Glofish Help

[Sauce]

Hi All,

First i would like to thank anyone who takes the time to read and possibly help me out. I’m new to fish keeping and tomorrow marks 5 weeks I have had my tank and it seems every day, I find myself stressing out about if my fish are stressed. 5 weeks ago I was shopping fish tanks and saw this cool 20 gallon hexagon fish tank on sale so I bought it. The guy at the fish store tells me I should add this bottle he gives me into the tank and run my filter for 24 hours and then come back and have them test the water before adding any fish so i did just that. 24 hours go by and everything checks out and i buy my first 6 glofish tetras. I bring them home and half of them were at top of the tank gasping for air. So immediately i did research and found out about the oxygen in the tank and i went out and bought an air pump and all that and it did the job. That night i kept doing research and found out about the nitrogen cycle and the following day i bought a bunch of API stuff including the test kit and looked up how to do proper water changes. I’ve been monitoring every day and after a month it seemed like the water levels are okay except the ammonia gets high every couple days which i thought was normal because of the fish and waste so i decided to add two more glofish tetras and Three days ago i added 5 albino cory cats. Just like most days anytime i saw the fish acting weird i tested water and if ammonia was high i just did a water change. Now finally today i noticed my fish not being active as usual and when i tried to feed them only like half of them ate. I noticed one of my blue tetras staying towards the top of the tank and i’m not sure why and i wanted to reach out. I will list my tank details below if it helps. Sorry for the long post but i just want to make sure i’m taking care of my fish correctly. None of them have died and I want to keep it that way. Please help me out and let me know if there’s something i can do or if i’m just stressing way too much.

Tank Size - 20 gallon hexagon tank 5 weeks old
Fish - 8 glofish tetras and 5 albino cory cats
Tank Temp 78 degrees
Test Kit Readings - PH 7.8-8.0 , Ammonia -.025 ppm Nitrite- 0ppm, Nitrate 5.0 ppm-10 ppm
Please let me know if there’s any more details needed to help.

 

[Sauce]

Tank Picture

Here is the tank and the one blue tetra that’s been towards the top of the tank all day. I did a water change yesterday and afraid another will stress the already stressed out fish more.

 

[Sauce]

Tank Pic

Sorry i’m brand new to this and getting used to posting

 

[libertybelle]

Ammonia will stress out your fish more than a water change every time. When in doubt; change the water.

Ammonia is normal; as in it is a normal byproduct of fish but it’s processed into nitrite than nitrate. However if you’re seeing ammonia in tests it means you have more ammonia production then bacteria to process it. You never want to add fish when you still have ammonia in the water as that means your bacteria is still catching up to the fish load.

Fortunately from your test results you are nearly cycled. You have nitrates; so the bacteria are there, the population is just catching up with your fish.

Are you using prime or another dechlorinated that also detoxifies ammonia / nitrite?

At this point you want to test daily and change whenever the ammonia or nitrate gets above .25. If you are using prime it will detoxify ammonia for 48 hours so you could conceivably skip a day and go every other day as long as you don’t go longer than 48 hrs.

Adding an air pump was a good idea. Tall tanks have less surface area for oxygen exchange and this are more prone to that problem than standard aquarium shapes.

How much do you feed? Usually a good idea to back off feeding a bit while cycling.

 

[Sauce]

Hi, yes i currently use API Quick Start, Stress Coat +, Stress Zyme +, and Ammo Lock when i do my water changes. Okay I will not add anymore fish while there is still ammonia present.

Does that mean my tank will eventually be at 0 ammonia in the tank because the nitrogen cycle has happened? I was under the assumption that there will eventually always be traces of ammonia because of byproduct of fish.

Also for water changes, should i vacuum the gravel with every water change? When i googled it, some people recommend to and some don't because of the beneficial bacteria. I'm not sure what is correct. I've done it sometimes but i noticed when i do that the water test kit always reads the same after water changes if not worse when it comes to ammonia.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Sauce]

