Fish Keep Dying- Please Help :-(

[Gilli]

Read up on this article on this forum - it will give you all the information you need

cycling an aquarium

 

[Stephanie87]

Thanks for your advice Adrian!!
My little gouramis and i are very grateful!!
x

Glad the fishes are better.

You'll need to do daily testing. Cycling will take a while now as you have the welfare of the fish in mind. You'll need to keep the ammonia and nitrite at a lower level, personally no more than 0.25. Keeping everything zero won't help as you need ammonia and nitrite to feed the bacteria. Also remember that a 50% water change will half the level, 25% change will reduce by 1/4 etc.

Once you find that ammonia and nitrite disappear without water change then you have cycled. Remember not to add more fish as it will increase the ammonia production.

Adrian

 

[Stephanie87]

hi again!!

the bad news is that one of my gouramis has died

the good news is that a really really lovely member of this forum has donated 2 whole mature filter sponges to me!! (and a floating plant )

So i've removed my filter sponge and now i'm using one that she donated. the other I just squeezed into the tank.

Can anyone tell me what sort of effect this will have??

i'll test my water again in the morning to see if its made any difference. but im actually concerned that my filter isn't functioning properly......its brand new so it should be fine, and there is water coming out of the top, creating movement on the surface. but it doesn't seem like the water is being sucked in from the bottom of the filter where I thought it would be. my gourami can swim right up to it without being affected and if i hold my hand near it i cant feel any type of suction. this is the filter i use: My link

could it be that the water is not being sucked in through the correct place but instead entering the filter from elsewhere and in doing so bypassing the sponge???
perhaps i'm being paranoid- but i don't want to loose any more fish!

steph x

 

[Jamepsss]

Sorry about your Gourami.

The media donation will hopefully give you an instant cycle. You'll need to keep testing the water to see what's happening though. I've heard about cases where the bacteria just don't 'take' to the new surroundings but I think that's rare. What's in the tank now, a single honey gourami?

As for the filter, you won't be able to feel a suction at the input, I can't feel a suction on my externals.

Have you done a test since the new media? If so, what's the readings?

 

[Aqua Tom]

If the filter is outputing then it must be inputting so dont worry about it.

If you have enough mature media to fill your filter & you did not let it cool down too much or dry out you should be on your way to a complete cycle in the next few days.

 

[Stephanie87]

yup, just one honey gourami at the minute. i was hoping for an instant cycle so that I could get some more fish.
the new sponge has only been in for about 45 minutes, but it doesn't seem to have had any affect so far. I've just done a water test and my results are:

ph 7.6
ammonia 0.5
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

ammonia is quite high. ive already done a 40% water change today (before adding the new sponge).

x

Sorry about your Gourami.

The media donation will hopefully give you an instant cycle. You'll need to keep testing the water to see what's happening though. I've heard about cases where the bacteria just don't 'take' to the new surroundings but I think that's rare. What's in the tank now, a single honey gourami?

As for the filter, you won't be able to feel a suction at the input, I can't feel a suction on my externals.

Have you done a test since the new media? If so, what's the readings?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Give it time

 

[Rynofasho]

Yep, still may take a few days.