Water Issues

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peberly

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 30, 2011
5
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warsaw indiana
Hi guys, long time lurker, first time poster. I have been having several problems with my fish tank, and I am looking for a couple of answers if anyone could help me out. A little background about my situation.

We have had cichlids for about 2 months now. There is 5 cichlids (yellow lab, red top zebra, bumblebee, benji brown, and a giraffe) and 3 cories. The tank is only a 10 gallon, and it is probably a little overstocked, but ever since we added the extra cichlids the aggression has settled down and they all seem to get along great. We do have a 40 gallon to move them to once they are bigger.

Problem One- Water clarity. The water will not stay clear. We are using water softened well water that we had tested perfect on all levels. When we first started up the tank with all the fish it was clear for the first 3 days, then on the 4th it was very cloudy. It seems to have a yellow/orangish hue to it.

We are using a marineland filter that has the bio-wheel on it. The filter is always running, and every 4 days we have to take the actual blue filter out and wash it, as it builds up a yellowish/orange discoloring.

We are also doing water changes (25%) every other two days to help with the clarity of the water. I dont know if this is enough information, if anymore is needed let me know.

Problem Two- I am not sure what to be feeding them, and I am not sure it if is contributing to the water issue. I have the following foods; TetraCichlids cichlid sticks, Tetramin Cichlid flakes, Wardleys Shrimp pellets and Spirulina Discs, Blood worms, brine shrimp (dehydrated), Algae wafers and cichlid staple pellets.

So far the fish will eat everything but the Cichlid staple pellets, brine shrimp, and the cichlid sticks. I have read that blood worms and brine shrimp will make water conditions bad so I have stopped feeding them that. I usually drop in 2-3 pellets, and some flake food, and one crushed up spirulina disc.

There is so much left over food at the bottom of the tank, that is the reason for the cories. While they have helped a lot, the fish now seem to eat even less and now there even more food on the floor. I might be over feeding them, or just not the right food. Sorry for the length, but im out of ideas and any help would be suggested
 
first off welcome to MFK! to answer your questions first addressing the 5 cichlids in a 10 gallon? unless they are no more than 2" each that is probably contributing to all your problems...i would highly recommend that you get them into that 40 asap, secondly since the problem is a yellow orange color in the water and gunking up the filter i'm inclined to to suspect that it is iron in the water, you said you had a well, i had a well for 10 years and it turned everything it came in contact with orange so i am deriving this from experience...i think that it stays clear for the first few days then the iron in the water reacts with something in your tank and makes it murky, how many gallons if your hang on back filter recommended for? CICHLID ARE A VERY DIRTY FISH!!! combine that with corys in there in such a small space....so my personal opinion is that there are so many fish making such a large mess combine with food decaying on the bottom in such a small space it is making your tank too dirty for your filter to handle and therefor making your fish sick therefore they wont eat therefore there there is more food decaying on the bottom making your tank even more dirty....it sounds like a viscous cycle. so i would recommend either a second or a single BIG filter. for instance i have a 50 gallon filter on my 10 gallon. best of luck, and if you need any more help that is what we are here for!!
 
I figured well water would be satisfactory. Is there a certain treatment or should I just buy water from a store? And the cichlids are still very small and it doesn't look to crowded. The filter is for 10-20 gallon aquarium. If I increase the filter, will it be enough to filter out all the rust? Sorry for so many questions, pretty new to cichlids still.
 
well water is fine it just has to high of a mineral content, i don't know of a treatment but i also have never had the reason to look for one...so i'm sure there are some out there! haha if the cichlids are small then that should lessen the load on the filter but i still recommend moving them to the 40 asap, yeah i would try going with a AquaClear filter for a 30-50 gallon hang on back filter. it should help but i can't promise that it will make your water clear but i can't hurt! and seriously don't worry about the questions, i'm happy to help!!
 
Sounds like to me the problem is you overfeeding. Are you cleaning the gravel when you do water changes? You are definately never going to be able to keep them in a 10 gallon tank. The 40 gallon will be to small at full adult size and that Giraffe chiclid is going to need at least a 75 gallon at 10.5". Plus he is going to get very aggressive when full grown and eat anything under 3". I will admit you will love this guys personality but will have a few missing fish on occassion.

Back to your water issue, Fish eat 1/10 of their body mass a day. Anything more is a waste and seeing food on the bottom is a sure sign your feeding too much. Causing huge Ammonia spikes. Do a 50% water change with gravel cleanings for 3 to 5 days straight. Rinse the debri off the filter in the tank water you removed from the tank and replace to the filter. Never clean the filter with tap water. Although with well water you can get away with cleaning it with cool water, never hot. Cut back on the food your feeding and I am sure you will see a big difference. About the food your feeding, Flakes or pellets is good daily food for your fish, feed 3 times a day while they are growing and cut back to once or twice a day when grown. Bloodworms, Brine Shrimp are treats to them, 2 or 3 times a week is good and use that as a feeding.

Filtering, Chiclids do well with double filtering and water movement. I use a filter rated for twice the size of the tank and a powerhead with a sponge filter. With a 10 gallon this will be tough to do. But the 40 will work much better and I would get them in that ASAP. Pool Filter sand is my favorite substrate and cleans great, rinse it really good before putting it in the tank. Have lots of rock caves for these guys to hide from aggression. Place a few very tall plants in the middle of the tank to break line of sight from end to end of the tank.

Just my Opinions here...........Good Luck
 
Thanks for all the advice. We went ahead and bought a Fluval Filter system rated for 50 gallons. We did a 50% water change with fresh clean water, and pre-rinsed everything with distilled water so its all nice and clean. Water is clearing up. We did go and have our water tested, and as I suspected, our ammonia level was to high. The giraffe and black finned cichlid unfortunately passed away. We are going to get the water rechecked in a day or so to double check the ammonia levels. We did do one treatment of ammonia stabilizer and hopefully that will help.

So to recap, we have three cichlids left, and 3 cories. I should feed them three times a day, in very small amounts. Also, I had a person telling me I should shell and chop a pea, chop seaweed, and mix it all together with flake food and feed them that. Any truth to this? I just want to make sure I am giving them the correct nutrition.
 
Cichlid staple pellets should be sufficient for their daily needs. I wouldn't bother with the other foods for now.

What size are the fish you have? I don't know what size pellets you are using but I prefer to use smaller pellets for smaller fish so there is no waste particles from them chewing the larger pellets.

It's possible you have a clear iron problem with your well water. The yellowish-orange hue is caused by the iron contacting oxygen and is normal for clear iron.

Do you have a test kit so you can do your own water testing? It's very helpful and easy to do. I would recommend a pH, Nitrate, Ammonia and kH kit as the basics.

How long did you have the tank setup before you added fish? There is a process called 'cycling your tank' that is very important to the health of your fish. If you did not follow this process, please read up on it. I also recommend doing 25% water changes for the next week or so to help reduce the ammonia levels in your tank. There is no need to use distilled water for your fish.
 
The cichlid staple we are using are rather small pellets, they just put them in there mouth and spit them back out several times. We let our tank cycle for about 2 days with the filter and heater set up before adding the fish. The remaining cichlids are a yellow lab, bumblebee (hornet?), and a red top zebra. We have been doing 10% water changes every day for 2 days, should we increase the amount of water that we are changing. The tank seems to be slowly clearing up and fish are looking very healthy now.
 
I hate to tell you, but two days is not enough. Your tank is not completely cycled.
 
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