Help!

Hi All ,
First time to use the bord and could do with some help got a 60ltr small tank for kids to start off with just before Christmas anyway to cut a long story short all was well up untill last week thought we cracked it lost no fish in weeks we have 2 mollies 12 tetras 2 asian glass catfish, 2 guppies 2 plattys ,1 sucker catfish ,and 2 phantom sharks (i think ) and water started to go green i do a partial water change every week what is going on cant understand have i too many fish ?

thanks .

Marom were you based somebody might be beside you that could drop in.But if you have no test kits get down to your local fish shop and ask them to test the water.tell them whats happing.post the results up on the forum and i,m sure somebody will be able to help

Hi Marom

I new here too, tank since xmas too. I came here and got loads of advise to help me start into fishkeeping. I have a 240L tank and still only have a few small goldfish in it and would dream about stocking it with what you have, yet. I'm not one to give advise but I think you should have started with 1 or 2 small hardy fish and let the tank cycle. As said by John and Pierce, a test kit is a must. I was doing partial water changes 3 time a week and testing every day for the 1st 6 weeks. If I was to do it all over again, I'd go down the road of a fishless tank for at least 6 weeks, (as Darragh advised me at the start, but I wanted to see fish swimming)

The guys here have loads of experence and will go out of their way to help you with your problems.

Pat

hi marom,
i would agree with John on this. If you could post all he asked you will get plenty of help here! feel free to post or Pm me anytime!
Mickey

Hi john and all who replied to my plea ,
just start off with some more information , i cycled my tank for nearly 5 weeks and got water tested by pet shop and started off stocking tank very slowly with great advice from chap in pet shop and all was great up untill 2 weeks ago .
i just tested the water and this are the results (i used a kit API 5 in 1 aquarium test strip ) GH.=60 KH=0 PH=6.0 NO2=0 NO3=0
the tank is in living room but not in direct sunlight ! i turn on the tank light in morn and turn off at bed time , i do not have live plants only plastic ( dident want to get ahead of myself ) and a few ornaments (which i have now removed as the paint was starting to peel of ) since i last posted we lost 3 more fish 2 guppies and tetra .we were toying with idea of getting bigger tank but were going to wait for awhile mabey we should change now before we have no fish left ?

Thanks a mill
Mary .

Thanks Pierce,
im in Finglas ST.Margarets Rd.

Hi Marom,

Sorry to hear about your loss. That is alot of fish in the tank (causing alot of waste) - a bigger tank is needed. Glad you got the test strips but IMO I would not rely on them it would be advisable to get a test kit e.g. API, Nutrafin with the liquids - much more accurate results! You did the right thing with taking out the ornaments- I find they all go like that after a while. Are the fish showing any symptoms or changed their behaviour before passing away? I only put the light on in my tank when I come in after work and switch it off before bed as leaving it on all day was causing algea probs but having said that it does get a bit of natural light during the day!!

Hopr this helps and keep us posted on the progress!

Leonie

Thanks nonie '

i think i will deffo get a bigger tank one thing i forgot to say was i only use filter water because in begining the nitrite readings were very high and this seems to have worked im still doing part water change now twice a week but water is still green would it be my filter ?the filter i have is stringray (elite ) 15 . dont think iv'e lost any more fish but its hard to see the water is so cloudy .

all advice welcome ,
Mary .

Bump ! Sorry it took so long for this post to be released !

