PaulnVicky
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- Nov 12, 2010
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Hi all,
This is a very long post, because I've not posted here before and have lots and lots of questions. Really appreciate any help.
We got ourselves a fishtank when we moved into our new home about a year ago. After a few months of it sitting in the corner, we eventually got around to setting it up. It is a 2nd hand Rena fish tank. 200 litres empty with an external filter. I got a book for christmas, and with the help of various bits of advice, we got ourselves up and running.
We chose not to go with real plants, so have lots of plastic ones, some rocks and a few ornaments (including a large ship).
We have a heating element in there, and a temperature thing stuck to the side. It is normally 26-27 degrees.
The filter takes water out from the far right corner of the tank and pumps the water back in to the left hand side.
However....
We keep losing fish, and the more people we speak to about things, the more conflicting advice we keep getting (even from shops). So now has come the time to sign up to a forum and ask for help here.
First of all, I have a worry that we're not doing something we should be doing.
We think we set everything up ok. We filled it with water, bought all the bits for the filter, left it running for a few weeks. Then got the water tested at the shop - they said wait 2 weeks more, so we did. They tested the water again and said it was ok, so we bought our first fish.
1. Water changes. We do this once a week. We got told to do 10%, so I take out about 20 litres, and then re-add 20 litres of tap water, using "Stress Coat", which we got told to use. I am pretty sure I am doing this ok, but......
After a few months, we decided to move some plants around. And when I did, there was a lot of 'crap' pulled up from the surface and the rocks. I realised at this point that the filter itself wasnt actually strong enough to 'pull' all the fish poo into the filter. In fact, the filter seems very weak, there is very little strength behind the pull of the water into the filter. I dont think this is wrong, it certainly comes out at a high speed, so it must be going in at the same rate.
Anyway, so I wondered what to do about the buildup of crap all around the gravel and the plants. It *could* be that this will dissolve over time, and it possibly might be doing, but I was concerned it was getting more and more.
When I asked at the fish shop, they sold me a pump thing which I am supposed to churn up the gravel with, and it sucks out all the crap. I now use this every week to do the water change. It does clean some of the rubbish out, but not sure if it is enough.
2. Filter changes.
We've done this a couple of times, but I fear I am not doing it right. First of all our filter. It is split into 2 sections.
a. The bottom section has a compartment containing some small white rocks. One shop told us we should never need to change these, another said change them once a year. Well, we got this filter with the tank - 2nd hand. We have no idea how old these stones were, and not really sure what they do or when to change them.
b. Part 2 of the filter are 4 square inch think blue sponges. We weren't told we needed to change these at all (or maybe we were and I forgot). The last time I did a carbon filter change (see below), I looked at these 4 sponges. The top one was thick with brown muck. All the water in the filter itself was also swimming with brown muck.
I figured that the muck in the water is supposed to be there. I know that I'm not supposed to change the water in the filter as it has all the good bacteria in it, so I've always left it well along, but this top blue filter really was caked in it. So I took that one out and gave it a really good clean. The other 3 blue sponges were a bit dirty but nowhere near as bad.
Since then, I'm nervous I did the wrong thing. What was this muck? Was it good bacteria? One shop told me it was ok to have cleaned it out. Another also said it was ok, but I should have washed it in water from the tank and not tap water. They said that me washing it in tap water has completely ruined my filter and I have to start all over again!?!? Is this true. I left all the other sponges in the dirty water in the filter. Taking one blue sponge out and cleaning it has ruined everything?
c. In the top compartment of the filter is a thin black carbon layer. Not sure how often to change this. I had to take it out a couple of months ago when we put some medicine in, so instead of putting it back after the treatment, I just used a new one. However, the old one looked fine, there was no dirt in it at all. I dont really know what this filter does.
d. Finally, above the carbon layer is an inch think white sponge. I've changed this once so far, it was really dirty. I think I should change this once every 3-4 months.
Our fish history.
We started off with 5 mollys. A few weeks later, we got 5 neon tetras and 5 zebra danios. One of the danios died after about a week, but everyone else was ok. A month later, we got 3 black widow tetras, 2 scissorfish and an angel fish. We also got 2 crabs too. One lasted 2 days, the other lasted a week. The Angelfish lasted a few months.
We've added more mollys since, bringing them back up to 5 of them, and we also bought a pair of krebensis along with a pair of cherry barbs. This was to be our limit - we finally had a tank full of fish!
