hey people, i have my 55 and it seems the fish are having a hard time in the water...rapid gill movement and not much swimming going on.lost a rose barb and am fairly positive a danio is on its way out..i tested my PH 7.2 but other than that at this point i have no testing equipment, money sucks and it takes 20 bucks just to get to the fishstore..the 55 is planted and has eco complete.undestocked, and plenty of clean up crew, clear water, water is less than a week old...i dont know whats up really...any help is appreciated...
water condition
- Thread starter grnmtnlwrdr
- Start date
The things that come to mind are low 02 levels, high ammonia levels, and high nitrates. How long has your tank and filter biomedia been established.
what could i do to fix these problems listed...the filter was cleaned to pretty much new last week...
Stong water surface movement and airstones to increase O2.
Water changes for ammonia and nitrite.
Cleaning a filter to "pretty much new" is not a good idea. You need a well established colony of beneficial bacteria in your filter to remove the ammonia and nitrite adequately.
Water changes for ammonia and nitrite.
Cleaning a filter to "pretty much new" is not a good idea. You need a well established colony of beneficial bacteria in your filter to remove the ammonia and nitrite adequately.
guppy;1163397; said:
ok so now that it is unfortunately pretty much new, i know its not a good thing but i just got the tank from my uncle.he thought he was doin me a favor...what can i do to help move this bacteria along.i have a planted tank so surface movement would be a bad thing for the plants, correct?the tank has been established for probably a year almost 2 but it was just cleaned real well, so i wouldnt think its established greatly...thanks for the help
In general, too much airation of planted tanks is not ideal because it will tend to remove CO2 from the water which plants use for photosynthesis. Unfortunately you need the airation to provide adequate O2 for the fish. Plus, at night, the plants use O2 during respiration which again can make less O2 available to the fish. It's a fine balance to get right which is usually why successful planted tanks usually only contain a small number of fish inhabitants.
High O2 levels are also necessary for good growth of your bacterial colony. To speed up the bacteria growth you could maybe try to get some mature filter media or substrate from an established tank to add to yours. There are also some products you can buy which claim to add bacteria to your tank - not sure how good they are though.
Unfortunately it's not easy to provide the optimum environment for fish and plants, especially in a newly set-up tank.
Hope that helps rather than causes confusion.
High O2 levels are also necessary for good growth of your bacterial colony. To speed up the bacteria growth you could maybe try to get some mature filter media or substrate from an established tank to add to yours. There are also some products you can buy which claim to add bacteria to your tank - not sure how good they are though.
Unfortunately it's not easy to provide the optimum environment for fish and plants, especially in a newly set-up tank.
Hope that helps rather than causes confusion.
Cheapest option is to do some large partial water changes for the next week or so. That should keep the ammonia level down untill the bacteria in the filter multiply and start doing their job.
By cleaning out the filter completely you are effectively starting again with the tanks cycle. Although you aren't overstocked for an established tank, you probably have too many fish for a new uncycled tank.
Dont be afraid to change 50% of the water per day. It should keep your fish alive untill the filter cycles again. Only feed the fish lightly as well, less food going into the tank means less ammonia released.
In the future - when you have to clean out the filter, just rinse out most of the gunge in a bucket of old tank water. A 1/2 gunged filter works best, too clean and there are no bacteria left to do the biological (Nitriogen cycle) filtering.
Cheers
Ian
By cleaning out the filter completely you are effectively starting again with the tanks cycle. Although you aren't overstocked for an established tank, you probably have too many fish for a new uncycled tank.
Dont be afraid to change 50% of the water per day. It should keep your fish alive untill the filter cycles again. Only feed the fish lightly as well, less food going into the tank means less ammonia released.
In the future - when you have to clean out the filter, just rinse out most of the gunge in a bucket of old tank water. A 1/2 gunged filter works best, too clean and there are no bacteria left to do the biological (Nitriogen cycle) filtering.
Cheers
Ian
thanks alot guys,great info...yea thats why i was confused having the araetion in a planted tank...but fish are all doin a whole lot b
etter since i put in a bubble strip...so im just gonna have to see how the plants adjust...good point Ianab on the established tank vs. the uncycled tank , i never thot of that...
etter since i put in a bubble strip...so im just gonna have to see how the plants adjust...good point Ianab on the established tank vs. the uncycled tank , i never thot of that...