New To The Group

[LRPRESTO]

I was thinking the same thing about the temp. unless you are fighting some sort of infection like ick or something you should not have the temp so high. (With ick you can raise the temp to make the parasite cycle go faster, but you shouldn't keep it as a high temp for that long.) I keep my tanks between 78 and 80 degrees

 

[littlebabyfilly]

im a moron, i have been thinking i needed to get it up to 87, i read it backwards i think...i need it to be 78 right? ok well anyways...how do i know if my heater is doing its job or not?cuz like i said i have is set at 87 and its only 84...its sposed to be accurate to 1 degree...but yes the cloudy water is just a white cloudy water...and i noticed today that my frill plants are starting to turn brown and die...i have been doing daily 25% water changes...

 

[Damage]

im a moron, i have been thinking i needed to get it up to 87, i read it backwards i think...i need it to be 78 right? ok well anyways...how do i know if my heater is doing its job or not?cuz like i said i have is set at 87 and its only 84...its sposed to be accurate to 1 degree...but yes the cloudy water is just a white cloudy water...and i noticed today that my frill plants are starting to turn brown and die...i have been doing daily 25% water changes...

Set the heater to 78 or 80 tops. The heater in my guppy aquarium is at 78. The temperature of the water is what may also be causing them to die off. How many watts is the heater? It may simply just not have enough power to heat up 20 gallons of water, and even though some heaters have the option to go up to 87 or whatever, doesn't mean they can. Much like a car has a speedometer that reaches 130 but is limited to 100. Slowly lower the temperature down to 78, and to see if the heater is working properly, just keep checking back on the water temperature and make sure it stays and whatever you set it to.

Your frill plants need fluorescent light and proper fertilizer to thrive. They also need carbon dioxide but thats a last step and not necessary for your tank IMO. You can buy liquid fertilizer at any pet store and just follow the dosing on the bottle. What kind of lighting do you have?

The cloudy water is most likely a bacteria bloom, as mentioned before. I don't think theres much you can do other than constant dechlorinated water changes until the bacteria can build up enough to handle the load.

 

[littlebabyfilly]

ok...my tank is fluxuating between 78 and 89...my water tests are all testing normal...i have moved the babies to their own tank...but im still loosing fish...they sit on the rocks for a few days and then dart around and die...someone is nipping fins too..and i think it is the big female...my hlaf black purple has a huge chunk taken out of his....and i have seen her chase almost every other fish...why are they dying? what am i doing wrong? i was talking to the lady at petsmart and she looked at me like i was crazy. flat out told me that because i was doing the daily water changes of 25% i was putting them in shock...i make sure my temp is the same before i add water...and i tried telling her that i was trying to stableize my tanks...but nothin i told her made her happy i was doing everything wrong and shouldnt have fish...she actually told me i shouldnt have them!...

 

[starrynightxxi]

about 98% of advice from people at pet stores can be ignored.

Why is your temperature fluctuating so badly? I would just unplug your heater, it's obviously having issues. You need a new one. the fish will do better at room temperature than at unstable extremes.

You set the tank up AFTER you had the fish, right? In that case it's definately going through a cycle. I suggest going to the beginners forum and reading the pinned topics about cycling. Also, guppies are very very inbred and are not always strong enough to withstand a cycle so you may continue to lose fish. Flicking is a sign of poor water quality. Even though you are overfiltering the tank, the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate have not yet built up in numbers suitable to match the number of fish you have constantly creating waste (which is where the ammonia comes from). It's probably not a bacterial bloom, newly set up tanks tend to go cloudy for a short while, this will clear.

if your plants are dying, remove them. they'll only create more waste and give you more trouble with your water.

good luck, and keep testing and doing your water changes

 

[littlebabyfilly]

ooops i meant 78 and 80... i hit the 9 instead of the 0... lost another two this morning...of the original 30ish guppies i had i have six left...and like i said my stats are right...should i be testing for something im not testing for? i dont know...

 

[Damage]

Could you post your most recent water stats? (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, etc)