Help...
5 posts
-
colwyn - Posts: 40
- Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:36 am
Help...
So I have had my thirty gallon tank up and running for about four months... My fish seem to be very inactive, and well, boring... Maybe I am just expecting too much but the angel fish just floats about doing nothing until food comes, same with my one guppy and six tetras. The two cory cats are sometimes playful but not usually... And one khuli loach hangs out under a rock... Is anything wrong? All my levels seem to be fine, a little ammonia, no nitrate, and a PH of seven... Would more plants and ornaments help? Also my 10 gallon has about 250 snails... I haven't fed them in months but there are still many... What should I do? There is nothing in the tank but gravel and snails...
-
Okiimiru - Posts: 275
- Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm
Re: Help...
"All my levels seem to be fine, a little ammonia, no nitrate"
That's not fine. Any ammonia, any at all, is poisonous to fish. Ammonia should be 0 ppm. Not 2 ppm, not 1 ppm, not 0.25 ppm: 0 ppm.
Why is there no nitrate? Nitrate should never be at 0 ppm. It should range between around 10-20 ppm right after a water change to 30-40 ppm right before a water change. If the nitrate is 0 ppm the growing live plants are starving. If the nitrate is above 40 ppm the fish can act poisoned.
Look at slide 8 of this powerpoint presentation: http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~davisda/class ... Design.pdf Day 0 is the first day fish flakes are added. Day 40 is forty days later, after the population of nitrosomonas and nitrobacter bacteria have increased in number. More information: http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_5 ... rticle.htm
The beneficial bacteria live on surfaces that water runs over. The majority of the surface area in your tank is on the sponge-type media in your filter. If you wash that sponge with chlorinated water from the faucet, you're killing the bacteria. If you let the sponge dry out, you're killing the bacteria. Because 4 months is longer than 40 days, there must be something you're doing to kill the bacteria because in a normal setup the bacteria would be numerous enough by now to instantly convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. The bacteria are your friends. Keep the bacteria happy and ammonia will go to 0 ppm, as will nitrite, and nitrate will rise steadily. Do a water change when nitrate hits 30 ppm or is higher, to dilute it.
That's not fine. Any ammonia, any at all, is poisonous to fish. Ammonia should be 0 ppm. Not 2 ppm, not 1 ppm, not 0.25 ppm: 0 ppm.
Why is there no nitrate? Nitrate should never be at 0 ppm. It should range between around 10-20 ppm right after a water change to 30-40 ppm right before a water change. If the nitrate is 0 ppm the growing live plants are starving. If the nitrate is above 40 ppm the fish can act poisoned.
Look at slide 8 of this powerpoint presentation: http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~davisda/class ... Design.pdf Day 0 is the first day fish flakes are added. Day 40 is forty days later, after the population of nitrosomonas and nitrobacter bacteria have increased in number. More information: http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_5 ... rticle.htm
The beneficial bacteria live on surfaces that water runs over. The majority of the surface area in your tank is on the sponge-type media in your filter. If you wash that sponge with chlorinated water from the faucet, you're killing the bacteria. If you let the sponge dry out, you're killing the bacteria. Because 4 months is longer than 40 days, there must be something you're doing to kill the bacteria because in a normal setup the bacteria would be numerous enough by now to instantly convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. The bacteria are your friends. Keep the bacteria happy and ammonia will go to 0 ppm, as will nitrite, and nitrate will rise steadily. Do a water change when nitrate hits 30 ppm or is higher, to dilute it.
-
Okiimiru - Posts: 275
- Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm
Re: Help...
As to what to do about excess snails, there are a lot of options.
1. Feed the fish less and the snails will gradually run out of food, reproduce less, and in the long term be less in number.
2. Introduce a predator who eats snails. Examples include but are not limited to: assassin snails, sunfish (elassoma, lepomis, etc), darters (etheostoma, percina), pufferfish, loaches, certain carnivorous species of cichlid, snail eating leeches, crayfish.
3. Hand remove the snails or bait them with a piece of vegetable and then remove the snail-covered vegetable.
4. Add some copper, like Mardel's Coppersafe(TM). Or a dewormer like Levamisole HCl. This will cause a huge ammonia spike from the rotting bodies and either the spike or the medication may kill some of your fish.
5. Collect the snails and sell them on aquabid to people who own above species of snail-eating fish and would like a treat to feed them.
1. Feed the fish less and the snails will gradually run out of food, reproduce less, and in the long term be less in number.
2. Introduce a predator who eats snails. Examples include but are not limited to: assassin snails, sunfish (elassoma, lepomis, etc), darters (etheostoma, percina), pufferfish, loaches, certain carnivorous species of cichlid, snail eating leeches, crayfish.
3. Hand remove the snails or bait them with a piece of vegetable and then remove the snail-covered vegetable.
4. Add some copper, like Mardel's Coppersafe(TM). Or a dewormer like Levamisole HCl. This will cause a huge ammonia spike from the rotting bodies and either the spike or the medication may kill some of your fish.
5. Collect the snails and sell them on aquabid to people who own above species of snail-eating fish and would like a treat to feed them.
-
natalie265 - Site Admin
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm
Re: Help...
I agree. Ammonia should be zero. That could very well be causing your fish to be sluggish.