first post! hello, and what is with this sticky film in my aquarium?

[ttrance]

Hello everyone,

Looks like I've found a great community here to share my new hobby love of Aquarium fish!

I got a whole bunch of fish in my wonderful 30 gallon tank. Lets see If I can remember all of them:

1x blue gouryami
1x gold gouryami
1x Neon
2x transparent tetras
3x Plecos
2x some type of bottom feeders (one got huge compared to the other and is very aggressive, kind of golden brown with black)
2x bloodfin tetras
4x red barbosas
1x female gummy (rest died)
4x tiger barbs (1 died)
1x rainbow shark
1x mystery snail
1x zebra snail
2x dwarf frogs
1x columbian tetra

wow that was a nice challenge to get that down. So they are all very happy it seems even through there are a few 'aggressive' types in there! I heard the blue gouryami is often very violent, but this one is gentle and nice.

The only really aggressive fish surprisingly is this one bottom feeder/cleaner/sucker that just got massive so fast. He was aggressive and ate everything and left nothing for the other one of this species. The other one is now months later only starting to grow a bit, as I throw toooo much food down there so he has a great chance of getting it.

Some of the things listed above were only recently added in the last 6 weeks. I did a big water change and suction tube thing to remove tons of junk from the bottom.

One issue I have that I do not know what to do, is there is a thick slimy guck forming over some of the plastic plants, and it seems over everything now is this slimy layer which debris loves to stick to. It makes everything look kind of covered in dust and dirt its pretty gross.



I am wondering what is it? Is it slime from the snails accumulating? Or is it some type of early stage fungus issue? Or is it algae?

I use generally tap water and had some water conditioner but ran out. Now its just basically tap water and I threw in a little of this freshwater specialized salt which protects the fish somehow..

Any ideas would be great and I really want to add some live plants but the guy at PJ's pet store who seems to know what he is talking about, said its a lot of work and makes the tank dirty fast.

Where in Toronto btw can I find the most exotic looking fresh water fish and also at a decent price anyone know?

thanks!

 

[iheartmyed9]

How often do you change the water? It sounds like your entirely too stocked in that tank, meaning the fish will outgrow that tank very soon if they haven't already plus there's some bad mixes in there as well.

 

[librarygirl]

Oh dear.

I hate to tell you but your tank is grossly overstocked and some fish aren't compatible as you are already experiencing aggression issues. What kind of Plecos are they?

The rainbow shark is going to need a much larger tank ASAP. The Gouramis may fight with each other; the shark, barbs and gouramis are going to go after your neon (is it a neon tetra? also they prefer larger groups which you can't add any more fish to your tank as is though). ADFs are not suitable for that tank at all IMO.

Also you NEED TO ADD DECHLORINATOR. Adding pure tap water is adding straight chemicals into your tank that are harmful to your fish and to the bacteria in your tank that are helping to keep toxins down (or are you using another water source?). How new is this tank? Have you checked water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)?
How often do you do water changes?

--You need a good liquid test kit like the API Master kit if you don't have one. If you have a test kit post ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. If you don't have one, get one now, this is very important for your fish.
--You also need to get a dechlorinator; Prime is best.
--YOu also need to either acquire another much larger tank (55 gals minimum if you want to keep the shark) sooner rather than later. Your tank is massively overstocked and it is not healthy for the fish. Also larger fish that are put in smaller tanks go through a process called stunting where their insides grow but their bodies do not and it is very painful for them. So either upgrade very soon or return/rehome a lot of those fish.
--The slime is the least of your problems I'm afraid.

 

[ttrance]

hello.

The tank was only recently stocked up like this. I only had about 13 fish until I started stocking up nicely 6 weeks ago.

I am in control of the crowding of the tank and right now its not an issue. I am going to be doing some shifting soon and I've created a really great atmosphere in the tank that it feels roomy for everyone. the bottom feeders spend all their time at the bottom hiding on one of many areas, and everyone else seems to have found their locations...

The take is well on over 6 months and I put in chemical neutralizer 2 months ago and again 6 weeks ago. There have been no deaths in the tank for over 4 months.

No signs of anything bad with any of the fish. They all look happy and healthy.

What I will do soon is move aggressive fish to seperate tank from non aggressive. I hear aggressive fish can live together in peace generally..

I take my water to the local pet store to get checked one in a while and last time they told me everything is perfect. PH was about 7.1

I will look into some decholorinator.

I want to get a 100 gallon tank or more, but first only when I move because we plan to carve it out of the wall and fit a tank in as a major house decoration... so these baby fish are all small but as they grow i want to move them to this massive tank and I think it will be great.


OH by the way I forgot I also have:
1x Angel Fish (this is my favourite been growing nicely and the fins are gorgeous!)

and the 2 unknown bottom feeders are infact chinese algae eaters.

