I noticed something I had never experienced before

[GenKang]

My name is Gen and I recently returned to the aquarium world after 16 years. I have had beautiful luck with my previous tanks (50 and 100 gallon) and I have recently purchased a new 37 gallon kit. I have set up and tested the water and all was well..I added 2 opalines, 2 mollies. 6 guppies. 1 rainbow shark and a pleco. As of today I lost 3 fish..2 guppies and 1 opaline. I noticed something I had never experienced before and that all my fish were hanging out on the Same side of the tank at the top by the water filter..even the pleco was planking. So I retested water and it was only slightly high in ph. I did a third of a water change and that seemed to help but it's baffling the brain. So I did a Google search and found this site to be most helpful. So I ask what am I missing and I question water current...how high and bubble.light wand ...how strong? I attached a photo of the fish. Would love the advice and feedback.

 

[Autumnsky]

Hello Gen, welcome to the community.

One of the things which gets missed so very often in learning about the nitrification cycle. It is the process of building beneficial bacteria in the tank mainly or especially the filter media, so that the bacteria grow a colony size which can process the food and fish waste and have it end up with safe water for the fish to live happily.

The article in my signature give the information and a whole bunch of tips which are helpful. Knowing about the correct way to cycle a tank, is invaluable.

Are you measuring ammonia?

I would do 2 pwc/ partial water changes of about 25% followed by another 25% if the fish are looking better and acting more normally, then I would say they were in unsafe water parameters and if continued like that could die.

Make sure to try and match the tank and pwc water temperature as close as you can.

I would do another 25%-40% water change the next day as well. Or if you do the back to back water changes in the morning, you could do another one in the evening.

If you have test strips sometimes they do not measure the items correctly. I lost almost a whole tank of fish relying on the quick reading of test strips.

Check you water temperature. Should be around 78F

 

[Aiken Drum]

Im going to assume that you didnt do a fishless cycle before adding fish. That typically takes 6 to 8 weeks and involves dosing ammonia as a substitute for fish waste so the tank can be fully cycled before you add fish.

If you didnt fishless cycle then you need to do a fish in cycle. That requires keeping ammonia and nitrite combined no higher than 0.5ppm through water changes until your cycle establishes and can keep them at 0ppm without water changes. You have a lot of fish for a fish in cycle, so that's a lot of waste and a lot of water changes.

 

[GenKang]

Thank You, Autumn[/I where in Northern Colorado are you located in.? I grew up in Thornton and was just out there for ten days the end of July. Kinda interesting.
Thank you for the information. Water changes will be happening as well to the Fish store for a water test. The temperature is at 78. But I do I have another question regarding water current/flow . I am thinking the flow in my tank is a bit to strong and the water filter is running at lowest setting. As well as bubble wall.. is the flow too strong or low? And could this be possibility causing fish to hover at top?

Thank you again for the information.

 

[GenKang]

Im going to assume that you didnt do a fishless cycle before adding fish. That typically takes 6 to 8 weeks and involves dosing ammonia as a substitute for fish waste so the tank can be fully cycled before you add fish.

If you didnt fishless cycle then you need to do a fish in cycle. That requires keeping ammonia and nitrite combined no higher than 0.5ppm through water changes until your cycle establishes and can keep them at 0ppm without water changes. You have a lot of fish for a fish in cycle, so that's a lot of waste and a lot of water changes.

I did not cycle, but have begun the process yesterday. I will do a back to back after I get water tested Later today.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I did not cycle, but have begun the process yesterday. I will do a back to back after I get water tested Later today.

If you havent already done so i would do the water changes autumnsky recommended immediately. As quick as you can if not immediately. Dont wait to be able to test.

Water changes should be your go to action if anything looks off.

 

[GenKang]

Ok I will get on it before testing water but I will be sure to get a sample of the before and after water cycle and see if they are different and by how much. Should I be adding any stress coat or stress zyme to water

 

[Aiken Drum]

Stresscoat is a water conditioner. It removes chlorine. You need to add a water conditioner everytime you add tap water to your tank. Stress zyme is a product that contains bacteria that eats mulm and detritus. No you dont need to add that. I would go as far as suggesting you dont need it at all.

Perhaps you are confusing stresszyme with products like safestart that contains bacteria that are responsible for your cycle? They do different jobs. Stresszyme might help keep ammonia down because it will consume detritus before it goes to ammonia, but in a newly established tank there will be minimal decaying matter. Stresszyme might work against your cycle though, because you need ammonia to feed and grow the beneficial bacteria responsible for your cycle. What you are trying to get to is a level of ammonia that is relatively safe for fish while still having enough to grow your beneficial bacteria.

