Please Please Give Me Your Opinon On What Is Happening In My Poor Tank

[my-gourami-tried-to-eat-me]

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate it so much if someone could help me. I am tearing my hair out with my new aquarium and have been given a lot of conflicting and bad advice. My major problem is my water quality. I will try and give you as many details as possible, so sorry for a huge post, i just want to make sure I have explained everything.

I bought a tank online (not sure how many gallons but the surface area is 157 inches squared). It came with a 3.5 watt weipro tc200 filter which filters approx 200 litres an hour according to their site. I bought a 50 watt heater (set at 26 degrees c) and added this to the tank. I created a gravel floor. The aquarium does not have a light so to speak, but the top of it is a table lamp (the aquarium model is aqualampe). I changed the bulb to a halogen so the tank is well lit, but unfortunately I do not think this can encourage plant growth. I was told by a lfs that i should set up the tank, add plants (i added 3 cuttings as I was told it was too small to be a planted tank) and leave it cycle for 3 days (adding aqua-safe to the water). Then I was told to add a couple of small fish.


I followed all of these instructions and everything was fine for a week (added 3 very small guppies), so i added a dwarf gourmai. I was told nothing about testing the water and didn't even know this to be an issue. I now realise that this was probably bad advice as 4 fish was probably too much for a new tank to handle.

A few days after the gourami was added I did a 25% water change - but i wasn't aware that you should not wash the filter under the tap (I am well aware now!!!). A week later I went back to the lfs and got a couple more fish (one guppy and 5 neons).

Then I started having a lot of problems and I lost 4 fish (2 guppies and 2 neons) at the rate of 1 per day. I was concerned so i called the lfs and they told me to bring the water in for testing.
They tested it and told me i had 0.5 ammonia, 5.0 nitrite and 160 nitrate!!!!!
They told me this was probably due to me washing the filter and overfeeding the fish (turns out, I had been following the instructions on the food container...Big mistake!) So to try and kick up all of the debris from the gravel (oh my goodness there was loads!!!!) and do a 50% water change immediately. They also told me not to feed the fish for a couple of days and they gave me some stress zyme to add good bacteria to the water. They told me to then do a 30% water change everyday.

I used the gravel siphon to get all of the debris from the bottom (I put the filter from fish tank over the end of the hose and filtered the old (cleaner) water straight back into the fish tank) so now my gravel is pretty darn clean! I thought this might help as the debris couldn't further decompose to create even more ammonia and I wasn't technically doing a water change. I also then kept up with the 30% water changes (adding aquasafe and stress zyme each time).

Two days later i went back to get the water tested again:

ammonia 0
nitrite 1.0
nitrate 20
I was so pleased with this, and the lfs told me to keep doing what i was doing

Two days later I had it tested again

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 5.0
nitrate 80

What is going on!!!! I had even replaced the plants at that time as i wanted to make sure the water stayed fresh. I have been feeding the fish 2 flakes every other day. The fish have gotten much more active and brighter in coulor (even though the lfs can't understand why those delicate fish aren't dead yet!) Nobody can explain to me why it got better and then worse in 2 days - I always do a water change AFTER i have taken a sample, so that can't affect it. I just feel that surely I would expect the ammonia levels spike, THEN the nitrite, THEN nitrate...I just don't understand the nitrite going back up instead of the nitrate???!!!

Two LFS have given me advice.
The first one said to not change the water for a few days and not to feed the fish to see if any more bacteria can grow and it might settle down.
The second said I will never get rid of the nitrite no matter how much i have cleaned the gravel and that i don't have any bacteria in there (I'm sure i do, otherwise surely i wouldn't have nitrites and nitrates right?) so i should just empty the tank, srcub the gravel and fill it back up 100% with treated tap water - then add some cycle. I feel like this second option would take me back to square one.....

For one week, I have changed the water everyday, fed the fish very little, added new plants, taken out the debris, added bacteria, oxygenated the water....I have been told I am doing everything right. I just don't understand this unexplainable up and down of levels. Can anyone tell me why this might happen? I am worried more fish are going to die but they look happy and healthy. I feel really guilty about washing that filter!