Hi All,

First i would like to thank anyone who takes the time to read and possibly help me out. I’m new to fish keeping and tomorrow marks 5 weeks I have had my tank and it seems every day, I find myself stressing out about if my fish are stressed. 5 weeks ago I was shopping fish tanks and saw this cool 20 gallon hexagon fish tank on sale so I bought it. The guy at the fish store tells me I should add this bottle he gives me into the tank and run my filter for 24 hours and then come back and have them test the water before adding any fish so i did just that. 24 hours go by and everything checks out and i buy my first 6 glofish tetras. I bring them home and half of them were at top of the tank gasping for air. So immediately i did research and found out about the oxygen in the tank and i went out and bought an air pump and all that and it did the job. That night i kept doing research and found out about the nitrogen cycle and the following day i bought a bunch of API stuff including the test kit and looked up how to do proper water changes. I’ve been monitoring every day and after a month it seemed like the water levels are okay except the ammonia gets high every couple days which i thought was normal because of the fish and waste so i decided to add two more glofish tetras and Three days ago i added 5 albino cory cats. Just like most days anytime i saw the fish acting weird i tested water and if ammonia was high i just did a water change. Now finally today i noticed my fish not being active as usual and when i tried to feed them only like half of them ate. I noticed one of my blue tetras staying towards the top of the tank and i’m not sure why and i wanted to reach out. I will list my tank details below if it helps. Sorry for the long post but i just want to make sure i’m taking care of my fish correctly. None of them have died and I want to keep it that way. Please help me out and let me know if there’s something i can do or if i’m just stressing way too much.

Tank Size - 20 gallon hexagon tank 5 weeks old
Fish - 8 glofish tetras and 5 albino cory cats
Tank Temp 78 degrees
Test Kit Readings - PH 7.8-8.0 , Ammonia -.025 ppm Nitrite- 0ppm, Nitrate 5.0 ppm-10 ppm
Please let me know if there’s any more details needed to help.

Update:

When i woke up this morning the blue tetra had died and two cory cats. After a long night of research a lot of people told me that my tank still isn't cycled enough to handle that amount of fish. I was told to do a water change to lower the ammonia and add Tetrasafestart and hope that does the trick. I did that this morning but after the water change and adding it to my tank, after two hours my ammonia rose to 4.0. Do i do another water change and start over? I dont want anymore of my fish to die

 

[libertybelle]

You need to do large water changes to get the ammonia down. If you have a local fish store which might give you filter media from an established tank it would speed things up dramatically.

There’s an article on fish in cycling here you should look over to ensure you’ve got the basics: https://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/

You’re cycling with fish which means your job is to keep the water as safe as possible while your bacteria catch up to your fish load. That will require lots of large water changes and testing!

If you have any further questions after reading that article we’d be happy to clarify.

 

[Flyfisher]

Hi Sauce,
Post #5 you ask if you should use the gravel vacuum when doing water changes in an uncycled tank. The short answer is no don’t deep vacuum the gravel. Just hover over the gravel picking up solids.

Until the tank is cycled do not clean the filter or clean the glass. All these hard surfaces are where the bacteria live.

 

[Sauce]

Hi Flyfisher,

Thank you for clearing my confusion on waters changes at the beginning. All i kept seeing when i looked up "proper" water changes and everyone was vacuuming gravel so i appreciate you taking the time to let me know i should do deep vacuuming.

 

[Sauce]

Update:

When i woke up this morning the blue tetra had died and two cory cats. After a long night of research a lot of people told me that my tank still isn't cycled enough to handle that amount of fish. I was told to do a water change to lower the ammonia and add Tetrasafestart and hope that does the trick. I did that this morning but after the water change and adding it to my tank, after two hours my ammonia rose to 4.0. Do i do another water change and start over? I dont want anymore of my fish to die

UPDATE 2/25/20

The rest of my fish are doing much better today. They are starting to eat again and swimming a alot better. (some more than other)

I actually went out and bought a 37 gallon tank and setting it up the proper way. My local fish place by me was kind enough to give me one of there filter medias to help out with the cycle. Once this 37 gallon starts giving me better readings and is cycled, i'll be transferring them over. Thank you to all who helped me.

 

[libertybelle]

You could easily move them to the bigger tank ASAP by simply moving the filter and if desired gravel/decor) over to the new tank. That will take the bulk of the good bacteria with them and get them into the larger space sooner.

And with the cycled media from an established tank it should be pretty close to an instant cycle!

Are you gunna keep/stock the 20 hex?

 

[Sauce]

The filter i have is the Aqueon Quietflow 20 which says it can only support up to 30 gallons. Can i still use it or is it possible to hang both on the tank until the tank is cycled? Also i do plan on keeping the 20 hex but wont be stocking anytime soon. I want to put my full focus on getting this 37 gallon set up and running properly. Also if I go ahead and move them, is there anything i should be looking for test wise that would affect the transition.

 

[libertybelle]

Yeah just run them both until it’s cycled. When you want to remove the second filter (for example to jumpstart cycling on the 20 again) just test daily and be prepared for a few extra water changes in case you have a mini-cycle. Once you’re fully cycled removing media is less of a big deal. Bacteria double quickly and so even if you cut your bacterial colony in half it should catch up again in a day or two.

