doing better, he is beautiful looks just like my Raja

-FighterFishh said:

Brilliant! Glad to hear the platy and your betta are doing well!

If the ammonia isn't going down, then do bigger water changes to try and get it to a safer level
I know it's time consuming, but it'll be worth it in the long run

Sounds good! Could I see some pics of the plants you got? I can have a go at IDing them if you like

And with the filter, you don't really need to change it that often. Every 6 weeks or so, get a bowl of tank water and wash the sponge in it. Do not use tap water, as that will kill the good bacteria. Then you can just put that sponge back in and carry on! Only change it once it gets really manky

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Thank you! Yeah, I knew you were only supposed to wash them in tank water. But it's good to know I was right.

As for the water changes, if I lower the water level any more than I am I will have to turn the filter off. Should I do that?

JillianJaclyn said:

-FighterFishh said:

Brilliant! Glad to hear the platy and your betta are doing well!

If the ammonia isn't going down, then do bigger water changes to try and get it to a safer level
I know it's time consuming, but it'll be worth it in the long run

Sounds good! Could I see some pics of the plants you got? I can have a go at IDing them if you like

And with the filter, you don't really need to change it that often. Every 6 weeks or so, get a bowl of tank water and wash the sponge in it. Do not use tap water, as that will kill the good bacteria. Then you can just put that sponge back in and carry on! Only change it once it gets really manky

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Thank you! Yeah, I knew you were only supposed to wash them in tank water. But it's good to know I was right.

As for the water changes, if I lower the water level any more than I am I will have to turn the filter off. Should I do that?

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Yeah, that's fine. Damage will only be done to the filter if it's off for long periods of time, say, 48 hours. So just remember to turn everything back on!

I just tested my tap water to see if it could be contributing to the higher ammonia levels and it seems that the ammonia in my tap water is about 1.0 ppm which is exactly what the levels are in my tank right now. The pH in the tank is at about 7.4 while the pH for the tap water is above 8.8. I did not add pH down last time I changed the water (yesterday) but it is quite a bit lower than the tap water. Does this mean the tank is managing to lower the pH on its own? Also, if there is that much ammonia in the tap water do I need to use some other kind of water for the water changes? Or is there something to add to the water before I put it in the tank to make it safer?

JillianJaclyn said:

I just tested my tap water to see if it could be contributing to the higher ammonia levels and it seems that the ammonia in my tap water is about 1.0 ppm which is exactly what the levels are in my tank right now. The pH in the tank is at about 7.4 while the pH for the tap water is above 8.8. I did not add pH down last time I changed the water (yesterday) but it is quite a bit lower than the tap water. Does this mean the tank is managing to lower the pH on its own? Also, if there is that much ammonia in the tap water do I need to use some other kind of water for the water changes? Or is there something to add to the water before I put it in the tank to make it safer?

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If I remember rightly, there is a dechlorinator that helps get rid of ammonia in tap water, but I don't remember what it's called. You'll have to wait for more replies for help on that one, I'm afraid!

The plant in the photo is a non-aquatic palm! Pot it and pop it on your windowsill, if you want it to survive.

Kitty Kat said:

The plant in the photo is a non-aquatic palm! Pot it and pop it on your windowsill, if you want it to survive.

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Which one? All of the ones I got were from the store in the aquatic plants section... Which one is it that is not aquatic? The two on the right are plastic (the taller ones).


Also, I did notice that the Stress Coat says it gets rid of ammonia. Although I happened to remember a pet store near my house sells RODI water by the gallon pretty cheap. I could maybe get some of that if need be.

The one in the centre, with white and green leaves: they are commonly sold as aquatic by shops because they will survive 1-4 weeks before they start rotting.

I also use Stress Coat (although lately I have started using more DIY-style dechlorinators), it is useful to have one which deals with ammonia because at some point, it is very likely that you will need to make use of it for that purpose in an emergency.

There is usually no need to mess around with water, so I would avoid the RO water.

Kitty Kat said:

The one in the centre, with white and green leaves: they are commonly sold as aquatic by shops because they will survive 1-4 weeks before they start rotting.

I also use Stress Coat (although lately I have started using more DIY-style dechlorinators), it is useful to have one which deals with ammonia because at some point, it is very likely that you will need to make use of it for that purpose in an emergency.

There is usually no need to mess around with water, so I would avoid the RO water.

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Hm... I guess I'll just have to wait until they start dying and take them out. I am a total plant killer. If I pull them out they will die anyway.