Please please help. Sorry for the huuuuge post. I just want to be accurate.I now have about 5 inches of fish in there (dwarf gourami, 2 guppies, 3 neons)

Thank you so much x

 

[Sesshis_grl]

I am not an expert or anything! so you might want to get a second opinion

but I would remove the plants. I know when I first started my tank I tried putting foxtails in there and within the week they started decaying adding more ammonia to an already new cycling tank. I would say take them out, continue what your doing, and see if the stats go back to normal in a couple days. Thats my best guess but again someone with more experience with plants would probably be better to confirm this theory

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid fish-in cycles, like yours, can be very unpredictable with levels going up and down at what seems like random moments!

You main concern is to continue with the water changes any time the ammonia or nitrite levels go up. You really need to be able to do enough changes that the level of both stays at 0.25ppm or under between changes (hope that makes sense; do tell me if it's not clear!). Don't worry or bother about anything else right now.

It would help no end if you got your own test kits, as you really need to be testing at least daily, and preferably twice a day.

Take the palnts out if they're going brown and slimy and are obvioualy dead, but if they look fairly green then you might as well leave them in.

Once you've had a week of double zeros for nitrite and ammonia, without water changes, your tank will be cycled

 

[primagen]

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate it so much if someone could help me. I am tearing my hair out with my new aquarium and have been given a lot of conflicting and bad advice. My major problem is my water quality. I will try and give you as many details as possible, so sorry for a huge post, i just want to make sure I have explained everything.

I bought a tank online (not sure how many gallons but the surface area is 157 inches squared). It came with a 3.5 watt weipro tc200 filter which filters approx 200 litres an hour according to their site. I bought a 50 watt heater (set at 26 degrees c) and added this to the tank. I created a gravel floor. The aquarium does not have a light so to speak, but the top of it is a table lamp (the aquarium model is aqualampe). I changed the bulb to a halogen so the tank is well lit, but unfortunately I do not think this can encourage plant growth. I was told by a lfs that i should set up the tank, add plants (i added 3 cuttings as I was told it was too small to be a planted tank) and leave it cycle for 3 days (adding aqua-safe to the water). Then I was told to add a couple of small fish.

your tank is not too small to be a planted tank. just get a hood with screw-in cfl's. no aquarium can cycle in 3 days unless it has squeezings from mature filter media. you need to do a fishless cycle before introducing fish to the tank. a fishless cycle can take from a week if seeded with mature media, to a month. after you get 0 ammonia/nitrite and lots of nitrate, you need to do a massive water change. after that, you can safely add fish.


I followed all of these instructions and everything was fine for a week (added 3 very small guppies), so i added a dwarf gourmai. I was told nothing about testing the water and didn't even know this to be an issue. I now realise that this was probably bad advice as 4 fish was probably too much for a new tank to handle.

listening to the lfs is generally a bad idea.

A few days after the gourami was added I did a 25% water change - but i wasn't aware that you should not wash the filter under the tap (I am well aware now!!!). A week later I went back to the lfs and got a couple more fish (one guppy and 5 neons).

Then I started having a lot of problems and I lost 4 fish (2 guppies and 2 neons) at the rate of 1 per day. I was concerned so i called the lfs and they told me to bring the water in for testing.
They tested it and told me i had 0.5 ammonia, 5.0 nitrite and 160 nitrate!!!!!
They told me this was probably due to me washing the filter and overfeeding the fish (turns out, I had been following the instructions on the food container...Big mistake!) So to try and kick up all of the debris from the gravel (oh my goodness there was loads!!!!) and do a 50% water change immediately. They also told me not to feed the fish for a couple of days and they gave me some stress zyme to add good bacteria to the water. They told me to then do a 30% water change everyday.

your tank is cycling, the huge amount of nitrates is probably due to high nitrates from your tap. your lfs is right here about doing wc's everyday. you want to keep ammonia/nitrite in check (under 0.25ppm each). stress zyme won't help and will probably hurt by adding excess slime coat to the fish.