You’re looking for the same things as you’d be looking for in the 20g; (ammonia/ nitrite / nitrate) just the extra space will make it less stressful on the fish until fully cycled.

 

[Sauce]

Okay thank you so much for your help through this process. I'm hoping the fish like there new tank and i will keep an eye on all of that stuff. I will update if anything happens.

 

[AJuris]

UPDATE 2/25/20



The rest of my fish are doing much better today. They are starting to eat again and swimming a alot better. (some more than other)



I actually went out and bought a 37 gallon tank and setting it up the proper way. My local fish place by me was kind enough to give me one of there filter medias to help out with the cycle. Once this 37 gallon starts giving me better readings and is cycled, i'll be transferring them over. Thank you to all who helped me.

I didn’t notice what type of filter you are using? If you don’t have a filter to circulate your water and to build up a biological filtration for your ammonia problem.

 

[Sauce]

On my 37 gallon i have two filters on there right now. The one that came with the tank kit and the Aqueon Quietflow 20. Inside of the Aqueon i have the ammonia reducer that comes with the filter and the established used filter sponge from the local fish store.

 

[Sauce]

HI again everyone, i posted this as a new post and havent gotten any hits so figured i try posting in here. I'm worried this tank is still not cycling...

Hi All,

Just looking to get some more input of my fish tank cycling as I'm not really seeing any improvements. I'll try to sum it up quickly as possible then ill leave the new tank details below.

As previous stated on other posts I got into the fish keeping hobby about 7 weeks ago now. I bought a 20 gallon tank and got fish before learning about nitrogen cycle. I joined this forum as i started to notice my fish getting stressed out. I lost a tetra and a cory cat as I learned my 20 gallon was too overstocked and the cycle was taking longer because of it so i went out and bought a 37 gallon tank. After learning a few things from fellow people on here I was told i could just move everything over including my fish i had left into my new tank and just use the filter i had on my 20 gallon and the one that came with the 37 gallon kit and I even got established filter media from local pet store to put into the filter.

So its been about 9 days now in the new tank and I'm wondering if its normal to take this long to cycle. (8 weeks now between the 2 tanks). I understand i made a lot of mistakes in the beginning... (overfed, deep vacuum the gravel, cleaned decorations, and most importantly overstocked) but i have tried to lower the amount of things i used during water change. I feed twice a day small amounts, only vacuum the surface with water changes when i do them about every 2 days now instead of daily like i was doing with the 20 gallon and currently only use prime during water changes. I used TetraSafeStart as recommended by a moderator when i first started the 37 gallon tank as well.

Tank Details and Questions

Tank Size - 37 gallon
Fish - 7 glofish tetras, 3 cory cats.
Temp- 79 degrees
Filter - Aqueon Quietflow 20 (which only supports up to 30 gallons) and the one that came with the TopFin 37 gallon set.
Has Heater, Thermometer, and Air Stone underneath volcano decoration.

Water (as of this morning before water change)
PH 6.8-7.0
Ammonia-1.0-2.0 ppm
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm
I monitor the fish behavior and i noticed them being nippy towards each other so I did a water change. I'm just worried because even in my 20 gallon tank the nitrates were higher about 10-20 ppm. The only difference really is i'm doing water changes on this 37 gallon every 2-3 days instead of daily like the 20 gallon.

A few questions...
1. Am i doing something incorrectly thats slowing down the cycle now? (besides for having fish)
2. Are two filters causing any issues and also the Aqueon doesn't have anything to control the water flow so is that a problem for the tank at all?
3. Now that i'm not deep vacuuming the gravel and cleaning decorations i'm noticing a white substance on some of the decorations. I'm assuming its waste? I will provide picture of it on my volcano decoration. What do i do about it?

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[Flyfisher]

A small 30% water change will not stress fish out.

Waiting 3 hours between small 30% water changes will give fish a chance to adjust to the small changes in water parameters.
Matching the temperature is ALWAYS very important.


With a cycled tank and stable water parameters the volume can be a maximum of 50% every 3 hours.

Doing 2 or 3 small water changes on the same day is a normal practice.
Doing 2 or 3 50% water changes on the same day is often unnecessary but can be done. Perhaps in an emergency with a broken tank and one had to temporarily heavily over stock a temporary tank.


Your water tests ok but for some reason the PH seems high?
Often a tank that is cycling with have a swinging PH ( changing)

A while ago you posted of not deep vacuuming. You should continue to vacuum close to the gravel picking up solids. True deep vacuuming is pushing the tube down to the floor glass of the tank and having gravel roll around inside the tube as brown solids go down the small hose.
Continue water changes but don’t disturb the gravel if you can avoid it.