Ianab

Not sure either, but if the gravel is contanimated with old food then it might be causing the problems. Stiring it up with the vacum wont harm any bacteria on the gravel. Ian

You may have stray fish food sitting in the gravel, that will increase the ammonia --> Nitrite --> Nitrate. Give the gravel a good going over with a gravel vacum when you do the water change. A bit of rotting food hidden someplace will foul up your water, especially if the filters are new and cant process the waste properly. Cheers Ian

I agree, the new water is better than the stuff thats in the tank, so more water changes will be a good thing. Think about a fish living in a river.. it gets 100% water change every few minutes The only possible problem is if the tank water is very different to the tap water. (pH or temp mostly). Then a sudden change can upset the fish. But if you are only changing 25% at a time, no worries. If you do regular BIG water changes like EK is talking about, then the tank water is allways similar to the tap, so no problems. Cheers Ian

Clown loaches are the best snail eaters there are, but they just get so big. I'd love to get some, but a mob of 6" clowns would max out my tank and leave no room for my plecos When I get a bigger tank though 8) Cheers Ian

I think they would take out newborn fry for sure. Once the fry get a bit bigger, no problem. Cheers Ian

Test your Nitrate levels, thats what will really determine if you can keep more fish. Doesn't really matter if they are bottom dwellers or not, it's the total bioload on the tank that counts. Discus need very good water conditions to grow well, you may not want to stuff that up with too many poop machine plecos :roll: If the tank is well filtered and you are happy you can keep the nitrate level down without doing excessive water changes, then you can probably sneak a few more fish in, but remember the ones you have should be growing fast. In six month the tank might be overstocked even if you add no extra fish Cheers Ian

Good to know, the water tests indicate that the tank is only part way cycled. The ammonia eating bacteria must have started doing their thing, but that makes Nitrite. Then another bunch of bacteria turn nitrite into nitrate. Once they get their act together there should be no measurable ammonia or nitrite left in the tank. Then you just do normal water changes to get rid of the less toxic nitrate. Your tank will come right with time, just keep up the extra water changes for a while. Cheers Ian

A water treatment like Prime may be needed, depends on how good your tap water is. NZ tap water tends to be pretty good and many people dont use the water treatments. But they should do no harm even if they aren't needed, and can save the day if the council has a problem with the water supply and turns up the chlorine dose one day. If you get an ammonia test kit that will confirm if ammonia is actually the problem, and when the ammonia goes away you can go back to normal weekly water changes. Otherwise I would do them for a week or so, then keep a close eye on the fish after that. You can actually keep fish healthy just by doing massive water changes and no filter, but thats like a lot of work, so we tend to run filters. Cheers Ian

Keep doing water changes. If you do a 50% water change then you 1/2 the level of ammonia in the tank. You can do this every day, it wont harm the fish. After a week or so the filters should have caught up and begun to process the ammonia. Giving the fish some fresh water is the best treatment for them, if their gills aren't too badly damaged they can recover. Setting up the old tank wont really help as it will have to cycle again if it's been empty Cycle claims to speed up the process, but it still takes time for the bacteria to multiply in the filter. It's not a magic wand in a bottle. You can buy Ammonia treatments from the pet shop. Again they dont magically make the ammonia vanish, but they convert it to Ammonium which isn't so toxic. It's not something that you need to use normally, but if you have a filter problem it can save your fish untill the filter comes right again. When I change tanks around I allways set them up with an already cycled filter. Either bring the running filter from the old tank, or run the new filter in an existing tank for a few weeks. That way you have some working filtration from day one. You still need to take care building up the fish numbers, but it's the best way to jumpstart the cycle. Ian Yup.. goldfish are pretty tough. They can probably survive a little ammonia in the water. Hillstream loaches need good clean water and plenty of oxygen, so a little ammonia really knocks them. Cheers Ian

Not impossible.. For a local octopus species you probably need a water chiller for summer, and a REALLY tight fitting lid. They can crawl through practically any gap - no bones Cheers Ian

