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Having some fishtank problems

5K views 40 replies 9 participants last post by  AK Fresh Water 
#1 ·
Hey all how's it going? I'm trying to get back on track with my 55 gallon tank. It has been neglected a lot because of school and has only been getting 50% water changes once a month (I know not good) I really never check the water parameters either (haven't really had any problems until now). One by one last month I have lost my Giant danos they would lose scales around their gills and this was around the time college was ending for the summer so I did 50% water change and got got out my 5 year old test kit which who knows how accurate that is it's an API Fresh water test kit (liquid). The Nitrates were about 80ppm if I remember correctly and ammonia was 0 and PH was about 7.6 I have community fish the names escape me and I also have a small eel and a big pleco i've had him since 2008. My questions are I want to take better care of this tank and do weekly water changes to try and bring the Nitrates down extremely low level. I would like to do weekly 50% water changes and would like to switch out the fading black gravel with natural looking brown gravel. I just checked the tank temps now to and it's at 84F I live on a 2nd floor and it's the hottest room in the house I've had the heater off since about May because it would stay around 80F. When I do water changes I put aquarium salt in and tap water conditioner. Another problem I have is I see on the internet people do 23% water changes honestly I don't know where 23% woud fall on this tank. Sorry if my questions are scattered about lol. I appreciate the help.
 
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#2 ·
well, doing more regular water changes is going to turn things around for you. How large a water change is needed is determined by the individual tank, but 50% is a good benchmark for a well stocked tank.

23%?? Sounds like they've been playing with aqadvisor. Every inch of water you drain from the tank (55) is roughly 2.5 gallons, so 23% would be about 4.5 inches of water from a 55 gallon tank.
 
#4 ·
Yeah I just went on google and typed it in I mean that hardly puts a dent in water levels in a 55 gallon to do a 23% water change lol. So I can get away with a 50% weekly water change? and should I by chance replace my API test kit since it's from 2007?
 
#6 · (Edited)
heres the pics

I know Giant Danos in here but forget the rest that red fish that's in the corner in the 2nd pic I know doesn't look good he's looked like that for about a year and you can see that larger Dano's face doesn't look good either. I'm treating with Melafix. I just started feeding them that Omega One they don't like it but I hope that if I keep feeding them that then maybe they will. I also put in a frozen blood worm cube for the eel. I have to upload that pic.
 

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#7 ·
eel pic
 

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#8 ·
I would agree with the 50 percent weekly water changes but would start with twice weekly 25 percent so that fish aren't shocked by sudden change in parameter's.
After a couple week's,,then I would start the 50 percent water changes.
I believe the Danio's were/are ,more affected by too warm temp's than anything else.
They much prefer cooler temps with upper range of 76 degree's.
You could float two litre frozen bottles of water in the tank, and or perform more frequent,smaller water changes using cooler tapwater to relieve them.
Might also add an airstone or two for there is less dissolved oxygen at higher temp's than at lower temperature.
Hope some of this helps.
 
#9 ·
Ok I will do that then for a few with the water change. I do have air stones I use in the tank every day. I usually turn them on when the aquarium lights go on. Thanks for the tip on the water bottles. I never would of thought about that.
 
#10 ·
The fish issue may be one or several factors, each adding stress which weakens fish but also possibly directly affecting them. Salt will burn fish scales. How much are you adding, and why. At the very least, this is causing them stress, as these are all soft water fish.

Second observation is the high nitrates that will stress fish, contributing to the problem. The water changes should get these back to normal.

Byron.
 
#11 ·
The fish issue may be one or several factors, each adding stress which weakens fish but also possibly directly affecting them. Salt will burn fish scales. How much are you adding, and why. At the very least, this is causing them stress, as these are all soft water fish. I only put aquarium salt in aquarium salt in whenever I do a monthly 50% water change for the electrolytes I add 1 tablespoon for ever 5 gallons so about 10 1/2 tablespoons of of salt. Not sure what I'm going to do now since I will be doing 25% water changes the thing is if I do these water changes at that percentage how can I gravel vac that whole tank without going past that mark?

Second observation is the high nitrates that will stress fish, contributing to the problem. The water changes should get these back to normal.

Byron.
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I only put aquarium salt in aquarium salt in whenever I do a monthly 50% water change for the electrolytes I add 1 tablespoon for ever 5 gallons so about 10 1/2 tablespoons of of salt. Not sure what I'm going to do now since I will be doing 25% water changes the thing is if I do these water changes at that percentage how can I gravel vac that whole tank without going past that mark?
 
#13 ·
I agree with Byron regarding the salt,it is not needed and Freshwater fishes don't need this.
Now if you have very soft water and were using marine salt to increase hardness that would be different story.
You can vaccum one third of the tank during each water change and a different one third each time, but I would not worry bout changing a little more water and vaccuming say one half.
Would not go hog wild and try and clean too much at once and would take care to clean filter material in old aquarium water you remove and not replace it all at one time should it need to be replaced.
 
