Help please

[ashley2001]

I have a 74litre tank that is bare bottom with live plants on rocks and some floating plants. Most of my fish have been getting something I searched called (swim bladder) they just keep floating and have no control whatsoever. I have no test strips because my nearest pet shop never seem to have any in stock. So I’ve ordered some on Amazon and won’t get here till tomorrow. I put a few de shelled peas in the tank and some have eaten them. It seems I keep buying fish and they just keep dying. I put some in today and some have already died because of it. I have been doing around 30% water changes when multiple fish have died or are stressed. I put tap safe. Ammonia remover, fungus and fin rot treatment in. I am fairly new had my tank foraround 2 months. Please help. I just want advice so I’m not mistreating any animal, please help.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello there! Sorry to hear you're having some trouble, hopefully we can help you out! My first question: is your tank cycled?

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF. Though we wish it were with happier circumstances.

Members will want data on the tank and fish, so can you provide this information:
Tank size?
how long has it been running?
What fish species and how many?
A photo of infected fish if possible.

There ar a couple of things to note right off. Do not use medications unless you can be fairly certain of the issue. All substances added to the water can get inside the fish with the water that is regularly entering the fish via osmosis, and into the bloodstream; these are stressful, and if they are not actually helping the problem can make things much worse. Fungus and fin rot treatment probably has no benefit. And why "ammonia remover," and what exactly is this?

A bare bottom tank is prone to bacterial issues, especially for substrate fish. The substrate of sand or fine gravel is the biological foundation of an aquarium, extremely important. Many different species of bacteria live there, and carry out important functions. I wold certainly recommend getting a substrate, soft sand is ideal especially if you have or intend substrate-level fish (cories, loaches, etc).

"Swim bladder" is often, most often in fact, just one symptom of some issue. Water conditions (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), pH fluctuations, internal protozoan, to name just a few. We need to try and isolate what this might be.

 

[ashley2001]

Hello there! Sorry to hear you're having some trouble, hopefully we can help you out! My first question: is your tank cycled?

It’s a larger tank that’s been running since 12th of may. I had a smaller tank that was running for a few weeks before and put that water in aswell

 

[ashley2001]

Welcome to TFF. Though we wish it were with happier circumstances.

Members will want data on the tank and fish, so can you provide this information:
Tank size?
how long has it been running?
What fish species and how many?
A photo of infected fish if possible.

There ar a couple of things to note right off. Do not use medications unless you can be fairly certain of the issue. All substances added to the water can get inside the fish with the water that is regularly entering the fish via osmosis, and into the bloodstream; these are stressful, and if they are not actually helping the problem can make things much worse. Fungus and fin rot treatment probably has no benefit. And why "ammonia remover," and what exactly is this?

A bare bottom tank is prone to bacterial issues, especially for substrate fish. The substrate of sand or fine gravel is the biological foundation of an aquarium, extremely important. Many different species of bacteria live there, and carry out important functions. I wold certainly recommend getting a substrate, soft sand is ideal especially if you have or intend substrate-level fish (cories, loaches, etc).

"Swim bladder" is often, most often in fact, just one symptom of some issue. Water conditions (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), pH fluctuations, internal protozoan, to name just a few. We need to try and isolate what this might be.

Sorry I am new and just panicked. I won’t add anything else until I test the water tomorrow

My tank is an aquael leddy 72litre and I’ve converted it to almost 16 gallons.
After my fish deaths I have
2 moonlight gourami
1 blue Moscow guppy
2 white Moscow guppies
2 albino corydora
5 horned nerite snails
1 white female guppy
1 normal female guppy
Around 10-15 guppy fry
And a red guppy

How would you recommend I set the tank up when I add sand. Doesn’t adding anything of that magnitude need cycling, I don’t have another tank to put my fish in or would they be okay in a bucket until I’ve finished putting it in?

 

[Byron]

The tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate will be important. In the interim, I am notifying a couple members who are more experienced in these issues. But expect more questions. @Colin_T @GaryE

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

OK let's not stress, we all had to start somewhere and many of us have made unintential mistakes.

I'm not sure that I can be of any help regarding ypur immediate situation but I can give you some basic info that is important with fish keeping.