Kindest regards
Valerie

I have never used a stingray filter but i have seen them and in my opinion they are not capable of filtering anything bigger than a bowl. This could be part of the problem.
The water test results show you have no Nitrate No3. It is verry hard and verry unlikely for any tank to have a reading of 0 Nitrate. I would say these strips are giving you false reading.
Also you show a reading of KH 0.
The KH should be ideally 4dh or more. Anything less than 2dh can cause your ph to crash. If it crashes the ph will drop causing harm if not death to your fish.
I dont mean to sound alarming just giving some info.
To solve the KH problem place some oyster shells in your filter. Just a small amount should buffer your water keeping the ph stable.
I would replace the filter with one from the Fluval plus range. Place the media from your existing filter in it with the shells and some fine filter floss. The floss will help remove some of the green water. But we need to figure out what is causing the green water which is fine algae floating around in the water.
The algae could be from High Nitrates and/or phosphates. To remove phosphate from the water you can get phosphate removers in your LFS.
But before you rush out to buy phosphate remover you need to reduce the length of time you have the lights on.
Buy a timer from a hardware store ( B&Q, Woodies etc. )and set it that the light only come on for about 6 hours a day. This can be increased to 8-10 hours later on.
The algae will love all the light you are providing at the moment. Reducing the light may solve the problem, but i still think you need a better filter for your tank.

Hope this helps, Darren

How many hours a day are your lights being left on for and whats the wattage of the bulbs? Since you've got only false plants, I'd cut the \"on time\" of the lights down to 6 hours per day max and have them on for 2 hours, off for 2 hours. Get a couple of moss balls too, they'll help, I seen some in wackers Parnell Str during the week so they'll have some.

You really do have TOO mant fish though and any advice you get other than; less fish or bigger tank are only delaying your fate! The \"sucker catfish\" alone is probably a pleco that grows to 20\"+

Good luck and remember that; the bigger the tank, the easier(and less work)it is to keep.

It sounds like you need to get a new filter. I had a stingray 10 and it was hopeless - IMO it didnt do the job. I would recommend a fluval plus 2 filter this will hepl with the water conditions and it has in indicator on the side of it that retracts when it needs a clean.

Pauly - good point about the lights - a good way to ensure lights are on for a certain period of time every day is to use a timer, they are inexpensive and do the job and dont have to worry if you don't get home to turn on the lights. Try LIDIL or ALDI if not you can get them in Atlantic or Woddies.

How are the water parameters looking?

~Leonie~

Hi...not much to add, just I got 6 digital timers in Lidl a while ago for €6.99 each that do the job nicely. There about €11 in Argos.

The brother had a similar problem, his cause was he had the light on all day & some times all night and he had an air stone going 24/7.

I got him timers set the lights for - 4 hrs on - 2 hrs off - 4 hrs on

and the air stone set to come on after dark for the night....

And REGULAR water changes (he was useless at this)

cleared up the water a treat...

Thanks everyone for all your help i think we will be getting our new tank at weekend i have cut down on the times i leave the light on and this seems to have helped but not cured although i havent lost any more fish should i get some live plants with my next tank i also think ill get better testing kit do i need to cycle the new tank or can i use water from old one stright into new one .

thanks again for all the advice ,
Mary.

Thanks darren ,
thats a lot of information to get working on i hope i havent left it too long . any way \" the oyster Shells \" and fine filter floss (dont mean to sound lame ) but where do i get them .Should i get and air stone when getting new tank ?will also make sure to get Fluval plus filter too ,.

thanks a mill ,
Mary

hi Marom,

My advice to you would be to cycle the tank before putting the fish in. You can get some organic aqua that allows you to put the fish in straight away. Now i know some people frown upon this but IMO it has never done any harm! Where are you based as I have loads of the stuff and can give you some. A new test kit would be great I got mine for €33 so they are not too expensive considering the job they do!! The air stion would be desirable but once the surface of the water is being disturbed by the use of the filter it should be ok. I would always recommend the use of one as they are not too expensive either and provide oxegen in the water. Regarding the live plants I would hold off for now and concentrate on the fish. I am being a bit persumptious in thinkinig you dont have plants at the mo- they can be hard work (IMO) starting off with them!!

Let us know how you are getting on!!

BTW what kind of tank you getting?

~Leonie~

maybe your filter is not coping with the waste in the tank. I am not quite sure what a stingray 15 is but I think its a small triangular shaped one (let me know) Do you have a bigger filter or if you could get one you can use the sponge from the old one to start off the bigger one. This may help with your problems and will definitely benefit your fish.

Hope this helps

Nessa