Johnerz
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I have 12 tiger barbs, (5 green, 7 orange/black stripes) in a Juwel Rio 180 (47 US gallons).
I also have 4 cory doors, 1 red tail shark, 1 ancistus ( think I spelt it wrong there) and 6 harlequins.
The problem I have is that my Tiger Barbs are loosing their colour. I don't know what to do, this is the best set up I have had. The colour loss is more obvious in the green ones but the stripes on orange/black seem to be fading in most of them. Some of them seem to have a light green sheen on parts of their body. I am not sure if it is velvet disease as it doesn't look like any of the pictures I have seen on the net. They are also not showing any of the symptoms for the disease. They. Swim around fine and eat a **** of a lot.
I have noticed that some of them are developing dark patches, in the picturea the flash from the camera illuminates the areas of their body that have the light green sheen so it actually looks brighter in the picture than it does to the naked eye.
My heater broke so I have had fluctuating water temps for a week. I brought myself a Fluval E 300 heater, I preferred this to the standard Juwel replacement as I can set the tempreture easier. The tempreature is now set at 77.5f
I fed them twice a day and put quite a bit of food in the tank so that the other fish would get a chance to eat. The barbs were getting to the food before it got below the mid level of the tank. the chap at my local shop said I was over feeding them, which is probably the cause if the high Nitrate reading.
I normally change the water weekly, I change about 60 litres (13 US Gallons) approx.
The last water test reading is as follows:
Ph=7.6
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 90 mg
The Nitrate measurement is in mg/l. I used the API Nitrate test kit and the Tetra Test Strips (I only use them as a quick rough guide not for presise measurements).
To reduce the nitrate with having major fluctuations in the tempreature I have started to change 10 litres of water every other day.
The bigger water changes (60-90 litres) cause the tempreture to drop to about 70 which the fish dont seem to like and I am not sure if that is contributing to/causing the problems. I dont have a way to heat that much water before putting it in the tank.
I was feeding them twice a day, I was told this was far too much and I should reduce feeding to at least every other day to reduce the nitrate. Is there anything else I can do?
How much light should the fish have? could this be an issue? I currently have the light on for about 10 hours (its on a timer).
I apreciate any help, as I am getting pretty worried, the tiger barbs really bring some activity to my tank, I'll be really gutted if they start dying.
I also have 4 cory doors, 1 red tail shark, 1 ancistus ( think I spelt it wrong there) and 6 harlequins.
The problem I have is that my Tiger Barbs are loosing their colour. I don't know what to do, this is the best set up I have had. The colour loss is more obvious in the green ones but the stripes on orange/black seem to be fading in most of them. Some of them seem to have a light green sheen on parts of their body. I am not sure if it is velvet disease as it doesn't look like any of the pictures I have seen on the net. They are also not showing any of the symptoms for the disease. They. Swim around fine and eat a **** of a lot.
I have noticed that some of them are developing dark patches, in the picturea the flash from the camera illuminates the areas of their body that have the light green sheen so it actually looks brighter in the picture than it does to the naked eye.
My heater broke so I have had fluctuating water temps for a week. I brought myself a Fluval E 300 heater, I preferred this to the standard Juwel replacement as I can set the tempreture easier. The tempreature is now set at 77.5f
I fed them twice a day and put quite a bit of food in the tank so that the other fish would get a chance to eat. The barbs were getting to the food before it got below the mid level of the tank. the chap at my local shop said I was over feeding them, which is probably the cause if the high Nitrate reading.
I normally change the water weekly, I change about 60 litres (13 US Gallons) approx.
The last water test reading is as follows:
Ph=7.6
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 90 mg
The Nitrate measurement is in mg/l. I used the API Nitrate test kit and the Tetra Test Strips (I only use them as a quick rough guide not for presise measurements).
To reduce the nitrate with having major fluctuations in the tempreature I have started to change 10 litres of water every other day.
The bigger water changes (60-90 litres) cause the tempreture to drop to about 70 which the fish dont seem to like and I am not sure if that is contributing to/causing the problems. I dont have a way to heat that much water before putting it in the tank.
I was feeding them twice a day, I was told this was far too much and I should reduce feeding to at least every other day to reduce the nitrate. Is there anything else I can do?
How much light should the fish have? could this be an issue? I currently have the light on for about 10 hours (its on a timer).
I apreciate any help, as I am getting pretty worried, the tiger barbs really bring some activity to my tank, I'll be really gutted if they start dying.
