Frustrated.. thinking I'm not cut out for fishkeeping. Need advice please.

[aquaponicpaw]

The thing I disagree with here is that water changes are absolutely necessary to removed dissolved compounds and toxins and to remove nitrate buildup and replace essential minerals and trace nutrients. Neglecting to do water changed can be equally detrimental.

Just re-read my post. dont see where I said not to change water.

 

[ashleynicole]

Just re-read my post. dont see where I said not to change water.

No but the way you worded it you said not to mess with the water and just leave it alone , some people might take that the wrong way so I just wanted to clarify

I've heard many older fish keeping advice to only do very tiny water changes so you don't mess up the water chemestry which is a load of bull.... So I just wanted to make sure that's not what you meant.

Wheather its tapwater or wellwater, as long as you use the same water each time and a good water conditioner, large volume water changes are a very good thing. Unless you just have something really wrong with your water.

 

[aquaponicpaw]

No but the way you worded it you said not to mess with the water and just leave it alone , some people might take that the wrong way so I just wanted to clarify

The way it was worded was to imply that a lot of changes are being made by the hands of the fish keeper. And that as a beginner it is best to let Her tank evolve and take a shape of it's own. As opposed to being molded.

 

[Megacichlid]

Just be carefull as to not spike your ph and shock the fish,i do a 50% and a 20% weekly,im on a well and use only fresh water salt no other additives,however im keeping jags and oscars two pretty easy to satisfy cichlids,not all fish are this forgiving,so one should really try to understand his/her particular species in order to do whats best for them,tap water with lots of chlorine can clean out a tank pretty fast,if too much of a spike is done at one time

 

[ashleynicole]

Just be carefull as to not spike your ph and shock the fish,i do a 50% and a 20% weekly,im on a well and use only fresh water salt no other additives,however im keeping jags and oscars two pretty easy to satisfy cichlids,not all fish are this forgiving,so one should really try to understand his/her particular species in order to do whats best for them,tap water with lots of chlorine can clean out a tank pretty fast,if too much of a spike is done at one time

Not if you use a good water conditioner.. I have prime and use tapwater and change anywhere from 30-80% of the water every week. I havn't lost a fish since the last time I added stock, maybe 2 months ago.

Unless you have really soft water, Ph should remain stable unless you are adding products to adjust Ph, which is a big no no. (unless its something natural like crushed coral to buffer soft water)

 

[ashleynicole]

The way it was worded was to imply that a lot of changes are being made by the hands of the fish keeper. And that as a beginner it is best to let Her tank evolve and take a shape of it's own. As opposed to being molded.

I disagree, I think a new tank requires a lot of work and attention. Just my opinion..

And hers is a small system. The smaller the system the more likely very small issues can cause bigger problems which is why it is even more vital to pay attention to everything.

I went away for 3 days and came back to my entire stock dead in a 12 gallon planted I had. My best guess was something died and caused a massive ammonia spike and then the rest was history. At that time my 55 gallon sometimes would have random fish die or I would find just the skeletons and it never caused an issue in the bigger tank.

 

[Megacichlid]

Im not disagreeing with anyone,i think if its a new tank,then it must cycle,or fish WILL
Die,if there is no bacteria to eat the nitrates they will adversly affect the fish,causing health issues or in most cases death,as allways when in doubt....google it

 

[aquaponicpaw]

Im not disagreeing with anyone,i think if its a new tank,then it must cycle,or fish WILL
Die,if there is no bacteria to eat the nitrates they will adversly affect the fish,causing health issues or in most cases death,as allways when in doubt....google it

My sentiments exactly. so much is being done to the tank that it is on a 60 day cycle. No matter the size of the tank. It must be allowed to cycle THOROUGHLY and it must be allowed to mature.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi there,

So sorry to hear about your fish. But don't give up! If you work hard enough it will pay off

A Few Quick Questions, sorry if I missed them along the way as I was reading through this thread:
1. What fish died?
2. How exactly did you cycle the tank?
3. Do you have somewhat consistent readings of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH before/after the WC?
4. Have you tested your tap water?

 

[aquaponicpaw]

add fish slowly

gravel vac small patches

have some type of live plant to help offsite "waste"

make sure to have appropriate scavengers

try to get a canister filter, there are several videos on youtube where you can make one for under 20 bucks. that way you can increase the capacity of your aquarium, and with a tank that small you can easily create the biofiltration needed to handle whatever you load it with.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Have you heard of the famous (although equally infamous) fish-in cycle? You can add fish to the tank at once and set everything up. It takes more work, but it can be done.

As a member on here, eco23's, signature says:
"Being responsible...fishless cycling defines it, fish-in requires it. Choose wisely."
1.I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
2.http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Im not disagreeing with anyone,i think if its a new tank,then it must cycle,or fish WILL
Die,if there is no bacteria to eat the nitrates they will adversly affect the fish,causing health issues or in most cases death,as allways when in doubt....google it

It is possible to cycle a tank with fish and not loose or even harm a single one during the process. I have successfully done this many times (and so have many other members of AA). It's all about large frequent water changes when needed. IMO the more clean fresh water you can flush through a tank the better.

 

[Sisserydoo]

When I do maintenance on my tanks I try not to do too much at once. I might do a partial water change by just scooping out water, OR a small water change by gravel vacuum OR I might wipe down the inside glass OR change out my filter cartridge. I never do more than one of these things in about a 3 or 4 day period because I'm afraid it's just too much. When I vacuum the gravel I do about a third of it.

