Help Me Bring My Tank Back To Life!

[eaglesaquarium]

Welcome to the forum!

The advice you've gotten is sound. Adding to the tank until it is being properly maintained will be a death sentence to the new fish. I would suggest that you do the water changes as suggested by sadguppy, for a week, then do a larger 50% water change... when refilling just make sure to add the water back in slowly. Fish can acclimate to new water chemistry, it just takes time. A week of frequent (twice a day) and small water changes as sadguppy suggested should bring the water back into a reasonable level. Doing a larger water change and slowly refilling after that will give you a chance to really get the thing cleaned up. Before that larger water change, do a complete scrubbing of the walls of the tank with an algae scrubber. Try to get the bits of algae that are loosened removed during the siphoning process. The fish will be fine during this time even with the filter off. If you are overly concerned, get some Prime or Stress Coat and add that to the tank. These are dechlorinators but also deal with ammonia and nitrite if it were to build up.


Eventually, you can consider some easy plants, like anubias, java fern, etc.

 

[Chunky]

Right, update. I've siphoned 5l of water out into a bucket, then thanks to daizeUK's excellent tips I've removed and completely dismantled the filter and cleaned it up thoroughly (as much as can be done given the state of the water I was using). It's not back together and back in the tank and hey presto chucking water out like there's no tomorrow! Yay! So much so that the fish have hidden up the other end! The thing was awful inside, I actually couldn't tell which was the black and white sponges, they were both brown

Anyway all clean now and much better, only issue is that I can't move the flow control switch at all, it seems jammed. Any thoughts ? I've taken it apart as much as I could but no joy, might try again tomorrow.

Off to do my tests now and try to refill the 5l using the Tapmate stuff.

Big thanks so far, it's a good start!!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The brown is a good thing, actually. While it clogs up the filter something fierce, its a good indicator that the tank has been up and running for a good while and is more than likely completely cycled (hopefully you've read about that in the BRC). That means that all you are really going to be dealing with is nitrates (end result of the nitrogen cycle of the tank), detritus and algae.


It seems you are moving in the right direction. Having a properly functioning filter is a HUGE deal. I assume you didn't rinse the filter sponges in tap water, but instead used the water that you removed from the tank to rinse (or "clean") them. Hopefully...

The temp match doesn't need to be perfect, within a degree or two is fine. Just add it in a little slower if the temp isn't quite right. These are river fish, so a temp difference happens in the wild. They can handle minor fluctuations. The heater will take care of the rest. Just don't add a ton of water too fast that's a different temp. When I do water changes, I leave my heater running (its fully submerged, as yours appeared to be in the picture) and slowly run water from my tap directly into my tank. I add about 10 gallons per hour (my tank is 56 gallons) with a hose. I add the dechlorinator directly to my tank. My fish love it and it usually spurs some spawning behavior in my cories. ;-)

 

[Chunky]

Right, will do the tests today, was too tired last night to do any more but will get the done this morning. I'd be amazed if the tank wasn't fully cycled now as it's a year and a half old (i think). I didn't rinse the spnges in tap water, all the cleaning I did last night was in the water I siphoned out.

When I added the new water, I filled 5 litres up and just used my hands to test if the temperature was around the same. I gently added 1 litre every 15 minutes or so for an hour, making sure the fish were well out of the way. They are all still there this morning, so far so good.

One question I forgot to ask last night, is the filter too powerful at the moment? As I say the switch seems stuck but I can have another look if need be. The noise isn't a problem now, just worried that the fish will be traumatised.

Tank looks a lot nicer now it's clean, although I've obviously agitated some of the stuff at the bottom as it's a little cloudier in there now. Will endeavour to change the water once or twice a day for the next few weeks and see how we get on.

Test results to follow later ...

 

[daizeUK]

The flow control switch should slide very easily, you can try wiggling it gently but I wouldn't recommend trying to force it. If the switch won't move then there are ways to slow your filter down, such as stuffing some fine filter sponges inside.
Neither guppies nor tetras are especially strong swimmers I believe and they won't be accustomed to the new stronger flow, watch for signs of them struggling against the current or hiding in calm areas to rest
.
Now that your filter has had a good clean out, I'd recommend keeping an especially close eye on your ammonia and nitrites for the next week or two to make sure the cycle is still stable.

 

[Chunky]

Ok so here are the results of the tests. The only one that seemed really high is the Nitrate level:

Temperature: 24.5 degrees
KH Carbonate Hardness: 5 drops (the instructions said to turn from blue to yellow, but mine was never really blue. Might be missing something here.)
pH Acidity: 8
NO2 Nitrate: 0.05mg/l
NO3 Nitrate: 80mg/l
NO4 Ammonium: 0.05mg/l

So, what next? The tank looks surprisingly nice and bright, I just need to keep swapping the water over now I think, unless anyone thinks otherwise? Will keep changing 5 litres per day for a few weeks then may run the tests again.