My main goal now is to keep the tank healthy for the fish.

I do regular 10-20% water changes every week. And a vacuum every few months. I learned that the fish do not a squeaky clean tank, but a balance between natural and healthy.

 

[ttrance]

also the neon is a tetra neon I think. The common one blue and red. I bought 8 and they all died over time months ago when I got them sadly. Only this 1 survived he is a little legend in this tank!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi there.

Hello everyone,

Looks like I've found a great community here to share my new hobby love of Aquarium fish!
to AA!
I got a whole bunch of fish in my wonderful 30 gallon tank. Lets see If I can remember all of them:

1x blue gouryami Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you may experience a lot of aggression problems with more than one gourami in the tank.
1x gold gouryami
1x Neon Neon tetra? Needs a school of 6+
2x transparent tetras X-ray tetras? Could you post a pic?
3x Plecos Please give us a pic. Most plecos will outgrow a 30 gallon very fast.
2x some type of bottom feeders (one got huge compared to the other and is very aggressive, kind of golden brown with black) Chinese Algae Eaters. I don't even know where to start, those are highly aggressive fish (most of the time, with a few exceptions), grow a foot long, chase fish and will suck on slow-moving fish's slime coats. I would suggest finding a new home ASAP.
2x bloodfin tetras Needs a school of 6+
4x red barbosas Needs a school of 6+
1x female gummy (rest died) Do you mean guppy? To find out why they died, I must ask: is this tank cycled? What are your EXACT water parameters of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? What is your water change schedule? How much filtration do you have?
4x tiger barbs (1 died)Again, please answer the questions I asked above.
1x rainbow sharkI would recommend 55 gallon minimum, 75 in some cases. These are aggressive fish that I would not risk putting in any community.
1x mystery snail
1x zebra snail
2x dwarf frogsI would get them their own home. ASAP.
1x columbian tetraNeeds a school of 6+

wow that was a nice challenge to get that down. So they are all very happy it seems even through there are a few 'aggressive' types in there! I heard the blue gouryami is often very violent, but this one is gentle and nice. Just because it's gentle and nice now doesn't mean it will be. They are aggressive fish. It may look cute when litle, but when it matures and grows to it's full 6 inch size there is a high probability it will get aggressive and attack fish.

The only really aggressive fish surprisingly is this one bottom feeder/cleaner/sucker that just got massive so fast. He was aggressive and ate everything and left nothing for the other one of this species. The other one is now months later only starting to grow a bit, as I throw toooo much food down there so he has a great chance of getting it.
See the above post on CAE.
Some of the things listed above were only recently added in the last 6 weeks. I did a big water change and suction tube thing to remove tons of junk from the bottom.
As asked, WHAT IS YOUR WATER CHANGE SCHEDULE?
One issue I have that I do not know what to do, is there is a thick slimy guck forming over some of the plastic plants, and it seems over everything now is this slimy layer which debris loves to stick to. It makes everything look kind of covered in dust and dirt its pretty gross.
Probably poop, diatoms, planaria, algae, anything really. I need a pic.


I am wondering what is it? Is it slime from the snails accumulating? Or is it some type of early stage fungus issue? Or is it algae?

I use generally tap water and had some water conditioner but ran out. Now its just basically tap water and I threw in a little of this freshwater specialized salt which protects the fish somehow..
If you don't have any water conditioner I would air the water out by leaving it out for 24 hours so that the chlorine diffuses out or something of the sort.
Any ideas would be great and I really want to add some live plants but the guy at PJ's pet store who seems to know what he is talking about, said its a lot of work and makes the tank dirty fast.
That guy has no idea what he's talking bout, and the prime example is selling you all these fish without you knowing they're aggressive. In addition, live plants help take in ammonia and nitrates, provide some O2 for the fish, and can greatly help fish de-stress with hiding places.
Where in Toronto btw can I find the most exotic looking fresh water fish and also at a decent price anyone know?

thanks!

Posts in the bold red. Please take a read through them when you have a chance.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi again.

hello.