Cycling your tank.
Fish produce ammonia through respiration and excretion...any left over food or organics rotting in the water will also produce ammonia which is extremely toxic to fish.
When ammonia is present, a bacteria starts to grow that 'eats' it. The byproduct is called Nitrite...which is also very toxic to fish.
Another colony of beneficial bacteria starts to grow that 'eats' the Nitrite and converts it to Nitrate which is less toxic to fish and can be removed by large weekly water changes.

Beneficial bacteria grows in your filter but more so on the surfaces in your tank and especially so within the substrate (which I highly recommend you get). Water you add to your tank must be dechlorinated before entering as the chlorine that's used to make our water safe to consume is toxic to fish and the beneficial bacteria we are trying to grow.

Your tank is fully cycled and fish safe when your test results read 0 for ammonia and 0 for Nitrite.

Test strips are not always reliable for accurate readings, most of us use a liquid testing kit, API do a good one. They are pricey but will last much longer and you'll get many many tests out of it.

If you know all this already, awesome.

It's great you have some plants already but it's recommended that you get a few more, stem plants especially as they're fast growers and will help keep your water parameters in shape by using ammonia and nitrate as food to grow.

Something else very important is your water hardness. You can find this by going to tour water providers website and looking up your postcode. You'll find it either as gH or ppm. This is important because it dictates what type of fish is suitable for the type of water you have. Tetras, gourami, betta, angelfish, corydoras etc all need softer water whereas guppies, platies, mollies, rainbow fish and your big African cichlids need hard water to live in.

It appears I've been on waffle settings here I hope some of its useful to you!

 

[ashley2001]

OK let's not stress, we all had to start somewhere and many of us have made unintential mistakes.

I'm not sure that I can be of any help regarding ypur immediate situation but I can give you some basic info that is important with fish keeping.

Cycling your tank.
Fish produce ammonia through respiration and excretion...any left over food or organics rotting in the water will also produce ammonia which is extremely toxic to fish.
When ammonia is present, a bacteria starts to grow that 'eats' it. The byproduct is called Nitrite...which is also very toxic to fish.
Another colony of beneficial bacteria starts to grow that 'eats' the Nitrite and converts it to Nitrate which is less toxic to fish and can be removed by large weekly water changes.

Beneficial bacteria grows in your filter but more so on the surfaces in your tank and especially so within the substrate (which I highly recommend you get). Water you add to your tank must be dechlorinated before entering as the chlorine that's used to make our water safe to consume is toxic to fish and the beneficial bacteria we are trying to grow.

Your tank is fully cycled and fish safe when your test results read 0 for ammonia and 0 for Nitrite.

Test strips are not always reliable for accurate readings, most of us use a liquid testing kit, API do a good one. They are pricey but will last much longer and you'll get many many tests out of it.

If you know all this already, awesome.

It's great you have some plants already but it's recommended that you get a few more, stem plants especially as they're fast growers and will help keep your water parameters in shape by using ammonia and nitrate as food to grow.

Something else very important is your water hardness. You can find this by going to tour water providers website and looking up your postcode. You'll find it either as gH or ppm. This is important because it dictates what type of fish is suitable for the type of water you have. Tetras, gourami, betta, angelfish, corydoras etc all need softer water whereas guppies, platies, mollies, rainbow fish and your big African cichlids need hard water to live in.

It appears I've been on waffle settings here I hope some of its useful to you!

No thankyou for being patient with me and explaining, I have been researching a lot and I don’t understand most of it (unless it’s in simpler more understandable explanations) my water is Severn Trent. I’ve tried to search parameters but I can’t find anything about it.

I will definitely get some sand. I thought having no substrate would be cleaner. Would I be able to add it to my tank if I put my fish in a container with a heater and filter until it settles for around 30 minutes? I don’t want to stress them out even more

 

[Byron]

No thankyou for being patient with me and explaining, I have been researching a lot and I don’t understand most of it (unless it’s in simpler more understandable explanations) my water is Severn Trent. I’ve tried to search parameters but I can’t find anything about it.

I will definitely get some sand. I thought having no substrate would be cleaner. Would I be able to add it to my tank if I put my fish in a container with a heater and filter until it settles for around 30 minutes? I don’t want to stress them out even more

It would be best to first deal with the dying fish issue, other members should be able to help.

