Start All Over Again

[pettrelli]

Hi,
beginning of december i bought the Trigon 190L. As soon as it was delivered i washed (with only water) and set it up straight away... I was so excited.
A week later i bought 3 guppies to speed the process up.
3 weeks later i introduced 2 armoured shrimps and 1 sailfin pleco (my babies).
1 week later we bought 5 african dwarf frogs.
My tank was doing really well. I did regular water checks, and partial water changes once every two weeks. I even gave samples of water to the shop i bought my tank and fish from. They said the water is perfect only checking ph, nitrate, nitrite and gh.
Amonth and a half pasted, i bought 4 kissing gourami`s. The next day 1 frog died then everything went down hill from there.
Only my pleco and guppies survived

I immediatley called my aqaurium man, infact i was pestering the life out of him. He suggested i start all over again. He looked after my pleco while i scrubbed everything! I boiled my gravel and ornaments. Cleaned my tank and left it over night to dry (get rid of all the bacteria). It was a proper back breaker.
Now it`s all set up! My aquarium man very kindly gave me some plants for my tank, 6 new male guppies and my pleco
We do not understand why my fish and especially my armoured shrimp died? We are very baffled. Even the guy from the shop said its weird coz all his fish have had no problems. His provider quarentines the fish.

So now i have my fingers crossed... I hope im not one of those people who are always unlucky with fish.

Im probably asking in the wrong forum, but is it too early to feed my sailfin pleco vegetables? Been setup 2 weeks ago?

 

[Colin_T]

I would say it is too early to have a pleco in the tank fullstop. Keep the feeding way down and monitor the ammonia levels closely. Chances are they will start to go up and when they do it could cause the catfish some trouble. You might even want to do 50% water changes each day (using dechlorinated water with the same PH and temp as the tank) during the next few weeks just to keep the ammonia as low as possible.

Considering you scrubbed the tank out there probably isn't going to be much in the way of algae left for the pleco so unless you are feeding it algae wafers you could offer it a bit of pumpkin or zuchini. Remove the vege/ fruit an hour or so after you put it in. The less rotting material in the tank the better it will be for all.

The shrimp probably died when the first fish/ frog died. The dead creature produced ammonia which was toxic to the shrimp. Ammonia is toxic to the fish as well but inverts are more sensitive than fish.

 

[-SPB-]

Was your tank cycled when you introduced the new fish, also is your tank cycled now since you set it up again. Cycling is the process the tank goes through to colonise the bacteria in the filter which help to rid the tank of ammonia and nitrite. Reading your thread, this is the first thing that springs to mind. Also if your tank hadn't cycled first time round (when you added the extra fish), this may have caused a big build up of ammonia and/or nitrite which would have poisoned the fish.

If it's only been 2 weeks since setting your tank up again and you've got fish in there, you may have the same problem again as your tank won't be cycled.

Below are a couple of links about cycling your tank:

Info about cycling your tank:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

Info about fishless cycling:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

 

[pettrelli]

Thank you for quick replys.

The guy from the aquarium said it will be ok for my pleco. The guppies are there to mature the tank quicker... I was told!
Now im stuck and in a cuffufle i dont know what to do! I do not want that happening again.
The tank has been running for 2 weeks it`ll be 3 weeks on this saturday coming 23/2.


P.S. I have only put pleco in recently. I will not add anymore fish untill at least 6 weeks.

 

[-SPB-]

As you've got fish in the tank you'll be doing a cycle with fish. You'll basically need to keep doing water changes frequently. It may be wise to get yourself a master test kit, so you can keep an eye on the parimeters yourself. You can buy these from any decent fish shop.

Heres a link with good info about a cycle with fish in:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...ish-in-Cycling/

 

[pettrelli]

As you've got fish in the tank you'll be doing a cycle with fish. You'll basically need to keep doing water changes frequently. It may be wise to get yourself a master test kit, so you can keep an eye on the parimeters yourself. You can buy these from any decent fish shop.

Heres a link with good info about a cycle with fish in:

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...ish-in-Cycling/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...ish-in-Cycling/[/URL]

That is really helpful, thank you.

 

[backtotropical]

I agree with Sambangert. THe most probable cause of your fish deaths is ammonia / nitrite poisoning.

Read up on the 'Nitrogen Cycle' so you understand what your filter does and this will help you next time round.

For now, test your water daily, keep ammonia and nitrite levels below 0.25 at all times by doing as many water changes as it takes, feed sparingly and don't add any more fish until your filter is cycled. 'Cycled' is when the ammonia and nitrite levels stay at 0 by themself, without you having to do water changes to compensate them. It will probably take 4 weeks or so.

You should invest in a test kit to help you with monitoring the water parameters.

Good luck.

BTT