Cycling with Fish, Taking 4Ever, StinkyTank

[lovemypleco]

Okay, I'm kind of new at this still and not a pro by any means.

Cycling my tank with fish. Found what I thought was a clown pleco, but ended up being an actual common. I found this out online through profile searching. The LFS said it was a clown. I was cycling the tank with him and a school of 9 Cardinal tetras.

So after realizing we would have to take him back to the LFS because he would grow too big, we were browsing through another LFS and found a rare gem - a Gold Nugget L-177 Pleco. Had to get it. They all looked healthy and we were sure they'd be all sold soon, so we got him.

Integrated him into the tank. So the load was 1 young Common pleco, 9 cardinal tetras and the new baby Gold Nugget. So = PLENTY of poop as plecos poop A LOT.

I have been keeping the ammonia down below .5 and keep it usually at .25. Nitrites are 0 and PH is 7.0. I also have two real plants in there.


Last night, I caught the common jumping all over and chasing the baby gold nugget around the tank. So we took the Common back right then.

So my baby gold nugget is happy now and is eating and swimming around. He was just shoving himself in this one spot hiding from the common.


The fish load seems perfect now as the goldie will not grow over 7 cm.


The problems now? The tank is taking forever to cycle and lord all the sudden this morning the tank STINKS and is cloudy. None of the cardinals are dead, no one is dead.

I just did a water change and really got underneath the gravel, etc. and the water was really brown, with LOTS of poop. This is the reason for the stench right? I was thinking perhaps it was some kind of algae bloom or something.

I'm using a new hob Whisper Bio filter system w/carbon (20 Gallon). I do feed all of them a lot. I want them to stay healthy during this cycling process.

Anyone know what's happening?

 

[Slappy*McFish]

The generous feedings are what is causing your problems. The fish will be fine with very small feedings during the cycle and be much healthier to boot. Until the tank has fully cycled, feed your fish one small pinch of food daily, and do two 30-50% water changes weekly and I promise you the cloudiness and stinch will subside.

 

[TPIRman]

Hi there,

A couple things you need to do. First, scale way back on feeding. Feeding the fish "a lot" is likely part of the problem. You have the best intentions in trying to keep the fish healthy, but overfeeding is actually one fo the surest routes to an unhealthy fish population. Feeding once a day (and sparingly at that) is plenty. I might scale back to once every other day for now. The fish will be fine -- they'll do much better, in fact, with moderation.

Second, I'd grab a packet of Bio-Spira at your local LFS. You may have to ask for it because it must be kept refrigerated at the store. Bio-Spira contains cycling bacteria that should take care of the cycle. Any detectable level of ammonia means that your fish are unduly stressed -- there isn't really any "safe" level of ammonia in the tank. And with Bio-Spira, there's no reason to put your fish through the cycle process.

The cloudiness is likely a bacterial bloom that, on its own, is not particularly harmful. My guess is that the stench is a combination of fish waste and rotting fish food. Water changes are the simplest way to restore good water quality -- simple enough. A 50% change daily, or every other day, would not be overboard. This will also give you a chance to get that excess waste and uneaten food out of the gravel. (Another side effect with new fish stock is that water changes can reduce the presence of disease-carrying organisms that new fish may have brought with them from the LFS.)

After a while, if you've stuck to good feeding practices (don't give into the "they look hungry!" temptation), you can ease up on the water changes, but keep to a good regimen. You can search these boards to find out what other hobbyists use for their water-change routine. I do 50% weekly, which may seem like a lot, but if you get a "Python"-type water-changing tool, it's not so hard at all.

As for the gold-nugget pleco -- after a quick Google search for L-177, I haven't found any resources that say this fish will stop growing at 7 cm. Most of what I've read gives an estimate more in the 20-30 cm range. I'm no expert in plecos, but it seems that this fish will be too big for a 20-gallon tank. (I think your tank is 20 gallons, or is that just the rating for your filter?) I'll let someone with more pleco experience weigh in here, but you may have to end up taking the gold nugget back.

I know how strong that "Had to get it" impulse can be, but you've got to resist it. The hobby is a lot more fun in the long term if you go home and research things first -- people on these boards are always happy to help you out with questions regarding new fish acquisitions. Impulse buys often don't end well; carefully researched ones usually do.

Hope this helps. Good luck getting your tank on track.

-John

(Edit: spelling)

 

[wataugachicken]

planetcatfish.com says 7.2 inches for the gold nugget. check L018 for more info about it.

how much gravel do you have? you can use as little or as much as you want and it may make life easier to reduce it to 1/2 inch or so.

 

[sardesign]

I agree, the gold nugget pleco will be too big for your tank. I have a 100 gallon tank and I won't put anything other than a clown or butterfly pleco in there because they will grow to a max of about 6". Also it's not the best thing (from what I've read) to cycle a tank with plecos (clown specifically) because they are sensitive to water conditions. I could be wrong, but I waited until my tank was cycled before I threw anything in there outside of my tetras.

 

[Holly9937]

How long has the tank been running? If you are getting that much waste out when you did the vac. you should probably be doing it more often, and it might be the cause for the smell. It should smell like fresh dirt

 

[lovemypleco]

The LFS guy said he would only grow up to 7cm. Man, they really will say anything. I have to keep telling myself to do the research myself. In any event, as he grows, I will definitely buy another tank. We've been talking about it anyway. So that's not a problem.

I figured it out. I did a thorough gravel vacuum and the water was so poopy under the gravel behind the rock cave. The water was brown. I vacuumed everywhere. The fish load was just too great and complicated the cycling process.

Now? Just hours later with just the baby Gold Nugget and Cardinals the water is crystal clear and doesn't smell at all. That was fast. So I'm glad.

I'll hold off on the feeding as much as I have been. I have a feeling it should cycle in a more stable manner now.

Thank you for the comments!

 

[Holly9937]

Yeah, under hiding spots the gravel will get pretty gross if you have plecos. I usually move them at least every other week to get the gravel under the caves and stuff where they hang out