Tank Problems....

[SicklySweet]

Hey all...

I just started a 30 gallon freshwater tropical tank a few weeks ago with just a plant, still working on getting other stuff for decor. A week later I bought a dalmation molly and it lived for about 9 days. One morning I woke up, the filter had stopped working in the middle of the night and the fish was dead (i'm assuming, though it doesn't seem likely, that it was due to the filter stopping - no oxygen). So after talking to a Petco salesman, who seemed knowledgeable, I did a water change (about 20%) and bought a leopard danio (about 3 days ago). Then yesterday I had my water tested.

Chlorine/Chloramine: fine
Ammonia: fine
pH: 7.8 (I knew it was high, didn't think that it was this high)
Nitrite/Nitrate: a bit high, but still in the normal range

I've since bought another plant (the plants are all doing fine), and the danio is doing alright, but he seems stressed (overactive and will often ignore food, coming back to it later).

My problem is this: the pH out of the tap seems to be 7.8 or around there (I'd like it around neutral). I bought some "pH Down" stuff at the store, but it doesn't seem to work well in the established aquarium. So after talking to another salesman who seemed knowledgable, I came up with two options:

1) Do lots of water changes and treat the water with ph down before dumping it in the tank.
2) Do a 50% water change with distilled water, and use distilled water rather than tap water from now on (using some aquarium salt with electrolytes too).

I've heard you can also use peat in the filter, but I don't know where to find that or how to use it.

Any suggestions to solve this pH problem and get my aquarium a lot more established soon would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

 

[Madame_X]

I wouldn't concern yourself with lowering your PH. Unless you plan to keep fragile fish, most will do fine at that PH. My tapwater PH is about 8.1 and I have seven happy and content fish who do perfectly fine in my tapwater (2 neon blue dwarf gouramis, 3 platies and 2 upside down catfish).

If you really want to keep more sensitive fish, I'd recommend mixing tapwater with RO water to get the desired PH/KH. I do this in my 30 gallon tank with my rams. A large piece of driftwood also helps lower the PH naturally.

Stable PH is more important than a neutral PH for most fish. Messing with chemicals can cause a drastic swing which is harmful to the fish.

Good luck with your tank!

 

[SicklySweet]

Hmm, Okay thanks! I guess I was just thinking it was one of the most important things to make sure the pH was around neutral. I was planning on getting some more danios, maybe a couple gouramis, a shark (either red-tail or bala i guess? though I think bala might get too big), and looking into cichlids...I like the Mbuna Cichlids though they seem very finnicky.

Thanks for the fast response and any other thoughts would be appreciated

 

[Terry]

The one thing i think you should decide is what types of fish you want to keep. Madame x was right in saying that the types of fish you have at the moment will live in the PH you have.
if you are thinking of Mbuna, then that is a type of fish that needs harder waters. IMO mbuna are not finnicky, with the right conditions they are very easy to keep. That is the one thing good about this forum you will alway get an answer no matter what fish you keep, so just keep asking questions no matter how silly you think they are. There is always somebody here to help.

Just ask away....

 

[SicklySweet]

Thanks.

Yea another problem with Mbuna is that they don't seem to be sold a lot around here (DC). All I can find in the area is Petco's. If anybody knows of any lfs's that have better selection/knowledge in the DC area, it would be very appreciated (especially so I can find some better decor for the tank - driftwood, rock, etc).

I was even thinking about just using the tank for one piranha, but I don't know where I might find one around here.

So with the water hardness as it is, maybe I will try to start up an Mbuna tank. I've been reading up on it but any other suggestions would be appreciated, can't really think of any specific questions at the moment.

 

[Allivymar]

Just a FYI, but any nitrites in the water is too much. A tank isn't cycled until there is NO ammonia or nitrites. The nitrites compete with oxygen and the fish can suffocate; is why you don't want any on the tank (really, there are no "safe" levels; even low levels will stress your fish). Try to hold off on adding any fish until those nitrite levels are gone.

 

[SicklySweet]

Hmm ok, I plan on getting the water tested again when i go to the lfs before buying the fish...so hopefully the tank is just finishing cycling through.

 

[Allivymar]

Good idea You might want to purchase your own tests (I'm guessing you currently are having the lfs test for you?). You'll need to keep an eye on your water parameters once you add more fish; your tank will be only set up to handle the one fish you have in there now, and more fish will mean more ammonia and nitrites until the bacterial colonies catch up. Shouldn't take too long as there will be bacteria already established in the tank, but again, you don't want to expose your babies to ammonia or nitrites.

 

[SicklySweet]

ya i am having the lfs test it. as of right now i'm trying to stay in a small budget but i plan on getting my own tests sometime soon. if the tests show that the water is fine, how many fish would you reccomend buying? just 1 or maybe 3 or more? (i've read that the lake malawai tanks do the best when you get around 15 mbuna's? maybe a little less?)

 

[Allivymar]

You actually don't want to stock too lightly with mbunas. They can be real territorial and aggressive with too few fish to spread the aggression around. You'll want to add all the fish you are planning on having at once, or you take a chance on new additions being attacked. If you have to add them piecemeal, try rearranging the tank to break up some of the territory lines. Its also recommended to have a 1 male/2-3 female ratio although its tough to sex em when they're young.

I'm sure theres more; hopefully madasa and shawmutt will stop in as they are more knowledgeable on African cichlids then I.

Also, tests are not something to put off; best to get your own asap as you'll want to test the water daily when you first add the fish, to make sure the bacterial colonies are large enough to handle the nitrogenous waste load. You may need to do some water changes initially till the bacteria catches up.

 

[SicklySweet]

Got the water tested again, still nitrites so I bought some of that BIO-Spira stuff to speed up the cycling. And after looking at prices, I'm thinking of getting a few piranha for the tank instead of doing a Malawai tank....

 

[Allivymar]

Coupla FYI's on pirahnas:

Do check and make sure they are legal in DC; they aren't in many states. Something to do with survival chances in local waters. Did you see them in a lfs?

Also know they are boring as heck except at feeding time.

 

[SicklySweet]

They are legal in DC and I did find some red belly p's and some striped p's at an lfs. I've heard that they can be a bit boring as well, but are they reall that much more boring than a cichlid tank?

 

[Allivymar]

In my experience yeah; friend had a pirahna tank a while back. The only time they did anything was when he fed em. They just aren't as personable as cichlids; cichlids can be taught to do basic tricks and are fascinated with people. Have to admit I've never seen pirahnas do tricks; then again, I've only seen a coupla pirahna tanks.

 

[SicklySweet]

my room flooded because of rain so i dumped out half the water and moved the tank upstairs temporarily. i just had the water tested and the nitrite levels are the same or higher than they were before. unfortunate, now i have to wait a bit longer. I have a penguin 170 running now, but to save the bacteria from the AC Mini, I took the media out and left it sitting submerged in the tank. The AC Mini filter has a nasty smell but I'm assuming the bacteria living in the media are still fine. Right move? And should I bother getting another bio-spira pack to end the clycling? (i was just planning on testing the water again in a week. Hopefully then the tank will be set up back to normal again. I was also wondering if having a gravel vacuum is really necessary. It seems it, but I was just making sure.