I used the gravel siphon to get all of the debris from the bottom (I put the filter from fish tank over the end of the hose and filtered the old (cleaner) water straight back into the fish tank) so now my gravel is pretty darn clean! I thought this might help as the debris couldn't further decompose to create even more ammonia and I wasn't technically doing a water change. I also then kept up with the 30% water changes (adding aquasafe and stress zyme each time).

the debris from your gravel winds up in your filter, which still decays and produces ammonia.

Two days later i went back to get the water tested again:

ammonia 0
nitrite 1.0
nitrate 20
I was so pleased with this, and the lfs told me to keep doing what i was doing

Two days later I had it tested again

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 5.0
nitrate 80

What is going on!!!! I had even replaced the plants at that time as i wanted to make sure the water stayed fresh. I have been feeding the fish 2 flakes every other day. The fish have gotten much more active and brighter in coulor (even though the lfs can't understand why those delicate fish aren't dead yet!) Nobody can explain to me why it got better and then worse in 2 days - I always do a water change AFTER i have taken a sample, so that can't affect it. I just feel that surely I would expect the ammonia levels spike, THEN the nitrite, THEN nitrate...I just don't understand the nitrite going back up instead of the nitrate???!!!

your tank is not yet cycled yet. you're probably getting the nitrite spike now. you'll also see some nitrates. ammonia is probably from excess waste in the tank. keep doing wc's to control ammonia/nitrite. after a while, nitrite will drop as nitrate goes up. you can use aquarium salt to help reduce nitrite toxicity.

Two LFS have given me advice.
The first one said to not change the water for a few days and not to feed the fish to see if any more bacteria can grow and it might settle down.
The second said I will never get rid of the nitrite no matter how much i have cleaned the gravel and that i don't have any bacteria in there (I'm sure i do, otherwise surely i wouldn't have nitrites and nitrates right?) so i should just empty the tank, srcub the gravel and fill it back up 100% with treated tap water - then add some cycle. I feel like this second option would take me back to square one.....

both lfs are wrong. just reduce feeding to once every few days and keep up with the daily wc's.

For one week, I have changed the water everyday, fed the fish very little, added new plants, taken out the debris, added bacteria, oxygenated the water....I have been told I am doing everything right. I just don't understand this unexplainable up and down of levels. Can anyone tell me why this might happen? I am worried more fish are going to die but they look happy and healthy. I feel really guilty about washing that filter!

if you can get some mature media squeezings in there, it would quicken the cycling process.

Please please help. Sorry for the huuuuge post. I just want to be accurate.I now have about 5 inches of fish in there (dwarf gourami, 2 guppies, 3 neons)

Thank you so much x

 

[soybean]

As in so many situations, the best advice is 'keep calm and carry on'!

Don't strip it all down, you will be back to square one. Cycle is a useless product in my experience, and of others.

Buy your own test kit (it will last you ages and is an essential, really) and perform daily water changes to keep on top of the ammonia and nitrite build up. Gravel vac and feed lightly. Don't mess about with your filter sponges, just rinse lightly in tank water if they get too gunky. Remove plants if they're rotting (are they definitely aquatic plants?)

The tank will cycle - just have to be patient and keep on top of things. Fluctuations are to be expected. You will get double 0s eventually.

Good luck!

 

[my-gourami-tried-to-eat-me]

Thanks everyone. It is very reassuring to know that fish in cycles can be unpredicatable. And I have now ordered a test kit so I should get that in a few days.

I am glad that everyone agrees that stripping it down would be a bad idea. I was really nervous about doing that but I kind of felt like I should do what I was told cos I am inexperienced. I am happy that I have had feedback from you guys saying not to do it. The plants are very lush and green at the moment (I replace them when they start to go a little bit soft) and they are the same ones as I can see in the middle of your tank soybean - so I guess they are aquatic right?

