New here, beginner problems

[Sunbird73]

hiya

I (well technically my 7yo daughter ) has just got an aquaone 380. After a rocky start where we seemed to have missed the vital bit of info at the fish shop about not fully stocking the tank immediately, we are at 2 wks with 2 fish down (one from Ich, then other possibly ammonia burns etc when my tank spiked). I removed the ich GBA to a quarantine tank as soon as I noticed (he had been in the tank for 2days with the other fish), but he died after 9-10 days (he was teeny tiny tho and covered in cysts). In the main tank I ran it at a bit warmer (29c) and added some salt, approx 1 tbspn per 15L.

There are 2 platys, 1 guppy, 5 glowlights, 3 neons. (ah ... and also 15 x 1 week old guppy fry in my old tank in the garage *sigh* the mum very wisely gave birth in front of the kids and I was forced to save them rather than letting them be food for the tank as I had planned )

I have been changing water daily (20-40%) to get through the ammonia spike, using prime, and seachem stability for the first 7days. Today (2 wks in) my ammonia was 0 and nitrite was 0.

However today, I noticed that one of the glowlights is hovering near the surface and seems to have increased respiration/respiratory distress. Was worried it was the salt that did it, so did a 20% water change with unsalted water. What can I do for him (and what have I done wrong, other than almost everything!!)? He also seems to be fatter than the others, and has lost a bit of his transparency (maybe has cloudy skin??? but not fluffy). Has no lesions that I can see. He quite possibly could have ich lesions on his gills? He did not show any interest in feeding. I don't want to use any harsh chemicals on these fish tho, do not want to knock out the good bacteria and start over! The rest of the fish look very happy, feeding frenzy at dinner time etc.

Is he up poo creek? When do you decide to euthanase, or can he be saved?

[Carlos & Siran]

I can't really help you with the tetra, but have a few questions

Did you cycle the tank?

Do you feed them daily and if so how much?

And I maybe wrong but I feel you have to many fish for such a little tank.

[Caryl]

No they didn't cycle it - "we seemed to have missed the vital bit of info at the fish shop about not fully stocking the tank immediately" - so are remedying the situation well with water changes. Good to see you now have the ammonia and nitrite at 0.

You possibly realise by now that the ich was a result of the stress from poor water conditions and I gather this (the ich) is now under control? Ich has a cycle and needs treatment to break this cycle. Raising the temperature just speeds up this cycle so it can be fixed faster, it is not a cure. Neither is salt. Salt is an irritant which helps the fish shake off the cysts but these drop to the aquarium floor and hatch. Have a look here for more information.

I believe that tank holds 34L, which is not a lot. Your platys and guppies are going to keep having fry (assuming they survive) and you need to find somewhere to put them or explain to 7yr old that fry get eaten.

The only thing you did wrong was to add all those fish to a new tank (and you already realise that). I would stop using the salt too as these are freshwater fish and a whitespot cure would be better. The one with cloudy skin has probably produced extra slime coat in an attempt to protect it from the ammonia and other toxins it was living in.

Keep testing the water, as that will tell you how the cycle is progressing, and do a water change, like you have been, whenever levels start rising.The basics of cycling can be seen here which may help you understand what is happening.

The glowlight might have suffered damage from the ammonia and may, or may not, come right. The best thing you can do is keep up the water changes. If you can move some of the other fish to another tank that would help too.

Keep us informed on how you are doing. We will help as much as possible. Do you know anyone with an established tank from whom you can pinch some used filter media? If you add your location to your profile (go to the user control panel and add it to your profile so it shows up under your name on the left) someone here may be able to help with some media.

[Adrienne]

I would like to know where you are from as I am having water issues in most of my tanks atm and yet some of these tanks have been running for more than two years.

[Sunbird73]

I am on the north shore. When I first read about tank cycling (y'know the night *after* I bought all the fish :roll: ) I read that natural plants can help absorb toxins, and I thought there might be an added bonus of some bacteria if it came from an established tank - so bought some java moss of TM. He didn't seem keen to give me a handful of his gravel, and told me nz tap water was fine without water conditioners (ie. completely missed my meaning!)

I will phase out the salt slowly. Makes sense about the slime coat, that must be what is going on. He is still with us tonight, will see how he goes overnight.

So, I am not out of the woods yet with the tank cycling? I had hoped that with them both being zero (and were zero a couple of days ago) that it had finished cycling? (and if so, was pretty pleased with the Stability even tho I read on the internet that some don't like it at all)

How often should I be testing for ammonia/nitrites now? And should I still do 10-20% changes daily given that one fish is struggling?

I have explained to 7yo that we will not be saving any more fry, and it won't be school holidays then

oh - also to answer the question about feeding, when the tank was getting ammonia readings I didn't feed for 2-3 days. Now I am feeding once daily. Any recommendations?

[Adrienne]

I actually think you have done very well. With regards to the tank spiking - have you actually had ammonia readings. If so and if they have gone away then you should be okay. My suggestion is that if the fish is still at the top I would water change daily for a few more days and then cut it down to once every two days for about 10 days and then extend it out a little more although fish will benefit from a couple of changes a week. Do tests at each change and once everything is clear for a couple of weeks just test when you think something might be wrong.

