Having Some Trouble with a New Tank

[applechickbsn]

Hi Everyone...
I have learned a lot from being here just the past few days....thanks!

First of all, I was bought a new 10 gal. for my anniversary (which I wanted).
We did the wrong thing by bringing it home, setting it up and stocking with way too many fish.... (Mistakes 1 and 2...both biggies!)
Results, of course...about half of them have died. :sad

I was told to do water changes to keep my ammonia level down, so I was doing that. In the process, I noticed that my 2 Silver Dollars had Ich.
LFS told me to put Quick Cure in the tank and remove the filter...so I did.

Cloudy water and the 3rd day of tx, a Glass Catfish died (NOT painted!), then the next morning, the other Glass Cat was dead. (This happened Friday.)

I went to work the next morning after treating the tank again (I was told to do it for 5 days, to be sure all signs of Ich were gone...), and when I got home that evening, my 2 Cherry Barbs were dead. (Saturday)

Next day, after work, my Colombian (I think that's what he was...) Shark was dead. I put the filter back in and did a water change. (This happened on Sunday)
This AM, I wake up and my Albino Platy (I think) was dead. (Tuesday)
I tested my water, my Ammonia was ok, but my Nitrites were off the charts...
Did a 40% water change 2x today, and bought some "Cycle".

Here's the issue now....I have 2 Marbled Anglefish, 2 Silver Dollars, 2 Black Mollies and 2 Cory Cats left. They look ok. I'm down to feeding once a day, vaccumed gravel today and the water changes, which I shall continue tomorrow....I mean, 2x a day till this gets straightened out.

The water looks pretty clear and the fish who are left are swimming around happily, but I have a slimy "film" on the inside of my glass. Should I clean it? How would you suggest? I will go to the LFS tomorrow after my AM class if I need to. I just don't want to lose these guys..I've gotten rather attached...
I already have my eye on a 55 gallon I may buy with tax refund! LOL! (Hubby doesn't know it though..but I do believe he suspects.)

My latest tests are:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate:20
Nitrite: 3.0
Hardness: 300
Alkalinity: 300
pH: 8.4

Any advice is appreciated....I do believe I may have become quite the "enthusiast"!!!! Definitely eager to learn all I can.....

 

[Swimfins]

With the nitrItes being up like that, I would consider adding some salt, 2 tablespoons per 5 gallon, to help out the fishies some. The mollies like the salt, but the corys are sensitive to it, however I added salt to my tank during an ich battle and my corys did ok. However, young ones might be less tolerant of salt. I wouldn't buy anymore as your tank is overstocked. The angels are too big for a ten, as well as the silver dollars. You better get that 55 up in a month or so, I think the angels will get aggressive in that ten gallon.

You can leave in the mollies (but don't add anymore they are too big for a 10g ), the cory cats are fine in your ten. AFTER the NITRITES are at an acceptable level, you might add a couple more corys. I would consider the tank full at this point, with just the mollies and corys. You might be able to add a betta splendens, but that's about it.

 

[applechickbsn]

Yea, after doing some reading, I thought that the Angels and the Silver dollars would be needing a larger space too.
But I really had no idea that a 10 gal was too small for Mollies too....they are so little!
Thank you for telling me that...I have an excuse to go out and get that bigger tank now, huh?

What do you suppose the slimy feel to the inside of the tank may be? And should I clean it? With what?

 

[Kasakato]

The slime might be alage. You can wipe and wipe and it will keep comming back, untill you have cycled your tank. Too clean it you can use a CLEAN, NEW sponge and wipe the sides. With a bigger tank you may not be able to get to the bottom so you can uses a alage magnet as seen here: http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19055;category_id=2927;pcid1=3347;pcid2=

 

[Harlock]

First of all, welcome to Aquaria Central! This is a great place to learn (I know I've gleaned a lot of info from this site) and don't worry, we all made mistakes at first. So, on to the helpful section. of the post, it's why you're here, after all.

Get the 55 and go with a fishless cycle. You can read up on fishless cycling at the top of this forum under the thread titled: Sticky: Cycle. Very good information there. Once the 55 is cycled, put the Angels and Silver Dolalrs in there. Both those species are just way too big for a 10 gallon. While you are in the midst of this fishy cycle, I recommend daily 50% water changes, or, as you said, maybe 40% twice a day is good since you are well stocked and this is a brand new tank. Water chanegs won;t hurt your fish, but ammonia and nitrites can kill them quickly. Also, I suggest testing yuor tap water to see what you are dealing with. Another suggestion is to call your municipal water supplier and ask if they treat the water with ammonia or chloramines. This can give you a great heads up on if you are using an appropriate water conditioner. If you do have chloramines or ammonia added to your water (the ammonia would actualy bond with chlorine and create chloramines anyway) then you need to make sure your water conditioner makes ammonia safe as well (usually by a chemical reaction that creates ammonium, much safer for your fish).