The tank was only recently stocked up like this. I only had about 13 fish until I started stocking up nicely 6 weeks ago.
I'm not sure where to begin, you have a bunch of incompatible fish living in a horribly small tank. To keep all those fish together I would recommend 120 gallon minimum so they're not overcrowded like sardines.
I am in control of the crowding of the tank and right now its not an issue. I am going to be doing some shifting soon and I've created a really great atmosphere in the tank that it feels roomy for everyone. the bottom feeders spend all their time at the bottom hiding on one of many areas, and everyone else seems to have found their locations...
To be honest I really hope you shift 3/4 of those fish out of there so you are partially overstocked, which is somewhat manageable.
The take is well on over 6 months and I put in chemical neutralizer 2 months ago and again 6 weeks ago. There have been no deaths in the tank for over 4 months.
Is the tank cycled...
No signs of anything bad with any of the fish. They all look happy and healthy.
Just because they look like that doesn't mean they are. Have you heard of ammonia burns? Internal parasites? All can be from bad water quality. There are things in fishkeeping you can't see.
What I will do soon is move aggressive fish to seperate tank from non aggressive. I hear aggressive fish can live together in peace generally..
Not necessarily. But in your case the rainbow shark and CAEs will work together.
I take my water to the local pet store to get checked one in a while and last time they told me everything is perfect. PH was about 7.1
And did they use strips to test your water? If it is, then we could be guessing. Strips are horribly inaccurate that tell you nothing, so basically your LFS could be lying to you. What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates concentration?
I will look into some decholorinator.
I recommend SeaChem Prime or Amquel Plus.
I want to get a 100 gallon tank or more, but first only when I move because we plan to carve it out of the wall and fit a tank in as a major house decoration... so these baby fish are all small but as they grow i want to move them to this massive tank and I think it will be great.


OH by the way I forgot I also have:
1x Angel Fish (this is my favourite been growing nicely and the fins are gorgeous!)
Oi! I do ask you to stop adding any more fish! Angels will look cute and nice when little, but they will
a) grow six inches in length by 10-12 inches in height
b) probably eat your neon tetras
c) be tormented by your tiger barbs. Tiger barbs are known fin nippers and will nip at your angel.
and the 2 unknown bottom feeders are infact chinese algae eaters.
Again, please see above post on CAE.
My main goal now is to keep the tank healthy for the fish.
Well, that's good to hear
I do regular 10-20% water changes every week. And a vacuum every few months. I learned that the fish do not a squeaky clean tank, but a balance between natural and healthy. You need to do 80-90% a week with that stock list. What is your filtration? You need to vaccuum every time you do a water change. And whoever told you they need a balance between "natural and healthy" and "not squeaky clean" is, I hate to say it, wrong, misinformed and downright dumb. Fish need clean water. In the wild, "naturally" there is no ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. The flow of the rivers is basically their water change. So, you need to mimic that. Having an overstocked tank and not knowing what your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate concentration is definitely not safe and not healthy.

Again, posts in bold red.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Ya this is a problem. Your tetras will either be eaten or dye because they are not in a group. You need one or two types of tetras, but at least 6 in each school. When you say your fish are happy, you can not really know if they are happy. I gaurentee the tetras are unhappy because they are not in groups. Even if you rearange your whole tank its only a 30 gallon, too small for all of those fish

 

[KonvictKeeper]

Bruinsbro pretty much said it all.

 

[ttrance]

thanks

alright so I thought the measurement is 1 inch of finch per gallon. I know right now I am slightly above that but you guys seem to be speaking of some massive overstock. I have less then 30 fish in total!

I wanted to buy more of the tetras to have a school but this was all they had in the store. The idea is to put the tetras somewhere else and fill that with a school


the CAE I will be taking back to the store, probably also the blue gouryami if its as violent as you guys say. The golden gouryami I have heard is less aggressive, so I want to try letting him get bigger.

The Shark may get big, but right now he is REALLLLLLLY tiny! Very cute! I know he will grow fast, but I read 30 gallons is ok for when they are small. I plan within 6 months to move everything in my main tank to a huge tank and to either have a second tank for breeding/aggressive fish.

About the levels in the water, I used these tablets that help with nitrites, others for ammonia and ph balancing to closer to 7.0

About cycling, I had the tank loaded for a few days with no fish, got a few fish. This is a long long long time ago. The tank has a good ecosystem, since I have not seen any signs of high anything. I regularily do my PWC, and the poster who said 80% water change a week, how will that not completely upset the biosystem?? All the bacteria that have built up now to convert ammonia into nitrites and than into nitrates will be gone, and that large amount of fish will produce alot. Better to have a 50% water change where a lot of the bacteria still exist and can quickly bloom and then you can do another 50% if needed soon after.

 

[jetajockey]

Welcome to the forum. The 1" per gallon rule is really inaccurate, but even if you were to go by it, you should calculate based on the estimated adult size of each fish since they rarely adult size when they are introduced into the tank.

 

[HN1]

There's some very good advice in the thread. A couple of points. The "inch per gallon" rule is myth and not truly applicable. The beneficial bacteria which are responsible for the "good ecosystem" aren't present in concentration in the water. They populate surfaces inside your tank primarily in the filter media and gravel. There's also another reason to change a lot of water. Fish secrete all sorts of stuff in response to stress and other things. In nature they are washed away by flow and volume. We don't have filtration to remove them so we have to remove and replace the water.

I'm glad that your tank is healthy, but I worry about increased troubles as they mature. They will mature and grow and you will have trouble. IMO. There are some great resources in the articles section and stickied on the forums that may help explain some of the things discussed a little more in depth.

