Need Help

G

Greg N

AC Members
Mar 2, 2009
6
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Central NJ
www.gregsgarage.com
I currently have a 55 gallon tank that was given to my by a friend. We moved the tank saving 10 gallons of the orginal water. The gravel was rinsed (No Chemicals) and set back up. The only fish that came with the tank is a 6 year old Pleco. He is doing fine. We ran the tank for a week checking the water and then added 1 bala shark, 1 red tailed shark, 4 tiger barbs and 4 ballys. the first 3 have been great but the 2 ballys and some angels added later have had issues that I need to get a handle on and cannot understand what went wrong.

Water has been tested (with new test strips all including amonia by me and as wel by Petco) are right on the money. Temp is a solid 75 degrees. (New heater and well as new thermometer) the are eating Frozen Brine shrimp in the evening and an occational bit of quality flake in the morning. I am trying to not over feed. pleco gets a algea tablet every day

This is getting frustrating.

Any help is appreciated.
 
what kind of issues have the fish had? specifics? and what are the specific readings?
by the way the water doesn't have much beneficial bacteria in it, the gravel and filter dose.
 
Thank you for the response. Well the issue is that the fish are dying and I cannot understand why. We lost 2 ballys in the first week and replaced them and they have been fine up until today when one died. The angels were not lucky to last that long. We have lost a total of 4 angels in 2 weeks time.

There are two filters running on the tank they are Rena Filstar XP1s that were cleaned and all new media was replaced, following the instructions for replacing the media when it was done.

I am not sure what else I need to be checking is all the tests are coming back normal and the tank was run for a good amount of time with only the one existing fish and the others are doing fine.

Currently in the tank there are 1 Pleco, 1 Bala shark, 1 red tail shark, 4 tiger barbs, 3 ballys and 1 remaining angel.
 
Wow, I am sorry for your losses. I think it would be a really good time to take a break from stocking and get back to the basics. It sounds to me like everything is to "clean" right now. When you washed the gravel you likely lost most of the bacteria you need. The tank water really did not have any. The filter would have had most of it but now the media is replaced you have lost it as well.

That is not a problem as it will grow back but you need to stay on top of your water in the mean time. First, make sure you are doing something to treat for chlorine. I use Prime but there are others. Then measure your ammonia every day. If it does not read 0 you will need to do a big water change. Don't listen to your store when they tell you to not do water changes. It will greatly help your fish to do water changes.

Do not be surprised if you need to do 50% water changes to keep your ammonia to unreadable levels. The fish you have are not known for being good during a cycle so that means you have to be extra catious and do more frequent water changes.

As soon as you start getting on top of your ammonia you will start getting nitrites. This will coninue to be a problem for a few more weeks. When you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites for a week and your nitrates are climbing you can think about adding fish. This will be 6 weeks or so from now.

This is a hard time for any fish keeper. Don't worry, be patient and persistant and this will pass.
 
#1 Need to test the water with a good liquid test kit. Your ammonia...nitrite is probably through the roof as your tank is not cycled. Those test strips are useless and inaccurate. 2nd your tank is SERIOUSLY overstocked, the only fish a 55 is capable of accomidating is the angel. Overstocked tank + Inaccurate testing = ammonia problems=dead fish. If you can't get a liquid test kit quickly I would begin doing at least twice daily 50% waterchanges to get ammonia down.
 
Honestly, thank you both for the responses.
When I got the tank a liquid test kit came with it (this whole thing came from a good friend). I used it and checked everything and all was OK ( this kit is roughly 1+ year old, do they go bad?). When I took some of the angels back they (petco) told me the liquid ones were inaccurate and I needed the strips. $35 dolars later I bought the most complete kit they had and everything tests OK and after reading this I just checked the ammonia again and it is safe.

I know I am new to this and have no problem following the advise given I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing.
 
For sure get liquid test kit. API is good. Just an idea- do you have another aquarium???

Just an idea- and please wait for someone more knowledgeable to second this idea before you do it as I have only ever used this method in emergency hospital tanks to get them established in a quickie!

To get the tank cycled or at least stable (because most def. its too "clean") you can take some filter from the tank you've had established and put it in the new one- you can also put gravel from the older tank and put it in a mesh bag and stick it in a corner. That will re-introduce good bactieria for the fish you have remaining and hopefully prevent more deaths. I heard that you can buy old filters from your LFS (AVOID petco... petsmart etc cause all their tanks are connected etc etc) if you dont have a second tank yourself.

Unfortunatly, cleaning the gravel took out lots of good gravel... You want to vac it but not rinse it once you have fishes in there.
 
I would say that maybe your water params were ok but maybe not established enough for the type of fish you were keeping? Aren't angels hard to keep fish when it comes to new tanks? Maybe that is the reason behind it, otherwise if your parameters were off then most likely the cause. I have never had great success with big box fish stores and their fish staying alive past 14 days in my tanks, my other fish from my mom and pop shop are still alive after 3 years now. I think it has to do with the way the big box stores acclimate their shipments and such and I also don't think the Q the new shipments like my mom and pop shop either. You might have received fish that were new like within 24 to 48 hours old of the store?

There are so many instances, look for the obvious and work your way out. Even as obvious as too much food, not enough water conditioner, something from your hands contaminating the tank, etc.

GL
 
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