First I want to apologize for this long post. I have been lurking around these forums, reading, gathering information, and dealing with my problems for about 6 months now. I have been having issues with my fish tank since the beginning. I feel like I am missing something, so I will just tell my story and hopefully can get some advice.
Current Tank Specs:
Aquatech 29gallon (from Walmart), freshwater
Outside hung canister filter/pump – holds filter with carbon. Also has separate bio-filter
150W heater, temps at ~79F
55lbs of white aggregate
Artificially planted/decorated
Located in San Antonio, TX in a living room – never gets any direct sunlight
(picture from late January)
1/18/2013 – I have the tank setup, filled with water, pump running. I was given advice from a friend to use filtered water. I fill the entire tank with filtered water I get from WaterMill Express. I believe it is called RO Water. I use the heater that came with the tank, a 150W heater that has no adjustment settings. I go to my LFS and ask for advice on getting started for cycling and then adding fish. He convinces me to use API quick start product for 24 hours, and then I can add fish. At this time I have an air pump for aeration.
1/19/2013 – I added the quick start yesterday morning and today I come in the evening to get some fish. I know nothing of fish and just asked for what he recommended. He sold me 6 small fish called “barbs.” 3 brown ones and 3 red ones. Per his instructions, I place the bags in the tank to adjust for temperature. I use a shot glass to add tank water every 15 minutes for an hour and a half to get the fish used to the new water. I release them into the tank. 24 hours later, 2 of the red ones are dead. I remove all the fish and take the live ones back to the shop for a refund. I ask what might be the cause and tell him my story so far. LFS thinks either the difference in PH or hardness (I can’t remember which he said) between my RO water and “San Antonio” water. Per instructions I perform a 50% water change and put in tap water treated with API Stress coat to remove chlorine. Also, my thermometer stickers measured tank temp at 75F. LFS recommended to get a new heater to maintain a temp of 78F. I replaced the heater with one that has a temperature control. I also removed the air pump because LFS told me it wasn’t needed, that my bio filter should do fine and that most fish preferred a calm environment.
1/21/2013 – I return to LFS for a second try. Now my tank is cloudy and cycling, I believe. LFS says it should be fine to add fish. I buy 2 red wags and 2 yellow tailed guppies. After about 2 weeks the cloudiness is gone. I test for Ammonia and regularly get below 0.25PPM. I feel happy and eventually go back for more fish. I do ~17% (5 gallon) water changes every week. ½ RO water and ½ tap water. I treat for chlorine with API Stress into the 5 gallon bucket with a 5 gallon dose, even though half is RO.
2/20/2013 – I return to LFS to get more fish and double my stock from 4 to 8. I get 1 red wag to add to the school, and 3 glowlight tetras. Here is where some problems start. 48 hours after adding fish, a glowlight tetra dies – unknown causes. The next day, one of the older red wags die, unknown causes. A week later the other 2 glowlight tetras die. I thought they were developing a while film on them, but it turned out that the remaining 2 red wags were in business together eating their scales off them. I didn’t find this out until the day before the last of them died – I saw the red wags nipping away at one as it was just swimming (alive) in place. It was very disturbing. I slapped the glass in anger to disperse them and went to bed. The next morning a corpse was stuck on the pump tube picked clean and still being picked by the red wags. I would tell my LFS about this later, he told me that this shouldn’t happen.
3/5/2013 – By now we are down to a stock of 4. I have removed all the corpses. The remaining 4 fish seem very happy and active. However, I test for ammonia and get results of 2 or 3ppm. I reduce feedings to once a day; continue with ~17% WC weekly. Ammonia continues to rise. My tank is crystal clear, no food or poop anywhere to be seen. I add in some API AMMOLOCK every few days because I fear for the lives of the fish. I do another WC and go out of town for 3 days. I come back, feed the fish and test the water to find it at 8PPM! I do a 33% WC twice over the next 4 days. Now at 4PPM. I do another 2 33% changes in a 48 hour period. Down to 2PPM. A week later ammonia is gone, nitrates and nitrites are 0, 17% WC. A week later same, except nitrates bump to 5ppm, 17% WC. Another week goes by and nitrates are 15ppm, 33% WC. At this point I figure I have a healthy tank and just need to do water changes to keep nitrates at a healthy level. Fish are super happy, always active, eating very well. In the midst of the Ammonia crisis I was also testing my water sources. Both RO and tap water have 0 ammonia. RO water has a pH of 6, tap water has pH of 7.6, and tank has pH of 7.8.