Anything I can do about the flow control? I don't really want to take the unit back to the shop, although I could be there and back in 20 minutes which is no longer than the filter was out of the water last night I guess. Any thoughts?

Thanks!!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The reading being above zero is a slight concern, but those levels are really low. My API kit only reads down to 0.25ppm (g/ml). The reading is probably close enough to zero that it isn't a major concern. Does your kit read higher than 80ppm for NO3? If the nitrates are only at 80 ppm, which I doubt, you could increase the amount of the water change and decrease the frequency. The issue is that it is probably much higher.

A trick I've used in the past when I was fishless cycling my tank to determine the nitrite levels when it was off the chart might work for you, if you are up for a little measuring fun. ;-P

Get yourself a medicine dispensing syringe that measures up to 5mL. If you test kit requires 5ml, as my API does, then you can do this simple trick. Add 1ml of tank water to the tube, and 4 ml tap water. Then run the test as usual. Take the reading as usual, and multiple your results by 5. Since you are using only 1/5 the amount of tap water, the concentration you get (which should be easier to read) will be 1/5 of the actual value. So, multiplying by 5 will give you a more accurate result.




Ammonium is NH4, btw. ;-)



Flow control... You could put a sponge in front of the intake, which would slow the flow. You could also add some more filter floss to the back of the filter to fill in the empty spots to slow the flow.



BTW, what are your tap water stats?

 

[Chunky]

Hi everyone

I realise I've not posted for a while on here despite the excellent advise I got, thought I'd put an update on.

I was frequently changing the water as advised, 5 litres a day. I went to the local Maidenhead Aquatics just before new year to see if they could fix the filter flow, they couldn't see how it was stuck and didn't want to force it in case it broke, so I'm stuck with a fast flowing filter. The fish don't seem at all bothered so I've just aimed it towards the side of the tank and let it be.

I also asked about changing the water, they suggested changing 10 litres every other day so I've been doing that recently. I've removed everything else from the tank apart from the stone which you see in my pictures, the plastic plants were filthy so they are out for the moment. Otherwise the fish seem happy, I've not tested the water again recently but suspect it's getting better. I did ask at the shop about taking all the gravel out but they suggested theat it might be keeping all the rubbish out of the way so be careful. I might start taking it out bit by bit when I change the water, any thoughts? Ideally I'd like sand instead of gravel, and to get some fish that play in it which the kids will love to see (forget what the fish are called).

So my current plans are to keep changing the water for the next 2 weeks, and ideally get the gravel out too. Then I'll run some more tests on the water to see how we're doing, and make a decision about increasing the population in the tank and adding sand instead of the gravel.

One other issue I have is that I ran out of food over the weekend (was using JBL NovoBel Flakes), I went to the shop yesterday and they didn't stock that one any more but recommended I get TetraPro Colour flakes, so I grabbed a tub of them. I tried the fish last night and they seemed unsure, the guppies were ok but did spit some of them out, the tetras less happy. Is this just a case of them having to get used to a new food, or something more sinister that I need to resolve quickly?

If anyone has any more suggestions for things to do/look out for please let me know!

Thanks

 

[eaglesaquarium]

[background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]

The gravel more than likely is harboring some nasty stuff - which is why I would get a larger opening hose to do the water change, and just suck out the gravel during a water change to remove it. This will ensure that you suck up any hidden crud with the gravel and won't release it into the water.


When adding the sand, be sure to rinse it well.[/background]


The fish you are referring to are Corydoras - they are great at sifting through the sand. I'd suggest you stick to the smaller varieties in a smaller tank like this one. My personal favorite are panda corydoras, they grow at most to 1.5 inches. Other varieties that would work in there are C. habrosus and C. hastatus. I'd steer clear of the C. pygmaeus as they spend as much time in the midwater as on the substrate. They should be kept in groups of 6.


I try to feed my fish a variety of foods so that they don't get stuck on one idea. The fish will eat frozen bloodworms with NO fighting, so that's a quick way to get them to eat again, if you are concerned. The chunks are quite full of bloodworms for such a small group of fish, so you don't want to feed them a whole cube. You could break the cube into smaller bits so as to not overfeed. My fish also go crazy for frozen peas. Just be sure to that the "meaty" center out of the outer casing - they can't eat the casing and its tough for them to break through it. But once the outer coating is gone, they will devour the insides. But, I wouldn't give up on the other food entirely yet either. They will eat... they are just being a bit petulant.


Higher flow rates aren't that big a problem for most fish in the hobby. Most come from rivers and streams with a decent flow, so not to worry. Unless you have a betta that would be at the mercy of the current with those long flowing fins, I don't think its a big deal.