I guess I will just leave the filter as it is, change a small part of the water everyday and hopefully soon be able to test the progress everyday. The only thing I worry about though is, can too much aqua safe etc harm my fish. I feel like I am putting chemicals in there so often. I worry that occasionally I overdo it.

Getting the media is a great idea. I will go down tommorrow and ask, just hope they don't say no!

No one has suggested aquarium salt to me yet? How much of that do I use and how often? I'm kinda scared about following the instructions on bottles etc now after the food fiasco.

Thanks again everyone for your input - its really helpful to hear things from people who actually have fish instead of store employees!

 

[primagen]

you can use aquarium salt at 1 tbsp per 5 gallons. i think that's the dose, though you shouldn't add it to the tank if it has live plants, tetras, and scaleless fish like corys. i'd only use it in an emergency when you're nitrites are super high. also, if you do use it, only add the amount of salt for the water you put back in during a water change, as salt does not evaporate.

 

[my-gourami-tried-to-eat-me]

Hmmm, I have neon tetras in there so that might be a problem then. But thank you for this information - if I did add it, I wouldn't know that it doesn't evapourate so would have just kept adding a tbsp each time!

 

[soybean]

You really don't need to be using salt at this stage for anything.

As for adding chemicals etc to the tank, all you need to be using is dechlorinator. Add it to the water before you put it in the tank, only dose for the amount you are adding rather than the capacity of the whole tank (follow the instructions on the bottle and you can't go wrong really.) You might be tempted to add a little extra with this stuff but don't overdo it, it's very concentrated and a little goes further than you might think. Untreated tap water can be harmful to any bacteria building up in your filter, so do try to treat it before you add it to the tank if you can.

The green plant in the middle of my tank is an amazon sword, so if you have these they are indeed aquatic plants.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'd also be sure to use Seachem Prime or API Stress Coat when you dechlorinate your water. Either will help with any ammonia that happens to be in your tap water.

And do large water changes, like 50% every day. Even larger when you have an ammonia spike. If you think about it, if your ammonia level is at 1.0 and you do a 50% water change, that only brings the level down to 0.5 which is still quite toxic to your fish.

Could you please measure your tank on the outside and give me dimensions? I have no idea what size your tank is!

 

[my-gourami-tried-to-eat-me]

yeah, I think that is what the guy in the shop said they were called!
I do feel so much better now after talking to everyone here. I just need to have a bit of patience but its hard when you feel like everything you are doing is wrong!
Again, I can't thank you enought for taking the time to discuss this and help me

 

[my-gourami-tried-to-eat-me]

my tank is pretty small. It is 20 inches high, 25 inches long and 10 inches wide. but its kind of an elipse shape. The surface area I have calculated to be 157 inches squared and I have approx 5 inches of fish in there.
I live in an apartment and I don't have much space so I thought I would get a small one to start out. Now I realise that I have made it hard for myself as there is more room for error!
I just bought it to look like a nice feature but I now find myself obsessed with it. I love those little guys in there and they all have personalities! I don't care what anyone says!

 

[This Old Spouse]

That's exactly why we're here! Just keep us posted on what you're doing and how things are progressing. And seriously, what are the dimensions of your tank? Width and depth and height.

 

[my-gourami-tried-to-eat-me]

sorry sorry. edit. only 10 inches high

 

[soybean]

Don't worry, at least you're asking before it all goes very wrong!

I think the best advice when you're starting out is keep it simple.

Spend the next couple of weeks (if it even takes that long) doing 50% water changes daily and testing the water before each change. Write it down, keep a log of ammonia and nitrite readings so you can see the values change.

In the meantime if you can get hold of some mature sponge for your filter, even if it's just to squeeze over, that would be a huge help.

Also, it's probably worth pointing out that the fish 'inch per gallon' rule is generally useless. It's a very vague guide. Fish vary massively in the amount of space they take up and waste they produce. Your tank is around 10 US Gallons so don't go mad! It would be best to up your neon numbers as soon as your tank is cycled, at least 6 or 7.