Guppies dying

[Tilster17]

Hey all,

I'm a newbie to this whole fish setup and maintenance thing so I hope someone can help with these questions.

I have a 30gal. tank with a 3-filter system (not sure the name) Aqua200. The pet store said I should rinse these filters once a wk. and should change them once a month. Does it matter if I rinse these all at once or 1 a day? And after rinsing should I be adding chlorine eliminator?

In the tank I have 1 yoyo loach, 1 pleco, 4 red eye(tetras), 2 Mickey mouse (tetras), had 2 guppies(1 died 3 days after being transferred), 2 black molly (1 of these also died). I have added aquarium salt to the tank( 1 1/2 tbl. spn.) Now the 1 guppy I have left is looking sickly and the tail looks like it is coming apart. I do a 25% change once a month to 6 wks. I had my water checked and they said it is fine. Could any of these fish be lonely, or is this a bad mixture. The mollies and guppies were added last to the tank.

Does anyone know what might be causing these fish to die? I am feeding them flakes 2 x a day. Plus frozen worms 2 x a wk. Should I be feeding them more?

I add Cycle drops to the tank when doing a water change. Is this something that should be added weekly?

Thanks for any input.
Joe

ps - sorry if some of my descriptions and terminology are a little off.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Tilster17

Welcome to the forum!

I think it will do the most good if I move your thread to the Beginners section, since it seems you do not yet have an understanding of what makes a tank run smoothly. There are many people here who will be happy to help you get things sorted out, and before long you will be doing very well with it.

Here's an article that explains how beneficial bacteria work to eliminate ammonia, and nitrite from your fish wastes. It's a good place to start. Since your tank is most likely already cycled, you can will not have to worry about that, but do get an understanding of how things work. That is the foundation of fishkeeping and once you are comfortable with it, everything else you do will make sense.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

 

[Tilster17]

thanks Lil, I will do some major homework and hopefully everything will run smoother for us.

 

[jimbooo]

in short when you rince the filters i assume you are using tap water. if so theres your problem.

tap water contains chlorine which kills the bacteria that keep your tank healthy.

by all means read the link above but in short do 25% water change every 2 weeks and rince one sponge every month in OLD TANK WATER, this will not kill the bacteria (you need it alive or your fish will die)

never rince all filters at once, you'd be better off never cleaning them than doing that.

so theres your problem

 

[Tilster17]

Thanks Jimmbbbooo!!!
One of my LPS said it was fine to rinse those filters under the tap. Boy were they wrong.

Ok one more beginner question. Would it be fine to have water from the tap sit out for a couple of days and then use that water to rinse the sponge and filters?

Ok thanks again for the input. I find this really interesting and want to give my fish the best environment possible.


Joe

 

[rich]

When I first got my tank I washed under the tap for ages before realising. As I do partial water changes more often than rinse the sponge, I now rinse every second water change in the old water.

I then use the rest of the water to water my plants.

 

[godzuki]

i'm a newbie as well so I hope im right in but no leaving water for a few days wont work either as its still "new" water the filters contain good bacteria and rinsing them in the old tank water gets all the yukky bits off but doesn't harm any of the good bacteria..

as for the water change I have the same size tank and i personally do a 10 to 20% water change including a gravel suck once a week it keeps on top of it.

i also read somewhere that you should turn off your filter for 5 to 10 minutes when your feeding as this will help to keep the filter clearer..

I hope this helps and if anyone conciders what I'm saying is incorrect in anyway let me know please

kiss kiss
godzuki

 

[Tilster17]

This has clarified everything I needed to know(up to this point, always learning - lol)

thanks again!


Chow!!