New to the hobby, have a few questions. (well, several)

[Dianoktos]

Hello there everyone! I'm Dianoktos, I'm glad to be here and glad a place like 'here' exists.

well, first off, I decided I wanted an aquarium. (didn't we all?) I was super excited and dove right in, purchasing a nice 20gal tank (not long) with a lid+light, a wonderful Fluval HOB filter that's suitable for a 30gal, one of those submersible National Geographic 100watt heaters, several plastic plants, a marimo moss ball, and about 25lbs of rounded gravel. (relatively small sized).

That's when i made my first mistake: I also bought fish.

I had been completely unaware of what tank cycling was. But i already had purchased:

1 male crowntail Betta
7 Kuhli loaches
9 Green Neon Tetras
4 Cherry shrimp

I'm just over a month in to my new tank, and have only had a few casualties. (all my shrimp, one kuhlli)

I''m completelty unable to afford an API kit ntil much later, so I have no idea what my water parameters are. I did manage to find out that our local tap water was considered soft-very soft. I treat the water with Prime.

Heres where my questions start: (be prepared, but I've numbered them for easy answering)

1. I really hope i am not overstocked. i fell in love with all my little fishy buddies, and am willing to jump through hoops to maintain their health/well being. Is my current stock too much?

1 male betta
9 Green Neons
7 Kuhlis
(and a possible snail)

2. I do weekly water changes. Once i found out about the Cycling process I panicked for a few weeks, thinking one day all my buddies would be dead. (not yet!) I normally manage about a 20% change every three days, and about 40%-50% once a week. Is this enough to keep them alive and under minimal stress? I can't determine water quality because my LFS is too far to go regularly and a huge pain in the butt. or is this too much?

3. My mysterious shrimp deaths. At first, just one died, turned kinda purple about a week in. only a week or so ago i lost the other three, all sort of appearing to have been filterized except one. (it just kind of rolled over) I then realized that my shrimp most likely would not have come back out of the filter, due to the sponge and such. Could this have been Betta related deaths? or is it possible to pass through my Fluval filter? i had saved one from the intake a few days before i found it dead.

4. My one kuhli death, occurred only a few days ago.( i had missed my big weekend water change by a few days, we had to shut off water for the whole house due to a leak). He seemed intact, but his head appeared to have some small damage. could this have been the work of the filter too, or another possible Betta death? (my kuhlis have been acting a bit weird with him. They'll swim up and sort of drape on him, and he'll brush his fins over them as well. is this indications of pre violence?

5. My betta's fins are appearing a bit more ragged than normal, even being a crowntail. are the plastic plants damaging him? or could there be something else in my tank nipping him? I don't think it's fin rot, but I've been keeping an eye on him. He does lay down on the gravel sometimes, and has occasionally looked sick, on and off over the last few weeks. He's also undergone a slight color change, with the addition of some very beautiful blues mixed into his normal deep red. will he be alright? I don't have a quarantine tank, so I'm not sure what to do in a bad scenario.

6. I had an explosion of seed shrimp last week. i tried to clean the eggs off my plants (carefully, just tank water.) i beleive they came from my moss ball. my heater hadn't been heating the tank properly due to the location, so i had moved it closer to the filter outflow. since then the tank heated up nicely, and then suddenly seed shrimp. Are they harmful to my tank? will they contribute or cause harm to my cycling process?

7.Cycling: I've reached about 5 weeks now, with quite a few fish. Could i be nearing completion? i know its hard to tell without exact parameters, but I've been causing myself to go insane stressing about these guys.

8. I currently have temp set to 78 F. Is that about right?

9. my kuhlis will sometimes look purple bellied, than appear normal again later. is this ammonia/nitrite/nitrate poisoning? or is this normal? they'll also occasionally look ;washed out' and faded, then return to normal, sometimes only an hour later. Whats the deal?

10: Finally, am I doing enough? I hope i' not harming my fish, i love them and would hate to be torturing them. is there anything i could improve? (besides a time machine to go back and start out right)
I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and for any help i receive.

please feel free to answer any and all questions that you can, i will really appreciate it.

 

[myswtsins]

Welcome to AC! A lot of people do what you did but not enough do what you are doing now, trying to educate yourself. So good job! First of all, get a test kit. You've spent how much money on equipment and fish? What's another $25 to ensure the life of those fish? You need it, your fish need it, get it.

1. Stocking would be fine....after the tank is cycled.

2. Water changes and Prime is what is keeping your fish alive right now. Prime works for 24-48 to make ammonia, nitrites and nitrates less harmful so with your water changes schedule you are doing a fairly good job of keeping things under the deadly line most of the time. Keep doing what you are doing.