You can get away with mollies in a 10, but after having them in a 29 gallon and seeing just how active and how much swimming room they utilize, I wouldn't house them in anything less than a 20 long anymore. Corydoras catfish are fine in a 10 gallon. As fr the film on the glass, can you describe it further? Any color to it? Most folks use something called a glass/algae magnet or an algae scraper (a spngy thing on the end of a long handle) to clean their glass. The stuff I clean off is usually greenish brown and is barely visible until I clean it and it builds up on the sponge. It could be something called blue-green algae which is actually a cyanobacteria. This is usually the slimy stuff and is hard to get rid of sometimes. It grows best in what we would call low quality water, which is sort of what your post talked about. It can be physically removed but often comes back. If you get the water quality issue sorted out and then remove it all, it may stop it from propagating. It's pretty effiient stuff... it's the oldest living fossil with records dated back 3.5 billion years, so it has history on its side. I hope things work out for you, and good luck with school!

 

[Mikael]

What kind of filter have you got? You can get away with over-stocking a tank severely (although the fish will be happier in a larger tank) if you have a good filter and keep nitrate levels down by frequent water changes. I have a tiny tank for the kids (6.5 G) which is indeed severely over-stocked. It contains two veil-tail goldfish, two SAE's and one bristlenose catfish. Once the tank was cycled (with only the goldfish in it), I have never had any detectable levels of either ammonia nor nitrite. The filter is a cheap, standard sponge filter (operated by air), which I believe is by far the most underrated (and best value) of all types of filters. It is rated for up to 20 G. When I added the tho SAE's (which were added in order to clean up the tank of fuzz algae,which they did) I expected a minor ammonia/nitrite peak but there was absolutely nothing. In order to keep nitrate levels at 20ppm or less I have to change 40 % of the water every second day.

The sponge filter is extremely easy to maintain. Once a week I lift it out of the tank and gently squeeze out the dirt in tank water. I measured the water flow and it filters one gallon every 5 minutes.

 

[Puffernewbee]

MIKAEL,
Are you sure your filter is rated for a 20 gallon. At 5 minutes per gallon it is only pumping 12 gallons an hour. I thought you wanted to run the water through your filtering system at least 4 times per hour and the one you have does not even handle 20 gallons in one hour.

Not saying anything against you, just an observation.

 

[happychem]

Well, you know that your tank is overstocked and you're getting a bigger tank. You're also looking to learn, all good.

The next step is to stop listening to your lfs! Remove the filter!?!?! Activated carbon should be removed for the duration of treatment, and added afterwards to remove leftover meds, but the filter itself should remain in place. By removing the filter, even just for a few days, you effectively restart your cycle.

Speaking of Cycle, IMO, it doesn't work. I think you're asking about it in another thread, but I'll answer here. The type of bacteria in Cycle don't live long in fresh water, although they are common in marine environments. As many folks around here will tell you, it amounts to snake oil.

If your tax refund affords a 66g, go for that, a much nicer looking tank, IMO. 55's are too narrow. But now I'm just blabbing my opinion on tank aspect ratios...

Looks like your cycle is well underway, keep up the water changes, 2x50% daily, once in the morning and once at night and you should be on track. Be patient, don't stress and understand that this is a learning experience that many of us have gone through. My first tank was a 10g with 3 swordtail, 6 neon tetras, 4 cories, and 2 common plecos. Most of them are died, I spent a lot of money (relatively) replacing tetras before I gave up on them. 2 swordtails survived long enough to breed, the female lived long enough to breed again with her progeny. I brought the plecos to a local shop as soon as I learned about their size. I still have 2 of the cories. Don't stress the dead fish, mistakes through ignorance are not your fault, it's a shame that the lfs folks didn't know better. Just one more example of how just because someone works at an lfs, doesn't mean that they know fish.

A little salt can help with NO2, but its effectiveness tops out at fairly low concentrations. 1tsp. per 5g is plenty. I think that swimfins slipped a "b" into the units.

 

[Swimfins]

Yes, I did slip a 'b' in there didn't I? So sorry. I was thinking of when I had ich, or just confused?

Anyway, that's right as Happy Chem says.... I used salt at the beginning to get a hold of high nitrites as well. I also used cycle at this point, think cycle works well on the high nitrites. Its not bio-spira of course, but I thought it useful when nitrItes were high.


Welcome to the forum... applechickbsn Your fish will thank you for it.


(Happy Chem: As Paris Hilton would say "Flanders is hot." )

 

[happychem]

Paris Hilton would say that? Zoiks!