Uh oh

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Broski

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2010
79
0
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USA
I'm almost certain my stocking is way overstocked, coupled with the fact I haven't gotten time this month to do a water change, I'm getting worried.
my test kit was fine save for the PH bottle, which was left open since last time I check params (November 16?).

My Stock:
1x 4" gold gourami
2x 5" greenie/pseed hybrids
1X 6" LMB
1x 4.5" LMB
1x 10" pleco

Tank size:
120 high (48x24x24)

Water params
PH 6.0(Either bad solution, or my PH is really low which is odd since my tap is 7.2)
Ammonia 1 ppm

Tank has been in use for 3 years, and was completely drained for 1 day and refilled. was cycled, and running for almost 6 months since being drained.

I'm going to be offloading the pleco and gourami on saturday, and I will do a WC tomorrow, I'm about to detox the ammonia just so my fish dont get stressed.

None of the native fish will be staying in this tank permanently.
 
Soo, uhh...Was there a question in there somewhere..or were you just talking out loud?..
You know, I used to keep a water change journal...might help..
 
Oh wow I completely forgot to ask, derp.

My questions are:
Am I over stocked?
Should I be worried about the PH indicator if its been left open for months?

and while I'm at it, I'm going away for a week and am wondering how to feed my predatory fish since dry or prepared foods don't fit in my auto feeder. Should I just toss in a bunch of live fish?
 
Broski;4714861; said:
Oh wow I completely forgot to ask, derp.

My questions are:
Am I over stocked?
Should I be worried about the PH indicator if its been left open for months?

and while I'm at it, I'm going away for a week and am wondering how to feed my predatory fish since dry or prepared foods don't fit in my auto feeder. Should I just toss in a bunch of live fish?
Click to expand...

If you're using a reliable liquid test for the PH and it's showing up at 6.0 or lower i'd be a bit concerned, definitely need to get that up at least a little bit.

Honestly your fish should be fine for a week as long as they've been well fed for the time being, sometimes it's good for a fish to purge, and honestly if you throw in a bunch of feeders before leaving you run the risk of your fish producing a ton of waste and getting even worse ammonia.

The fact is that if your tank has been up for 6 months there should be 0 ammonia, 1 ppm is completely unacceptable at this point in the ball game, i'm assuming that you cycled the tank when you first set it up - which would mean you've now probably overstocked to the tank where the BB can't keep up converting the ammonia. What are your Nitrite and Nitrate readings?
 
I'm doing a WC as we speak, I have a API master freshwater kit, but the PH indicator liquid has been left open, I'm not sure if that weakened it, but I tested distilled water and got 6.5. My tap is 7.2, but it always has seemed to stabilize in the tank at either 6.8 or 7.0

gonna do a 60% change, theres alot of gunk in the gravel, no wonder my ammonia is so high.

also, I don't think any of the fish I have would have survived in a tank thats not cycled for 6 months.
 
I've seen WAY worse tanks as far as overstocking goes than yours. I think your problems are stemming from lack of WC, gravel vaccuming, and perhaps sufficient filtration... which you didn't list. Come on man, this is MFK, you gotta list your hardware!
 
two wet drys with a 600GPH pumps in each sump, with probably about 60 gallons in the sumps combined.

the plastic bio balls look like they have a colony established, quite large.
My water is crystal clear, I also have a UV sterilizer as well.

I went a head and did a 75% change, I'm about to do a water test but my fish have all colored up more, which seems to be a good sign.

PH: 7.0
ammonia: has the slightest tinge of green, so not quite 0, maybe 0.1 ppm
Nitrate: either 0 or 5ppm, I can't tell the difference
Nitrite: 0ppm

Now onto the problem of feeding them while I'm gone.
 
About the pH. Biological processes eat up minerals in your tank. Often, your BBs doing their job will lower your pH. I would be careful when doing water changes, so you don't shock your fish.

20% at a time, 12 hours apart if you can, to get your pH more stable.

Also, a lot of times, your pH out of tap can go down as the CO2 gasses out of your water, which explains how your tap's water is 7.2, but your tank is lower than that after it "levels out."
What you can do, is set out a bucket of dechlorinated tap water, with a bubbler, for 24 hours, and then test the pH, that will tell you the true pH of your water.

Also, things like Amquel+ will alter your pH, so when using products like these, use with caution!

Oh, are you testing your nitrAtes correctly? I used to get that weird "between 0-5" reading when I was not shaking the bottles and the solution for the correct amounts of time. The bottle #2 has crystals in it that have to be shaken into solution for it to work. You also have to shake the test tube with both types of drops in it for 60 seconds, wait 5 minutes, then read the test results.
 
Laticauda;4715173; said:
About the pH. Biological processes eat up minerals in your tank. Often, your BBs doing their job will lower your pH. I would be careful when doing water changes, so you don't shock your fish.

Oh, are you testing your nitrAtes correctly? I used to get that weird "between 0-5" reading when I was not shaking the bottles and the solution for the correct amounts of time. The bottle #2 has crystals in it that have to be shaken into solution for it to work. You also have to shake the test tube with both types of drops in it for 60 seconds, wait 5 minutes, then read the test results.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Just did what you suggested and they read 40ppm, too high?
 
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