My New Project For A Local Charity.

[NickAu]

I have " inherited " the care of a fish tank, It is located in a local charity where they feed the poor, so I can't say no.  Its a mess.
 
Advice needed. 
 
Here is the mess I have.
 
 
Tank size.  170 cm Long, 50 High, 45 wide. For a grand total of 383 Litres. 84 Imperial Gallons, 101 Us Gallons.
 
PH. 6.4.
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite  0.0
Nitrate 0.0
 
Tested with API fresh water master test kit.
http/youtu.be/puvQgz72TmE
 

 

[LyraGuppi]

Sweet...mercy....
 
All I can say is good luck.

 

[NickAu]

Ok here is a better view of the fish in the tank, there are also babies.
http/youtu.be/zQkLjOTh80s
 
What kind of fish are they? Can I put live plants in with them, I need to know everything, lol.
 
 
This is where the tank is I have added a black background to the tank and cleaned the glass a bit.

 

[DrRob]

OK, first up, go slowly, the fish are alive and all is currently ticking over, the numbers are terrible but they're used to that and if you change things quickly then you'll cause havoc.
 
I'm going to guess that nobody has been making any concerted effort to clean the tank out with any regularity, so water changes have likely been minimal, if at all. If so you'll have old tank syndrome on your hands. Best solution I can offer to that is to slowly, bit by bit, clean things and do lots of small water changes, increasing to larger water changes as time goes on. You'll find things like the filter and the substrate to be a whole mess of problems if disturbed too much, so be gentle with cleaning them, but they must be cleaned.
 
It's also worth looking at the kit, the lights don't really matter, but make sure that the filter is working properly (and be careful with cleaning that too) and that the heater is alive, and that it's all safe. Taking on kit can mean taking on broken stuff, and broken electrical items and water aren't a good mixture.
 
Finally you need to identify the stock and make sure that, if brought back to their potential, that they're not all going to kill each other. Most of what I can see looks malawi cichlid in origin, and they can live in liquid rock and are quite sturdy.

 

[NickAu]

Day 2.
 
Thank you for the advice Dr Rob.
 
I cleaned the glass, Did a mayor gravel vac got rid of a bunch of rocks, I added a 1200 lph canister filter ( Forced to do it this way no cycling ) I think I may need a bigger filter. Changed 50 litres of water.
 
http/youtu.be/X9XahonSOug
 

 

 

[RCA]

Well done for taking this on.

I would tend to agree with Dr Rob, go slowly. Be careful of large scale cleaning as this could cause the tank to "crash". Take daily readings following any changes to check this is not happening. Not sure how much you know, but remember that the substrate will also assist with maintaining the balance, as it contains bacteria along with the filter media.

In respect to the new canister filter, what mature media did you put in it? My reason for asking is that I upgraded to a small canister filter from an internal one, and my small tank crashed, killing all but one of my Oto's overnight! Although I put the media from the internal filter into the new external, sadly this was not enough. I had to quickly return the media to the internal and then run it alongside the external for about one month.

I am not familiar with the fish in this aquarium, however having seen many aquarium like this, I would tend to say they need more, not less rocks. These need to be built up into caves, so that each fish has space to own a territory.

One of the fish in the centre of the aquarium has a funny swimming action, is it possible to upload a video of this specifc fish so we can see it more clearly?

In respect to heaters, I like the Hydor external heaters, not sure of you can get them in Australia, but I find them a lot easier to use, plus the water is circulated warm within the aquarium.

I think you are doing a great job and the tank does look cleaner, and hopefully in the long run the fish will benefit from all your hard work.

Look forward to further updates, all the best.

 

[NickAu]

 
what mature media did you put in it?

None ..... New biohome media.
 

 
One of the fish in the centre of the aquarium has a funny swimming action,

 
This 1? Yes I will as soon as I can.
http/i62.tinypic.com/a9vjae.jpg
 

 
Not sure how much you know,

I we take into account everything I have learned it still equals zero.

 

[RCA]

 
what mature media did you put in it?

None ..... New biohome media.

