Helena Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Hi everyone I'm new at this. Have enjoyed reading the posts and hope to learn lots about tropical fish. I have setup an aqua one 980 aquarium 5 weeks ago, everything is going well considering I put fish in from a friend who had to dismantle his tank to leave the country. The water was 1 week old, so thought well lets see what happens. All fish are fine, two pearl gouramis (beautiful), two neons, 8 mountain minows and two catfish ( not sure what kind). I have since added some more neons black and red/blue. It is very had to resist buying more fish. I have also setup a small 28 litre aqua one tank to use when I buy more fish to quarantine them. Now here is my problem I bought some fish on the weekend and the zebra danios are very unhappy sitting on the bottom with curved bodies and tails are closed together and not eating, they were fine to start with. Tonight one has died and others are not looking good. There are also 4 platys and 2 swordtails, the platys were not happy to start with, (hiding away) but are okay now. I rang the shop and they suggested some salt for the platys which I did Tuesday ( 1 tsp). I felt the filteration in this small tank was too much as the fish were being pushed around, so I stopped the fliter and put in an airstone. I was wondering if anyone could help. Cheers Helena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Get that filter back in there The airstone is literally just moving the water around Surely you can adjust the filter to have less turbulance?? What sort is it? I'm picking you are loosing your fish to ammonia in an uncycled tank. You'll be lucky if youdon't loose more too. Butif you do a 20% water change, keeping the new water to the tank temp., it will be a start. NO MORE FISH TILL THE FILTRATION IS SORTED and the tank is CYCLED PROPERLY. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanksman Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Hi Helena Welcome to the site - When did you set up your small tank? When did you turn off the filter? Are you not able to modify the outflow so that it is not so turbulent and causing problems to the fish. Maybe having it falling onto a big rock poking out of the surface or something? The filter needs to build up bacteria to deal with ammonia and nitrite gases in the water. It sounds like your fish are suffering from this but its hard to know without more info. Take a water sample to your LFS or test yourself - PH ammonia and nitrite. You should do a 50% water change tonight - and IMHO don't worry about adding anymore salt for the time being. 50% tonight and 20 % tommorow - Take a sample tonight before the water change and get it tested if you can. Good Luck and have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Hi Helena, Nice chatting to you in the chat room, and welcome to the Fishroom. As mentioned, I think your powerhead is a bit severe for the size tank you have, and you might be better off with a small box type corner filter that has some established filter medium in it to give your tank a bit of a kick start. All the best, Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helena Posted August 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Hi everyone The tank was setup 2 saturdays ago and I put the fish in last Sat I did the water test tonight all seemed fine nitrite0.1 nitrate 0.1 ph 7.5, didn't do ammo. I changed about 20% water and put a small amount in from my other tank then fresh at the same temp. I turn the filter off not long after I put the fish maybe an hour or so. The pump is a powerhead type no agjustment Qmax 440l/h. Helena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Definitely do Ammonia. Main sign of an uncycled tank is Ammo off the scale, nitrite and nitrate near 0 because the bacteria haven't built enough to convert the ammonia to nitrite yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 Hi Helena Welcome to the best fishie site! People here are great to help, they have sooooooooo much knowledge and are always willing to help us newbies. Have fun and take care! Dolorosa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helena Posted August 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2005 Hi everyone Thanks again for your replies. Last night I put a danio out of its misery. I put a 6" long airstone under the gravel and sped up the air flow, this morning the water was clearer and all fish still alive, the danios favouring the bottom on the gravel. I did an ammo test, it was between .25 to .5. I took a sample of water from both tanks and went to the LPS to test. He said all readings were in the acceptable range, however said that the ammo can spike. He suggested a 1/3 water change and again Friday or Saturday. I decided to take out the platys and swordtails and put them in my big tank. Got home tonight and the danios are at the top of the tank swimming a little bit better, there is one platy with them as I couldn't catch him this morning. The others in the big tank are very happy and so am I. One question what is IMHO??? :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanksman Posted August 4, 2005 Report Share Posted August 4, 2005 IMHO - in my humble opinion It is very hard to keep a small volume of water - say less than 30 litres - in fish inhabitable condition - a good well cultured filter will do it - but Having an airstone in the gravel doesn't count. If you want a gravel filter you'll need to set it up properly - Have a look at your LFS for an example of how an UG Filter works - All this info IMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helena Posted August 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2005 Thanks Tanksman The guy in the shop what I had done was fine, but I know I have to filter the tank better than this. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillz Posted August 5, 2005 Report Share Posted August 5, 2005 Welcome aboard.....you've come to the right place to learn about our wet friends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude Posted August 5, 2005 Report Share Posted August 5, 2005 Welcome, hope you sort the problems out quickly so you can go back to enjoying the fish rather than worrying about them. I am sure if you take the advice above everything will work out ok Cheers Jude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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