Good luck to you and your fish.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

alright so I thought the measurement is 1 inch of finch per gallon. I know right now I am slightly above that but you guys seem to be speaking of some massive overstock. I have less then 30 fish in total!

I wanted to buy more of the tetras to have a school but this was all they had in the store. The idea is to put the tetras somewhere else and fill that with a school
To be honest the inch per gallo rule is outdated and does more harm than good. Stocking has a lot of factors to take into account.

the CAE I will be taking back to the store, probably also the blue gouryami if its as violent as you guys say. The golden gouryami I have heard is less aggressive, so I want to try letting him get bigger.
IME the gold ones are not.
The Shark may get big, but right now he is REALLLLLLLY tiny! Very cute! I know he will grow fast, but I read 30 gallons is ok for when they are small. I plan within 6 months to move everything in my main tank to a huge tank and to either have a second tank for breeding/aggressive fish.
Good to hear
About the levels in the water, I used these tablets that help with nitrites, others for ammonia and ph balancing to closer to 7.0
I would not use those. Nothing gets rid of ammonia and nitrites but bacteria. Don't mess with the pH. It's fine where it is.
About cycling, I had the tank loaded for a few days with no fish, got a few fish. This is a long long long time ago. The tank has a good ecosystem, since I have not seen any signs of high anything. I regularily do my PWC, and the poster who said 80% water change a week, how will that not completely upset the biosystem?? All the bacteria that have built up now to convert ammonia into nitrites and than into nitrates will be gone, and that large amount of fish will produce alot. Better to have a 50% water change where a lot of the bacteria still exist and can quickly bloom and then you can do another 50% if needed soon after.Actually, most of your bacteria lives in your filter, not in your water. What is in your water are nitrates that are dangerous to fish. Those can truly only be gotten rid of by plants, and more importantly water changes. Because you have so many fish in your tank nitrates can build up easily, which is why I suggested such massive water changes.

My answers in bold red again

 

[davePM]

alright so I thought the measurement is 1 inch of finch per gallon. I know right now I am slightly above that but you guys seem to be speaking of some massive overstock. I have less then 30 fish in total!

I wanted to buy more of the tetras to have a school but this was all they had in the store. The idea is to put the tetras somewhere else and fill that with a school

the CAE I will be taking back to the store, probably also the blue gouryami if its as violent as you guys say. The golden gouryami I have heard is less aggressive, so I want to try letting him get bigger.

The Shark may get big, but right now he is REALLLLLLLY tiny! Very cute! I know he will grow fast, but I read 30 gallons is ok for when they are small. I plan within 6 months to move everything in my main tank to a huge tank and to either have a second tank for breeding/aggressive fish.

About the levels in the water, I used these tablets that help with nitrites, others for ammonia and ph balancing to closer to 7.0

About cycling, I had the tank loaded for a few days with no fish, got a few fish. This is a long long long time ago. The tank has a good ecosystem, since I have not seen any signs of high anything. I regularily do my PWC, and the poster who said 80% water change a week, how will that not completely upset the biosystem?? All the bacteria that have built up now to convert ammonia into nitrites and than into nitrates will be gone, and that large amount of fish will produce alot. Better to have a 50% water change where a lot of the bacteria still exist and can quickly bloom and then you can do another 50% if needed soon after.

Your understanding of PWC is way off. I do 75% a week on my Oscar tank. You could easily , and safely do 50% a DAY if needed. Almost no bacteria lives in the water.

 

[ttrance]

well I picked up a lot of good information from all your posts.

Today I went and did another vacuum, filter change and water about 70% changed. I also took the 2x CAE, the 4x tiger barbs, the blue gouryami, the columbian tetra and the neon tetra back to the store because you guys say aggressive and not good for the mix, as well the neon is alone and I cant buy another 7 of them.

So I took them back and instead focused on making good schools for the bloodfins (got 4x new ones, now I have 6x bloodfins and they seem super happy all together), and 2 more x-ray tetras I think (see through with kind of yellow body). I also couldn't resist saying yes to this cute little catfish that must be no bigger than a young childs thumb, and a couple guppies to give company to the sole survivor from my original fish. Everyone looks verrrry happy!

except with the 1inch rule out the window, I feel its still overcrowded and sadly think I may depart with the 4x barbosasa (rabrosas? I have no idea how its spelt!). I have a friend with a huge tank and just some guppies, so I think I will send the 4x over to him and his big 50+ gallon tank.

How does this new setup sound? Should I still do huge water changes often?

 

[HN1]

First off, good on you. I think you'll enjoy a lot more success going in that direction fish-wise. I think you mean rasboras...? If so, 4 of them are very insignificant in bioload that I would leave them. Sounding pretty good to me. Water changes are always a good thing. Test your water and watch your fish.