accentchick
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
So I will try to make this short and sweet but there are alot of details you may need in order to give proper advice:
I got a new 29g tank on Nov 17th and i filled it and left it for about 24 hrs before putting about 7-8 fish. One otto, 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 fancy guppies, 2 mollies.
Within the first week or so I had alot of deaths. Fish were bought at Walmart and they kept replacing them.
Finally discovered that I made a big mistake and tried to correct it by doing weekly gravel vacuums and 35-45% water changes, started adding aquaplus every time i completed the water change.
I took my water to the pet store on weekly basis to get tested. Got my ammonia under control...now reads 0.0. Last couple of times though my nitrites and nitrates are high. Very pink when tested. For about 3 weeks I thought I had it under control and had no deaths.
Recently my otto died, I noticed one of the nostril looking things on his snout was bleeding and looked like something gouged him...notice he was EXTREMELY skinny (he had been fine till this time). I automatically thought he was hungry so I took him out of the tank and put him in a smaller .5 g tank I had and took the tank water to fill it. Gave him some food..live bearer food is what I use for all of my fish..but overnite he passed
All my other fish seem to be doing great...its now Jan 2, so over a month and a half since I first started with the tank.
I now have the 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 fancy guppies, 3 coral platys, 1 marble molly, 3 black mollies, and 1 baby black molly and 2 baby platys (in the bredding tank in the top corner). All fish have been in the tank for at least a month and doing fine..babys have been there for about 2 wks now. I did have one outbreak (i think of ich) and did a treatment but all is good since then. My gouramis little whisker thingys are starting to grow back.
Any suggestions would be appreciated on what to do to a) get my water perfected and b) what kind of bottom feeder should I get next.
Pet store had told me otto wouldn't need food...but after reading all the forums I believe they were wrong.
Like I said i'm new to this whole fish scenario and I want them all to be happy and healthy so advice is greatly appreciated.
Oh and water temp is 81 degrees as I heard this wards of ich and other diseases...
I got a new 29g tank on Nov 17th and i filled it and left it for about 24 hrs before putting about 7-8 fish. One otto, 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 fancy guppies, 2 mollies.
Within the first week or so I had alot of deaths. Fish were bought at Walmart and they kept replacing them.
Finally discovered that I made a big mistake and tried to correct it by doing weekly gravel vacuums and 35-45% water changes, started adding aquaplus every time i completed the water change.
I took my water to the pet store on weekly basis to get tested. Got my ammonia under control...now reads 0.0. Last couple of times though my nitrites and nitrates are high. Very pink when tested. For about 3 weeks I thought I had it under control and had no deaths.
Recently my otto died, I noticed one of the nostril looking things on his snout was bleeding and looked like something gouged him...notice he was EXTREMELY skinny (he had been fine till this time). I automatically thought he was hungry so I took him out of the tank and put him in a smaller .5 g tank I had and took the tank water to fill it. Gave him some food..live bearer food is what I use for all of my fish..but overnite he passed
All my other fish seem to be doing great...its now Jan 2, so over a month and a half since I first started with the tank.
I now have the 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 fancy guppies, 3 coral platys, 1 marble molly, 3 black mollies, and 1 baby black molly and 2 baby platys (in the bredding tank in the top corner). All fish have been in the tank for at least a month and doing fine..babys have been there for about 2 wks now. I did have one outbreak (i think of ich) and did a treatment but all is good since then. My gouramis little whisker thingys are starting to grow back.
Any suggestions would be appreciated on what to do to a) get my water perfected and b) what kind of bottom feeder should I get next.
Pet store had told me otto wouldn't need food...but after reading all the forums I believe they were wrong.
Like I said i'm new to this whole fish scenario and I want them all to be happy and healthy so advice is greatly appreciated.
Oh and water temp is 81 degrees as I heard this wards of ich and other diseases...