Water change

[caroliney]

Hello,

I'm writing on behalf of my mum who has just lost a female betta

Her tank (7UK gallon) was well established with guppies for about 8 months. She gave the guppies to a friend and got 6 glowlights, and two small clown loaches, followed by a female siamese fighter (betta?) a few weeks later. She recently got a male siamese fighter who doesn't look very well either.

The water was tested at a lfs and her nitrites and ammonia were high but they let her buy the new fish anyway! I recommended that she did a water change, making sure she took the chlorine out first.

The other day she did put some water straight from the tap in there (only about half a litre). She has also been putting in 'bacterlife' which claims to increase bacteria. She has also put in some anti-fungus and finrot treatment for the male betta.

Can anyone tell us what we need to do next to help the other fish?

On a good note - after all the help i've had from this forum with my tank, I have two very happy and active (and greedy) mollies and really great water conditions. Thanks for all the advice, and if you can help with my mum's tank, I'm sure she'd appreciate it too!

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi caroliney,

I'm affraid its too many fish - the loaches will need a bigger tank

Also if the tank was empty for a while then the new fish were added this will probably have created another cycle....

Sparse feeding and frequent water changes, keep a check on water params and sugest she gets a bigger tank - soon

LFS - what are they thinking - a case of profit before wellfare

 

[tstenback]

First, glad to here the mollies are fine and the water has improved. Second, you know thats alot of fish for 7 gallons. Those clown loacjes can get very large. The tank appears to be having trouble dealing with the increase in the bio load hence the amonnia and niTRITE readings. Does your mum have a test kit or plan to get one? What is the niTRATE reading or can you get one done if it is currently not known.
I think daily water changes 15%+ need to be done for now until you get that nitrate reading and it may be better to move the male betta and treat him elsewhere if possible. Good Luck to your mum