Then we got the fin rot. We think it was one of the cherry barbs. Either way, within a few days, lots of our fish had split fins. So, we went to the fish shop who sold us some medicine for fixing fin rot. This needed taking out the carbon filter, which we did. We were also told at the time that we could buy some melafix, which will help regrow the fins from the ones that are damaged. So we did.
The day after putting the medicine in, all our fish are gasping at the surface for air. We call the fish shop - they tell us that Melafix removes the air from the water, so we need an air brick. We rush to the shop to buy an air block, a piece of tubing and a pump. So, we now have nice bubbles, but at extra cost (and noise). Why didnt the shop who sold us the Melafix tell us that this would happen?!?
We apply the medicine every day, and the melafix as directed. We lost a few fish, but the black widow tetras and scissorfish who got it really bad all survived, and their fins healed nicely. Phew.
We had a few weeks of stability. The krebensis had babies, and really looked after them for about 4 days before one day, they just ignored them, and our other fish all had a nice meal.
Our neons went down to 2, which isnt really enough for them to swarm, so we bought 6 more of them a few weeks ago. One of them had mouthrot, and eventually died (well, we assume died, as he went missing and we couldnt find him).
But a week ago, the female krebensis looked floaty, and then died the next day. 2 days ago the male krebensis died. Also, 2 weeks ago one of our mollys was really thin, like all the air had been sucked out of her. She lasted 2 weeks and seemed ok (apart from being thin), but then she was found one morning stuck to the filter inlet pipe. A week ago, another molly started looking thin and she will probably be dead later today. That leaves 2 mollys left, one of which had a poo yesterday which was clear white. Apparently this is a bad sign too. So, we are now thinking that our mollys are ill - but what with.
Why did the female krebensis die? Why did the male die? We had the water tested last weekend and they said a little bit too much ammonia, but apart from that ok. We just seem to be losing fish on a regular basis now, and I'm starting to think I am doing something fundamentally wrong.
We still have:
3 mollys. One of the very original mollys from our first purchase. One that will probably die today and another with the white poo.
3 Black Widow Tetra. They occasionally get split fins, but always recover
2 Scissorfish. Still ok
4 Zebra Danios. Still ok
7 Neon Tetras. 2 originals, and 5 new ones from 3 weeks ago
2 Cherry Barbs.
This is a very long post, because I've not posted here before and have lots and lots of questions. Really appreciate any help.
We got ourselves a fishtank when we moved into our new home about a year ago. After a few months of it sitting in the corner, we eventually got around to setting it up. It is a 2nd hand Rena fish tank. 200 litres empty with an external filter. I got a book for christmas, and with the help of various bits of advice, we got ourselves up and running.
We chose not to go with real plants, so have lots of plastic ones, some rocks and a few ornaments (including a large ship).
We have a heating element in there, and a temperature thing stuck to the side. It is normally 26-27 degrees.
The filter takes water out from the far right corner of the tank and pumps the water back in to the left hand side.
However....
We keep losing fish, and the more people we speak to about things, the more conflicting advice we keep getting (even from shops). So now has come the time to sign up to a forum and ask for help here.
First of all, I have a worry that we're not doing something we should be doing.
We think we set everything up ok. We filled it with water, bought all the bits for the filter, left it running for a few weeks. Then got the water tested at the shop - they said wait 2 weeks more, so we did. They tested the water again and said it was ok, so we bought our first fish.
1. Water changes. We do this once a week. We got told to do 10%, so I take out about 20 litres, and then re-add 20 litres of tap water, using "Stress Coat", which we got told to use. I am pretty sure I am doing this ok, but......
After a few months, we decided to move some plants around. And when I did, there was a lot of 'crap' pulled up from the surface and the rocks. I realised at this point that the filter itself wasnt actually strong enough to 'pull' all the fish poo into the filter. In fact, the filter seems very weak, there is very little strength behind the pull of the water into the filter. I dont think this is wrong, it certainly comes out at a high speed, so it must be going in at the same rate.
Anyway, so I wondered what to do about the buildup of crap all around the gravel and the plants. It *could* be that this will dissolve over time, and it possibly might be doing, but I was concerned it was getting more and more.
When I asked at the fish shop, they sold me a pump thing which I am supposed to churn up the gravel with, and it sucks out all the crap. I now use this every week to do the water change. It does clean some of the rubbish out, but not sure if it is enough.