The reason I was wondering about your location is that I am in Epsom and I am having trouble with my big tank which has been running for over two years. In the last few days my discus have been up at the top of the tank, yet I am running an airline and all readings are fine. In my other tanks I have a slimy white algae which shows up within 12 hrs of a tank being set up. I am wondering if something has been added to the water here. In saying that I did another 250 litre water change today and at this stage they have come down to mid tank level.

[Caryl]

Just because they are both 0 now, doesn't mean they will stay that way, not after only 2 weeks and that fish load :-?

Adodge asks a good question re whether you have had ammonia readings and her suggestions for further water changes.

I would be testing at least once a day. A tank should fully cycle in about 1 month or so.

Light daily feeding is fine. Crush some flake between your fingers for a fine mix the fry can swallow. They do not need special food.

[Zev]

Adodge, it may pay to ask the council if they have dosed anything lately - we had a situation down here where they added chlorine to the water in Napier in order to kill something that was contaminating the water in one particular suburb - they did not bother to tell anyone beforehand, either.

[Sunbird73]

Adodge, spoke to DH about the water supply and he said we are on totally different water treatment schedules to you (he is a bioprocess engineer). Agree with asking the council, it is a good idea. Good luck with sorting out your water issues, sounds vy frustrating!

I did have an ammonia reading of 1.0 a week ago or so, the next day it was 0.5 and then zero since then. I will keep testing and will change water and keep an eye on that fish. He is still with us but mostly the same at the top of the tank. I don't have a nitrite test, and have to take water into the LFS for nitrites - should I only bother testing nitrites if I get an ammonia reading?

My fry are in a separate tank downstairs, have just bought another little AR126 off TM to put them in as the 75L downstairs is a PITB to change water daily, and my filter wires broke for that tank (gave my 9yo a small electric shock ), so no filter downstairs. Have had my DIY brine shrimp hatchery going overnight (gotta love you tube!!) so hopefully the fishies might get some tasty dinner tonight Also have got some microworms growing in the garage, but *eeyew* they are grossing me out!! Have not had the stomach to harvest yet, will get hard and do that in a few days I think.

[Adrienne]

The ammonia reading being up and then down indicates a spike which shows that your tank is cycling. I would tend to think that given the fact that you are doing daily waterchanges that is why the readings have gone back down so yes you probably do need to test the nitrites still but not daily, every few days until you are sure they are okay. In general by the time you have reached the end of the first month cycling should be completed.

An ammonia spike may have done some gill damage to some of your fish which if only a short sharp small spike will not necessarily show immediately.

The other thing to realise is that not all fish you purchase will 1. be healthy 2. cope with the stress of a new tank. Sometimes for no reason you can work out a perfectly healthy looking fish can just pretty much drop dead.

Brine shrimp can take up to 48 hrs to hatch, but generally start at about 20 -24 hours. Do you have microworms (grown in like a porridge/yeast mix) or whiteworms? With microworms I just harvest using a tooth pick to scrape them off the sides of the container once they start to move up towards the lid.

[Sunbird73]

Glowlight was dead this morning

I have microworms on porridge. They are quite revolting - they are all over the surface but none up the sides yet.

The brine shrimp hatched well, fish loved them

[Adrienne]

If you think the microworms are revolting now, wait until the mix starts to go off.

Good to hear the bbs hatched. Sad to hear about your fish. Are the others all okay?

[Manda]

Interested in starting up a brine shrimp hatchery myself - how did you go about setting it up?

[Sunbird73]

Firstly I googled - DIY brine shrimp hatchery and watched it on you tube...

I used a 750ml h2go bottle with the bottom cut off cos I got a sachet of brine shrimp eggs that needed 500ml of water.

Cut the bottom off, get some tubing (I couldn't fine hard tubing, so cut a 5 cm section from my gravel vaccuum tubing and put my softer tubing through that, gets it to the bottom easier without curling up). ONce you put your salt/bicarb/water/brine shrimp mix in, just attach the tubing to the air pump and set it going. Leave it under light for 24hrs and wait

I attached some tubing to a 5ml syringe to suck out the brine shrimp the next day from the bottom.

I needed to float mine inside the tank to maintain the temperature. I got some polystyrene (from behind harvey normans on link drive, they have a rubbish bin out the back for their cardboard and stuff from tvs) and cut a circle out just big enough to fit my water bottle through, and floated that inside the tank. I had to push the tubing through one corner to anchor it or it kept floating away and threatening to tip. I think tho, next time I might get some wire and jack up some way to hook the bottle over the lip of the tank instead of the polystyrene float.

I found that my brine shrimp all died after 12-24hrs after hatching so don't think I need to hatch bigger batches until I figure how to keep them alive for longer!

Just received 30g BS eggs from a guy from TM, will see how they go (cheaper than the sachets, just have to mix the salt & bicarb into the water)

If you want a quarter tspn BS eggs to have a play I can give you some, pm me and will give you my addy

Adodge - all my other fish seem very robust ATM!! Ammonia still zero cross fingers. Now I have to set up the little AR126 I bought off TM today for the guppy fry so DH doesn't get all snippy about heating 75L for 15 fry in our cold garage :roll: What he doesn't know is I have seeds of an idea growing of upgrading to a 90L tank later this year haha - will have to work on that for a few months!!!