Confused Newbie... can you help?

33 posts • Page 1 of 4

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


kimberhugo
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:27 am

Confused Newbie... can you help?

by kimberhugo

Hi
we're fairly new hobbyists.. established our aquarium 7/29 this year.
we currently have 3 tetras, 2 platys, 1 catfish and 1 pleco
we continually read articles/forums online to try to get some best practicies and 'how tos' on establishing and maintaining our tank. it seems that our sources are constantly contradicting each other so i've chosen this forum to begin receiving some more direct advice on our particular set up and conditions.
anyone interested in giving your knowledge is welcome to do so
but please, no criticisms as we are well aware that this is a learning process and we're not trying to harm any fish in the process.
so.. things we are confused about...
#1, best way to rid ICH, we noticed spots and after reading a few places online, decided to follow the recommendation of increasing temperature and adding salt to the water. However it seems to have spiked our pH? we really prefer to stay away from chemicals if possible, but definitely want to do whats in the best interest of the health of the fish
#2, best way to reduce pH? our pH is currently reading 8.4
#3, what water source is best? and which conditioning process is best? We currently use tap water with a Stress Coat conditioner, 5mL each water change, 20% water change each time. Should this be ok? I've read several places that it is good to use filter water. I'm also wondering if the conditioner needs to sit in the water for a period of time before adding it to the tank.

I'm sure we'll have more questions as we go, but this is a good start.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

As far as ICK I would go with the medication for it and knock it out before it really hurts or kills your fish. The increaced temp will speed up it's life cycle and you should keep treating a few days after the spots are gone as it's the ICK in the larval stage that can be killed.

What brand conditioner do you use? Some use salt as the slime coat protectant, and you want to keep track of the amount of salt you put in your tank. It doesn't evaporate out.

The pH issue keeps going around and it's the tap water that has a high pH. People say peat moss, drift wood, yada yada. I've used buffers to lower it, but this is still a question worth some debate. Some people use spring water and some use reverse osmosis water with RO Right, a spectrum of minerals and stuff that balances out RO water. Personally, I seem to have happy fish with a pH of around 8.0 in one of my planted tanks though you have tetras.

Finally, you should have your own water test kit so you can see if the water is cycling properly. No ammonia, no nitrite, and <10ppm nitrate.

What kind of filter do you use?

Others will put in their 2 cents. Hope I helped.


kimberhugo
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:27 am

by kimberhugo

pH, I have read of using the driftwood and peatmoss and will keep that in mind. What are the buffers you use? I have read of using buffers as well, but do not understand what exactly to use.
we do have a water test kit that reads pH, hardness, alkaline, nitrate and nitrite, so far the nitrate and nitrites have been 0 and the alkalinity was high, 300ppm? and hardness was also 300ppm, and pH has been 8.4.. we just got the test kit today.. since setting up the tank we had one of the water monitors that suctions to the inside wall of the aquarium, but we decided yesterday that it may not be reading correctly so we bought a manual test kit.

conditioner.. we use API stress coat which also removes the cloramines and chlorines

the salt we added simply because i read it as a method to rid ICH with increased temperature. however the clerk at the petshop recommended an 80% water change which we did today, as he stated we possibly had way too much salt in the water. we were wondering though how soon after you add the conditioner to the water should you wait to put it in the tank, or can it be mixed and added right away?

we will more than likely pick up ICH medication tomorrow to add to the tank. Can you just add it to the tank or will we need to do another water change tomorrow and add it to the freshwater?

the filter, just a hang on the back type of filter, i believe the brand is top fin? and it uses water filter cartridges.

your information was helpful

do you know if it is normal for tetras to spend large amounts of times in one place?
i've read all over the internet to watch fish for abnormal swimming, however i have no idea what is considered normal or abnormal for the fish i have right now and i can't seem to find a source of information explaning what is normal swimming patterns for the specific fish i have

i fear we did not prepare ourselves enough for this project, but i have committed to trying to do everything i can to prevent losing fish and becoming educated.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

Tetras do hang around in the same place a lot and are prone to being eaten by shrimp because of this.

The pH buffers are like pH up, pH down, buffers that are supposed to put it and keep it at a certian place like 7.0. I suggest the pH targeting ones as they seem to work best for me. Seachem has the buffers I use.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I'd just add the medication. They say to use a half dose for tetras but I always used a full dose. It's up to you. You should have a way of measuring ammonia too.

