Advice Greatly Apreciated

[LurchBeta]

I recently purchased a 70 gallon "Juwel" tank with filter and heater included. i made the mistake of introducing fish to the tank only 3 days after it was set up, some fish produced white spot and all of them died, i was told this was due to hight levels of chorine in the water, but i was also told that it could have been because i overcrowded the tank, i had 10 mollys (5 white 5 black) a plec and a siamese fighter.

after leaving the tank empty for a further 3 weeks after the death of all my fish, i took advice from a local aquarium on how to start afresh with my tank, and how to set it up properly, i was told i must build the tank up over a period of six weeks, introducing more fish every 2-3 to build up the levels of bacteria in the water, i was then told to start of with some very basic fish to get my tank going. i bought three black widow tetras, which i introduced to the tank in the right manor, leaving the bag to float in the water for ten minutes etc. i also added stress coat water conditioner to help rid the tank water of chlorine and to "repair damaged coating and replace slime coating".
Evrything seemed to be okay, and i have noticed today that the three tetras have stopped moving as much, they have stayed in the same spots for quite a while and occasionaly move a few centermetres but not much more, i cannot see any evidence of whitespot (yet) and i havent got a clue what is wrong with them, is there something wrong with them? have i missed out any stages in setting up my tank? have i done something wrong?
The tank is at 26 degrees which i was told was ideal for most tropical fish, so any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Sunny_Bee]

Hi there

I'm not sure if the people at the pet store explained what cycling is or not, but I think your tank is going through the process. Yes, the good bacteria needs to build up, but while this happens the ammonia and nitrites will build as well and these will harm your fish...eventually the bacteria will reach a point where they consume these things, but I doubt it's happening in your tank yet.

My suggestion would be to do a large water change (50%). Also, try to get test kits for ammonia and nitrites, until the two are at very low levels (ideally zero) you'll need to keep doing water changes to remove them.

 

[LurchBeta]

thanks alot for the advice, but surely a 50% water change would introduce alot of cholrine to my tank, which would harm the fish right? or should i put some of the stress coat in the fresh water i am putting in the tank??

i was told by the man in the pet store that i would not need to test the water until i was puting my second or even third lot of fish in the tank, which is why i never bought the testing kit

 

[mibson]

thanks alot for the advice, but surely a 50% water change would introduce alot of cholrine to my tank, which would harm the fish right? or should i put some of the stress coat in the fresh water i am putting in the tank??

i was told by the man in the pet store that i would not need to test the water until i was puting my second or even third lot of fish in the tank, which is why i never bought the testing kit

You need to use a GOOD water "conditioner", it will remove the chlorine. Mix the conditioner with the water before adding, not required but it makes sense to me. "Prime" is the best water conditioner that I know. I would not do more than 35% change if you water is not full of oxygen. To make sure it is full of oxygen, add an airstone or powerhead to mix the water for 2 hours.

Anytime you start a new tank, with a new filter the water will go "bad". You need to change 25% of the water every day; in my opinion.

Start a tank with one small cheap fish per 10 gallons and with water changes you can keep all fish alive...add fish slowly every 2 weeks after giving 5 weeks for the "good" bacteria to get going.

Dont clean your filter too often, if the water is running strong its fine for months; the good bacteria live in the filter.

 

[LurchBeta]

and how long will the conditioner take to work in the fresh water before i put it in my tank?

is a slower method to leave the water for 3 days for the chlorine to evaporate or is that not advisable?

and you mentiond an airstone, would the shop know what i was talkin about if i asked them for one, and which water would i oxygenate, the fresh water or the tank water?

sorry about all the questions, i obviously didnt look deep enough into the hobbie, my mistake

1 of the fish's top fins seem to be how i can describe it as "eaten away" might just be paranoid but im thinking fin rot, is this due to the poor water quallity?

 

[Amunet]

Take the fish back and start a fishless cycle.
http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

You can read up on how to do it in that thread. It's the absolute best way to get your tank cycled. Doing it with fish only leads to major headaches and ALOT of work.
1 b/c you're pretty much harming those fish and will probably end up killing them. 2.... you'll most likely have to do daily water changes to make sure the ammonia and nitrite lvls don't get too high.

Take the fish back, find yourself a bottle of ammonia (making sure it doesn't have any detergent stuff in it, coloring, etc)
Here is a link where people list places they've found their ammonia at
http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...s-US-UK-Canada/

Then get yourself a liquid water tester. Something that will let you test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH. ((get a test anyway, even if you still do the fishin cycle b/c you're going to need to know how the cycling is coming along and how much water you need to change))
The 2 you're going to mainly be focusing on is ammonia and nitrite. Every day test those 2.
You can test pH and nitrate every once in a while. pH to make sure it's steady and staying above 6. Nitrate to eventually make sure that it's there and rising.

And air pump and airstone would be nice for a cycling tank b/c it will help oxygenate the water more. It's not necessary though. If your filter is creating good water movement, then you shouldn't worry about it and only get one if you want.

It sounds like the fish might have fin rot and it is most probably b/c of the water quality.

Just get some dechlorinator such as Prime as was mentioned. It's quicker to use it. Just put some in to the bucket or whatever you use to fill the tank back up, then add the water. Works instantly. Prime smells awful though.. like stinky rotten eggs, so don't think it's gone bad or anything when you open the bottle
You can leave water out for 24hrs to get rid of chlorine, but there still might be heavy metals, and chloramine in the water which are also harmful to your fish. So best thing is to just get a water dechlorinator so you don't have to worry about that.

 

[LurchBeta]

thankyou for all the advice it is greatly apreciated

i have just gone to the shop and i took with me a sample of my tanks water, i was told the nitrites and ammonia levels were neutral, and that my Ph level was just over 7, which the man said was expected with a new tank, and will come down eventually, i will take a sample of water to him every week to see if there is any difference in my waters ammonia and nitrite levels

do you still suggest i take the fish out and start afresh?

 

[Amunet]

Yes, I would still take the fish back and start a fishless cycle..... and get your own test kit. With a fishless cycle, it's pretty much needed for you to have your own test kit so you know how much ammonia to put in to your tank to get to that right lvl. And you'll have to test every day to see if you need to add more or wait.

If you don't have enough money for the master test kit, not sure if they sell them individually over there, but here, they also sell just the ammonia test, nitrite, nitrate, etc seperately. So you could get them one at a time (get ammonia first).

 

[LurchBeta]

yes they sell them individually, so in order its ammonia then nitrites then nitrates, should i get the tests in that order??

 

[toshapetriji]

Buy the API liquid test they don´t cost much so get the Ammonia Nitrite and Nitrate it wont break the bank. You will be thankful you have them as you will test often. Gotta keep them fish alive you know. Good luck.

 

[fishyfreak]

FYI...minimum 24 hrs is sufficient time for chlorine to evaporate from from tap water in an open container.

Sorry this was already said by Amunet