My 44g log

[Mumma.of.two]

Tested this morning
Ammo-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-20

did a 50% WC.

pH 7.4
temp-75f

Was surprised by the spike in nitrates. Is there anything other than adding live plants that will reduce nitrates so I do not have to do PWC so often. I planned for weekly PWC but if levels increase like that then I will need to do daily PWC.

Adding live plants will help. Other than that PWC.

 

[Bigge_al]

Anacharis added

Purchased an Anacharis and I think it will help out the Nitrate issue. I think it has a hitchhiker plant with it. Once it grows a little I will be able to tell. I also picked up some frozen blood worm to give as a treat once or twice a week.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Do we get any pics? how's the new filter going?

 

[Bigge_al]

New Pictures

I am so glad I picked up the new filter. I came home today to the older filter not picking up water and after inspection I found that the blades on the impeller were all gone. I ordered a new impeller and a extention for the filter.

Here are a few pics.

Mickey and his two glofish friends with new plant

My Tiger visiting the new plant

And I can not forget my son's favorite seat now

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I am so glad I picked up the new filter. I came home today to the older filter not picking up water and after inspection I found that the blades on the impeller were all gone. I ordered a new impeller and a extention for the filter.

Here are a few pics.

Mickey and his two glofish friends with new plant

My Tiger visiting the new plant

And I can not forget my son's favorite seat now

Looking good.
Lucky! Make sure you keep the media wet from the broken filter. Take it out an put it near the intake of the other one so it still gets good water flow.
It's amazing that even the most active kids will sit in front of a tank for ages and watch the fish. My little monsters (1+3) love watching the fish too.

 

[Bigge_al]

Ammo-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20

I did a 50% water change. About 8 hours later one of my Tiger Barbs was dead I am not sure what happen I did notice that one of them was always by himself from day one I figure he was sick or injured. I returned him and while there picked up 2 mollies 1 sailfin dalmatian (Pongo) and 1 sailfin black (Pink Floyd).

I tried cutting fins into the broken impeller (big failure) got one on the way.

 

[Bigge_al]

Ammo-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20-40

Did a 75% water change and found the black molly dead so I took him back and went to a different store get another fish ended up with 2 added a silver to the black molly.

When I returned home I added the mollies and the black molly jumped out of the tank and fell 5 feet hitting a step stool on the way down at first he did not look good but after 30 min he is swimming around. But as I was checking on him I saw a tiger barb looked to be dead but he was at deaths door I pulled him from the tank and put him in a bucket he went belly up then to my surprise 20 min later he was swimming around the bucket so i put him back in the tank.

I am wondering if since he does not have a partner like the other 4 barbs do u think he could be being bullied. I will check on them tonight.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ammo-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20-40

Did a 75% water change and found the black molly dead so I took him back and went to a different store get another fish ended up with 2 added a silver to the black molly.

When I returned home I added the mollies and the black molly jumped out of the tank and fell 5 feet hitting a step stool on the way down at first he did not look good but after 30 min he is swimming around. But as I was checking on him I saw a tiger barb looked to be dead but he was at deaths door I pulled him from the tank and put him in a bucket he went belly up then to my surprise 20 min later he was swimming around the bucket so i put him back in the tank.

I am wondering if since he does not have a partner like the other 4 barbs do u think he could be being bullied. I will check on them tonight.

Fish jumping out of the tank and fish going belly up is something to watch out for. Are any more showing signs of distress? Gasping ? Anything abnormal?

 

[Bigge_al]

The dalmatian molly is still not very active, the black molly is shy and the silver molly seems to be doing fine but he silver and black came from Petsmart today. The tiger barb died and I can see that another one is not looking well. If the tiger passes I plan to take all of them back I should have know better than to buy fish from Walmart.

The impeller came this afternoon and I wasted no time putting it in and wow what a difference in power from before.

The glofish and platies all are very active.


The nitrate level is at 10ppm.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

IMO do a PWC and see if it helps them out. Fresh water can do wonders.

 

[Bigge_al]

Did a 25% PWC the activity of the mollies increased but the tiger barbs are still hiding and are not active. I have noticed they paired off and one pair is in the log and the other pair is in the top of a treasure castle.

