Really dirty tank

[Corp000085]

I have a 10 gallon setup with 3 jewel cichlids and 2 unidentified tetras from wal mart. After upgrading my filter from the penguin mini to the aquaclear 300, thinking that overkill with the filter would get my tank reasonably clear, cutting back on feeding, and 2x weekly water changes would do the trick, i have failed. My tank still looks awful, so this morning i got rid of my cichlids and one of the tetras. Now i'm left with one unidenfified fish and one algae eater. They're both appx. 3" long. This week i'm going to do a daily 15% h20 change, and next week i'll be out of town with one of those plaster vacation tabs in my tank. Hopefully between the extreme amounts of water change, and the reduction of food, my bacteria can clear off the tank. Ok, now that my sob story is over, i need help idenfifying a fish.

He was bought from the tetra tank at wal mart about 2 months ago (yes he's healthy, knock on wood). He's got a jet black belly, and starting midway up his body, he has lengthwise bright yellow stripes. He's really cool looking. Now, i'm wondering if he is indeed a type of tetra or yet another cichlid variety. I'm wondering if i should get rid of him too, stick with the algae eater till the tank is crystal clear, and then put some really small fish in there. Thanks for your comments and/or advice.

By the way, the reference "get rid of" means "donated them to the elementary school's 300 gallon tank across the street from my house".

 

[thecichlidaddict]

After upgrading my filter from the penguin mini to the aquaclear 300

I can see how the strong flow of this filter would never let anything settle in the tank, and therefore it may never be clear. I use Aquaclear mini's in any tank of 15 gallons or less and achieve very clear results. A 200 would be the max size I would go with, but have never had the need to go that large.

 

[Corp000085]

I have the flow set in the middle. Things are much better now with the AC than with the penguin, even with the greater disturbance.

 

[nightlife20]

may sound daft for asking this... but when u do a water change do u syphon off the gravel? i mean realy give it a good goin over (the top layer and a bit down)

i found i always had mucky water untill someone told me to dig deep in diff parts of the tank, then on ur next water change, change where u dig deep... this way u get anything that might have been buried...

just thought id say


hope it works out ok for u soon

Dawn xx

 

[Corp000085]

I dig all the way down to the bottom when i siphon from the gravel. I learned that lesson after about 2 weeks of having my tank. Also, i only do about 1/2 of the gravel per change, so i don't kill off all the bacteria that might be on the stone. Its starting to clear up now, as i type this, so i think that my reasoning was correct. After "fixing" the tank with a high priced filter and numerous chemicals, all i really had to do was unload most of the fish from the tank. Hey, at least elementary kids get to see my fish every day.

 

[Corp000085]

Just a followup on my fish exidus. The water is crystal clear, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite readings are 0, and my pleco is all over the place now! He's even sucking on the intake tube for my filter with the light on. He never came out with the cichlids in the tank, even with the light off (i checked with a flashlight). I'm very pleased with this progress. In about a week, i plan on getting some neon tetras, or black tetras. I'm very pleased. haha, i said that 2 times