3. Didn't follow all that but shrimp are VERY sensitive, chalk it up to an uncycled tank for now. But some Bettas are known to hunt and kill shrimp for future reference.

4. Never heard of such behavior between khulis and bettas. Most likely the delay in WC (water change) caused this death.

5. Most likely due to the uncycled tank. ANY amount of ammonia or nitrites CAN kill fish but usually they get "sick" first which is what you are seeing in your betta.

6. Seed shrimp are uncommon, you sure that is what it is? You mentioned a possible snail and eggs on the plants, could be snail eggs?

7. Very unlikely near the end of cycle. Between the prime and water changes a complete cycle will be delayed because you are removing or binding the ammonia before it can consumed by bacteria so they bacteria colony will grow slowly, but it will grow! Only a test kit can tell where the cycle is and you need to test after 48hrs of adding prime to get true results.

8. 78F is fine

9. Unsure of purple bellied khulis but the rapid color loss and regain is certainly a sign of stress....uncycled tank.

10. Sorry to say I am almost certain you are harming your fish perhaps irrevocably. Just ONE of many aspect of fish in an uncycled tank is ammonia burns to the gills. Fish CAN live through it but usually with lifelong damage to their gills. Are you doing enough? You sure are trying! Using the prime and the extra water changes are a great start. What more can you do? Honestly I am not really sure, never been in that situation and like I said not many people seek help when in that situation so I don't see it often. I am sure others will have ideas though.

Oh, plants! You said you have a marimo ball, what light do you have on the tank? Even the standard T8 light could keep some floaters alive though. I would suggest you get some easy low light floating plants in there ASAP. Wisteria, hornwort, duckweed, pennywort, maybe even frogbit would be good options for fast growing low light plants.

Let me say again, get a test kit! lol Besides the fact that you need to known what is going on with your cycle, water parameters will be the first things anyone asks you when you have any question or problem. Testing is the first thing you should DO if you see any problems too.

 

[myswtsins]

Kensfish is consistently cheaper then other places and he is well known and reputable. Test kit is $21 HERE. You need to spend $49 for free shipping but being a new fish owner $49 worth of stuff is easy to need! A KH and GH test kit would be high on my list of suggested supplies. Shipping is slow though so you might be better off buying the kit locally or if you have amazon prime it is $25 there. Either way bookmark kensfish.

 

[Dianoktos]

Thank you for your very quick reply. I am sort of glad my deaths probably weren't filter related, yet devastated they are cycling related.

as for the seed shrimp, i am pretty sure. i don't have pics, but there were Little black/green balls, (tiny, smaller than my micro wafers) that SUDDENLY appeared all over my tall plants. later there were tiny little white guys floating around, sorta sausage/shrimp shaped, that my neons hunted ravenously. I bought the ball from a planted tank with fish in it, so i thought perhaps it could have brought them along.

I am definitely intending on replacing all m plastic plants with live ones, just worried my kuhlies will tear them all out. I have a standard light that came with the lid, i leave it on about 5-6 hours, then use a lamp next to the tank. it gives a nice sunset/dusk effect which my kuhlies enjoy. i leave that on for a few hours, then turn it off. at night i have blue Christmas lights on the other side of the room that give just enough light to see the bottom if you sort of squint or let your eyes adjust. I also would like to get a nice day/night light with timer.

I was really hoping i could be near the end of my cycle, but oh well. if i increase my water changes, say, 20% every two days with a 50% once a week, would that improve fish health? Or is there a better WC schedule? I'm willing to put the extra effort in for these guys.

My Betta (napoleon) does appear better now, but his fins are still ragged. I've been keeping a close eye on him, so perhaps more WC would help.

overall, I really don't want them to have long term damage, i feel absolutely horrible. perhaps next feeding I'll treat them with a few blood-worms.

As for the API kit, I'm going to try and scrape something together. I'm a college student with no job, surviving on student loans. (Ugh, lifelong debt, here I come!) I get paid once every three months, and I'm at the end of my financial ropes. But these guys are depending on me, and it's killing me not knowing what kind of environment they are being forced to live in .

as for my kuhli / betta interactions, i will try to get a video next time it happens. Kuhli's are quite strange, but this seems odd to me. Their wiggly dances before rain is amazing though!

Thank you again for your very prompt response, and thank you for welcoming me to AC!

