new tank, and problems

[feathersandfins]

my new 40 gallon tank has been set up for 10 days now. I have the temp. at 82 degrees, floresent lighting that i keep on 4 hours a day, and lots of live plants and driftwood. the problem is i have added one pair of dwarf cichlids(blue rams) a trio of guppies and 11 cardinal tetras. my eventual goal is to add four small blue diamond discus, but not for about two months from now. the guppies lasted about four days before dying, the cardinal tetras lasted less than 24 hours. the rams are doing great! the ph is 6.5. also, the large amazon sword plant i put in the tank is slowly turning brown and losing it's leaves, however, i see numerous new shoots starting at the base of the driftwood the plant is anchored to. what am i doing wrong??

 

[Elisabeth]

Welcome to the forum!!

Sounds like the tank hasn't cycled properly and your suffering from New Tank Syndrome
If your not too sure about cycling a tank here are a couple of links that may help you out.

Cycling a tank

Cycling 2

I can take upto 6 weeks for a tank to cycle properly. Buy a test kit from your local fish shop that tests for ammonia, nitrate and nitrate - the strip ones are the easiest to use. Until the tanks cycles (ammonia & nitrite =0, nitrate<20) don't add any more fish.
Cardinals aren't the best fish to start a tank up with as they can be quite delicate.

Don't get disheartened. Its easy to make mistakes in this hobby. We've all done it. Waiting for a tank to cycle can be absolurte torture, but all the waiting and the hard work is well worth it in the end

 

[bodyshop20]

You have mail

 

[ostrow]

Cycling is the problem, and the fish are dying because you have, unfortunately, chosen some fish that are not particularly well-adapted to unstable water conditions that cycling produces.

In particular, tetras and blue rams should be among the last fish you add. I'm not sure on guppies, but livebearers like platies and mollies are good starter fish so maybe guppies are too. Many use danios for the early months.

You are likely to have problems with the Blue Rams -- see other posts about the problems with these fish generally. I've been temped many times to get them and keep shying away.

Don't add more fish until things stabilize a while, but if you lose more go for a heartier variety ... even if you will exchange them later or replace them when they expire (platies go about a year to year and a half).

 

[fishme2death]

I want to address the lighting that you have mentioned in your post.

floresent lighting that i keep on 4 hours a day,
large amazon sword plant i put in the tank is slowly turning brown and losing it's leaves,

My lighting is keep on during the day about 10-12 hours. It is a fully planted tank. You might want to leave your lights on for longer periods of time for the plants. Also make sure they have some type of fertilizer or micro and macro nutrients. If you can supplement with Co2 injection.

 

[Kryten]

Artificial lighting is meant to simulate day and night so 12 hours per day will be required to ensure this

Some tanks will take up to six weeks, but this is usually the bigger tanks. PH is down slightly, I have my water at 7.0

What are your other readings such as nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. If we know these we can also determine if the tank is cycled

I must say that that is an awful lot of fish for a ten day old tank, even if it is cycled. So many people, myself included at one time are tempted to put more fish in the tank than it can handle. At every stage you must make sure that the new fish added do not put too much strain on the bio in the tank, as they will add a lot of ammonia to the water, which an uncycled tank or new tank cannot come with, and as we all know, fish and too much ammonia don't mix

 

[cichlidmaster]

Please list the dimensions of your 40 gallon tank!!

This will determine if you can safely add 4 discus....small or otherwise!!

CM

 

[LesGerber]

I have to agree with everybody here on this. You do have a whole lot of fish for a new tank. It has been my experience that even the most seasoned tank keeper is going to have problems cycling a tank of any size with a comparable fish load. I would wager to say that with it being only 10 days old that you have got a real good ammonia spike and your Nitrites are yet to kick in. I started my 55 with a heavy load and thats what mine did. I have to agree with Kryten, Ostrow and Elisabeth you have your work cut out for you. As Elisabeth said you need to get a test kit. Every tank owner needs one reguardless of how well you know fish. Get some readings for everybody so we all know what direction to help you take. Thats the best way for all of us to know where your tank is and to best help you out.


Les

 

[Kryten]

If you can't bear to return any of the fish, do what I did and ask them to live in a friends tank for a while (or ask if your local store could set up a tank). I had 6 danios and 3 platies living in my mates tank for 4 weeks while my tank recovered from the strain that I put on it.

With a 40 gallon tank, you will need at least a month for cycling to be complete, if not longer. I know it is difficult and you will become impatient wanting to add fish (we've all done it), but I'm sure that everyone here who has done the same thing will agree that the finished result will be well worth the wait.

 

[catman]

Regards keeping discus, they are shoaling fish and are best kept in groups of at least 6, unless you have a proven pair, which are best kept on there own...

If this is ur first venture into discus, then i strongly advise to do a bit of reading as they are trickier than other tropicals to keep.. Other than that, welcome to the forum and good luck!!

 

[bigfish]

The Ph in your tank is 6.5 and i was told that live bearers particularly like Ph's of 7.0 and above but i could be wrong. Sounds like added too many fish at the same time. I would wait until it is cycled then add 4 or 5 fish at 2 to 3 week intervals so that the filter has time to mature with the extra biological load.

HTH

BF