Megagalvatron1
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2019
- Messages
- 17
Hello I’m new to the forms here. I joined because I have a lot of problems with my tank and I don’t know what to do. Of course going to Petsmart and Petco I get many different answers and going online I get more confused than when I started. I’ll try to get as much information as I can so hopefully I can get some help to get this tank fixed. I really don’t wanna lose my fish or frog.
This is my first aquarium I’ve ever personally had to take care of. I grew up in a house with a lot of aquariums but never really did any of the work. My children wanted to buy a beta fish so they bought it and put it in a 1 gallon filtered tank. I made sure I purchased beta water and filled the tank up with that. They also bought a Pleco which at the time I did not know would grow as big as it would, that has since been taken to Petco and donated and somebody else has purchased it. They put a bunch of algae wafers in the tank which then caused the tank to turn gray so I knew I had to do something immediately. I made sure The beta didn’t move around or Swim it just laid on the bottom so after some research I went ahead and got him a 5.5 gallon tank (two weeks ago yesterday). I put a heater in it kept at 78°, some silk plants, 3 moss balls And some other fish. I honestly never knew anything about cycling a tank or anything like that I went to Petsmart and bought water that said it was pre-treated and that came with beneficial bacteria and said I could then start the immediately once I fill the tank with that. I had three shrimp and African dwarf frog and a beta.
I did know I supposed to monitor pH and all that so I for the first week would go to Petsmart and have them check and everything was always within range. I did add a few more shrimp I ended up at one point having 13 shrimp. After a week I did add a albino Cory.
A problem did arise on the first night when my froggy jumped out of the tank. It was out of the tank for about half an hour I assume as we ate dinner cleaned up and all which did take a while. When I found it it was hard I put it back in the tank and it sunk like a rock. Slowly did come back to life but stayed hidden for over a week. Once it finally did come out it was very pale and skinny. When it finally started moving about I spent time trying to figure out how to feed it. It’s a Fine now but at first I did not want to eat at all. I tried hand feeding it at all. I finally realized once it was ready it started eating all I had to do was drop frog pellets into the tank and it would find them. Because of the fact that it was so underweight I did feed it a few pallets twice a day about 5 or 6. Any pellets that were left over of the shrimp would take care of or the Cory.
I would feed my beta fish a few pellets each day. One or two of them would end up in the filter. Sometimes I would give the beta dried worms or shrimp. On the day before my tank had a nitrates spike I fed the frog on a little bridge I have. It did leave some food on the bridge more than I’d like as I didn’t notice it didn’t eat them earlier and the shrimp never went up to the bridge to eat it. I figured I would need to clean this up the next day. The next day I noticed a shrimp was dead and decapitated the bottom of my tank. I figured the frog must’ve ate one. I did a water change which was my second one since I had it. I changed about a gallon of the water and vacuumed it out I did however scrub some bacteria off of the heater not realizing it was beneficial bacteria and I should’ve left it. I also noticed I was missing a few more of my shrimp this day.
I figured I would go to Petsmart and replace some of the shrimp but I also want to know what was going on with my tank as I was just concerned with the fact that I was missing a lot of shrimp about five. My beta was also constipated. After looking up about the constipation decided not to feed them for the next two days as my frog had been eaten twice a day for a week and the beta was constipated. When I took my water and had it tested at Petco the nitrites were 5.0. PH was fine the water is hard and nitrates were also high. Ammonia was fine. This was two days ago. They told me to buy stability and put that in the tank and hope for the best. Yesterday I just added the stability. Online I see I should be trying to do water changes and so forth. I did change my water today 2 quarts worth. I’ve put in the stability in the tank also. Nitrates and all are still at five. I don’t know what to do as I really don’t want to lose my frog beta or catfish.
I have witnessed today that the beta and the frog are probably part of the reason why I don’t have the shrimp as I watched them kill one. The beta killed it and then the frog and beta were fighting over the corpse. They would literally take turns eating it. Either my frog nor my beta seems affected but I know this is not good conditions. I don’t know what I should do what can I do to get these nitrates down. I do not have a smaller tank to move anything into. Should I change my filter? Or maybe rinse it with tank water to see if that helps? I’m not sure if any nitrates would be in a filter or not. The filter is very green. Also could the nitrates be what’s causing my frog and beta all the sudden to be extra aggressive when it comes to the ghost shrimp that they were not bothered by for the last two weeks?
I’m sorry this is so long I just know from the two weeks of reading this while I’ve been dealing with this tank that people like as much information as they can to try and help. I also know a lot of this does have to do with me being a complete beginner when it comes to this. I tried my best to do as much research as I could and all after this beta was already in the house to try and figure out how to make sure he was happy. I also did research on what was considered good tank mates for it. Up untill all of this the beta it was not bothered by anything and what actually swim right with the shrimp or the frog and all the sudden now it’s eating the shrimp. Also sorry for the wall of text. When I typed it I made paragraphs but when I posted my paragraphs when away.