 

[myswtsins]

Seed shrimp- Still not sure if thats what they are. Seed shrimp don't look like shrimp and are more round than sausage like. But if the fish eat them it's all good.

Plants - Planted tanks are a whole nother ball game of details but like I said a standard flouresent tube light will grow a limited amount of things. Having something floating helps expose it to CO2 in the air and keeps it close to the light.

WC - 20% every two days and 50% seems pretty good. Once you get a test kit you will have a better idea of what you are really facing and what needs to be done.

Betta - WCs are your first line of defense for like 99% of aliments so they can only help.

Can you have a bigger tank than a 20 at your college? You should see if there is any local fish clubs near you. You might find someone local that would be willing to help you first hand, at least test your water for you to give you an initial idea. Maybe give you free plants too. Check out craigslist too, for freebies of any sort really!

 

[Dianoktos]

Seed shrimp- Still not sure if thats what they are. Seed shrimp don't look like shrimp and are more round than sausage like. But if the fish eat them it's all good.

Plants - Planted tanks are a whole nother ball game of details but like I said a standard flouresent tube light will grow a limited amount of things. Having something floating helps expose it to CO2 in the air and keeps it close to the light.

WC - 20% every two days and 50% seems pretty good. Once you get a test kit you will have a better idea of what you are really facing and what needs to be done.

Betta - WCs are your first line of defense for like 99% of aliments so they can only help.

Can you have a bigger tank than a 20 at your college? You should see if there is any local fish clubs near you. You might find someone local that would be willing to help you first hand, at least test your water for you to give you an initial idea. Maybe give you free plants too. Check out craigslist too, for freebies of any sort really!

yes I could have a larger tank. I live off-campus, in a house. which is very nice for pet reasons, and of course no check in and room cleanliness checks.

my problem is space, currently. i would really love to get a 55g or bigger. (ideally maybe 150g) For that, i would need to check floor plan and structural ability to hold such a tank. it's an older home, i would hate to have a tank crash through the floor.

In late march, i might be able to upgrade, perhaps through Craigslist. (wonderful idea, hadn't even crossed my mind!) I would love to have a Kuhli tank, something nice and long. I would love to pick up breeding them. (or trying) I have absolulty fell in love with all seven of my kuhlies, I can tell them each apart!

So really, my tank options are as wide as my finances can allow. (which isn't a lot, maximum $200) so perhaps used is a good bet. I want to try to get a handle on my one tank first, so perhaps this experience of emergency fish-in cycling will help me get some knowledge and experience under my belt before I expand my horizons. That gives me another month or so. (but i do know larger tanks are easier to maintain!)

I'm going to see about getting that API kit this week, and i can update everyone on my (hopefully) progress then. (i hope not to find horrifying results on my tests, but it very well be the case)

thank you for the support! i will definitely keep everyone posted on my fish's well being and water parameters once i have them.

I know i will have many more questions throughout this process, and will undoubtedly need the support in case of disaster. (Or success!)

 

[Astarell]

If you can't get the test kit, take a sample of your water to a big chain store. They'll test it for free. Now, take that with a grain of salt because they will test it with strips, not with a liquid test kit, so it won't be as exact but it should give you an idea of what you need to work on most.

 

[myswtsins]

Test kit is $22 on amazon today.

 

[myswtsins]

Further info on Prime and the nitrogen cycle posted by another member.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/threads/seachem-prime-and-test-readings-and-other-info.283725/

It looks like my previous information wasn't completely accurate, sorry about that! According to that post prime should protect your fish from the ammonia, even though your test will show it, for up to 48hrs and your bacteria can still use that ammonia to colonize.

 

[Dianoktos]

Thank you for helping me out guys. I have yet to get a test kit, unfortunately. However, I've upped my water changes to about 20% every day, with a 40%-50% once a week. Since the increase, my Betta has perked up significantly. There have been no tank fatalities since I last checked in, thank goodness. I even observed (what I'm hoping to be) some kuhli breeding behavior! However, there was a storm moving through....but they were twining together in a fashion I have yet to observe with my kuhlies. Here's to hoping, right? Gosh, wouldn't that be neat.
In other news, I had a filter mishap. I noticed that my filter had stopped running, for what I'm hoping was a short period of time. It took a bit of fiddling around, but I was able to get it running again, the motor fans seemed to have been jammed or something.

I was able to confirm a snail in my tank. I''m actually quite disappointed in this, i really did not want snails. Are all aquarium snails hermaphroditic? Will I eventually have a snail invasion? Is there anything special I need to do to either rid/maintain my undesired snail population?

Thanks in advance, and again thanks for the support!