New Tank Problems

[totallysmashed]

Hi,
I recently bought a 3 foot (approx 170 litre) tank. I thoroughly cleaned it, then filled it with dechlorinated water. it has 5 or 6 plants in it and came with 2 "algae eating fish". 3 days in i had the water tested and ammonia levels weren't too bad so i added 4 small platys.

i havent fed them large amounts as im trying to keep the ammonia levels down, bt 3 days later one of the platys died, is this because the ammonia is getting too high? What measures can i take to keep the ammonia down while the tank stabalises so that my other fish wont die!?

 

[sangah10]

define "ammonia levels weren't too bad"

is it cycled?

 

[gazeddy]

from his post id say no

 

[nicko@rotherham]

im just coming to the end of my cycle pal and 30ltr water changes daily with aquasafe water treatment worked for me this will keep the nitrites from gettin too high and reduse ammonia levels am no expert but it worked for me

 

[dstev]

Read this.

That goes through exactly what you and your tank should be doing if you are cycling it properly.

Don't be too eager to add fish, though Platy's are a good fish to start with as they are quite hardy.

Buy a test kit and monitor your ammonia and nitrite levels, if any are above 0 within a few days of a water change then you have a problem and your tank isw not cycled.

 

[Harlequins]

I agree with dstev,the only way of checking what your cycle is doing is by reading the link given and buying a liquid test kit to check your ammonia & nitrite levels.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with the above. You are in a Fish-In Cycling Situation and by studying the article linked and asking any questions you have here in your thread the members should be able to help you get through it, hopefully without any more deaths. Any time fish are put put in a tank without a working biofilter, they will begin to get permanent gill and nerve damage (gill from the ammonia, nerve from the nitrite(NO2).) The trick with fish-in situations is to keep those harmful substances below 0.25ppm concentrations.

Large, frequent water changes, using good technique (dechlor & temp matching) and a good liquid-reagent based test kit are needed. You have to become a bit of a detective to figure out the percentage and frequency of water changes that works for your particular tank and bioload of fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[totallysmashed]

Thanks for the help.. I will update on my progress!