This is my first aquarium I’ve ever personally had to take care of. I grew up in a house with a lot of aquariums but never really did any of the work. My children wanted to buy a beta fish so they bought it and put it in a 1 gallon filtered tank. I made sure I purchased beta water and filled the tank up with that. They also bought a Pleco which at the time I did not know would grow as big as it would, that has since been taken to Petco and donated and somebody else has purchased it. They put a bunch of algae wafers in the tank which then caused the tank to turn gray so I knew I had to do something immediately. I made sure The beta didn’t move around or Swim it just laid on the bottom so after some research I went ahead and got him a 5.5 gallon tank (two weeks ago yesterday). I put a heater in it kept at 78°, some silk plants, 3 moss balls And some other fish. I honestly never knew anything about cycling a tank or anything like that I went to Petsmart and bought water that said it was pre-treated and that came with beneficial bacteria and said I could then start the immediately once I fill the tank with that. I had three shrimp and African dwarf frog and a beta.
I did know I supposed to monitor pH and all that so I for the first week would go to Petsmart and have them check and everything was always within range. I did add a few more shrimp I ended up at one point having 13 shrimp. After a week I did add a albino Cory.
A problem did arise on the first night when my froggy jumped out of the tank. It was out of the tank for about half an hour I assume as we ate dinner cleaned up and all which did take a while. When I found it it was hard I put it back in the tank and it sunk like a rock. Slowly did come back to life but stayed hidden for over a week. Once it finally did come out it was very pale and skinny. When it finally started moving about I spent time trying to figure out how to feed it. It’s a Fine now but at first I did not want to eat at all. I tried hand feeding it at all. I finally realized once it was ready it started eating all I had to do was drop frog pellets into the tank and it would find them. Because of the fact that it was so underweight I did feed it a few pallets twice a day about 5 or 6. Any pellets that were left over of the shrimp would take care of or the Cory.
I would feed my beta fish a few pellets each day. One or two of them would end up in the filter. Sometimes I would give the beta dried worms or shrimp. On the day before my tank had a nitrates spike I fed the frog on a little bridge I have. It did leave some food on the bridge more than I’d like as I didn’t notice it didn’t eat them earlier and the shrimp never went up to the bridge to eat it. I figured I would need to clean this up the next day. The next day I noticed a shrimp was dead and decapitated the bottom of my tank. I figured the frog must’ve ate one. I did a water change which was my second one since I had it. I changed about a gallon of the water and vacuumed it out I did however scrub some bacteria off of the heater not realizing it was beneficial bacteria and I should’ve left it. I also noticed I was missing a few more of my shrimp this day.
I figured I would go to Petsmart and replace some of the shrimp but I also want to know what was going on with my tank as I was just concerned with the fact that I was missing a lot of shrimp about five. My beta was also constipated. After looking up about the constipation decided not to feed them for the next two days as my frog had been eaten twice a day for a week and the beta was constipated. When I took my water and had it tested at Petco the nitrites were 5.0. PH was fine the water is hard and nitrates were also high. Ammonia was fine. This was two days ago. They told me to buy stability and put that in the tank and hope for the best. Yesterday I just added the stability. Online I see I should be trying to do water changes and so forth. I did change my water today 2 quarts worth. I’ve put in the stability in the tank also. Nitrates and all are still at five. I don’t know what to do as I really don’t want to lose my frog beta or catfish.
I have witnessed today that the beta and the frog are probably part of the reason why I don’t have the shrimp as I watched them kill one. The beta killed it and then the frog and beta were fighting over the corpse. They would literally take turns eating it. Either my frog nor my beta seems affected but I know this is not good conditions. I don’t know what I should do what can I do to get these nitrates down. I do not have a smaller tank to move anything into. Should I change my filter? Or maybe rinse it with tank water to see if that helps? I’m not sure if any nitrates would be in a filter or not. The filter is very green. Also could the nitrates be what’s causing my frog and beta all the sudden to be extra aggressive when it comes to the ghost shrimp that they were not bothered by for the last two weeks?
I’m sorry this is so long I just know from the two weeks of reading this while I’ve been dealing with this tank that people like as much information as they can to try and help. I also know a lot of this does have to do with me being a complete beginner when it comes to this. I tried my best to do as much research as I could and all after this beta was already in the house to try and figure out how to make sure he was happy. I also did research on what was considered good tank mates for it. Up untill all of this the beta it was not bothered by anything and what actually swim right with the shrimp or the frog and all the sudden now it’s eating the shrimp. Also sorry for the wall of text. When I typed it I made paragraphs but when I posted my paragraphs when away.