Am I on the Right track?

[joylynn]

I am still new to fishkeeping and am trying to rectify some really stupid newbie mistakes made in the first month of being a fish owner. I have lost a couple of fish, but after reading this site I am apparently quite lucky I haven't lost more in my ignorance. Most of the ones I lost were probably already sick before I got them home considering how fast they went downhill while all the others stayed healthy.

I have a 1G tank for my betta and he is doing fine, but I may consider a slightely larger tank for him in the near future. I am doing about 30% water changes on that tank every 2-3 days.

I have a 10 G with 3 common (feeder) goldfish (2" long each), 1 pictus (2.5" long) and one small common pleco (1.5" long). This tank has been up and running with these fish for a month now and is also stabilizing.


My concern is my 35 G I just set up last week. I had no bad luck with just throwing my 10G together in one day, gravel, fish and all (ok, maybe a little, I lost pleco #1 within hours of putting him in, and one goldfish died of mysterious causes about 5 days later) but by and large the fish are active and healthy in that tank for now, I will be moving the pictus and probably the pleco out soon to a bigger tank as they grow. So because it worked fine for my 10 G, I set up my 35 G over about a 4 day period, adding more fish every 2 days or so - Ignorance is Bliss. I have had 1 tiger barb die and I hated it, it was a slow death and he didn't respond to any medication (I treated for velvet and he was very gold colored, iridescent looking, then he got pop eye at the end and I treated for that also). I currently have a HOB filter by Top Fin I am not sure of the model, but it is the one designed for my tank size. I also have a carbon filter and ammonia remover that I put in last night to remove the remaining medication in the tank and to help keep ammonia levels down.

Mistake #2 was putting too many fish in my tank (at least with their potential sizes). I have 9 tiger barbs now, 3 Opaline Gouramis, 2 pictus, 1 common pleco, 1 albino rainbow shark, 1 peacock eel, 3 live plants (not sure what kind). I am doing frequent water changes (every other day about 40-50 % because I didn't cycle the tank properly and have too many fish), and as of last night it looked like I was finally getting some of the toxin levels under control. I bought an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals testing kit and tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Here are my readings:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.25 - 0.5 ppm
pH - 8.0
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

when I change water I am treating with "ph 7.0 Seachem pH Regulator" that also removes chlorine, ammonia and chloramine.

Is there any thing else I can do to help this tank recover from my ignorance?

Thanks!

 

[FisheyLisa]

Well I may be confused, it was a lot of info to read, but here is what I'd be weary of:

Gold fish and tropical fish don't do well together. They have different requirements, if you are catering to one, you are harming the other. Goldfish don't do well with the higher temps of a tropical tank. It will shorten their lifespan.

pH regulator is something to have caution with. Fish need stability. Having to use regulator jepoardizes that stability. If your fish can live with high pH as you have, I'd forego the stabilizer.

Finally you are way overstocked (which you know) with fish that ultimately shouldn't be in such small conditions even if they were the only fish in the tank. I use the species stuff on there on myfishtank.net and at liveaquaria.com to determine appropriate tank size. when adding new fish, I think you need to add less over more time, but please don't add more right now!

keep asking questions and good luck!!

 

[joylynn]

My goldfish are only in with a pleco and pictus catfish right now in a 10g and pictus and pleco will probably be moving soon.

My 35g has the 9 tiger barbs, 3 gouramis, 2 pictus cats, 1 pleco, 1 albino rainbow shark, 1 peacock eel. We are looking at gettign a 55-75 gallong tank soon to move some of the fish into, leaving probably only the tiger barbs and the eel in the 35 G.

I had a pH close to 8.4 earlier this week, hence the use of the regulator to try and bring that down. I also had been having ammonia issues so I was using the regulator to help remove the ammonia as well. If that is not a good idea, I will look for soemthign to just dechlorinate alone, rather than using the all in one.

 

[LunchBox]

monitor your water parameters closely. your tank hasn't cycled yet (the clue is that you have ammonia and nitrite showing up), and if you aren't careful your fish could be poisoned which will lead to more deaths. I'd recommend keeping up the 30-50% water changes every other day until your nitrites and ammonia disappear, then you can probably back off to once a week to handle your nitrate levels (assuming your water source doens't have a lot of nitrates in it as I recently learned).

a few of your fish will get way too big for your 35g tank, and if they were purchsed recently I'd ask your LFS if you can return the ones that can't stay. Somone correct me if I'm wrong but i beleive you can have 1 pictus cat in a 35g tank, so one may need to go. the barbs are ok for a tank this size as long as their nighbors are fast enough or big enough to keep them at bay (they can be very nippy). the gouramis probably aren't the best mix with the barbs. the eel I'm not sure of, so hopefulyl somone will have some insight there.

so personally, I'd say go with a pictus (maybe both) and the shoal of barbs, get rid of the common pleco and find a bristlenose pleco, which will stay small enough for your tank and are fairly common. get rid of the shark (needs a big tank with lots of room), the gouramis (bad mix with fast nippy fish IMO) and the eel (unless someone else knows if it could stay).

your tank may look slightly understocked at that point but as the old saying goes "if the tank looks pretty empty, you probably have the correct number of fish in there"

UPDATE: so I posted before you posted your last post if you go get a 75, you could move the fish I said to "get rid of" to it and would possibly be fine as for your Ph, the less monkeying around with it you do the better your fish will be. one way to bring it down gently without adding too many artificial chemicals would be to add some driftwood or peat to your filter media. not too much, and not too fast though.