Hopefully others can chime in here and help...especially with the stocking issues
@Byron
@AdoraBelle Dearheart
@Fishmanic
@Caesar
I agree with you, Byron and Naughts - you've all hit the nail on the head so far! Beginner to the hobby being given terrible advice from the fish store, so now has an overstocked tank going through a fish-in cycle. Hate when this happens! So unfair to both the fish, and the new hobbyist who doesn't deserve to have to go through this!
We have a fresh water tropical fish tank- 80L with the advised amount of fish. Have had it up and running for about 6 weeks with no dramas at all, last 24 hours it just won’t clear. We’ve lost a fish & the others are clearly stressed. 2x 40% water changes calms them down but only for a short while before they go back to the top and gasp for air. All the tests are showing fine & filer is clean, what am I missing?
Hi
@Tiggerpal1989 , I'm so sorry this happened to you! Sadly, it's a common way people are introduced to the hobby. There's a steep learning curve in the beginning, with a lot of aspects of fishkeeping to take in. Can be overwhelming, and it's so much harder when mis-sold fish and given bad advice- as you have been. It makes sense to trust the fish store when you're new to the hobby. They should know how to keep them! But sadly too many of them don't, or they don't care, just make the sales and make it up as they go, and you're stuck trying to sort it all out.
The good news is that it's a good sized tank for a beginner to manage well, and that you can get through this and have a good chance of saving the rest of the fish! Coming here was the right choice
Keep up with the water changes daily. You are wildly overstocked I'm afraid, with a poor mix of fish, and the tank not fully cycled yet, meaning the fish waste is building up and poisoning the fish. That's why they're stressed/gasping/pale etc, and explains the ones that passed away.
@Naughts is right, stop feeding for now - fish don't require nearly as much food as mammals do, since they take their body temp from the water, not generating it internally. So going even a week or two without food isn't a problem for them. But adding food to the tank now could easily kill the remaining fish. More waste in equals more waste out, more ammonia and nitrites in the water.
Seachem Prime water conditioner is a good choice in this situation too, Naughts is right there. It binds ammonia and nitrite for 24-48 hours, making the tank water safer in between the large daily water changes, which increases the chances of survival for the remaining fish.
Another good suggestion thank you, water out of the tap virtually the same as the tank. I’ve attached a photo of what we are testing against, sorry still quite new to all of this
Yeah I'm sorry, they mis-sold these things to you too I'm afraid. Dip strips aren't terribly accurate, these don't test for the important things we really need to know when keeping fish either. The API Freshwater Master test kit is a gold standard one across the hobby, most of us use it. It might seem pricey at first compared to the dip strips, but it's not only much more accurate, but you get more tests out of them too. My kit has lasted more than a year even with three tanks running
For now the numbers you're really going to need to know are ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH.
I would highly recommend the API master test kit... It is more accurate that strip tests. About the "cycle" you did... You cannot just have a tank sit and then expect it to do good... There was no bacteria being built during that time to help with bio load. I highly suspect that this is a bacteria bloom and would be ok if there were no fish... I would do apx a 75% water change daily for a week maybe... Just to see if that helps
Agreed on the master test kit!
a bacterial bloom in a new set up is certainly common, and can make the water look quite milky. Fortunately even in a stocked tank, the bacteria aren't ones that are harmful to fish.
So don't worry about cloudy water/bacterial blooms for now, concentrate on large daily water changes and returning some of these fish!
We added 4 mollys & 6 mini tetras after 2 weeks of it running. Then 3 silver dollars (one of which I lost yesterday prior to posting on here) & 3 Corys a week on, then 4 sword tails (little orange and silver things) & a Siamese fighting fish 10 days on from that. They’d all been together for 8 days before I had the issue last night. After reading recommendations & suggestions I did a little more research, definitely think it’s a bacteria spike leading to ammonia increase. I am pleased to announce all fish are fine this morning, I have just done another 75% water change & plan to visit the shops today to pick up some ammonia test kits.
Good job on getting straight on that! Seriously. I know this can overwhelming, but the most important thing to remember now is to do the large daily water changes, matching the temp of the new water to the temp of the tank before you add it and using water conditoner, no other chemicals. Ideally Seachem Prime, if you can get hold of it.
Also, don't touch the filter media yet - that's where the bacteria you need are establishing themselves, so don't try to clean it or anything yet. When it does come time to clean it, remember never to rinse it under the tap/in untreated tap water, since that contains chlorine, which would kill the beneficial bacterial you've worked so hard to build up. Only ever rinse the sponges etc out in a bucket of old tank water you've removed during a water change.
Oh my goodness......you are severely overstocked and you have a predator fish (Siamese Fighter) too
Can you tell me the length, depth and height of your aquarium please?
I think you might have to return some of those fish, there are too many in the aquarium and the species mix is completely wrong
I'm sorry....whoever told you they would be OK in the aquarium was basically making a sale and not thinking of the welfare of the fish. All those in an 80 litre aquarium is frankly...insane.
Goodness! They are tiny at the moment (maybe just over an inch?) we had no idea. Thank you for the advice, I definitely think a re-think is in order
Agreed with
@wasmewasntit , you're definitely badly overstocked and have been sold unsuitable fish. The silver dollars and siamese fighter especially. I would return those ASAP.
If you have female swordtails and mollies, that could also be a problem later, since they tend to arrive already gravid, produce lots of fry every month, and leave people quickly overstocked. But we'll worry about that later since it's less urgent!
poor fish