I'm not an expert on hardness and how buffers affect that. You may want to go to www.plantgeek.com forums or one of the other forums under the topic "good freshwater websites" to learn about these specifics.


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

unsure if all your fish or some fish or just one fish have the ich.

like Peter said, best thing is raise the temperature to around 80-82, ich cannot survive at high temps. Also, you can do a salt bath for about 30 minutes each day. Immerse the fish in a smaller container with salt, ich will not survive in a salt bath.

like I said, I do not know how many fish, but if one or two fish are ill, you can quaratine the fish so the other fish do not get infected.

one other thing, you said you "established" your tank on 7/29/08, established meaning is it fully cycled, because I am reluctant to believe so, it takes time to establish a tank (unless possibly you cycled with new products in a few hours, and even still, an established tank takes about (at least) 6 months), which brings me to the next point...possibly you began your fish tank on 7/29, and if so, you needed to cycle your tank, and the fish listed above are not good or appropriate candidates for cycling a tank. This is probably the reason your tankmates are ill.

could you supply us with some info like size of your tank, have you changed at least 20% of the water every week, what are the current (today) readings for ph, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia; also, why didn't you start cycling your tank with zebra danios (a hardy fish) or cherry barbs (another hady fish); do you overfeed?; what is the temperature of your tank.

8.4 is very high, this alone can stress a fish out, making it's immune system unable to fight off any parasite, bacteria infection and/or ich; also if the tank is cycled according to your above readings, nitrite and ammonia are 0, what did you do get (possibly) get the tank cycled in such a small bit of time?

Could you please supply the above info, this way we can get a better understanding of the stage you're at. Thanks, feel free to comment or question, that's what we are here for


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I think a tank can be cycled within a week if done right. It's good to put something in the new tank from an established tank, but even starting brand new 6 months is way too long IMO. A week to 3 tops from my experience.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I also think you may cause irreparable harm to the fish if ick is allowed to get bad in the gills particularly. With the formalin blue med it's easy.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I thought your tank was 55 gallons. Now when I look I'm not sure. The more filtration you have the better and I suggest getting a cylindrical sponge filter to slip over your current filter's intake. This will provide extra biological surface area for benneficial bacteria and help keep gunk out of the main filter. You can rinse out the sponge when the flow goes down and you can wait a lot longer between regular filter cleanings.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

When I had a salt tank I made a bad decision to buy a fish that had just got shipped in to the petstore before they added it to their tank. It was a $50 flame angel and it gave my entire tank ich. All my fish died in a week, and the tank was untreatable. I used numerous products, raised temp, anything you could do I did it. It was a pretty horrible case, and scarred me from keeping expensive salt fish again.

I just add my new water straight to the tank. It is better to slowly add the water, elevating the water bucket above the tank and using airline tube to trickle the water in. This reduces stress on the fish greatly. pH up and down works but it doesn't necessarily stay that exact pH over time. Driftwood would be the best bet to keep it at a constant. Just make sure you boil it for hours and hours on end changing the water out in the pot about 5 or 6 times. If you don't it will tan your water brown for weeks if not months.

If the ich persists clean out gravel about once a day or so with the gravel cleaner tool. Make sure to clean it deep. The life cycle of ich is that it attaches to the fish dies and reproduces in the gravel. So making sure that the gravel gets constant attention should atleast keep your ich down. Also be careful for some ich treatment products, they can stain your tank sealant blue as in my case. A UV sterilizer can also kill ich and can be purchased for about $80. But you also gotta have a pump to push water through it. I would just suck the shit outa the gravel everyday and that stress coat has aloe vera and helps the fishes slime coat and you can actually put a lot of that stuff in the new water you add to the tank to help them from stressing. I usually put more than is reccomended anyways. The back of the bottle will tell you how much to add for fin repair or whatever.

It does sound like your tank wasn't set up for long enough. I would also advise you not to take much stock in what most people that work at LPS's (Local Pet Stores) say. They tend to exaggerate or not know exactly everything they talk about. I wouldn't have suggested you to do an 80% water change if your tank was that young. It might have just made it worse for the fish.
Hope that helped.

Confused Newbie... can you help?

33 posts • Page 1 of 4

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