New Tank, Platies, and Chemical Tests

[Absinthena]

I have a new 10 gallon. I am new at this fish thing, enirely. I have read posts up and down on aq advice and there always seems to be exceptions.

My tank ran w/out fish for about 2 weeks. I didn't do anything special but add a new shrimp in. I never saw the Ammonia or Nitrite change. Getting frustrated, I bought 4 platys. They seem so happy, it doesn't seem right. I hear overfeeding fish is a pretty big problem but my fish always seem hungry. That, or they want me to take em out and play with them. I feed them twice daily, what they can eat in 3 minutes. But, whenever I walk in the room they go ape. The closer I get to the tank, the more ADD they act. It makes me feel guilty like I am neglecting them. Is this normal? My ammonia is at about 1.5 ppm, Nitrite 0. I am waiting for this supposed "peak" - Not that I really know what I'm going to do when it gets here though. Heh I am about to go out of town for a week. I have someone checking on them every day.

So, I guess I don't really have a question as much as I want someone to tell me it's normal to have insane fish whose appearance looks just fine. I think of fish as a little more passive than this. Oh... and what do I do when Ammonia gets too high? Or, does it even get "too high" without lowering itself?

Sorry this is jumpy and scattered.

Anne

 

[Madame_X]

I've been anxiously waiting for my fishless cycle to progress for two weeks as well so I can sympathize with you getting impatient. I almost went and bought a couple of danios last night but resisted temptation.

I think what you need to do is a water change to get your ammonia down. Since you decided to go with fish to cycle the tank, you have to keep those ammonia levels down so the fish don't die. This is why (in theory) cycling with fish takes longer. You have to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels diluted so they aren't toxic to the fish.

Good luck!

 

[Allivymar]

Absinthena:

Welcome to Aquariumadvice
Couple of things I'd like to comment on if I may. Fish beg. All the time. Worse then cats and dogs combined. Fish also don't know when to say no LOL Don't let them make you feel guilty and overfeed. Not good for them. Messes up water quality (and makes ammonia even worse) and they can get constipated.

Second thing is that ammonia level. Ouch. Thats kinda high. You really don't want any ammonia in the tank with the fish. Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to fish. No surprise theres any in your tank; your tank is still cycling, and if your overfeeding its just making those levels higher. Best thing to do it was Madame_X said; dilute it. Best way is partial water changes. It will slow down the cycle some, but better to have the cycle slowed then toxins in the water. Your tests will tell u how often to change it.

 

[harleychick]

Don't feel guilty about "neglecting" them. The little buggers will eat 'til they pop if you let them. I know what you mean about taking them wanting to be taken out of the tank and played with. I'm sure they'd love it. But wouldn't it be cool if you could jump in the tank with them and play tag all day?

My 13 month old granddaughter loves to walk around our 70 gallon tank and watch the fish follow her.

~ T

 

[harleychick]

Don't feel guilty about "neglecting" them. The little buggers will eat 'til they pop if you let them. I know what you mean about taking them wanting to be taken out of the tank and played with. I'm sure they'd love it. But wouldn't it be cool if you could jump in the tank with them and play tag all day?

My 13 month old granddaughter loves to walk around our 70 gallon tank and watch the fish follow her.

~ T

 

[Absinthena]

So, this may be somewhat obvious, but -- How do you know when you are done cycling if you continue to dilute the water? Also, when I was on vacation, some Nitrites appeared. A very minimal amount. So, I plan to do a water change first thing in the morning, if not tonight.

 

[tkos]

Well unforntunatly by doing a fishy cycle it is much more difficult to tell when the cycle is done. It could take many more weeks as you "must" do water changes to keep that ammonia level near zero and the nitrites as well. It will seriously injure your fish and reduce their life span. You can speed up the cycle by using rocks or decorations from exisiting aquariums. This will introduce more bacteria into the tank.

Test for ammonia and nitrites everyday. If you can go a week without any noticable levels then you are probably safe to add some more fish. But beware, your tank will only be cycled to the platys you currently have. Adding more fish starts the cycle anew as the tank was set for a certain bioload of sih. This means more frequent water changes. A fishless cycle allows you to add a full bioload of fish all at once. The fishy cycle means that adding fish must be done very slowly in order to keep them healthy.

