Tank in trouble

[ammer]

Okay, I'm not sure if this is necessarily an emergency, so I apologize if it isnt as urgent as some of the other posts. BUT I do need help fast because I dont know whats going on with my tank.

So I've had my tank for a while [10/7 is when we set it up], we got it from someone else, and little did I NOT know anything about fish/tank cycling, and my grandma wasnt much help either. She assumes to know everything about everything.. stupid old people. Anywho. The point is, my tank is in a mess of trouble. All of my fish are slowly dying [I had 10, there are now 5] and its getting really icky. Theres brown growing on the inside of the tank and green all across the rocks on the bottom. oh, I think you need all the info.

I just did a test and its not horrible but not good.
Nitrate- somewhere between 40-80, but leaning torward 80 [this kit is weird]
Nitrite- 0
Hardness- 75
Alkalinity- 120
pH- 7.8

My tank is like 25-30 gallons, I'm not sure. The guy said 35 but I filled it up by 5 gallons and it was lower. I used to do 25% water changes every other day, trying to get the Nitrate down, but its not working. I also used a cyphon when doing the changes. I stopped recently because I havent been around much.

I use Aquasafe Water Conditioner, and I also own some Ammo Lock and of course Aquarium salt.

The fish I have in there now are a Betta, a bumblebee, a bloodfin tetra, a gold tetra, and a pristilla tetra. I used to have a pleco and some others but they've passed on

I dont know what else you need to know, but I feel really stupid and I just want my tank to go back to normal, yet I dont know what to do. Any help is REALLY appreciated )

 

[nightlife20]

the brown stuff algea ( get an algea scraper)

the green stuff also algea do u have ur tank near a window???
25% a day??? my god! u dont need to do that much a day!!!

did u do a fish cycle or a fishless cycle?

5%-10% a day if u didnt cycle...

after its cycled (nitrites/ammonia at 0) u do 15-20% water changes every week makin sure u syphon ur gravel!

have u tested ur tap water also? i know someone has posted before and stated there tap water had nitrates of 40....

hope for the best mate thats all i can tell u... and i might be wrong...

oh yeah and dont blame old ppl!!!! u should learn more dont just go on someones say so check with a few ppl first.

 

[nightlife20]

did u mean u had to male bettas in ur tank?

 

[ammer]

A. I'm not blaming old people. I'm blaming my grandmother, and generalizing her age into the age of She's Older, she knows more, and being a teenager I hear it a lot. Prove me wrong. and I am asking other people -points to previous posts-

B. It was 25% every other day.

C. I had ONE male betta in there, not two*. I'm not a moron.

and D. Thank you very much for the advice, and yes, I have my tank near a window but it doesnt get direct light. Should I movie it anyway?

oh and I havent cycled, because I didnt know about it in the beginning, but I started. My nitrite is at 0 though. My nitrate is what's bothering me / and no, I havent tested my tap water. Should I?

 

[G_Sharky]

If youre wondering that some of your fish are nowhere to be found check your filter cause if you have little tetras they could be sucked in. It happened to me i had 8 neon and each day a single one always goes missing, when i check to see if my filter is still okay, all the missing neons are in there dead, now i have 3 left, good luck with your tank though hopefully you won't lose anymore fish..

 

[ammer]

like, its on this desk to the very right of my window, and my window's upstairs and facing the south. so it gets occasional direct light if the light is coming in the right direction, but it really doesnt get much light.

and its funny, I tested my water, aaaand
nitrate- a bit below 20
nitrite- 0
Hardness- 0
alkalinity- 300
pH-8.4

blah, the nitrite/nitrate is all fine and dandy and everything else sucks. and right now in the tank everything is ok except the nitrate.

lol, how do you fix that? just keep on cycling?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I'd say your nitrAte is fine, as long as it's under 40. I don't test it myself but that's what I am always reading.

I would be concerned with the ph if I were you. 8.4 seems awfully high unless it's special fish? 7-7.5 is considered good for a community tank.

 

[sinistral]

Out of curiosity, what's your ammonia level? Do you use the Ammolock prior to water changes? How much are you feeding the fish? And...you mentioned you have aquarium salt. Are you using it?

My hypothesis is that if you've been conditioning your tap water with Ammolock prior to each every-other-day water change and have never cycled the tank, then you may be subjecting the fish to tremendous osmotic stress. If no nitrosomonas or nitrobacter colonies have grown up, and if you're feeding your fish, 10 fish in a 29 gallon tank may be producing quite a bit of ammonia. Without the beneficial bacterial colonies to remove the ammonia as it is produced, it builds up rapidly...then if a water change is done, and the ammonia is removed from the tank...and then the fish are fed again and ammonia builds up in a day...and then all the ammonia is removed... This would also explain why your nitrites are at 0 (because there are no nitrosomonas colonies to convert the ammonia to nitrite). Well, that's my hypothetical model, anyways. It's difficult to say without knowing what your ammonia level is.

I would also definitely test the tap water so you get a sense of what you are putting into the tank. The variation in hardness, alkalinity, and pH may be from water changes. The nitrate level could all be due to the nitrates you are adding back to the tank from your tap water supply, and that you may have no nitrobacter colonies converting the nitrites to nitrates.

Another possibility is that your tank cycled without you knowing it if you've had it for four months. If you started doing frequent water changes to get rid of the brown algae, you still may be dramatically changing the osmotic environment in the tank unintentionally.

Anyways, I would recommend checking the properties of your tap water and checking the ammonia. My hypothesis doesn't count for much until I get a sense of those properties. Good luck!!!