Pleco Questions

[mark134]

hello ive been wanting to raise a pleco in my tank for a while now ive bought 5 (not all at the same time)of them and they all have died the longest they live is for a week
i try feeding them algae wafers when i turn the lights off at night but they still die

could it be because my ph was a little bit low ?

this is my water reading

nitrate-20
nitrite-0
hardness-150
chlorine-0
alkalinity-40
PH-6.2

i also have a question about the ph raiser i bought it says at drops to raise ph then check ph again with a test but it doesnt tell you how long to wait to test the water again
i bought this other stuff today that is supose to help my tank its 100% live bacteria its called TFD

 

[-SPB-]

whats the ammonia reading for your tank???

 

[mark134]

the strips didnt come with ammonia reading
the ones with that cost $35 so i didnt get them
yea i wish i knew what it was

 

[JustKia]

You're really much better off getting a decent liquid based test kit, the strips are notorious for being in accurate.
In the early days you really need to know what your ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte readings are.
I'm going to hazard a guess that your tank isn't cycled - please have a read of the links in my siggie regarding cycling - and preferably look to doing a fishless cycle.
If your tank is properly cycled I apologise.

You can have nitrAte without ammonia.
My nitrAtes today are around 15, but I do not have any ammonia or nitrIte as my filter is full of bacs that process them.

 

[mark134]

all my other fish are fine i dont know why the plecos die maybe its because i have too many fish ?

http/img39.imageshack.us/img39/451/1001217x.jpg
http/img4.imageshack.us/img4/9914/1001223w.jpg
http/img197.imageshack.us/img197/9151/1001226b.jpg

 

[mark134]

You're really much better off getting a decent liquid based test kit, the strips are notorious for being in accurate.
In the early days you really need to know what your ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte readings are.
I'm going to hazard a guess that your tank isn't cycled - please have a read of the links in my siggie regarding cycling - and preferably look to doing a fishless cycle.
If your tank is properly cycled I apologise.

You can have nitrAte without ammonia.
My nitrAtes today are around 15, but I do not have any ammonia or nitrIte as my filter is full of bacs that process them.

i dont think my tank is cycled because i did a full water change about 4 weeks ago

 

[NinjaSmurf]

What kind of plecs have you been getting, how long have you had the tank set up, how many fish do you have total and what are they? Sorry for so many questions, but it can help.

 

[aussieant32]

You're really much better off getting a decent liquid based test kit, the strips are notorious for being in accurate.
In the early days you really need to know what your ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte readings are.
I'm going to hazard a guess that your tank isn't cycled - please have a read of the links in my siggie regarding cycling - and preferably look to doing a fishless cycle.
If your tank is properly cycled I apologise.

You can have nitrAte without ammonia.
My nitrAtes today are around 15, but I do not have any ammonia or nitrIte as my filter is full of bacs that process them.

i dont think my tank is cycled because i did a full water change about 4 weeks ago

this wont really have anything to do with it, being 'cycle' essentially means that the bacteria in your filter has grown enough to remove all the nasties, do you wash your filter media? If so make sure you do it in the old tank water as if you use tap water it will kill off the bacteria. Why did you do a full water change by the way?

 

[JustKia]

i dont think my tank is cycled because i did a full water change about 4 weeks ago

You don't cycle water hun, you cycle the filter. The bacs live in your filter - have a look the the cycling links in my siggie (the fishless one is the best way to go) as those links can explain things better than I can.
Your plecos maybe dying because the tank isn't cycled and so the ammonia is poisoning them.
The best thing to do is stop getting any fish for now, lets get your filter cycled - there's plenty of people on here who can help out with this. Might also be worth having a look in the new to the hobby section as there's lots of help there with getting your cycle sorted too.
Once that's done you've then got a good chance of keeping your fish healthy and alive for a long time.