Problem adding new fish

Pooley1705 · Apr 6, 2021

Hi everyone

I'm fairly new to this hobby, it's always something that I fancied getting into so finally took the plunge last year and bought myself a 105Ltr setup. Everything has been fine, tank cycled and stocked with community fish, mainly platies, mollies, tetras and guppies which have been doing fine since day one. In fact the platies have been producing fry none stop so recently set up a small 5 gallon to home them until they were big enough to give away to my LFS (along with the females as couldn't cope with all the fry anymore). So had a bit of a clear out and decided to add some new more interesting fish but don't seem to be having much luck.

First off a couple of BGR's, one got bullied and died after a couple of weeks, the other lasted approx 4 months. Then tried a couple of Dwarf Gourami's (not at the same time), again one lasted only a couple of weeks, the other 3 weeks. So I thought I give it one more try and got a small angel which only lasted 1 week. They all end up eventually hiding, then stop eating then finally die. All my original fish are doing fine but just can't seem to introduce anything new, what am I doing wrong? Am I simply adding the wrong fish to match my PH levels?

NT Labs test kit -
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.5

Any help/advice would be much appreciated

coriesinhawaii · Apr 6, 2021

Hi,

How’s your tank maintenance? Are you performing partial water changes and how often/how much? Do you add a water conditioner first before adding new water to the tank?

It would be good to get a nitrate reading in addition to ammonia and nitrite as nitrate can build up over time and cause problems if it gets too high. You could take a sample of your tank water to your LFS and ask them to check nitrate. It’s possible your nitrate is high and the fish you have in there are used to it but when you add new fish it’s too much of a change.

Neleono · Apr 6, 2021

coriesinhawaii said:
Hi,

How’s your tank maintenance? Are you performing partial water changes and how often/how much? Do you add a water conditioner first before adding new water to the tank?

It would be good to get a nitrate reading in addition to ammonia and nitrite as nitrate can build up over time and cause problems if it gets too high. You could take a sample of your tank water to your LFS and ask them to check nitrate. It’s possible your nitrate is high and the fish you have in there are used to it but when you add new fish it’s too much of a change.

In addition to those questions, there's a few more; what is the GH and KH of you water? (you can either test it yourself or talk to your water company) Also, a picture of the tank might help us to get a feel for it. Thanks, Nele.

P J · Apr 7, 2021

When you say you had a clear out - what do you mean? Did you replace the filter system for example?

Byron · Apr 7, 2021

The questions asked in posts 2 and 3 are certainly relevant, and having those numbers/data would help. I am in the interim going to mention something else though, and that is temperament of the new fish. You have been trying fish that are much more likely to have aggressive tendencies than the others you already have.

It would help to know the tank dimensions, though a 105 liter (= 28 US gallons] could work for either the dwarf gourami or the blue ram. [Please forget angelfish, this is not going to work, as this is a shoaling species requiring a group, they get much too large, and they really will have aggressive issues.]

Cichlids and gourami are very similar in their inherent behaviours in that males are territorial to varying degrees depending upon the species and the individual male. They do not accept any other "mate" or sometimes esp with cichlids in this small a space (to them) even tolerate another fish of the same species. We might be able to suggest some options once we know the previously-requested data.

ClownLurch · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome.
Q1: Whats the water hardness in Hartlepool?
Q2: What temp is your tank?
Q3: What are your tanks dimensions?
Q4: If Q1 is relevant, is that you TF?

Pooley1705 · Apr 7, 2021

coriesinhawaii said:
Hi,

How’s your tank maintenance? Are you performing partial water changes and how often/how much? Do you add a water conditioner first before adding new water to the tank?

It would be good to get a nitrate reading in addition to ammonia and nitrite as nitrate can build up over time and cause problems if it gets too high. You could take a sample of your tank water to your LFS and ask them to check nitrate. It’s possible your nitrate is high and the fish you have in there are used to it but when you add new fish it’s too much of a change.

ClownLurch · Apr 7, 2021

The above reply thing hasn’t posted.

Pooley1705 · Apr 7, 2021

Hi,

I carry out a 20% water change once a week and use Tetra Aqua Safe

But I think you could possibly but correct regarding the Nitrate, I know it's not ideal but managed to pick up a Tetra 6 in 1 test strip kit on my way home from work and the Nitrates look close to 50mgl to me (see attached photo)

ClownLurch · Apr 7, 2021

I’d do a far bigger WC ASAP. 50% absolute minimum.
The general opinion on here seems to be that 50% is about right for weekly changes even though it means your still leaving 50% of their pee n poo in there.

Pooley1705 · Apr 7, 2021

Neleono said:
In addition to those questions, there's a few more; what is the GH and KH of you water? (you can either test it yourself or talk to your water company) Also, a picture of the tank might help us to get a feel for it. Thanks, Nele.

Hi Nele

GH looks to be P8 and HK P3, picture of tank attached

Pooley1705 · Apr 7, 2021

P J said:
When you say you had a clear out - what do you mean? Did you replace the filter system for example?

Hi PJ

No, just cleared out some of the platy Fry and handed them into my LFS.

Filter is a Internal Eheim Pick Up 160, been in the tank since last August

Pooley1705 · Apr 7, 2021

Hi,

I carry out a 20% water change once a week and use Tetra Aqua Safe

But I think you could possibly but correct regarding the Nitrate, I know it's not ideal but managed to pick up a Tetra 6 in 1 test strip kit on my way home from work and the Nitrates look close to 50mgl to me (see attached photo)

coriesinhawaii · Apr 7, 2021

Hard to say for sure if high nitrates is the cause of the fish deaths. 50 is definitely not ideal but it’s not panic high either. Some species of fish are more sensitive to nitrate than others. Either way the remaining fish would be happier if you keep it lower, 20 or less is a good goal.

The main way to keep nitrate levels in check is by not over feeding, not overstocking, and changing out a sufficient amount of water when you do water changes. You can vacuum the gravel periodically too to remove debris if you’re not doing this already. It looks like you already have live plants in the tank. They can help reduce nitrate levels as well.

I would divide the water changes up over a couple of days to bring the nitrate level below 20. A quick drop in nitrate can be stressful as well to fish who are used to higher levels. 50 to 20 isn’t that big of a drop but I always err on the side of caution when it comes to my fish babies ?

Byron · Apr 8, 2021

coriesinhawaii said:
Hard to say for sure if high nitrates is the cause of the fish deaths. 50 is definitely not ideal but it’s not panic high either. Some species of fish are more sensitive to nitrate than others. Either way the remaining fish would be happier if you keep it lower, 20 or less is a good goal.

The main way to keep nitrate levels in check is by not over feeding, not overstocking, and changing out a sufficient amount of water when you do water changes. You can vacuum the gravel periodically too to remove debris if you’re not doing this already. It looks like you already have live plants in the tank. They can help reduce nitrate levels as well.

I would divide the water changes up over a couple of days to bring the nitrate level below 20. A quick drop in nitrate can be stressful as well to fish who are used to higher levels. 50 to 20 isn’t that big of a drop but I always err on the side of caution when it comes to my fish babies ?

I concur with all of this except the last paragraph. The fish species, the general condition of the individual fish, and the level of nitrate, determine how the fish will react to nitrate, but we must realize that like ammonia and nitrite, nitrate is toxic to all freshwater tropical fish and can be deadly. For this reason, getting it lower, as close to zero as possible, immediately, is always more beneficial and more likely to allow the fish to then deal with another detriment if such is causing trouble. It's like removing a person from a garage filling with car exhaust...you don't take time to slowly open the window and bring in air, you immediately get the person out of the situation, and that applies to fish and nitrate.

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