As for the substrate, a bag of quality play sand is an inexpensive but ideal substrate. Is Chesterfield in the UK? If yes, you can use Argos Play Sand.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

No thankyou for being patient with me and explaining, I have been researching a lot and I don’t understand most of it (unless it’s in simpler more understandable explanations) my water is Severn Trent. I’ve tried to search parameters but I can’t find anything about it.

I will definitely get some sand. I thought having no substrate would be cleaner. Would I be able to add it to my tank if I put my fish in a container with a heater and filter until it settles for around 30 minutes? I don’t want to stress them out even more

Take a water sample from your tank to your local fish shop and ask them to test it for you, take a photo of the results as they do it then post it here. They will also check your hardness if you give them a sample from your tap...I'll PM you in a sec....

While you're there, grab yourself a liquid testing kit

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Here's a rough guide to water hardness....we worked out between us your water is 7 gh...Guppies need hard water to thrive.

Without knowing if your tank is fully cycled it's difficult to know how to help. Until you can get your water tested for now all I can suggest is you make regular big (70%) water changes just incase there is ammonia or nitrite present and to keep thr Nitrates down to a minimum

 

[Colin_T]

I can't tell anything from the picture apart from the fish's gills look very red. this can be caused by poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite or high nitrate), chemical poisoning or gill flukes.

More pictures showing the fish from the side would help. check the pictures on your computer before uploading them here to make sure they are clear and in focus.

If you can post a 1-2 minute video of the fish that might offer some info too. You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen and you don't get black bars on each side.

-------------------

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

-------------------

BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[ashley2001]

I can't tell anything from the picture apart from the fish's gills look very red. this can be caused by poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite or high nitrate), chemical poisoning or gill flukes.

More pictures showing the fish from the side would help. check the pictures on your computer before uploading them here to make sure they are clear and in focus.

If you can post a 1-2 minute video of the fish that might offer some info too. You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen and you don't get black bars on each side.

-------------------

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

-------------------

BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

I have taken a water test.
Forgive me I have no clue what any of this means but I went on the water supply and it said my water is
Hardness Clark 9.04
Hardness German 7.23
Hardness French 12.92
I clean my filter almost every 2 weeks because it gets a lot of food waste. I think I was over feeding at one point but now I only feed a cube of frozen blood worm every other day and maybe a sprinkle of tropical flake just incase my fry didn’t get any.
I have ordered some JBL sand which should be coming tomorrow (I chose that because it said it wouldn’t affect the water parameter.) And I’ve also purchased quite a few plants. Some foreground middle ground and background.
The test is showing that I have extreme hardness. Does that mean I have too much nutrients? Again I’m not well versed in all the terminology but I am trying.
I’ll try and get a video. The fish who were really bad have already died and some are just lethargic so I’m not sure if you are gonna be able to tell. I have also suffered from some of my guppies tails drooping down.

 

[Colin_T]

The pH is too low and should be around 7.0 or above. Check the pH of your tap water. If you need to raise the pH, you can add some shells, limestone rock, or some dead coral skeleton to the tank. You add a small amount and monitor the pH over a couple of weeks. If it's still too low, you add a bit more and monitor. Continue adding shells, limestone or dead coral skeleton until the pH is closer to 7.0.

The Gh (general hardness) is around 130ppm, which is a bit soft for guppies but it's not causing the deaths. Guppies do best in water with a Gh around 180-250ppm but will live at 130-150ppm.

-------------------

You mention cleaning your filter every 2 weeks. How do you clean it?

 

[ashley2001]

The pH is too low and should be around 7.0 or above. Check the pH of your tap water. If you need to raise the pH, you can add some shells, limestone rock, or some dead coral skeleton to the tank. You add a small amount and monitor the pH over a couple of weeks. If it's still too low, you add a bit more and monitor. Continue adding shells, limestone or dead coral skeleton until the pH is closer to 7.0.

The Gh (general hardness) is around 130ppm, which is a bit soft for guppies but it's not causing the deaths. Guppies do best in water with a Gh around 180-250ppm but will live at 130-150ppm.

-------------------

You mention cleaning your filter every 2 weeks. How do you clean it?

I run it under tap water and squeeze. But with doing some research I believe I should be doing it with a bit of tank water because I’m probably stripping it to basically being new