Coldwater fish

[smidge]

Hi,

Can someone help.
I have had a tank for about 6 months and the 1st 3 or so months the tank was really clean. Now after about 1 week the artifical plants start to get very dirty and around the sides of the tank.

I have 2 coldwater fish. I have checked the Nitrate and nitrite, GH and PH and all are ok. I had done a part water change about a week ago. I cleaned the plants and put in a new filter spongue and the fake plants are starting to get dirty already.

I put stress zyme in when I change the water - as advised.

Is there anything that I should be doing?!!!

I really don't know what else I can do.

Thank you

 

[bribones]

i think youl find if you run your finger along the inside of the tank the dirt is possibly algae ,do you have a light on in the tank/direct sunlight ?

keep your filter sponge cleaned weekly ,water changes etc you can buy a small pads fixed to magnets to help keep the glass clean

other than thta treat the tank with an inhibitor to kill the algae off or add a uv light into the hood

 

[smidge]

Thanks for this.

I do have a light, which is on every day upto the recommended time. Its not in direct sun light.

What is an inhibitor? Is this just something I can ask for at the petshop?

 

[bribones]

just ask at your LFS for something to kill algae off ,you dont really need a light on all day unless your tanks in a dark corner somewhere

 

[abstract]

I cleaned the plants and put in a new filter spongue and the fake plants are starting to get dirty already.

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you should NEVER put in a new filter sponge..this is where all of the beneficial bacteria lives that breaks down the fish waste...the filth is building up more now since you have completely replaced it...have you been doing water changes? how much water and how often? what size tank? what are the inhabitants? all of this information is necessary to give you a clear answer...let us know!

 

[smidge]

Hi,

On the box for my filter it says its for a month. Could I maybe use this longer and just keep cleaning it in some water taken from the tank? Or maybe I need a stronger filter. It was a filter that came with the tank as a package.

I normally do water changes every 2 weeks but I have tried doing it every week to see if that helps, but still nothing.
I usually take out about a 1/4 of the tank when I use the water syphon to take the waste out at the bottom.

The tank is a 50 litre one.

I have 2 Shubunkins.


Thank you for your help.

 

[black angel]

hi smidge
can you tell us what kind of filter it is as theres lots on the market. is it an internal filter or an air driven one?
also 11 gallons is only enough room for one fancy shaped goldfish. so you will have to get a bigger tank eventually and in the meantime your filtration might not be good enough
post back soon

 

[smidge]

Hi,

Sorry its a 50 UK Gallon tank I think (not sure between litres and gallons - but its quite a big tank that says it can hold upto 4 fish).
The filter is a Rena one. It is an internal one with the foam spongue.

 

[black angel]

thats better, 50 gallons is a lot better than 50 litres.
as for the filter most manufacturers will tell you to change the sponge each month but really just rinsing it out well each week in used tank water is enough. if you find it gets really dirty in the weekly wash then you should get another filter to run beside it. ideally filtration should be 10 times the tank capacity.
most of the good bacteria is found on the sponge so renewing it each month may cause your tank to go through a mini cycle every time you change it.
as for algae build up, this is a good sign for your tank that everything is starting to stabilise and your fish will happily graze it as well. if you dont want the chore of cleaning the plastic and tank all the time then maybe getting a small plec would help. what temperature is the water at? bristlenose plecs can tolerate the lower temps but not really cold water. if the water is cold then hillstream loaches make good algae eaters but they stay on the glass.
as for doing water changes weekly of around 30% should be sufficient for your fish, what size are they? have you got a gravel vac? this is more useful than a syphon as it gets into the gravel and will clean it much better.

 

[smidge]

Thank you Black angel

I done a partial water change last night and washed the sponge in some water from the tank. i also washed all the artifical plants cleaned the sides of the tank.
Hopefully I'll see some inprovement.

Don't know what the temperature is the tank but it is a coldwater one. Its not very cold though.

Everytime I do a water change I use a vacum thing. Not sure if its called a syphon or grave vac. It is a long tube, in another tube that goes into the water and after a couple of up and down movements it starts to suck out the water and dirty with a pipe on the end which goes into the bucket for the water to go into.

The fish are both about 5cms long.

Would these fish be ok with Shubunkins?

 

[black angel]

you will need a thermometer first to find out what the exact temperature is but if its less than 22c for most of the time then i wouldnt suggest the bristlenose. maybe posting in the catfish section for some more advice would be better. the plec would be ok with the shubs as they are still quite small, you would have to watch as they got bigger as goldies mouths are incredibly huge.
if you want the bristlenose then another option is to buy a heater and keep it on the lowest setting.
there is also the siamese algae eater or the chinese algae eater, theres one though that cant be put with goldies as it will eat the slime. once again, post in the catfish section for more info.
as long as you are getting in deep to the gravel then thats what you want with the gravel vac.

 

[smidge]

Thanks, I'll post a note on there and see what they think.

Thank you for all your help, hopefully this will work.

 

[smidge]

I have checked on the catfish section and they don't think its a good idea for a Bristle Nose. the only other option was to get a more common one but that can grow to 20" so I don't think I'll be getting one of them!

I might see if I can buy any Algae eater

thanks

 

[black angel]

dont be too hasty about not getting the bristlenose, wait a bit longer for more replies and i will also try to find out if its workable. a hillstream loach/hong kong plec will deffinately work in your tank.

 

[black angel]

ive just had it verified and as i thought, bristlenoses are really hardy and can take a temperature no lower than 18c. get a thermometer first though and take readings over the next few days and see what temps you get.