 

[Bigge_al]

I checked the temp in the tank with a second thermometer it read 78 but the one on the side said 75. I looked at the heater it was set to 78 so I assume that my second temp is correct so I dropped the temp in the tank to 75 on the heater.

 

[Bigge_al]

I took the tiger barbs out of the tank last night and put them in a bucket since one was not looking so good. When I arrived home this morning they were all still alive but one of them was doing that laying on his side and righting himself so i decided to return them since I believe there is something wrong with the Walmart tanks. I did keep the dalmatian molly and all the mollies are doing great they are a lot more active. I feed the tank and all the fish ate. It may have been the tigers were stressing the mollies and since I removed them they had no stress.

 

[Bigge_al]

Tested the tank before leaving for work tonight found Nitrates to be at least 40ppm or a little higher so before leaving I did a 25% PWC and added Prime.
I oldest has been really wanting a Betta so I let him choose one and added him to the tank with 6 neon tetras. I will keep an eye on them. One of the tetras is a loner and hides either he needs to adjust to the tank or he may not make it through the introduction.

The guy at Walmart told my wife when she returned the Tigers that he had been having a lot of returns on fish in the past few days I hope I did not introduce a illness in my tank.

 

[Bigge_al]

Well the tetra did not make it through the night and he took another one with him. Both of them were pail in color and one was stuck to the intake of the filter and the other was stuck in a decoration.

The betta and the rest of the fish are doing great. I took the 2 neons back and got two more and they joined right in with the other 4 when I added them.

My current stock is:
3 Mickey Mouse Platies
3 Mollies
5 Glofish
1 Zebra Danio
5 Neon Tetras
1 Male Betta
3 Black Skirt Tetras

According to Aqadvisor stock level is 78% with 208% filtration.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Well the tetra did not make it through the night and he took another one with him. Both of them were pail in color and one was stuck to the intake of the filter and the other was stuck in a decoration.

The betta and the rest of the fish are doing great. I took the 2 neons back and got two more and they joined right in with the other 4 when I added them.

My current stock is:
3 Mickey Mouse Platies
3 Mollies
5 Glofish
1 Zebra Danio
6 Neon Tetras
1 Male Betta

According to Aqadvisor stock level is 78% with 208% filtration.

I'm sorry. You seem to be loosing quite a few. I wouldn't add any more fish for a while. See how the ones you have go. Your tank is a little bit of an odd shape so you don't want to stock it as much as a normal rectangle tank. Things you need to keep an eye out for when stocking are swimming space, surface area (for gas exchange, how the fish interact (fighting, etc) and how fast your nitrates rise between PWC.

 

[Bigge_al]

I truly believe the fish deaths I have suffered are of no fault of mine. The fish I have had passing all seemed to have issues from day one. Most of them when added to my tank isolated themselves and passed within a few hours of introduction. The 5 Tiger barbs I returned seemed to have issues and I returned them before they passed but the store said they had issues with the tank and had a lot being returned.
As far as the nitrate levels they are rising so fast I am having to do 2 daily water changes. I have had it as low as 10ppm but overnight it will raise to 30-40ppm. Tomorrow I have the day off and plan to do as many as 4 PWC to get it low. The plant I introduced does not seem to be growing or helping I am going to ask about it on a separate post.

I do not plan to add anymore fish at this time and may not add anymore the tank is looking stocked the activity allows fish to be seen at all times and they are not in conflict.

 

[Dwohlge1]

I have never seen Nitrate levels rise that quick. Are you over feeding? How much do you feed?

Do you have dead fish somewhere in your tank or a dying plant? Nitrate rising like that is not normal. With Tropical fish you should be able to do a weekly pwc to keep it below 20ppm?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I have never seen Nitrate levels rise that quick. Are you over feeding? How much do you feed?

Do you have dead fish somewhere in your tank or a dying plant? Nitrate rising like that is not normal with Tropical fish you should be a me to do a weekly pwc's to keep it below 20ppm?

+1
it shouldn't be rising that fast.
I'm sorry if I've asked before but have your tested your tap water for nitrates? That would explain why you van keep them down.

 

[Bigge_al]

Added a moss ball today after 50% PWC.