Help! Still a Beginner!!!!

[NewOwner]

I have had my tank since March 4, 2004. I have done pretty well with the help of my parents who are avid fish lovers! It's been a while since I tested my water, and I tested it yesterday and today.....the levels have not changed between both days. Here are my results:

Ph-7.4
Nitrite-0.1
Nitrate-5
Ammonia-2.4
Phosphate 5.0

Yesterday I did a water change, 20%..added water conditioner and Cycle as directed by the aquarium store (the store has been around by the same owner for atleast 20 years so I trust their suggestions). Today I checked and the levels were still the same....YIKES!!! My poor fish!! Today I added AmmoLock, to bring down the ammonia and more conditioner to help clear the tank and bring the phosphate level down. I didn't realize that I was feeding them a little too much....3 times a day! What is the correct feeding schedule for fish? My mom just bought me 2 tuxedo swordtails, which will stay in her tank until mine is better. I was also given 2 cories as bottom feeders to help keep my tank clean. None of the fish look sick, they seem sluggish, not as active, more active since I put the AmmoLock in the tank...female swordtail seems to have color missing on her sides towards her tail and parts of her fin missing in the back, she was being picked on by a fish that has since died, but she seems very "mopey".

The carbon filter and the sponge have both been cleaned, filter is running perfectly, the heater is set at 78 degrees and my bottom filter is running perfectly as well.

Any ideas of what I can do to bring my levels down? I have tried for 2 days now to do what I can...do I need to give it more time? I'm so confused!

Thanks all!

 

[tstenback]

Welcome to the forum

How long have you had the tank set up? When did you put in the fish? If you still have them What were your readings the last time you checked them?
To start with, the phosphate level is probably due to overfeeding. feed your fish only small amounts once a day for awhile to remove the source for phosphate. Continue doing the water changes start with a 50% today and continue with 15% every other day until the ammonia level gets below 1.
It seems to me like you added all of these fish without cycling your tank first without fish. Not the end of the world if thats what happened. the tank appears to be cycling now and this is stressful on your fish and you may lose a few in the process. First the ammonia is produced by the fish a bacteria gthen grows that changes the ammonia to niTRITE (this is where you seem to be now) then after a while another bacteria grows and converts the niTRITE to niTRATE and thats where we need to get. It will probably take a few weeks or so to get to the end result which is 0 level for ammonia, o level for niTRITE and a positive reading for niTRATE. However the chemicals that you have added will probably adversely affect the cycle as ammolock will render the ammonia useless to the process that is one of the reasons why i suggested a large water change followed by several smaller ones (to get rid of the chemical)
During the process do NOT clean the filter or the gravel.
Once the process finishes you will be fine.
The proper feeding schedule is often what your fish get used to. i feed mine twice a day as much as they can eat in 2 minutes. After that i remove what i can if anything is left over. You will getused to how much to feed them very quickly.

HTH and Good Luck

 

[NewOwner]

Thanks Tstenback for your suggestions. Actually, I did cycle my tank before putting fish in it....I let it cycle for 48 hours, which was the suggested time by the aquarium store that I went to, to get my products. I did have a 10 gallon, but what happened was one of my female mollies had 30 fry and we had no where to put the babies so they could grow, so my parents just so happened to get a bigger tank (55 gal), I received their 20 gal and the babies got my 10 gal. I did let the 20 gal (that I have now) cycle without fish for 48 hours before putting my fish in it, we used the bigger tank as a holding tank until my tank was cycled. I took readings within one day of having fish in the 20 gal, and everything was really good....I was very pleased with the readings, but the last 2 that I have done (yesterday and today), were HORRIBLE! I did a 50% water change yesterday, my mom helped me with a undergravel change, with the siphon hose in the rocks....boy, did I see A LOT of food going into the siphon. I knew then that I was feeding my babies too much food. My mom is on it and helping me get my water under control. I will do the 15% water change like you suggested tomorrow, my fish have got to be feeling stressed from this and that I worry about, since day one of putting the fish in my tank (10 gal), I have lost about 4 fish. I will definitely keep up what I'm doing, and did you say to not worry about the AmmoLock? Should I keep adding it like it suggests?? What about the water conditioner? Should I be adding that daily? Weekly? I'm adding cycle weekly like it suggests.

Thanks for you help, I really appreciate it.

 

[Bol]

I'm not sure about AmmoLock; I've never used it.

Water conditioner (that is, dechlorinator) you should only add when you do the water changes, and only add enough for the amount of new water that you're adding (don't add enough for the entire 20 gallons).

Also, I'd suggest (just to maybe avoid some head-scratching) that you run your tests on your tap water. Although overfeeding sounds like it might be a problem, it would be good to know how much phosphate your tap water contains.

By the way, if your tap water has been treated with chloramines (at the water plant), and you use a dechlorinator that only neutralizes chlorine (and doesn't specifically mention chloramines), then that could be a source of ammonia. Most dechlor products also treat chloramines, though, so that's probably not likely.

As for feeding, opinions vary. I usually feed my fish once a day. When using flakes (which is most of the time), I put about 1/2 teaspoon of flakes, and a small sinking wafer, in my 46 gallon tank, if that helps. Doesn't seem like much food, but the fish don't seem to be suffering.

 

[crazie.eddie]

Also, do not use Ammo-lock or any ammonia reducing products. You will need the ammonia in order for the bacteria to properly colonize your tank.

48 hours is rather short amount of time to cycle a tank. It normally takes several weeks and when adding fish, add them slowly, about 20% of fish for the tank, at a time. Wait a few weeks until the tank stablizes with the stock and then add another 20% of fish, etc, until the tank is fully stocked.

I'm assuming you are using a UGF (Under gravel filter)? If so, are you using a powerhead connected to the uplift tube or are you using an airstone with an airline connected to an airpump?

Good luck with your fish

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

Just leaving the tank for 48 hours doesn't "cycle" it, the shop have been a bit misleading there. Have a look at the pinned topic on "avoiding new tank syndrome" which describes the cycle in detail.

And I second what someone else said about phosphate in the tap water - my tap water has a reading of at least 5, so it may not be your feeding regime. I take it out by using an RO unit; I've seen other topics on here where people have successfully used special phosphate remover in the tank to get rid of it, so someone might be able to point you in the direction of a good product there.

I've usually fed every other day but everyone seems to do it differently, ranging from this through to two or three times a day!

Good luck!

 

[NewOwner]

Crazy.Eddie.....
I use both the undergravel filter and an air stone. As I'm typing this I tested my phosphates and ammonia.....phosphate is still at 5. The ammonia I'm still waiting on.....and I tested my tap water....the phosphates on the tap water is looking to be around a 1.0, looks like my tap water isn't the culprit here....

Right now, my tank is much more clearer, probably from the conditioner...my nitrites, nitrates, and Ph have been good since yesterday so I'm going to skip checking it today. It looks like the ammonia is staying steady at 1.2, which is a drop from yesterday! It looks like the un-lonized ammonia (toxic form) is at .02ppm. That darn phosphate is up to much.

Today I fed them twice, once at 9, then once at 8-ish. I fed them smaller portions. After reading some suggestions last night, I took their flake food, and smashed it up into smaller portions so I don't inadvertently grab too much.

Right now the fish are eating the food off of the bottom that didn't get eaten at the top.

Thanks for your help!

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[crazie.eddie]

I suggest using a powerhead with your UGF, instead of the airstone. The powerhead will allow more current to be drawn from under the UGF plates. I used UGF's for 8 years and found the UGF with an airstone wasn't that effective.