Rate My Fish Tank

Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:02 pm GMT   Reply      

I am having a little problem with my tank that I just can't put my finger on. My water does not clear up, I keep getting some patches of film clouds on the bottom surface, and my water smells like sulfer I think? I changed the water, cleaned filters, removed poop from the bottom, and it still smells and it's cloudy! I am not over feeding and I just added an air stone to keep water flowing. Can someone please help. These fishes belong to my son who is only 6 years old and I would like to keep him happy with his pets. How can I clear the water and kill the smell!

Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:19 pm GMT   Reply      

Did you cycle the tank? How many fish do you have? Are you using tap water? What size is the tank?

Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:40 am GMT   Reply      

try putting and air stone in there too.........are you running the lights all the time? 2-3 hours a couple times a day is plenty in the begining, how often are you or your son feeding {is he feeding anything other than fishfood??lol it happens}

it sounds like your water is getting stagnent, get it moveing around and that smell should go away

Boss

Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:23 am GMT   Reply      

I know the EX70's use filter media inserts with carbon. As long as the carbon is fresh you shouldn't be getting much smell unless the tank is heavily overstocked. What is meant by 'tetra 40' in your profile? Are you running two filters? If so that sounds like plenty filtration and water movement as long as you're keeping up with maintenance..

Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:57 am GMT   Reply      

The Tetra 40 is an air pump that I bought to get the water moving in the tank. I just placed it yesterday. I have a fish that my son calls Mr.Girafee (Nimbochromis venustus) that is always hiding, doesn't want to eat, and does not mingle with others. Is he sick? Or is he, in his last bubbles?

Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:25 pm GMT   Reply      

my bad i should have looked at your profile ...............its been so long since pics posted i dont even pay attention anymore

TM has a good point with the carbon ...........if your running two filters pull the media out of one and run a lot of carbon for a couple weeks and then go back to carbon and media pads............if your only running one filter maybe look into buying a cheap small aquaclear filter or something and just run carbon in it

Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:53 pm GMT   Reply      

Just got a few Qs, might help me answer some of yours. What size is the tank? Did you rinse the gravel/rocks/plants? Did you rinse the media before putting it in the filter?

Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:54 pm GMT   Reply      

My tank size is 37Gal. Yes I did rinse the gravel, rocks, and plants. No I did not rinse the media (carbon pakets for filter?)

Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:37 am GMT   Reply      

The whisper EX70 is quoted at 340gph, which means it probably pushes closer to 300gph with media and such in it (i know the media inserts for this include carbon..as I have an EX30 on my gf's 10gal). Carbon filters certain wastes and chemicals and generally will remove almost any fishy odor from a tank if used in enough quantity. Its agreed on by most aquarists that the minimum water flow in a tank should be 7x the volume of your tank. 7x37=259, so filtering 300gph should be more then adequate in perhaps a community environment, but it wouldn't hurt to add supplemental filtration or water movement (powerhead) since some of your fish may be messy.

Unlike other carbon media inserts I don't think the whisper ones have to be rinsed. With other kinds they tell you to rinse it to remove residual dust and such but it seems tetra found a way to remove that before getting it into the foam floss insert.

Sun Feb 01, 2009 12:41 pm GMT   Reply      

I dont get it, what can be causing this... really confused.

On the sick fishy querie, make sure to feed malawi cichlids plant based foods, too much meat will cause them to lump around and can even kill them, so check out the food you're feeding them. Also, a Venustus can grow to 14" long, so he wont be happy in a 37g tank for long.

Sun Feb 01, 2009 2:10 pm GMT   Reply      

I have changed the water, added air stones, added aquarium salt (1 rounded tablespoon for every gallon at water change), added stress coat+ (2 tsp. for every 10gal.), cleaned the bottom surface, reduced feeding, and the water got more cloudier than ever. I think that the fish are going to die and there's going to be a sad little boy soon. PLEASE HELP I AM GETTING DESPERATE!

Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:16 pm GMT   Reply      

ok ..........first calm down a little ............meaning don't do 3-4 different things at a time ........because then you don't know what has helped or hindered you

im a salt water guy so im just asking questions that might help others - - - why are you adding salt to your tank? and why so much? are your fish showing signs of slime coat or stress rot ? if not why add so much stress coat.........what are you useing for water ...............this is a very wierd issue

also give it a little time, you posted the first post 4 days ago, so try to remain calm and make smaller changes in the tank so you can see whats working and whats not

Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:42 pm GMT   Reply      

The guy who sold me the fish and everything else, told me to put in the salt and stress coat eveytime I do a water change. The brand of aquarium salt is API Natural Fish Tonic, and the Stress Coat+ is made by the same company (API) it's a Fish and tap water conditioner, with aloe vera. The dosage is what he told me, which he said to follow instruction on the package. I guess if you look it up on line it should say what it says on the box/bottle. for the salt it says, use salt when setting up a fresh water aquarium or fish bowl, CHANGING WATER and treating fish. The stress coat bottle says, basically the same as above, but it is more for killing the chlorine and chloramines in the water.

Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:44 pm GMT   Reply      

ok ...............so it sounds like your on city water ? or a town water supply not a well? correct..................go to your local walmart and see if they have a culligan dispenser ..........if they do it's RO water and you can drop the chems all together,it's like 33 cents a gallon to refill the 5 gallon jugs, the first purchase of the jugs {full} wil be like 13.00 bucks, i don't know about the salt so if it's recomanded then keep useing it , if they don't have a culligan dispenser go to the food section and find the walmart brand water in gallon jugs, "value" is their brand name, you will find blue label and green label jugs, the green ones are RO filtered the blue ones are UV filtered , use the green label until you can find a better RO supply, you could try you LFS too if he's arge enough

the aloevera is throwing me for a loop to, i wuld think that would make the water cloudy but like i said im nt a fresh water guy

look at your plants closly, make sure theres no exposed metal, rusting and contaminating the tank or anyother sources, do you have cats sticking their nasty lil paws in there when no bodies looking, has your son "helped" daddy at all?

I use the culligan water and buy it 30 gallons at a time and haven't had any problems

also....when you do a water change are you makeing up your water at least 24 hours in advance and in a dedicated clean container of some sort? dish soap or cleansers leave residues foods leave residues , etc etc............if your "hot mixing" {making the water up and doing a change right away} you could be over dosing the tank

keep posting we'll all get it eventually..............unfortunatley though you might want to start preparing the lil fella for a lose or two, i know it sucks but it may be inevetable {i hope not my friend}

Boss

Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:31 pm GMT   Reply      

I live in New York City and to my understanding the water is pretty good and clean. What the told me to do was to buy a python syphon hose (which I highly recommend to any one) I connect one end to my sink and drop the other in the tank. It fills and empties your tank with out switching the hose or any at all. It cost me more than I expected but its a nice thing to have. Anyways, I will look for that water and I have already told my son to be ready to loose a fish or two. On the feeding thing, I feed the fish twice a day and hide the food from the boy until I get home.