#14 ·
Yeah I was going by what the Petsmart guy said a few years back he was saying to use aquarium salt during each water change. I should really get the API Stress+ stuff then and use it each time I do a water change then. The way I have things setup is I have a gravel vac hooked up to the bathroom faucet and drain it to that and fill the fresh stuff straight into the tank then put in 55 drops of the water conditioner. So if I have to change 23% of water then how many drops would I have to put in? As you can see I'm not good at numbers when it comes to fish tanks lol. As far as the high nitrates can I do a partial gravel vac every other day to lower it or can I just stick to a once a week interval? Btw I do believe I have hard water because I do have all that calcium build up in the back of the tank on the rear of the hood.
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#15 ·
Should you decide to switch out the gravel,,I would keep a nylon stocking (toe section) of the old gravel wet in old aquarium water ,and after i filled the new tank back up with water,,i would plop the bag of old gravel in the tank to help seed the new substrate with bacteria.
Would also take care to keep filter material wet in same old tank water and try to make it so the switch doesn't take more than an hour. (Rinse the new gravel before emptying the old).
 
#16 ·
so I can still do that with fish in the tank?
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#22 ·
23% of water changed I toped it up and am going to do this every other day until the Nitrates and down drastically then I will do weekly 50% water changes. I just hope that won't kill off good bacteria
 

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#24 ·
Water changes shouldn't kill off good bacteria. The good bacteria lives on submerged items, such as gravel and filter material.

You have gotten some very good advice here from other members.

My personal opinion is to probably hold off on the gravel change until you get things taken care of.

The aquarium salt... I would for sure stop using it. If you had Cichlids that liked it, or are using it to treat a medical issue that would be a slightly different story, but for the fish you have, aquarium salt will for sure do more damage.

The red fish is a harlequin rasbora, the eel looks like a striped peacock eel. The little striped silver look fish appear to be zebra danios (which also prefer a lower temps in the mid-high 70s).

To help with stress, the rasbora especially, would appreciate a floating plant (real or fake).

When it comes to de-chlorinator, I have never really counted drops. It isnt something that will hurt the fish, so over using when doing a water change is fine. I always just throw in a good squirt and go. (Currently do not have my fish tanks running...filters died on me, so I found the fish new homes, broke the tanks down, and am now in the process of moving.)

Good luck.
 
#23 ·
I just checked the lot number on my API Fresh Water Test Kit and it is from 2007 every bottle is marked that. Wasn't sure how accurate it still was. sorry for the multiple posts guys just figured i'd ask all this stuff it's better to be safe than sorry.
 
#28 ·
No freshwater fish needs sodium chloride salt (table salt and that stuff they sell at the pet store). Some fish like goldfish and cichlids need a high amount of dissolved minerals. This is sometimes accomplished by adding "cichlid salts" which are not the same thing as the API Aquarium Salt. In chemistry, the word salt refers to any ionic compound that results from the neutralization of an acid and base. Mini chemistry lesson in fishkeeping lol!

I agree with you on petstore advice. I can't tell you how many times people have been lead astray by their advice. Those kids are paid to sell stuff, not give good recommendations on fishkeeping.
 
#31 ·
When I was in there the other day I asked the kid about the switching out the gravel because I was curious and he was saying I don't have to drain any water out and that I can leave my fish in their when I switch the gravel LOL. Honestly I wouldn't mind working in the fish section at Petsmart when I become more aquarium savy infact their is a Petsmart finally being built in my town. With this whole salt thing I can use just regular table salt? and how much would I put in for a 55 gallon? btw I appreciate the chemistry lesson :thumbsup: lol
 
#32 ·
Thanks Chris
 
#30 ·
Petsmart and Petco use aquarium salt in their store tanks all the time on freshwater fish for one purpose... to hide or attempt to prevent sickness and such. They always tell fish buyers to add salt, as they do.
I know this very well, as a teen I worked at a Petsmart, and still have a few friends that work for them.
My advice for any new fish keepers is always to do your homework before getting into the hobby, and to keep informing yourself.

Thanks for the compliment, Chris. My knowledge of dog and cat breeds is much better (former vet tech here!). lol

I wish you much luck with the tank. As I said in our PMs, once the salt is out and clean water there, the fish will come around. Also maintaining a stable temperature that all the fish can be comfortable in. Your tank is very beautifully set up.
 
#33 ·
Hey i'm not a new fish keeper far from that lol I started in 07 lol just wanting now to learn some more things etc and fix different things. I explained to the Petsmart guy my fishes diet which is Bloodworms for the eel and flakes for the fish and he suggested that Omega One which from what I see online is really good stuff but apparentley Petsmart uses it too because it was plastered on each tank :-/. my fish are hardly eating but i'm hoping they eventually come around.
 
#35 ·
Agree with no salt for sure. It's supposed to be really bad for the eel especially.

About the eel, bloodworms alone probably isn't full nutrition. I'd try mixing a few things up, though if he's been on bloodworms for a long time it might be hard to get him to try other things. You can try going to the grocery store and picking up some frozen pollock or shrimp (raw) and try that out on him. Any raw shrimp will do, if you get smaller ones you can try leaving some of the shell on because it's a good calcium source. He might also appreciate earthworms from a bait store, just rinse them off from dirt.

Food wise, omega one and new life spectrum are both good choices.
 
#36 ·
Someone the other day suggested Mysis shrimp so I put that in and he isn't eating it but maybe he will adjust to it I put that in the same time I put the bloodworms in.
 
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