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new tank problems

2K views 11 replies 3 participants last post by  Termato 
#1 ·
hi all,im new to this,so hope you'l be abit patiant with me,i have a 125liter tank,has been set up for about 4months,been doing water changes every week,and have cut back on feeding the fish,cant seem to get amonia level and nitrents down,to a resonable number ph is at 6.5,amonia is at 2.2,the nitrents are at 0.2

i check for amonia and the ph level every few day's.

over the last few day's we have lost 5 guppies,and are clown loches are looking abit dull,could some1 plz help,i dont like seeing them die. :-(
 
#2 ·
Hi gwynnie, and welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.:-D

I moved your post out of the existing thread and started a new one for you. More members will see it on its own, and be able to offer advice.

Cycling takes time, and the best way to explain it is to refer you to this article by another of our members:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...inners-guide-freshwater-aquarium-cycle-38617/

With fish in the tank, you must keep ammonia and nitrite near zero during cycling. Water changes (half the tank volume) every day or alternate days may be necessary. It is best to use a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia and nitrite; Prime and Ultimate are two that do this. If you use either, you can get away with alternate day water changes, until both ammonia and nitrite are zero.

You mention guppy. Livebearers (guppy, molly, platy, swordtail, and a few rarer species) need medium hard water and a pH above 7 or they will weaken. Your pH at 6.5 likely weakened the fish, plus the cycling issues. Before getting more fish, and after the cycling is complete, we should look at your tap water parameters, namely hardness and pH.

The clown loach is a soft water fish preferring a pH around 6.5 so that is fine for him. The cycling is likely affecting them, loaches are highly sensitive fish to water problems.

Do you have any live plants? These help in cycling, esp floating plants.

Byron.
 
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#4 ·
I would get some more plants if I were you.

Java Fern
Java Moss
Hornwort

All three good low light plants, although hornwort is a bit messy. This will really help with the ammonia and nitrite.

Also, as Byron recommended the Prime. That stuff saved my tank. You use about 1/3 the amount of chemicals as API's or other brands. Great stuff.

If you have good lighting I would recommend some other plants. If you can't get the ammonia and nitrite down I would recommend Daily water changes until things calm down.

Also are you treating the water for pH? Did you test your tap water?
 
#10 ·
I believe i answered this in my previous post.
 
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