Help-New freshwater tank woes!

[Sloth Monster]

Hi all,
I am a new aquarium hobbyist. I just started a tank, 55 gallons, 8 tetra, 3 basmani and several mollies.
So far there's been a few issues, and I'm figuring out solutions as each issue pops up.
Sadly, I jumped into the hobby without a sufficient new-tank-cycling.
3 days into the start, the tank turned really cloudy, and the fish started to die. I was able to save them by putting them in a bowl of water, then I did a 50% tank change and it cleared up, with a lot of the fluval. I started to use 2 filters, and that cleared up the tank. The ammonia levels were really high. The fish were pretty happy after that, until 5 days later the water turned green. I kept the lights off for a few days, vacuumed the gravel for the first time and scrubbed a lot of algae off the glass. For the past week I was doing a few 30% water changes a few times a week to keep the water clean.
I still have high nitrites, and as 3 days ago cloudy water issues. Last I checked, the phosphate level was very high, even after using phosguard. The water went from cloudy yesterday to greenish again today!
This is so frustrating, I'm invested in this close to $700! I don't want to give up!
Ammonia levels seem to finally be in check.
Chemicals I have used are stress coat, seachem flourish advance and prime. I think the first time i had the green outbreak was from overfeeding.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF.

You are in the midst of a fish-in cycle, follow the directions for that here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/

Ditch the Stress Coat, you don't need it, and it may actually be harmful. I also wouldn't dose any plant ferts until the tank is cycled, just complicates matters.

Are you using a liquid test kit?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Cut the feeding back to 2-3 times a week.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. Also do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Stop adding plant fertiliser until things settle down.

If you have rainbowfish, make sure half their diet is plant based.

 

[Sloth Monster]

Thank you!
I am using test strips for the water tests. For phosphate I use a water test.
I'll do a 75% water change today, should that help with the greenish water?
Also-one of my mollies dissapeared, stopped showing up for feedings! Looked everywhere and can't find "her" (my 6 year old is convinced it's a female!)
Any recommendation for a plant based food for my rainbow fish?
The tap water is clean in my area.
Thanks for all the tips!

 

[Colin_T]

A big water change usually helps dilute nutrients and this can help with green water problems.

If you have snails or shrimp in the tank, the fish might have died and they would eat her.

You can sex mollies, guppies, platies and swordtails by looking at their anal (bottom) fin. Males have a long straight anal fin called a gonopodium. Females have a fan or triangle shaped anal fin.

Rainbowfish can be fed with goldfish food, marine algae, vege flakes/ pellets, live aquarium plants like Duckweed.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Test strips can be unreliable and inaccurate, get one of these, many of us use this one: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit

 

[Sloth Monster]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Cut the feeding back to 2-3 times a week.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. Also do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Stop adding plant fertiliser until things settle down.

If you have rainbowfish, make sure half their diet is plant based.

I just did a 75% water change. Would you recommend to add seachem prime or Fluval cycle?

 

[FishHobby99]

Hi all,
I am a new aquarium hobbyist. I just started a tank, 55 gallons, 8 tetra, 3 basmani and several mollies.
So far there's been a few issues, and I'm figuring out solutions as each issue pops up.
Sadly, I jumped into the hobby without a sufficient new-tank-cycling.
3 days into the start, the tank turned really cloudy, and the fish started to die. I was able to save them by putting them in a bowl of water, then I did a 50% tank change and it cleared up, with a lot of the fluval. I started to use 2 filters, and that cleared up the tank. The ammonia levels were really high. The fish were pretty happy after that, until 5 days later the water turned green. I kept the lights off for a few days, vacuumed the gravel for the first time and scrubbed a lot of algae off the glass. For the past week I was doing a few 30% water changes a few times a week to keep the water clean.
I still have high nitrites, and as 3 days ago cloudy water issues. Last I checked, the phosphate level was very high, even after using phosguard. The water went from cloudy yesterday to greenish again today!
This is so frustrating, I'm invested in this close to $700! I don't want to give up!
Ammonia levels seem to finally be in check.
Chemicals I have used are stress coat, seachem flourish advance and prime. I think the first time i had the green outbreak was from overfeeding.

I am kinda new to the hobby too, since 7/21. I would do two 75-80%
water changes a day.

 

[wgoldfarb]

I just did a 75% water change. Would you recommend to add seachem prime or Fluval cycle?

You have received great advice above, but I just wanted to clarify: if you are on municipal tap water you should be using Prime (or a similar dechlorinator) with every water change. Municipal tap water is chlorinated, and the chlorine kills beneficial bacteria, making it impossible to cycle your tank. Just make sure you dose Prime correctly, as overdosing can be counterproductive.

As others have said, your priority now is to complete your cycle, and until you do that I'd keep it simple: skip the stress coat, hold the fertilizers, and I'd probably wouldn't bother with the Fluval Cycle. I'm generally wary of "instant cycle" products. Some work, some don't, and I guess it won't hurt anything, but my impression is that most people here don't like them. From what I've read, even the ones that do work cannot "instantly" cycle a tank, you still have to go through a cycle period. It's very short, but afaik not instantaneous. But others more knowledgeable than me may disagree

You are in the midst of a fish-in cycle, follow the directions for that here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/

This. Once your understand the fish-in cycle, all the answers above will make sense

 

[Colin_T]

I just did a 75% water change. Would you recommend to add seachem prime or Fluval cycle?

Prime should be used in new tap water to neutralise chlorine or chloramine (whichever you have). The new tap water should be made up with the Prime before adding it to the tank.

The Fluval Cycle is a filter bacteria supplement and can be added at a double dose each day for a week if you want to. Then add the remaining contents to the tank. Try to add the Fluval Cycle near the filter intake so it gets drawn into the filter.

Add the Fluval Cycle after you do a water change.

 

[Colin_T]

I am kinda new to the hobby too, since 7/21. I would do two 75-80%
water changes a day.

One big water change per day is usually sufficient unless you have a really high ammonia reading (off the chart type of numbers). Then you can do a bigger water change (90%) to reduce it or do 2 x 75% water changes.