Help!

[cookie41]

Hello everyone im new to the site.

I am posting this message as have had a tropical setup going now for 4 months with no problems, untill now.

okay so to save some time the nitty gritty stuff: Tanks a juwel vision 180 3ft x 2ft 1.5ft, 180 litres, water stats are .... ammonia just under 0.25, nitrate 0 (currently have phosphate sponge in), nitrite 0 and ph 8.0 (wont change its just our water supply) and phosphates 1.0

i have in there, 2x plecs one 6-7 inches long, 1x common catfish 2x khuli loaches, 2x rainbow fish, 1x balloon mollie, 4x gourmi's 1x pearl 1x golden 1x honey 1x dwarf (blue/red) and 9 guppies with fry in a hatchery.

Okay so im posting this question as im having a serious issue with what i think is dropsy or bloat?? i lost a gourmi the other day as he went lathargic n then was found on tank bottom sadly dead. =( now out of approx 7 hours my dwarf has gone from healthy to looking like a golf ball!!! will try to get pic.

i also had an issue with clown loaches..... they just wont live in my tank had three now. (crys) water stats were okay, one became infected, then spread... treated using waterlife prozin, all bar the clown pulled through, sadly he snuffed it. had two more sice n they got whitespots? all others okay then discolouration and died. thought food at first but im sure its not. not sure if it was the supply from breeder. been told theres alot of dodgy bred stocks going around.

i feed tetramin flakes, tetra min baby and catfish sinkers. i also give them frozen bloodworm and daphia once every week.


please any tips, suggestions, or help will be appreciated.

regards

matt

 

[three-fingers]

Your problem is the tank is over stocked (the little Juwel internal filter wont cope with two large plecs!) . 4 months isn't very old for a tank so having that many fish this early is asking for trouble! No doubt your LFS assured you it was OK, but remember they are in the business of selling fish .

Also, "common catfish" could be anything, there are thousands of species of catfish commonly available. It is very important you find out the exact species as it may not be suitable for your tank - especially if its already big.

In the meantime, you will need to be doing 50% water changes daily for at least a couple of weeks to get that ammonia level down. 0.25ppm is very toxic to fish. Reduce feeding to every second day as well, and rehome the plecs (if they are common species they will outgrow the tank very fast anyway).

Clown loaches aren't suitable for your size of tank, but are very susceptible to disease especially when stressed out and in bad water, so it's not really a surprise they went so fast.

Avoid any fish treatments for now until your water quality is consistently good for a month or two, and only if needed .

If you have patience, rehome the fish and keep up with the water changes, you should have no further issues .

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

Plus, the pH at 8.0 is pretty high for any fish. I know that it's more important to keep a stable pH, but I'd attempt to lower it naturally with bogwood, driftwood or peat balls. Don't use chemicals, though, because it's nearly impossible to keep the number stable once you start.

 

[cookie41]

i just tested the ammonia. its at 0 now. phew!

been thinking of getting an external but not sure which would surfice to my needs.

on topic of out growing tank.... i have every intention as time comes to upgrade to a juwel vision 450 litre tank. 5ft??

will do water changes tho

cheers

 

[three-fingers]

A Juwel 450 is still too small for two common plecs, even one. Your talking about a minimum width of 2 foot really, for such a large species to be able to turn round. They also seemingly perpetually poop when well fed so massive filtration is a must.

Depending on your budget there's loads of options for externals . They are far cheaper online, a decent external for your size of tank would be around £80, I would recommend a Fluval 206 or Tetratec ex1200 - in addition to your Juwel internal.