These are just my methods, take it for what it's worth

 

[aquaponicpaw]

When I do maintenance on my tanks I try not to do too much at once. I might do a partial water change by just scooping out water, OR a small water change by gravel vacuum OR I might wipe down the inside glass OR change out my filter cartridge. I never do more than one of these things in about a 3 or 4 day period because I'm afraid it's just too much. When I vacuum the gravel I do about a third of it.

These are just my methods, take it for what it's worth

awesome advice

 

[Sisserydoo]

Have you heard of the famous (although equally infamous) fish-in cycle? You can add fish to the tank at once and set everything up. It takes more work, but it can be done.

I'd never heard about fishless before I joined this forum. I started keeping fish last April on my birthday (my husband bought me a 10 gallon tank) after not having had a tank in 15+ years. I set up my tank on my birthday, and the next day bought a black molly and 3 zebra danios. I now have a 20 gallon and 27 hex, and I still have the molly, and all her babies, and those 3 danios with some friends I bought them. They're still alive and kicking!!! Or swimming or flipping or whatever

What is the moral of this story? I have no idea! Maybe that you can keep fish alive with fish in, and still have them die with fishless. Which way is better? I don't know that either! I'm just too impatient to wait to get fish...I know that's a bad thing, that's just the way I am.

 

[ashleynicole]

When I do maintenance on my tanks I try not to do too much at once. I might do a partial water change by just scooping out water, OR a small water change by gravel vacuum OR I might wipe down the inside glass OR change out my filter cartridge. I never do more than one of these things in about a 3 or 4 day period because I'm afraid it's just too much. When I vacuum the gravel I do about a third of it.

These are just my methods, take it for what it's worth

When I do maintenance I do everything. I work 12 hour shifts so I need to get as much done as I can when I'm doing it or it won't get done. And I do large water changes, that way if I get called in to work on my day off and don't get to do a water change its not as bad. I clean the filter, rinse the sponge in dechlorinated water, and scrub the sides of the tank. I use a magfloat on my 29g glass tank but don't have an acrylic safe magfloat for the small 5 gallons so its old fashioned elbow grease on those.

 

[akagochi]

We feel your pain. When I first started this hobby I had a 10 gallon tank which my wife starting calling the death trap. Fish were turning up dead every day, and I wanted to just say screw it, and give in. I echo the forum in suggesting to clean decor and plants in fresh water, and then start over using your BB's from your old filter. I stay away from the Pet smarts and Petcos when it comes to buying fish. One suggestion that wasn't mentioned is a little crazy, but you may want to go bigger; It is actually harder keeping smaller tanks IMO than larger ones. Maybe a quaint 16 gallon tank? sorry for your losses; hang in there, it only gets better.

 

[Scouser]

I agree with the larger tank remark.

My tank now is my first and it's 17gal, even then I still had a rocky start (bad test kits mainly) which caused me to lose 2 otos and a betta (profile pic)

Cleaning it out would help eliminate any possible contaminants, hope you don't give in.

A thriving tank is so rewarding! My tetra come to the glass to see daddy, and the rat cage nearby means I get swamped by critters when it's fish feeding time (rats nom my hand and scratch to shreds to get a lick of fish food left on my hand!)

 

[cubsfan85]

Going to try to answer some of the questions posted. As an update, I did go ahead and clean my decor and plants really well. Did a kind of "deep-cleaning" I wasn't able to while there were fish still in the tank. Left the filter alone. It has a carbon filter, which I don't change like they recommend you to, only when it gets super grody and started to fall apart. It also has a bio-wheel. And I have some ceramic rings in there too that a friend gave me when I first got the tank to help me cycle it. I'm going to wait another week or so and then re-add fish from a LFS. Slowly of course.

Do you have any temperature fluctuations? Where is the tank located?

It's in the living room and there are no temp fluctuations. BF keeps the place a steady 72F all year long.

Do you dechloronate your water? Maybe there is something in your water supply. Do you have well water? Maybe something toxic is leaching in. I would suggest going on craigslist and finding a minimum of a 30 gallon tank you will not regret it.

I use Prime to dechlorinate. As I said before, I do plan on upgrading when we move into a house early next year.

The way it was worded was to imply that a lot of changes are being made by the hands of the fish keeper. And that as a beginner it is best to let Her tank evolve and take a shape of it's own. As opposed to being molded.

Not sure what you mean either. The only chemical I add is Prime, to dechlorinate. I don't mess with the water chemistry otherwise except to do PWC's.

Hi there,

So sorry to hear about your fish. But don't give up! If you work hard enough it will pay off

A Few Quick Questions, sorry if I missed them along the way as I was reading through this thread:
1. What fish died?
2. How exactly did you cycle the tank?
3. Do you have somewhat consistent readings of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH before/after the WC?
4. Have you tested your tap water?

I've had guppies and Dalmation Molly's in the tank. Oh, and Myster Snails.
I did a fish-in cycle with a couple of guppies. Because of the ceramic rings mentioned above, the tank cycled really quickly. However, I added more fish in too quickly and started the cycle all over again. I was doing daily PWC's for a few weeks until it recycled. My readings were stable, the only thing that registered was Nitrate and they were in the 10-20 range. I did test my tap water when I first got the test kit.

Have you heard of the famous (although equally infamous) fish-in cycle? You can add fish to the tank at once and set everything up. It takes more work, but it can be done.

As a member on here, eco23's, signature says:
"Being responsible...fishless cycling defines it, fish-in requires it. Choose wisely."
1.I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
2.http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

As I said above, I did do a fish-in cycle to begin with. It went very quickly until I added in too many fish and got it out of whack again. Since then, I only add one at a time!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Sounds alright so far. Are the fish still dying even though you're adding them one by one? If that's the case, I blame poor stock at the fish store.