I have platys in a tank as well as they do beg but I just use that as a good chance to check for illness. I feed mine once a day and they are doing fine. Most fish have to instinct to eat as much as possible as they don't know when the next meal will come. But in a controlled tank situation this isn't needed.

 

[Allivymar]

Just FYI, the cycle is done when ALL the ammonia is converted to nitrites and ALL the nitrites are converted to nitrAtes for more then a day or 2. Is why all 3 tests are important, so you know where you are in the nitrogen cycle.

Obviously a fish tank is always in a state of flux, and changes is bio-load will cause changes in water parameters, but basically when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes and a small amount of nirtAtes your tank is cycled.

Yeah, cycling with fish does take longer, as was mentioned, since you are manually removing ammonia and nitrites (and thats what the bacteria need to eat), but better to have a slow cycle then stressed or dead fishies eh? The bacteria colonies WILL continue to grow, just not as quickly (do keep in mind, even iff you water change every day, the fish will continue to produce nitrogenous waste from respiration and digestion, so ammonia is always being added).

It sounds like you're getting closer, as nitrItes showing up is the 2nd stage of the nitrogen conversion cycle. Keep testing and keep up those water changes and it hopefully won't be too terribly long before the tank is finished cycling

 

[Absinthena]

Constipation

Not good for them. Messes up water quality (and makes ammonia even worse) and they can get constipated.

How can you tell when/if a fish is constipated? Mine have doody hanging out about 40 -50 percent of the time.
Also, can fish get noticably fat? None of mine are... but I was just curious.

 

[Allivymar]

Grabbed this from goldfish-info.com:

"Constipation & Diarrhea: If a fish is being fed an improper diet or living in poor water conditions, it may develop these problems. Diarrhea can be caused by feeding a steady diet of frozen foods. Make sure that you thaw the frozen food in a cup of water from the tank before placing it in the tank for your fish to eat.

Constipation Symptoms: A string of feces hanging from the fish, the stomach swells, the fish is not as interested in food, and the fish acts sluggish or rests on the tank bottom. No symptoms of disease are present.

Constipation Treatment: Do not feed the fish for 2 days. Separate it from the tankmates if possible. After the 2 days feed your fish herbivore plant and vegetable foods such as romaine lettuce, green peas, algae, etc over the next 2 days. After the treatment period you need to feed your fish a proper diet of varied foods.

If the varied diet does not help, or if the constipation is severe and causing your fish much distress, it could be treated with cod liver oil. You place this directly into the fish's mouth. Place 2 drops directly into the mouth of the fish. Do this outside of the main tank. The fish should not be fed for 2 days following the cod liver oil treatment. "

Shelled peas and Epsom salts are other recommended treatments (although I personally am not sure how to dose epsom salts correctly).

 

[Absinthena]

Constipation

But! My omnivores don't like vegtables. How shold I feed the greens to them?

On a side question... Why are my tetra's so shy? They don't seem to like me one bit.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

My goldfish weren't real keen on veggies to start either...but when you don't offer them anything else, they wise up pretty quick.

Put your veggies in (on a clip works best, but if i'm feeding seaweed, which my goldies like to play with, i just throw it on top) instead of the food you usually feed and leave 'em there for awhile....they won't devour it like the flaked food, but they'll "graze". Even if it doesn't look like they've eaten a lot...remember fish have little mouths

Just make sure to take what they don't eat out of the tank, as leaving it in there can cause ammonia problems and also clog your filter (the latter especially if it isn't clipped!)

 

[jratuszn]

Can you feed fish the sort of dried seaweed that is used fo wrapping sushi? My girlfriend's mom makes sushi sometimes and the seaweed come in big sheets which would be real easy to cut up for the fish- don't worry, I won't be peeling it off my california rolls or anything like that.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

the seaweed i use looks just like the stuff you buy for sushi...but I'd check the package to make sure there aren't any preservatives or added junk.

I'm guessing the stuff you can get at the lfs is cheaper though. The brand I'm using is San Fransisco Bay, came in a package of 10 sheets (which is a LOT) for 7 bucks.