Not familiar with this media, will need to research, anyone else?


One of the fish in the centre of the aquarium has a funny swimming action,

 
This 1? Yes I will as soon as I can.
http/i62.tinypic.com/a9vjae.jpg

Difficult to tell from the picture, it seems to first appear at about 0.05-0.06, then it tends to swim in the centre for quite awhile. As it is difficult to see what species it is it may be normal, but not sure. By its shape it looks like it is a bottom dwelling fish?
 

 
Not sure how much you know,

I we take into account everything I have learned it still equals zero.
I am sure it is more that that

 

[NickAu]

I knew enough to come here and ask for help.
 
Now that I have done some work my next step is to add some gravel? sand? about 2 inches?  the stuff that is in there hardly covers the glass. As the old stuff has bacteria in it I was thinking of mixing the old stuff with the new stuff, Yes I know it will stall or crash the cycle ( as bad as it is ) then in I will be getting some cichlid caves, and will mix them up with the rocks in the tank now.  Also to keep weight down is it ok to add Volcanic rock? My plan would be to nicely stack it 3/4 of the way up the back, and use the rocks in the tank now as fore ground, I expect to do this over the next 6 to 8 weeks is that slow enough? I am doing 50 lt water changes every second day adding seachem prime in the correct quantity to the new water before I pump it into the tank, Also adding stress zyme plus the same way as prime, It cant hurt.
 
 
Oh yes I found this...... Sounds fun.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/433769-rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-i/

 

[freerunner416]

Good on you fella! Sounds like a good worthwile project to be involved with.
 
I have no knowledge of malawi tanks so cant help!
 
Good luck with it.

 

[NickAu]

 
Not familiar with this media, will need to research, anyone else?

Biohome ULTIMATE Biological Filter Media 1kg - Fresh Water or Marine Aquarium
 
Running this filter for now, It's all we have.

Fish Tank Aquarium Filter Sponge Aqua External Canister Water UV Bulb 1200LPH
 
2 trays of the above Bio Home 1 tray of

10/20/30/50 PCS Bio Balls for Aquarium Fish Tank Pond Filter Media in Bag

 

[NickAu]

Ph 7.6
 
Ammonia .25
Nitrite  0
Nitrate 0
 
Changed 25 gallons of water.
 
I added gravel, And re stacked the rock to form caves, Will be getting more rock next week.
 

 

[nortonmad213]

looking lots better already cant wait to see the progress you make

 

[NickAu]

 
Finally you need to identify the stock and make sure that, if brought back to their potential, that they're not all going to kill each other

The fighting has started
 
There are 2 of these in the tank, What sort are they?

This is also the biggest fish in the tank and has been attacking the other one like it.
 
 

I found this 1 tail up in the top corner of the tank, Closer inspection shows it has no tail, The other fish like it is guilty.
 

This is my solution for now, Will the tail grow back, If yes then I will keep the fish like this for until it recovers, If no................ ?
 

 
I have given it some food Including some blood worm and frozen brine shrimp I figure it cant hurt.
 
PH 8.0
Am 0
No2 0
No3 5.0
Water change day tomorrow, 100 lt?

 

[Akasha72]

Hi, the fish is some kind of cichlid - probably some kind of old world cichlid and they're not something I know much about. The problem with any kind of cichlid is aggression. It looks like your seeing that aggression. What you need is someone with knowledge of these kinds of cichlid to advise you on what types can live together and what can't.
 
It's possible that you doing what you are doing (good on you by-the-way) has 'upset the apple cart' and by moving things around you've disturbed territories and this is probably why the aggression has appeared. 
 
The poorly fish should be able to grow back it's tail in time - plenty of good food (not too much protein for these kinds of cichlid - it's only the SA cichlids that need lots of protein) but you'll probably find that on re-adding back to the tank it'll just get attacked again. 
 
Carry on as you are, slowly and carefully pulling the tank back around but be mindful that by disturbing territories you're likely to see aggression. I don't feel able to add much more really as it's not my area of expertise but hopefully someone on here has got that expertise and can be more helpful