4/06/2013 – I feel good, I feel like I have a robust tank. I go to LFS for more fish. I get 1 red wag and 1 yellow tailed guppy to add to schools, as well as 2 ornate candy tetra. New red wag dies after 72 hours, unknown cause. 5th day I see that my tank is getting starting to get cloudy, so I suspect some cycling is going on. The yellow guppies are acting strange – swimming hard into a top corner of the tank like they are trying to get away from something. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 15ppm, pH 8.1.
4/12/2013 – My prized yellow tailed guppy dies. I am sad because I liked him/her. It danced at times, fluttering its large yellow tail fin at the other guppies. It was a nice specimen. I notice ICK on the candy tetra. I do a 17% WC, raise temp to 82F, and open top flap to allow more surface air circulation. I head to LFS for something to treat it. They sell me Coppersafe along with a copper test kit. I treat for 20gallons. 24 hours later, I made sure cooper levels were at 2ppm or lower (they were 1.5ppm). By now my filter is 3 weeks old and even though directions say that the carbon shouldn’t be effective, I went ahead and removed it anyways. 3 days go by and the 2 candy tetras pass, along with the new yellow tail guppy I added.
Today – My tank is down to a stock of 2, 1 red wag and 1 yellow guppy – veterans from 1/21/2013. No visible ICK on these two. My tank is pretty cloudy at the moment, and the fish look sad and depressed. I myself am a little depressed. My confidence is very low. I feel nervous at the thought of adding more fish even after this cycle passes.
I know I must be doing something wrong. If you took the time to read my story, I hope you can offer some suggestions on what I can change. Here are some things I am unclear on:
1) When to water change: I get mixed answers on this, but my general take is to do routine small water changes, like 15% every week. If the tank has issues like high nitrate/ammonia, increase the capacity and frequency of the WC. Is this correct?
2) How I water change: I use a clean 5 gallon bucket. Half RO water and half tap water. I treat for chlorine for the amount of water I’m changing. I usually will run the tap water into the bucket and add the treatment right there, and usually wait an hour or so before doing the change. If I’m changing 5 gallons I add a 5 gallon treatment to the 2.5 tap water, then add 2.5 RO water into the bucket. I check temperature with my hand and compare with tank. On 10 gallon changes, I do a 10 gallon treatment to the 5 gallons of tap water. In this case I just add the tap water in straight from bucket to tank, maybe a 3rd of it, then I add in RO water straight from the jug, then more tap, then rest of RO, then tap to fill to about ¾” from the top of the tank. I use a dish that floats on the surface that I pour the water on to break it up. Any problems with any of this? Chlorine treatment ok?
3) Adding fish: Each time I have added fish after the first successful batch, I just put the bags in the water, add in tank water a shot glass at a time every 15 minutes for an hour and a half, then just tip the bag sideways and let them swim out. I don’t put any additives to the tank at this time. Is this OK? Should I add in a product like quick start?
4) ICK troubles: Am I doing the right thing in the way I’m treating ICK? I don’t know how long I should have the higher temps and copper content before I dub the tank OK. Any advice on my ICK problem would be appreciated.
5) Testing equipment: Right now I can test for Ammonia, pH, High range pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, and copper. Should I get anything else? I just want to make sure my tank parameters are optimal so my fish can live as long as possible.
6) Selecting fish: LFS told me fish should live years. Right now the average life expectancy in my tank is a few weeks to a month. The point of this thread is to figure out what I need to do to achieve long fish life, but maybe I should start out with some hardier fish? I really don’t know much about fish species or type.
