I have a 29 gallon tank have had it for a little while, but I can't seem to keep any kind of fish alive...I had a dojo (weather) loach and he had survived for months even when the other fish died, but a couple weeks ago I noticed the water was pretty cloudy, and I did approximately 80% water change. It was very clear for the first few days (The loach is the only fish I had in the tank) but then became cloudy again. I picked up some stuff called Crystal clear and it cleared the tank up in just a few hours...It says on the bottle to repeat in 24 hours if necessary and it did get cloudy again, so I put some more drops in. (I did follow the directions on the bottle) Then when I got home one evening the loach was laying on its side. I got him to move and he seemed fine for the rest of that day and most of the next...Today, he was upside down when I got in from work. I didn't see anything on the crystal clear stuff that said it would harm any kind of fish, but now I'm wondering if that's not what killed him. Any ideas???? I haven't bought any more fish because I want to figure out what my tank problem is before I do. I don't like my fish to die...It's really depressing. Also, what would be some good beginner fish for the 29 gallon tank if I ever figure out what the problem is? Thanks for your help.
help!!!!!
- Thread starter sherryvandaley
- Start date
Hey Sherry!
We can probably help you figure this out. Can you give more information about your current setup (filter, temperature, etc) and your routine maintenance?
Let us know how often you do your routine water changes and what your test kits shows for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
Most of us have the best success by doing frequent water changes: 25-50% each week with water dechlorinator.
The bottle of water clarifier you are using is probably not the cause. Chances are that your cloudy water was a bacterial bloom due to high levels of nutrients in your water, especially if you are not doing water changes very frequently. That kind of product is really meant to remove the last bit of cloudiness due to very fine particles in a healthy established aquarium, but is not really effective as a product to solve serious water quality issues.
Just let us know more about your setup and maintenance and we can come up with some plans to help you get things settled and on the right track again. We've all had these problems . . .
We can probably help you figure this out. Can you give more information about your current setup (filter, temperature, etc) and your routine maintenance?
Let us know how often you do your routine water changes and what your test kits shows for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
Most of us have the best success by doing frequent water changes: 25-50% each week with water dechlorinator.
The bottle of water clarifier you are using is probably not the cause. Chances are that your cloudy water was a bacterial bloom due to high levels of nutrients in your water, especially if you are not doing water changes very frequently. That kind of product is really meant to remove the last bit of cloudiness due to very fine particles in a healthy established aquarium, but is not really effective as a product to solve serious water quality issues.
Just let us know more about your setup and maintenance and we can come up with some plans to help you get things settled and on the right track again. We've all had these problems . . .
Here are a couple great articles on the forum!
Great Place to Start
You should focus on the cycling articles.
To give you the basics, cycling is the process a tank goes through to establish itself. This is one of the most important steps in Fishkeeping that is often looked over and why so many fish die when you first start up a tank if you are not informed. Cycling has three stages to it. The first stage is where your tank establishes a colony of bacteria that will help to process the ammonia in your tank. Ammonia is formed from fish waste and excess food. The bacteria that is formed is good bacteria that eats ammonia and turns it into nitrITEs.
The second stage is when a bacteria colony grows that eats the NitrITES.
The third stage is where those nitrITEs are turned into NitrATEs by another bacteria.
Ammonia and NitrITEs are very toxic to the fish and can cause alot of damage. Nitrates, in large numbers will also be harmful to the fish but those are kept in check by weekly water changes.
From what I understand, there are no fish in the tank. If this is the case I would read up on fishless cycles or invest in BioSpira, a product that has all the bacteria you need in it before getting more fish.
All the articles on the forum are a huge help and really helped me get through my first couple mess ups! Don't feel bad, losing fish can be upsetting, but we all had to start somewhere! Keep us posted and we will get you passed this part!
Great Place to Start
You should focus on the cycling articles.
To give you the basics, cycling is the process a tank goes through to establish itself. This is one of the most important steps in Fishkeeping that is often looked over and why so many fish die when you first start up a tank if you are not informed. Cycling has three stages to it. The first stage is where your tank establishes a colony of bacteria that will help to process the ammonia in your tank. Ammonia is formed from fish waste and excess food. The bacteria that is formed is good bacteria that eats ammonia and turns it into nitrITEs.
The second stage is when a bacteria colony grows that eats the NitrITES.
The third stage is where those nitrITEs are turned into NitrATEs by another bacteria.
Ammonia and NitrITEs are very toxic to the fish and can cause alot of damage. Nitrates, in large numbers will also be harmful to the fish but those are kept in check by weekly water changes.
From what I understand, there are no fish in the tank. If this is the case I would read up on fishless cycles or invest in BioSpira, a product that has all the bacteria you need in it before getting more fish.
All the articles on the forum are a huge help and really helped me get through my first couple mess ups! Don't feel bad, losing fish can be upsetting, but we all had to start somewhere! Keep us posted and we will get you passed this part!
Maybe it is just me, but the first 6 months of fishkeeping is definitely the hardest. Once you have learned from some mistakes and have well established aquariums, fish deaths and other emergencies become rather rare.
Water changes of 50% are fine. I do them twice a week. There is no reason why anyone should have to limit themselves to 1/3 of a tank when more is better.Turtle323 said:
Roan