New Here - Help!

[sarahabutair]

Hi,

I am new here, this is my first post.

I'm from London, UK.

I had a tank for a few years a while ago, but I moved and left it at my parents, I've just bought a new one and am having a few problems.

It's a Juwel tank, Rekord 70 (70 litres). I'm using natural gravel on the bottom, a few rocks and a few plants.

I set up my tank as usual and let it run for a week before introducing fish. It is now 3 weeks old.

I have the following fish currently:

1 male Black Molly
1 female Black Molly
2 male platys
1 Male Siamese Fighter
1 bronze Cory
1 cardinal tetra(!)
and nearly 30 baby black mollys in a breeding net

I'm hoping to eventually get more cardinal tetras, more platys and a few other fish.

My first problem came with the cardinal tetras. I bought six and within a few days I had only 1 left.

My fighter looks ill and now nearly all the fish (not the babies) have white spot!

To top all that I have tested my tank and am a bit confused by what is ok, whats not and what to do about it! Here are the results:

PH 7.6
KH 10
GH 14
Nitrite 5 mg/l
Nitrate 100 mg/l

I am using King British white spot terminator at the moment.

I have 2 bottles of Stress Zyme and Stress Coat and have been using them as per instructions.

Basically I want to cure the white spot, understand what happened to the cardinal tetras, understand why some of the fish look sick, find out how to make the water ok and how to get rid of the little bit of algae that has started growing on the front!


Sorry that this is so long winded but I wanted to get everything in!

Thank you so much!!!!



Sarah

 

[Fish_Mike]

Basically, your fish look sick, and your cardinals died because of the nitrite levels. In a fully cycled tank, they should be 0. As well, Cardinals are more sensitive to water quality than your other fish, that's why they died whereas the others look sick. Before adding cardinal tetras again, you should lower your PH a bit. Try adding some driftwood. IF you have a canister filter, you could try running it over Peat Fiber or Granules.

If you are using liquid medicines, make sure to remove the Activated Carbon from your filter.

As long as the algae that's growing isn't bothering you too much, just use a sponge and clean it off. If it's too much work, you should lower your light levels a bit.

Next time you set up a tank, wait one month for it to cycle. One week and the cycle is really only begun...

As well, your GH and KH may be a little high, but i'm no expert, and if they are, i don't really know how to lower them. I know someone else will be around soon to answer that!

 

[yvez9]

is your tank cycled? i take it isn't since you added fish without doing anything prior...

anyways, look in the pinned topics in beginners section for "new tank syndrome". You should find your answers there

 

[sarahabutair]

Thanks for the quick reply,


The filter I'm using is built into the corner of the tank and has lots of layers of sponges. One of the layers is a carbon sponge thing (juwel own brand). Do I have to remove that?

It says on the white spot treatment 'renew filter carbon after termination'.

What can I do to reduce the nitrite levels?

 

[WILDER]

Water changes as nitrite above 020 is lethal to fish, can an lfs take the babies off your hands, though if they have whitespot they won't them.

 

[Fish_Mike]

i'm not sure what you mean by carbon sponge.

is it this;

in a bag?

 

[WILDER]

Yes it removes med out of tank so you don't wan't that in.

 

[sylvia]

Remove the carbon layer from the filter.
Once the ich has completely gone, continue to treat for at least 4 more days. Then replace the carbon pad you took out from the filter.
NitrIte levels can be reduced easily by doing water changes but the tank needs to fully cycle for these levels to remain permanently low.
Your nitrAtes are also much too high. Again, water changes will help. You should have nitrAtes below 20ppm idealy.
You also didn't mention your ammonia levels which, like the nitrIte, are only safe if at 0.
As your tank has had fish in it for 3 weeks, you are half-way through the cycle already. Just reduce feeding a little and do water changes (with de-chlorinated tap water) every 3-4 days to keep nitrIte levels within reason. Continue testing regularly. When nitrIte drops to 0 and ammonia is also 0, your tank is cycled. To keep your nitrAte levels down, from this point onwards, you should do a single 25% weekly water change with de-chlorinated water minnimum.
Also note that you must not replace your filter's media or wash it in tap water. If it gets clogged up, take out the media and gently rinse it in old tank water from a water change.
To understand exactly how the 'cycle' works and why it happens, read the links in my signature. This is realy important for you to know and will make all the above clear.
I'd also like to add that 70 litres is only about 17-18 gallons and so is too small to add many more fish to. After your tank has been running for 2 months (if it has cycled and is stable), you can consider increasing the number of cardinals to 6, adding one more female molly (as they should be kept at a ratio of 2 females for every male or else the male will chase the single female constantly and this is stressful) and adding another cory as those catfish also like to be in groups. Make sure you add them gradualy - 2-4 fish at a time over a period of several weeks. Then leave it at that or you will be considerably over-stocked. Also, you must get rid of the molly fry as soon as they have grown large enough to give away as you realy don't have room for any of them - and don't save any more in future either.

 

[sarahabutair]

The lfs will take the babies when they are a little bigger and swap them for credit. I'm thinking of keeping one or two.

No, it's not that carbon, click on the link below and theres a pic there...

Carbon Sponge

so I need to take this out?

If I do a 10% water change daily will that be ok? and is stress coat ok to remove chlorine (lfs said it was ok).

About changing the filter media, I don't really want to trust what lfs said (scared they are telling me too often just to sell more stuff). Up until now, I have just squeezed the filter wool out in a bowl of tank water and put it back in.

My filter is made up like this:

Filter Wool - Top
Nitrate Sponge
Carbon Sponge
Fine Sponge
Coarse Sponge - Bottom

Sorry about having so many questions, it's just I want everything to be fine for my fish.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Oh, yes, you still need to remove that.

 

[Fish_Mike]

I don't have stress coat and therefore don't know if it does remove chlorine. If it says it does, it probably does. However, you also need a tap conditioner that removes chloramine, and not everything that removes chlorine removes chloramine

And it is always best to replace your filter media once a month.

Remeber to NEVER EVER NEVER rinse the media under tap water. Rinse it in a bucket of your aquarium water.

EDIT: You need to see if the LFS will take them now, as wilder said. Baby fish are very delicate and in your tank's current situation, they may not last longer.

 

[Joviella]

If you are treating your tank with any kind of meds......you must remove the carbon.
Just to say,as a fellow Londoner.....nitrates can be higher than most.....but ,both you and the fish will learn how to cope.Good Luck.xx.
Stresscoat removes both chlorine and chloromine.hth.

 

[sarahabutair]

You also didn't mention your ammonia levels which, like the nitrIte, are only safe if at 0.

That wasn't included in the test kit I bought, but I'll buy one and test asap.

I'd also like to add that 70 litres is only about 17-18 gallons and so is too small to add many more fish to.

I thought it is roughly 1 inch of fish to a gallon, will they really add up to that much? (trying to picture my fish in a row, end to end!!! )

and don't save any more in future either.

This is the only one I don't think I can stick to, can't bear to see them eaten!!

 

[sarahabutair]

as a fellow Londoner.....nitrates can be higher than most.....but ,both you and the fish will learn how to cope.Good Luck.xx.

[snapback]892863[/snapback]​

Hi,


Where abouts in London are you, can you recommend a good lfs??

 

[sarahabutair]

Just to say thank you to you all for the help. I'm sure I'm going to be posting here a lot.