2. Filter changes.
We've done this a couple of times, but I fear I am not doing it right. First of all our filter. It is split into 2 sections.
a. The bottom section has a compartment containing some small white rocks. One shop told us we should never need to change these, another said change them once a year. Well, we got this filter with the tank - 2nd hand. We have no idea how old these stones were, and not really sure what they do or when to change them.
b. Part 2 of the filter are 4 square inch think blue sponges. We weren't told we needed to change these at all (or maybe we were and I forgot). The last time I did a carbon filter change (see below), I looked at these 4 sponges. The top one was thick with brown muck. All the water in the filter itself was also swimming with brown muck.
I figured that the muck in the water is supposed to be there. I know that I'm not supposed to change the water in the filter as it has all the good bacteria in it, so I've always left it well along, but this top blue filter really was caked in it. So I took that one out and gave it a really good clean. The other 3 blue sponges were a bit dirty but nowhere near as bad.
Since then, I'm nervous I did the wrong thing. What was this muck? Was it good bacteria? One shop told me it was ok to have cleaned it out. Another also said it was ok, but I should have washed it in water from the tank and not tap water. They said that me washing it in tap water has completely ruined my filter and I have to start all over again!?!? Is this true. I left all the other sponges in the dirty water in the filter. Taking one blue sponge out and cleaning it has ruined everything?
c. In the top compartment of the filter is a thin black carbon layer. Not sure how often to change this. I had to take it out a couple of months ago when we put some medicine in, so instead of putting it back after the treatment, I just used a new one. However, the old one looked fine, there was no dirt in it at all. I dont really know what this filter does.
d. Finally, above the carbon layer is an inch think white sponge. I've changed this once so far, it was really dirty. I think I should change this once every 3-4 months.
Our fish history.
We started off with 5 mollys. A few weeks later, we got 5 neon tetras and 5 zebra danios. One of the danios died after about a week, but everyone else was ok. A month later, we got 3 black widow tetras, 2 scissorfish and an angel fish. We also got 2 crabs too. One lasted 2 days, the other lasted a week. The Angelfish lasted a few months.
We've added more mollys since, bringing them back up to 5 of them, and we also bought a pair of krebensis along with a pair of cherry barbs. This was to be our limit - we finally had a tank full of fish!
Then we got the fin rot. We think it was one of the cherry barbs. Either way, within a few days, lots of our fish had split fins. So, we went to the fish shop who sold us some medicine for fixing fin rot. This needed taking out the carbon filter, which we did. We were also told at the time that we could buy some melafix, which will help regrow the fins from the ones that are damaged. So we did.
The day after putting the medicine in, all our fish are gasping at the surface for air. We call the fish shop - they tell us that Melafix removes the air from the water, so we need an air brick. We rush to the shop to buy an air block, a piece of tubing and a pump. So, we now have nice bubbles, but at extra cost (and noise). Why didnt the shop who sold us the Melafix tell us that this would happen?!?
We apply the medicine every day, and the melafix as directed. We lost a few fish, but the black widow tetras and scissorfish who got it really bad all survived, and their fins healed nicely. Phew.
We had a few weeks of stability. The krebensis had babies, and really looked after them for about 4 days before one day, they just ignored them, and our other fish all had a nice meal.
Our neons went down to 2, which isnt really enough for them to swarm, so we bought 6 more of them a few weeks ago. One of them had mouthrot, and eventually died (well, we assume died, as he went missing and we couldnt find him).
But a week ago, the female krebensis looked floaty, and then died the next day. 2 days ago the male krebensis died. Also, 2 weeks ago one of our mollys was really thin, like all the air had been sucked out of her. She lasted 2 weeks and seemed ok (apart from being thin), but then she was found one morning stuck to the filter inlet pipe. A week ago, another molly started looking thin and she will probably be dead later today. That leaves 2 mollys left, one of which had a poo yesterday which was clear white. Apparently this is a bad sign too. So, we are now thinking that our mollys are ill - but what with.
Why did the female krebensis die? Why did the male die? We had the water tested last weekend and they said a little bit too much ammonia, but apart from that ok. We just seem to be losing fish on a regular basis now, and I'm starting to think I am doing something fundamentally wrong.
We still have:
3 mollys. One of the very original mollys from our first purchase. One that will probably die today and another with the white poo.
3 Black Widow Tetra. They occasionally get split fins, but always recover
2 Scissorfish. Still ok
4 Zebra Danios. Still ok
7 Neon Tetras. 2 originals, and 5 new ones from 3 weeks ago
2 Cherry Barbs.
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306
