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Beginner needs some help

2K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  Michelle150 
#1 ·
Hello folks
I have a 29 gallon tank with live plants , some mollie, a few guppies a few Cory’s. I am having issues with. My fish just dying. My ammonia seems ok.. ( I use a ammonia remover). PH is about 7.1. I have a canister filter, And a power filter on the side. I had a UGF but I disabled that because I think that was just causing more head aches. I had a power head but I also think that may have been causing too much flow.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am planning on putting in a 75 gallon cichlid tank this spring or summer.
 
#2 ·
#6 ·
not necessarily. you already have plants.

the plants provide filtering.

As I remember you were using an anti ammonia chemical. Stop using that and let the plants consume the ammonia and carbon dioxide and return oxygen.

So basically look at the overall ideas and pick and chose to your specific system.

Once you get the plants controlling the system, the fish as well as the plants will thrive.

Meanwhile if you start a tank years from now you can try that method from the start.

Afterall it's just me and my .02
 
#8 ·
As stated before it actually detoxifies ammonia and not removing it.

One example is Prime.

Plants actually prefer to use ammonia over nitrates when it is available. Just that in stabilized tanks the bacteria get it first then the plants reluctantly are forced to use nitrates.

One danger is the ammonia could be detoxed but ammonia tests will still test ammonia. So you can add more, test ammonia and repeat. All the while the initial dose detoxed the ammonia and later doses were unnecessary. Plus they are sulphur compounds which reduce oxygen as well as ammonia. So with extreme overdosing the fish can actually suffocate and show the same signs as ammonia.


But when plants consume the ammonia, nitrates, phosphates and carbon dioxide they return oxygen and fish food.

my .02
 
#7 · (Edited)
I think that is stated for marketing purposes, but what it really does is binds and detoxifies poisonous ammonia so it doesn't pose a threat to fish. They're still present in your system and beneficial bacteria can still feed on it and you might need to remove it physically with water changes. Anyway, you shouldn't rely on those products to remove ammonia out of the system otherwise you'll always have a problem. Your system should be able to sustain itself if you have a good nitrogen cycle.

I recommend a video from youtube "HOW TO cycle an aquarium in 8 ways" by King of DIY.
 
#10 ·
I would dechlorinate it in a separate container and only for that amount of water.

but than what do I know? LOL


Because, with my tanks, I just replace water that has evaporated and use untreated tap water from the cold faucet that has been ran for 20-30 seconds before collecting.


my .02
 
#11 ·
Hi,

Just a couple of questions:

1. How long has the tank been up and running.... Did you just set it up?
2. What do you have in the canister filter?
3. Is the water cloudy at all?
4. The fish that died, do they have any markings or teared fins?.... do they look normal?
5. What's the water temperature?
6. Have you tested the PH and water parameters of the water you are using to do a water change?

Fish seem to die for no reason.... but there is a reason. Finding out or fixing it is the harder part.
 
#12 ·
1. A couple of months
2. I have mechanical media in bottom, followed by charcoal, and finally bio media. Just added more.
3. Not cloudy at all
4. The fish looked normal.
5. Temp is 79-80
6. PH is about 7.2 our tap water has a PH of about 7.5. I use dechlorinate before adding

A note.. I think I may have added fish too soon as I didn’t understand the cycle process. My ammonia and nitrite now is 0 and nitrate is about 5 ppm. So my tank in just now cycled. I have live plants in it and I am watching ammonia levels daily and they have stayed at 0 for 2 days so far
F
 
#13 ·
Sounds like you have gotten it under control now and the tank is cycled. I noticed that you also got some advice on the "nitrate" thread. There is a lot of good advice on there also. It's been my experience that when "normal" looking fish just die, it because the nitrates in my tank are too high for that particular species. To remedy that, is water changes. I do 20% or so once a week on my tanks. I do use R/O water and do add some minerals back.
 
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