A word on stresscoat. I used to use it as a water conditioner, but its very expensive. I changed to seachem prime. While a bottle of prime and a bottle of stresscoat are similar prices, 5ml of prime treats a 200 litres of water, 5ml of stesscoat treats 40 litres of water. Prime is by far a more cost effective water conditioner. Its also considered a superior product when you take account its claim of ammonia + nitrite detoxifying properties. Stresscoat has a claim on promoting slimecoats with the aloe vera additive, but i have seen no detrimental effects from going from stresscoat to prime, but it puts £s back in my pocket every month. IMO a water conditioner is a water conditioner. In a healthy tank you dont need the bells and whistles even if you presume all the other claims the various products make are true. Make a decision on water conditioner based on price/water change. Seachem Prime and API Tap Water Conditioner usually come out on top there.

 

[GenKang]

Pictures of before and after 1/3 water change

Picture of fish on top corner that caught my eye and I knew something was up.

The picture of the whole tank was after water cycle and a bit cloudy

 

[GenKang]

I have the API starter kit as well as Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. Which, if any, should I use?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Cloudy water is common in newly established tanks. Its bacteria taking advantage of nutrients being out of balance and should clear up as your tank establishes.

Amongst other causes, fish at the surface is a sign that ammonia + nitrite is present and the fishes gills arent operating properly. They are trying to get air. Your previous water change helped, so hopefully keeping on top of waste production with further changes will help too. You say you have bubblers and good flow so oxygenation shouldn't be the cause.

 

[GenKang]

Good flow at the minimal setting. But I think it might help to turn filter up a notch and downgrade bubble wand.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I have the API starter kit as well as Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. Which, if any, should I use?

You have a few products that do the same job, so its down to personal opinion.

API do a few different start up kits. Which products does yours contain?

Stesscoat and prime are both water conditioners. My preference would be prime given you likely have ammonia + nitrite present at your stage. + the cost issue. But use up both before you settle on one brand.

Quickstart and stability are both products that contain bacteria responsible for your cycle. Either of these might help, might do nothing. These products are very hit and miss (mostly miss) and the bacteria can easily die off in the bottle before you even made your purchase. Ive never used either of these specific brands personally, but hear better opinions of quickstart. Possibly a good idea as you have both to use both. Where one might not work the other will. Maybe alternate between the 2 at water changes.

Stresszyme ive described what that does in a previous post.

 

[GenKang]

Thank for the information and your help. I will post updates til problem is solved.

 

[Autumnsky]

Aiken gave you a huge amount of good points and help,

An additionally get the water changes really back in order before using a lot of extra products. Of course Prime.

Right now with summer, many water departments are using Chloramine (instead of Chlorine) as it stays active longer/ is more potent for killing bacteria. Prime does take care of this, but I think it is a double dose.

Not sure if the other one - Stresscoat treats treats ammonia, and nitrate. Which you DO need right now.

You can read through what they actually treat so you can be sure yourself.

https://apifishcare.com/product/stress-coat

https://apifishcare.com/product/stress-zyme

https://www.seachem.com/prime.php

 

[Aiken Drum]

Chloramine is made up of ammonia and chlorine, chemically bonded. It doesnt degas the way chlorine does and stays effective in water longer which is why water companies are starting to use it more frequently.

This is why an ammonia test is positive for ammonia where chloramine is the treatment used.

Most water conditioners will break the chemical bond in the chloramine, resulting in chlorine and ammonia. The water conditioner will remove the chlorine part. The idea of using prime as your water conditioner as opposed to other water conditioners is that it detoxifies the ammonia side for a short period until your cycle can remove it.

The dosage required will depend on how much chloramine is added by the water company. Seachem recommend a double dose of prime for exceptionally high amounts of chloramine, which may well be the case for emergency doses of treatment.

Stresscoat breaks down chloramine the same as prime, but doesn't do the ammonia detoxification side of things. Stresscoat will rely on the fact that ammonia isnt as toxic as you may have been led to believe, and only really becomes toxic at high pH for low levels of ammonia concentration.

This is all dependant on whether you water is treated with chloramine rather than chlorine. Ignore if yours is chlorine treated, or maybe its just an interesting read. But i take it from the posts above that you and Autumnsky live in the same area so you likely have similar water treatment regimes and autumnsky will know what you have locally.

 

[GenKang]

Tank is on the rebound. Ty so much for your help and information. Water test was done and the nitrates were above normal and my ammonia levels were high.. I've done the water changes and used prime and as soon as we clear up ill post another picture.

 

[GenKang]

No we are from the same area...kinda but I live in Massachusetts..

 

[GenKang]

I'm not sure if I have posted wrong ...but I do know that I never titled this post as "something I never experienced before." So I apologize of I was out of line with wording.

With that being said...the wonderful advice i have recently received had helped me save my fishtank. So thank you everyone...I am beyond greatful.

 

[GenKang]

Update on water cycle

Thanks for all the advice..my tank is rebounding very nicely..nicely enough that I have babies ... mind blown....