7) Aeration: Right now I fill my tank to where there is about ¾” between the top of the water and the top light cover. I also don’t use aeration pump because the air bubbles caused a bit of a stir and fish got confused between surface bubbles and food. I don’t see the fish gasping up top for air or anything like that. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Current Tank Specs:
Aquatech 29gallon (from Walmart), freshwater
Outside hung canister filter/pump – holds filter with carbon. Also has separate bio-filter
150W heater, temps at ~79F
55lbs of white aggregate
Artificially planted/decorated
Located in San Antonio, TX in a living room – never gets any direct sunlight
(picture from late January)
1/18/2013 – I have the tank setup, filled with water, pump running. I was given advice from a friend to use filtered water. I fill the entire tank with filtered water I get from WaterMill Express. I believe it is called RO Water. I use the heater that came with the tank, a 150W heater that has no adjustment settings. I go to my LFS and ask for advice on getting started for cycling and then adding fish. He convinces me to use API quick start product for 24 hours, and then I can add fish. At this time I have an air pump for aeration.
1/19/2013 – I added the quick start yesterday morning and today I come in the evening to get some fish. I know nothing of fish and just asked for what he recommended. He sold me 6 small fish called “barbs.” 3 brown ones and 3 red ones. Per his instructions, I place the bags in the tank to adjust for temperature. I use a shot glass to add tank water every 15 minutes for an hour and a half to get the fish used to the new water. I release them into the tank. 24 hours later, 2 of the red ones are dead. I remove all the fish and take the live ones back to the shop for a refund. I ask what might be the cause and tell him my story so far. LFS thinks either the difference in PH or hardness (I can’t remember which he said) between my RO water and “San Antonio” water. Per instructions I perform a 50% water change and put in tap water treated with API Stress coat to remove chlorine. Also, my thermometer stickers measured tank temp at 75F. LFS recommended to get a new heater to maintain a temp of 78F. I replaced the heater with one that has a temperature control. I also removed the air pump because LFS told me it wasn’t needed, that my bio filter should do fine and that most fish preferred a calm environment.
1/21/2013 – I return to LFS for a second try. Now my tank is cloudy and cycling, I believe. LFS says it should be fine to add fish. I buy 2 red wags and 2 yellow tailed guppies. After about 2 weeks the cloudiness is gone. I test for Ammonia and regularly get below 0.25PPM. I feel happy and eventually go back for more fish. I do ~17% (5 gallon) water changes every week. ½ RO water and ½ tap water. I treat for chlorine with API Stress into the 5 gallon bucket with a 5 gallon dose, even though half is RO.
2/20/2013 – I return to LFS to get more fish and double my stock from 4 to 8. I get 1 red wag to add to the school, and 3 glowlight tetras. Here is where some problems start. 48 hours after adding fish, a glowlight tetra dies – unknown causes. The next day, one of the older red wags die, unknown causes. A week later the other 2 glowlight tetras die. I thought they were developing a while film on them, but it turned out that the remaining 2 red wags were in business together eating their scales off them. I didn’t find this out until the day before the last of them died – I saw the red wags nipping away at one as it was just swimming (alive) in place. It was very disturbing. I slapped the glass in anger to disperse them and went to bed. The next morning a corpse was stuck on the pump tube picked clean and still being picked by the red wags. I would tell my LFS about this later, he told me that this shouldn’t happen.
3/5/2013 – By now we are down to a stock of 4. I have removed all the corpses. The remaining 4 fish seem very happy and active. However, I test for ammonia and get results of 2 or 3ppm. I reduce feedings to once a day; continue with ~17% WC weekly. Ammonia continues to rise. My tank is crystal clear, no food or poop anywhere to be seen. I add in some API AMMOLOCK every few days because I fear for the lives of the fish. I do another WC and go out of town for 3 days. I come back, feed the fish and test the water to find it at 8PPM! I do a 33% WC twice over the next 4 days. Now at 4PPM. I do another 2 33% changes in a 48 hour period. Down to 2PPM. A week later ammonia is gone, nitrates and nitrites are 0, 17% WC. A week later same, except nitrates bump to 5ppm, 17% WC. Another week goes by and nitrates are 15ppm, 33% WC. At this point I figure I have a healthy tank and just need to do water changes to keep nitrates at a healthy level. Fish are super happy, always active, eating very well. In the midst of the Ammonia crisis I was also testing my water sources. Both RO and tap water have 0 ammonia. RO water has a pH of 6, tap water has pH of 7.6, and tank has pH of 7.8.
