Water change in 6g

[Smartiepants]

Hi I am new here. I have a new 6g tropical tank. unfortunately I found out the hard way that cycling in a small tank was not fun, now we seem to have come through the cycle I was hoping for some help with a couple of things.
First, water changes. I have tested my water again tonight and for the second week in a row it has very low nitrate, no nitrite, no chlorine pH of 7 in hard water. I have 4 ghost shrimp and 2 mystery snails (who look like they are becoming very very good friends!), unfortunately only 1 lone guppy. The water is clear and I see no debris. Should I change the water any way and if so how often. The tap water I have onced conditioned still contains high levels of nitrites and nitrites (yuck). If I run water thru my fridge it takes all that out ?RO filter in fridge. Shud I use that and have it warm up for a day before water change as it is only a small tank.
Second, the guppy who survived the cycle has two patches where it looks like some scales are missing. I have been adding stress coat to try to help this, not seeing an improvement yet. This fish does not appear stressed and is keen to interact and beg for food. The patches where the scale are missing are not red. I can't see any other signs of illness.
Thirdly, when and should I introduce additional fish? With the 4 shrimp and 2 snails I don't want to over load the tank, but it does seem awfully empty with just 1 fish. I am thinking of a few small tetra, or adding my betta fish Fran to give him a bit more space and something to think about!
Thanks for all opinions and suggestions!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi there,

Hi I am new here. I have a new 6g tropical tank. unfortunately I found out the hard way that cycling in a small tank was not fun, now we seem to have come through the cycle I was hoping for some help with a couple of things. Unfortunately it is not as easy as it is in a big tank because toxins build up easily. Hopefully if you haven't read these you will find some great info:
1.I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
2.http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html
First, water changes. I have tested my water again tonight and for the second week in a row it has very low nitrate, no nitrite, no chlorine pH of 7 in hard water. I have 4 ghost shrimp and 2 mystery snails (who look like they are becoming very very good friends!), unfortunately only 1 lone guppy. The water is clear and I see no debris. Should I change the water any way and if so how often. The tap water I have onced conditioned still contains high levels of nitrites and nitrites (yuck). If I run water thru my fridge it takes all that out ?RO filter in fridge. Shud I use that and have it warm up for a day before water change as it is only a small tank.
Are you using strips to test your water? Sorry to tell you this, but those are horribly inaccurate. I once tested my own water and when the LFS tested with strips I got completely different results. I would recommend you get an API Freshwater Master Test Kit, they cost around 20-30 bucks depending on where you get them and a lot more accurate.
Second, the guppy who survived the cycle has two patches where it looks like some scales are missing. I have been adding stress coat to try to help this, not seeing an improvement yet. This fish does not appear stressed and is keen to interact and beg for food. The patches where the scale are missing are not red. I can't see any other signs of illness.
Thirdly, when and should I introduce additional fish? With the 4 shrimp and 2 snails I don't want to over load the tank, but it does seem awfully empty with just 1 fish. I am thinking of a few small tetra, or adding my betta fish Fran to give him a bit more space and something to think about!
Thanks for all opinions and suggestions!I would not add any more fish until you get done cycling. When you do, I would only suggest a small school of ember tetras if you wanted tetras specifically. Another good choice is chilli rasboras.[/QUOTE]

 

[Pandy]

Celestial pearl danios are a nice species for a 6g too, I have 8 in mine, but they are a very shy fish so need plenty of cover to break the line of sight.

With regards to water changes I personally do a 20% change per week, regardless of how the water looks. I usually give the filter pad a swill in the water remov from the tank just to remove any waste that may be on there.

 

[librarygirl]

HI and welcome; my replies in blue...

Hi I am new here. I have a new 6g tropical tank. unfortunately I found out the hard way that cycling in a small tank was not fun, now we seem to have come through the cycle I was hoping for some help with a couple of things. Sure, and welcome to AA! I'm glad you got through the cycle!

First, water changes. I have tested my water again tonight and for the second week in a row it has very low nitrate, no nitrite, no chlorine pH of 7 in hard water. I have 4 ghost shrimp and 2 mystery snails (who look like they are becoming very very good friends!), unfortunately only 1 lone guppy. The water is clear and I see no debris. Should I change the water any way and if so how often.
Clear water isn't an indication of toxins, only your test kit will tell you if toxins are present. What test kit are you using? The best is the API Master kit if you don't have it already. Regular water changes (assuming the tank is fully cycled) are important even if there are no toxins present and nitrates are low. Fish use up minerals in the water that need to be replenished. A good maintenance schedule is to change 50% of the water once per week.

The tap water I have onced conditioned still contains high levels of nitrites and nitrites (yuck). If I run water thru my fridge it takes all that out ?RO filter in fridge. Shud I use that and have it warm up for a day before water change as it is only a small tank.
You mean nitrite and nitrate in the tap water? How high is high? I wouldn't use RO water; it's basically distilled water which is stripped of all nutrients and you would need to add those back in manually with something like RO Rite or Seachem Replenish. You could do 1/2 tap and 1/2 RO, but I'd like to see exactly what your tap levels are for nitrite and nitrate before I advise further.

Second, the guppy who survived the cycle has two patches where it looks like some scales are missing. I have been adding stress coat to try to help this, not seeing an improvement yet. This fish does not appear stressed and is keen to interact and beg for food. The patches where the scale are missing are not red. I can't see any other signs of illness.
If there's no sign of infection I'd just keep the water very clean (at least one good sized water change per week as mentioned above) as clean water can promote healing and prevent infection. Since you have snails and shrimp I wouldn't advise using salt unless you wanted to isolate the guppy and treat him with salt, but not sure it's needed. I'd just watch him and keep the water clean and see how he does.

Thirdly, when and should I introduce additional fish? With the 4 shrimp and 2 snails I don't want to over load the tank, but it does seem awfully empty with just 1 fish. I am thinking of a few small tetra, or adding my betta fish Fran to give him a bit more space and something to think about!
Thanks for all opinions and suggestions! Unfortunately smaller tanks severly limit what you can put in. Guppies aren't realy suitable as they can grow to 2" and need more space than a 6 gal can provide them. If you wanted to give him tank mates the most you could put in there would be 3 additional guppies but ideally you would need to upgrade the tank eventually. If you just wanted to keep the lone guppy, you could add a small school (about 6) of a nano fish like ember tetra, celestial pearl danio, or chili rasbora. Those are the only fish really suitable for your tank size. The guppy, a small school of nano fish and the shrimp and snails would fully stock you. As always every time you add new fish test the water daily to ensure there aren't any toxin spikes and if you do see some, do water changes to keep them low until the tank balances out again. Test the water regularly at least once per week or any time you notice the fish having issues, do a 50% water change weekly and you should be good.

 

[Smartiepants]

Thanks so much for ur help, I need to find a decent Local fish shop, as I am getting bad advice from the big box store where I bought my tank. Many thanks, 50% water change today!

 

[severum mama]

Moved to FW and Brackish- General Discussion. Welcome aboard!