JasInRoswell
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2011
- Messages
- 14
About 2 months ago, I decided to get an aquarium kit - figured it would be a fun and rewarding hobby. Turns out, it is! Along the way, I think I may have committed a (probably) common mistake by stocking too quickly. I'm already thinking of other set ups I'd like to try when I get some more experience under my belt.
Basically, here's the skinny - I got a 36 gallon kit, set it up and let it run for a few days. I then put four black neon tetras in to get it started. Things were going well for a couple of days, when disaster struck. I returned home to find the tank nearly empty. Turns out that a large crack had formed on the bottom. Luckily, the pet store was great about swapping it out for a new one. I transferred the fish to a bucket while I got the new tank set up. They lived in a five gallon bucket with a heater and air bubbler for about a week. Interestingly enough, all four tetras are still swimming happily in their new home.
So, this new tank has been going for about 8 weeks. As part of the swap from the broken tank, they gave me a bottle of Seachem Stability and told me to let that work for a couple days and could add fish at any time. Well, that was against my better judgement, but the excitement to have the tank active led me to get 4 harlequin tetras after a week of the new tank kicking in. That led to four black mollys (one of which actually seems to be platy). One of the mollys died quickly, but the others are still doing fine.
Along the way, I got 2 African Dwarf frogs, and 2 spotted cory. The frogs did not do so well. Since then, I've added the others in my profile.
The cory were doing well for about 3 weeks. About a week ago, one started to act somewhat lethargic (hard to diagnose as these have never been active fish). In a few days, he was dead.
I found that the ammonia was reading about .5. Ph has been standing pat at 6.9 - 7.0. No reading on nitrates or nitrites. The second cory is now on death's door, just on his side on the bottom, but still breathing.
The pet store suggested ammo chips in a filter media bag in the back of my filter (not much room there). I tried that for about a week, changing the chips every 3 days or so. Last night, I finally just gave up and bought some Prime.
The reading is still ammonia .5, ph 6.9. I understand that ammonia detox solutions can bind the ammonia, thus it will still show up on tests, but not be (as) harmful to the fish. So at this point, I don't know if I have a real ammonia problem or not. I'm assuming the ammonia has affected the bottom dwellers, but not sure. Is it possible that decaying food and waste lead to a higher ammonia concentration on the bottom?
To further complicate matters, I bought a Fluval U3, but have not yet installed it, as I'm thinking I should get the ammonia to zero before starting a new cycle.
I'm planning on a 10 gallon or so water change tonight to see if that alleviates things a bit.
I guess my questions could be summed up as follows:
Do I really have an ammonia problem at this point?
Should I install the Fluval U3 now, or wait a bit?
Should I continue using Stability on water changes? I plan on using Prime on water changes from here on out. ( I do use aquarium salt as directed if that's of any use)
Is there a way to tell if the ammo chips actually helped anything? Should I just get them out of there, or leave them in?
Did I screw with the cycle too early by stocking and thinking Stability would handle it all?
Thanks in advance, sorry for the long-winded post - especially with it being my first. I shall get myself over to the new member introductions area now.
Thanks!
Basically, here's the skinny - I got a 36 gallon kit, set it up and let it run for a few days. I then put four black neon tetras in to get it started. Things were going well for a couple of days, when disaster struck. I returned home to find the tank nearly empty. Turns out that a large crack had formed on the bottom. Luckily, the pet store was great about swapping it out for a new one. I transferred the fish to a bucket while I got the new tank set up. They lived in a five gallon bucket with a heater and air bubbler for about a week. Interestingly enough, all four tetras are still swimming happily in their new home.
So, this new tank has been going for about 8 weeks. As part of the swap from the broken tank, they gave me a bottle of Seachem Stability and told me to let that work for a couple days and could add fish at any time. Well, that was against my better judgement, but the excitement to have the tank active led me to get 4 harlequin tetras after a week of the new tank kicking in. That led to four black mollys (one of which actually seems to be platy). One of the mollys died quickly, but the others are still doing fine.
Along the way, I got 2 African Dwarf frogs, and 2 spotted cory. The frogs did not do so well. Since then, I've added the others in my profile.
The cory were doing well for about 3 weeks. About a week ago, one started to act somewhat lethargic (hard to diagnose as these have never been active fish). In a few days, he was dead.
I found that the ammonia was reading about .5. Ph has been standing pat at 6.9 - 7.0. No reading on nitrates or nitrites. The second cory is now on death's door, just on his side on the bottom, but still breathing.
The pet store suggested ammo chips in a filter media bag in the back of my filter (not much room there). I tried that for about a week, changing the chips every 3 days or so. Last night, I finally just gave up and bought some Prime.
The reading is still ammonia .5, ph 6.9. I understand that ammonia detox solutions can bind the ammonia, thus it will still show up on tests, but not be (as) harmful to the fish. So at this point, I don't know if I have a real ammonia problem or not. I'm assuming the ammonia has affected the bottom dwellers, but not sure. Is it possible that decaying food and waste lead to a higher ammonia concentration on the bottom?
To further complicate matters, I bought a Fluval U3, but have not yet installed it, as I'm thinking I should get the ammonia to zero before starting a new cycle.
I'm planning on a 10 gallon or so water change tonight to see if that alleviates things a bit.
I guess my questions could be summed up as follows:
Do I really have an ammonia problem at this point?
Should I install the Fluval U3 now, or wait a bit?
Should I continue using Stability on water changes? I plan on using Prime on water changes from here on out. ( I do use aquarium salt as directed if that's of any use)
Is there a way to tell if the ammo chips actually helped anything? Should I just get them out of there, or leave them in?
Did I screw with the cycle too early by stocking and thinking Stability would handle it all?
Thanks in advance, sorry for the long-winded post - especially with it being my first. I shall get myself over to the new member introductions area now.
Thanks!