4/06/2013 – I feel good, I feel like I have a robust tank. I go to LFS for more fish. I get 1 red wag and 1 yellow tailed guppy to add to schools, as well as 2 ornate candy tetra. New red wag dies after 72 hours, unknown cause. 5th day I see that my tank is getting starting to get cloudy, so I suspect some cycling is going on. The yellow guppies are acting strange – swimming hard into a top corner of the tank like they are trying to get away from something. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 15ppm, pH 8.1.
4/12/2013 – My prized yellow tailed guppy dies. I am sad because I liked him/her. It danced at times, fluttering its large yellow tail fin at the other guppies. It was a nice specimen. I notice ICK on the candy tetra. I do a 17% WC, raise temp to 82F, and open top flap to allow more surface air circulation. I head to LFS for something to treat it. They sell me Coppersafe along with a copper test kit. I treat for 20gallons. 24 hours later, I made sure cooper levels were at 2ppm or lower (they were 1.5ppm). By now my filter is 3 weeks old and even though directions say that the carbon shouldn’t be effective, I went ahead and removed it anyways. 3 days go by and the 2 candy tetras pass, along with the new yellow tail guppy I added.
Today – My tank is down to a stock of 2, 1 red wag and 1 yellow guppy – veterans from 1/21/2013. No visible ICK on these two. My tank is pretty cloudy at the moment, and the fish look sad and depressed. I myself am a little depressed. My confidence is very low. I feel nervous at the thought of adding more fish even after this cycle passes.
I know I must be doing something wrong. If you took the time to read my story, I hope you can offer some suggestions on what I can change. Here are some things I am unclear on:
1) When to water change: I get mixed answers on this, but my general take is to do routine small water changes, like 15% every week. If the tank has issues like high nitrate/ammonia, increase the capacity and frequency of the WC. Is this correct?
2) How I water change: I use a clean 5 gallon bucket. Half RO water and half tap water. I treat for chlorine for the amount of water I’m changing. I usually will run the tap water into the bucket and add the treatment right there, and usually wait an hour or so before doing the change. If I’m changing 5 gallons I add a 5 gallon treatment to the 2.5 tap water, then add 2.5 RO water into the bucket. I check temperature with my hand and compare with tank. On 10 gallon changes, I do a 10 gallon treatment to the 5 gallons of tap water. In this case I just add the tap water in straight from bucket to tank, maybe a 3rd of it, then I add in RO water straight from the jug, then more tap, then rest of RO, then tap to fill to about ¾” from the top of the tank. I use a dish that floats on the surface that I pour the water on to break it up. Any problems with any of this? Chlorine treatment ok?
3) Adding fish: Each time I have added fish after the first successful batch, I just put the bags in the water, add in tank water a shot glass at a time every 15 minutes for an hour and a half, then just tip the bag sideways and let them swim out. I don’t put any additives to the tank at this time. Is this OK? Should I add in a product like quick start?
4) ICK troubles: Am I doing the right thing in the way I’m treating ICK? I don’t know how long I should have the higher temps and copper content before I dub the tank OK. Any advice on my ICK problem would be appreciated.
5) Testing equipment: Right now I can test for Ammonia, pH, High range pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, and copper. Should I get anything else? I just want to make sure my tank parameters are optimal so my fish can live as long as possible.
6) Selecting fish: LFS told me fish should live years. Right now the average life expectancy in my tank is a few weeks to a month. The point of this thread is to figure out what I need to do to achieve long fish life, but maybe I should start out with some hardier fish? I really don’t know much about fish species or type.
7) Aeration: Right now I fill my tank to where there is about ¾” between the top of the water and the top light cover. I also don’t use aeration pump because the air bubbles caused a bit of a stir and fish got confused between surface bubbles and food. I don’t see the fish gasping up top for air or anything like that. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