Yeah, the stress coat seems like a nice thing to keep around. I'm not sure if it's helping to fix the ammonia or if the tank is starting to build up enough good bacteria because the ammonia went from 1.0 ppm two days ago to 0.25 ppm today after the 50% water change I did. Although I did about an 85% water change yesterday with 4 gallons of RO water from the store because I needed the containers and the ammonia was only 0.25 after that one too.

I've been changing the water daily for about 5 days now. What do I need to be looking for to know when I can stop changing the water so frequently? The fish seem to be pretty happy now although the snail I had in there died. I fed them for the first time in 2 days today and they were very happy to have some food. Especially the betta. He ate about 7 or 8 little betta bites right out of my hands.

Thanks again for all the help.

If the plants start dying, they can start rotting and cause ammonia related problems.

Your aim should be to not let ammonia rise above 0.25 ppm. If it is 0.25 ppm now, you should do a water change to bring it as close to 0 ppm as possible.

Keep testing daily. When you get ammonia at 0 ppm, it is ok to not change water, but then you should test 12 hours later again, just in case.

Keep the feeding to a minimum, and remember that most fish will eat until they die because they do not have the same "I am now full" response that humans do. Until the ammonia problems are sorted, your fish should always be at least slightly hungry.

JillianJaclyn said:

Yeah, the stress coat seems like a nice thing to keep around. I'm not sure if it's helping to fix the ammonia or if the tank is starting to build up enough good bacteria [...]

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It works by making the ammonia not quite as toxic for the fish, it doesn't change the reading you will get.

It depends on your test kit whether or not it will register, some only test for ammonia, some test for both ammonia and ammonium, the stress coat shifts the ammonia-ammonium equilibrium so that it favours the production of ammonium, hence why it makes ammonia less toxic.

StandbySetting said:

It depends on your test kit whether or not it will register, some only test for ammonia, some test for both ammonia and ammonium, the stress coat shifts the ammonia-ammonium equilibrium so that it favours the production of ammonium, hence why it makes ammonia less toxic.

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I know that Seachem do one which does specifically one of them (ammonium, I think), which "generic" ammonia tests which will do only ammonia?

JillianJaclyn said:

Kitty Kat said:

The one in the centre, with white and green leaves: they are commonly sold as aquatic by shops because they will survive 1-4 weeks before they start rotting.

I also use Stress Coat (although lately I have started using more DIY-style dechlorinators), it is useful to have one which deals with ammonia because at some point, it is very likely that you will need to make use of it for that purpose in an emergency.

There is usually no need to mess around with water, so I would avoid the RO water.

Click to expand...

Hm... I guess I'll just have to wait until they start dying and take them out. I am a total plant killer. If I pull them out they will die anyway.

Yeah, the stress coat seems like a nice thing to keep around. I'm not sure if it's helping to fix the ammonia or if the tank is starting to build up enough good bacteria because the ammonia went from 1.0 ppm two days ago to 0.25 ppm today after the 50% water change I did. Although I did about an 85% water change yesterday with 4 gallons of RO water from the store because I needed the containers and the ammonia was only 0.25 after that one too.

I've been changing the water daily for about 5 days now. What do I need to be looking for to know when I can stop changing the water so frequently? The fish seem to be pretty happy now although the snail I had in there died. I fed them for the first time in 2 days today and they were very happy to have some food. Especially the betta. He ate about 7 or 8 little betta bites right out of my hands.

Thanks again for all the help.

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They sound happy, that's brilliant! As said, keep up with the water changes.
As for when you can stop doing them so frequently, I suppose you just need to keep testing for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites to see which spike you're on

I have the API liquid test kit. The nitrates and nitrites seem to be stable at 0 ppm so far. I still have a little ammonia (0.25 ppm) but it is lower than the ammonia in my tap water (1.0 ppm) so I'm thinking MAYBE the tank is starting to stabilize. As for the plants, I have been watching them and they look healthy so far. When they start looking bad I'll just pull them out (or if the ammonia starts to rise again). When I did the 85% water change I took out the ornament and all the plants and rinsed them off (they had a kind of slimy build-up on them). And I also vacuumed the gravel really well (which churned up a lot of waste that I sucked out). I thought I'd try doing a bigger change about once a week. I've also started adding the chemicals to the gallon jugs before I put them in the tank (the StressCoat and the bacteria, I'd already been adding the dechlorinator). Originally I was just adding 5 gallons worth to the water after I put all the new water in the tank. I have no idea if that makes a difference or not but it was definitely easier adding it all at once.

But long story short the tank seems to be doing much better. I'm hoping in a couple weeks I can add a few more fish to it.

I also wanted to add a few snails and an African Dwarf Frog. Do those do well with bettas and other community fish? I guess the question I should be asking is when the tank is ready, what kinds of fish are good to put in with the little guy?