I agree with Frenchy. The tank is new and the filter is probably still cycling. So ammonia and nitrite can build up in the tank. That irritates the fishes gills and can kill them pretty quick. Frequent water changes can help control it untill the filters get established, so keep doing them. Cutting back on the feeding will reduce the amount of ammonia being released into the tank. You can buy a basic ammonia test to check this. One of the Ammonia neutralisers might help, they dont remove ammonia, but convert it to less toxic ammonium which your filter can eventually process. Dont touch your filter unless it blocks up, you need it to build up some gunge and bacteria so it works properly. Cheers Ian

You could get a couple of Zebra Loaches. They wont hassle your other fish, dont get too big, and will deal to most of your snails Cheers Ian

Inflamed gills could be due to ammonia in the water How long has the tank been set up and what filtering does it have? As an emergency treatment I would do a large water change (50%) NOW. It may not help, but it shouldn't make things worse and might help keep your fish alive while you fix the problem. Cheers Ian

Garfield of the fish world :lol: Maybe you need some other bottom dwellers to help him clean up the Oscars leftovers? Cheers Ian

Plan A. If the tanks are cycled and healthy then just add new fish (a few at a time of course) Anything else you do will require the tanks to partially cycle again, so unless the tank is a mess at the moment just leave it. Cheers Ian

I just re-arranged some furniture and moved one of my tanks... The zebras where almost impossible to catch, so one made the trip in the 2" of water left in the bottom of the tank :lol: Everyone survived the move and I just took some pics of the Zebras. They are about 2" long now, very cute and active. Cheers Ian

I suspect they would eat small fry, but then so do most fish. Once the fry got a bit bigger they would be fine. Cheers Ian.

The Zebras are definately snail eaters. They may not get them all, but if they take out most of the eggs and small snails, and you fish out the big ones by hand you can keep them under control. Cheers Ian

Dwarf or Zebra loaches might fit the bill. Dwarfs only grow to 2" and zebras to 4" max so they will be OK in a smaller tank. Zebra Loach- http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata Dwarf Laoch http://www.loaches.com/species-index/yasuhikotakia-sidthimunki Yo-yo loaches are neat too, but can grow to 6", not as big as a Clown, but a bit much to have several in a 2 ft tank. http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-almorhae All loaches are social fish, so get several. Four seems to be the recommended minimum, but I have 2 zebras that seem happy enough. The are inseperable best mates though, I imagine one by itself would be pretty sad. Cheers Ian

Let your bristlenose get a bit hungry They should clean up that soft brown "new tank'' algae pretty quick. Better than using some chemical death :-? Cheers Ian

I would wind the temp down a bit. The plecos can usually survive in that temp, but there is less oxygen in the warmer water. Dont believe the markings on the heater.. they are usually off a few degrees. So check the actual temp with the thermometer and adjust the heater a few clicks to suit. Recommended ranges Bristlenose and Common Plecos 21-26C Sailfin (Gibby) 23-27C Goldspot (L001) 24-29C Those are the common species we get in NZ, so 25deg will suit them all and the other fish you have. Cheers Ian

You are correct about how the vacumn is holding up the water, and it will stay there for a while (days even) But over time evaporation and gas release will increase the airgap in the top. Becasue the pressure in the top tank is lower, dissolved gasses will escape from the water and it will evaporate faster. After a week I bet the top tank would only be 1/2 full if there wasn't a pump maintaining the vacumn. As you have to pump out the air from the airstone anyway, just use a pump that can pump air or water without blowing itself up and it will maintain the vacumn. I bet the outlet from that pump is what is running down the little waterfall. Cheers Ian

Without a pump continously pulling a vacumn the gas and water vapour would quickly build up in the low pressure area at the top. You cant just vent the air from there as the pressue is lower than outside, you have to pump it. Cheers Ian

The clever part is they just keep pumping the air AND water out of the top. As long as your pump is moving more volume than the airstone puts out then the water level will stay up 8) Cheers Ian

Only tricky part would be finding a pump that would pull a decent vacumn while pumping a mix of air and water out of the upper tank. Other than that it's just 2 tanks, a normal lower one and an upside down upper with a suction fitting on the top. I would have the lower tank bigger too, in a power cut the top tank would eventually drain back to the lower one. Cheers Ian