Fish at the top of the tank

[mattandbenny]

Right ill give you the details first.
I have:

- Cycled my tank and everything for 3 weeks and had my water tested before i put anything in it
- 125 litre tropical tank
- Had it about 4 months
- Got a community tank with mollys x 4, rams x 3 , plecs x 2, bowmans rainbow x 2, clown loach x 1, gouramis x 3, ruby shark x 1, corydoras x 1
- Got filter, heater, light
- Clean out 25% of water once a fortnight
- Feed once every 2 days with a tubiflex treat the days i dont feed
- Got 6 live plants in there
- Temperature is 25-26 degrees
- Had my water tested last week and it was all fine

Basically, the last couple of days the fish have pretty much all been sitting at the top of the tank most of the time with the exception of the corydoras and the plecs. Can anyone give me any advice on what i can do to try and get the fish back to normal swimming around the middle. I'm planning to buy an air pump and air stone (bidding for one on ebay if i dont win will go to pets at home on sunday and get it). Is there anything else i can do? Cheers.

 

[fort384]

When you say cycled the tank for 3 weeks what did you do? Just running the tank with water in it is not cycling it. It requires seeding with ammonia if you cycle with no fish.

What were the parameters of your water tests? Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate/pH readings.

What kind of filter are you using? HOB, canister, etc? Litres Per Hour of flow?

That is an awful lot of fish to add straight away to a 33 gal tank. I am thinking your fish are experiencing an ammonia spike. Most likely course of action for you is going to be daily partial water changes while your biological filter gets established. Of course, some specifics on your water parameters will help.

Also - probably a separate issue, but what kind of plants do you have, and what kind of light do you have?

 

[peaceablegarden]

Hi and welcome! Sorry for your troubles. You've definately come to the right place for help. I'm not one of the real experts here but what I can almost guarantee is that they will want to know what your water parameters are specifically. If you don't already have an API Master Test Kit, it's well worth the investment. Monitoring your own parameters is super helpful especially since many problems are caused by water issues and sometimes daily monitoring becomes necessary. Hopefully one of those experts will chime in quickly for you. Hope all turns out well.

 

[mattandbenny]

When you say cycled the tank for 3 weeks what did you do? Just running the tank with water in it is not cycling it. It requires seeding with ammonia if you cycle with no fish.

What were the parameters of your water tests? Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate/pH readings.

What kind of filter are you using? HOB, canister, etc? Litres Per Hour of flow?

Also - probably a separate issue, but what kind of plants do you have, and what kind of light do you have?

When i cycled it i used the 'aqua plus tap water conditioner' and 'nutrafin cycle biological aquarium suppliment'.

Cant remember the readings, got it done at pets at home and they were all the top one.

Using the fluval 3 filter, which came with the tank, not really sure of the technical stuff.

Got one power-glo bulb and one aqua-glo bulb, which again both came with the tank. Keeping the light on about 6 or 7 hours a day, turn it on when i get in around 5 and off around 11.

Not sure of the plants names but ive got a mix of potted plants, a couple with long leaves which i hv ave to trim cause they grow really fast, a couple of bushy ones, a red one.

Cheers.

 

[fort384]

Matt, neither of those additives would help cycle the tank. When you tested your water prior to adding fish, my guess is all readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate were 0. As soon as you add fish, your ammonia will spike up (especially with that many fish at once) because you have no "ammonia eating" bacteria in your tank. You will want to read up on the nitrogen cycle to understand what I am talking about. There is a great article here.

I would recommend 2 things:

1. Do a 50% partial water change immediately. Treat the tap water you add back in with your dechlorinator prior to adding it to the tank.

2. Pick up a test kit ASAP at your LFS that will allow you to test Ammonia, NitrIte, and NitrAte.

 

[mattandbenny]

Ok cheers for the advice mate

 

[missileman]

fort384Is right, the stuff you added can help the cycle happen faster by a few weeks but you have to have amonia in the tank before the cycle starts. Just running the tank with nothing in it does not work.
With no cycling additives the cycle typically takes 6-8 weeks on average. with most over the counter cycle products you can shave off 2-3 weeks.
With a good live bacteria source, such as a used filter pad from an established tank, you can cycle a new tank in 1-2 weeks.
Cycling a tank means building up beneficial bacteria that controll amonia and nitrite levels, that bacteria needs food to survive, that food is amonia either from fish waste or manually added from other sources.

 

[mattandbenny]

Right I did the water change, and am going to buy an air pump and air stone tomorrow aswell as the test kit. I'll post the results of the water test 2moro. Its a bit worrying cause the only fsh that arent at the top are the 2 plecs, corydoras, 3 rams and ruby shark, all the rest seem to be struggling for air.

So if my water is ok, should the air pump and air stone do the trick?

 

[missileman]

Weither your water parameters are ok or not the airstone will help.
Bad water conditions will rob oxygen from the water column. An airstone will help circulate the water and cause surface agitation that will aid in gas exchange.
Pick up some Ammo lock, Prime or Amquel plus to help you control the amonia level and help make the water safer for your fish as it cycles.

 

[mattandbenny]

I got the air pumpo and air stone and its sorted it, everything is great and back to normal. Woohoo.