[marcie]

hi everyone...i have a question for everyone ...ok here it goes my husband and i have had a freshwater tank set up for years now and all the fish are doin well in the tank so the other day i had decided to buy some more colorful fish to add to the tank...i had bought two albino tiger barbs and two gourami dwarf we had let them float in the tank for at least 20 minutes before releasing them with the others that we have in there..well all was doing good except for one of the gourami had died so i took it back to the pet store and took a sample of our water and they told me that the water had a high nitrate level and i/we need to change it once a week..now here is the question if the tank has been astablished for over 3 years and all of the other fish are doing great and the three that i had bought are doing fine could it be that one fish (gourami) was an ill fish to begin with...?? we have never had any problems like this before...what i should have done is told the girl at the store i wanted to test her water that fish were in ...any comments would be appreciated...
thank you

 

[dasmall1]

Gouramis require good water conditions. You are always supposed to change at least 25% of the water each week to control nitrate and ammonia.

 

[Cichlid lover]

agreed, also do you have a heater?

 

[ktreffin]

I would have to agree with the presence of poor water conditions. What kind of fish were in the tank before you added the new? Could it be possible that they were harassed by the other established tank residents, which added stress contributing to the death?

Nitrates are the end result of the nitrogen cycle (ammonia to nitrite to nitrate) the only real way to control the amount of nitrate is through water changes. Seeing that the tank has been established for such a long period of time, and if water changes have been few and far inbetween, then a high nitrate level would be expected. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Ken

 

[Rachel]

Could it be possible that they were harassed by the other established tank residents, which added stress contributing to the death?

Is it true that if you rearrange all of the ornaments when adding new fish the fish already inhabiting the tank are less territorial/aggressive, because the environment becomes new to them as well, giving the new fish a better chance? Does that help, or is it not worth the effort? Thanks!

 

[dasmall1]

Yes. That's actually what you're supposed to do. :lol:

 

[Nick]

I would have to agree with the presence of poor water conditions. What kind of fish were in the tank before you added the new? Could it be possible that they were harassed by the other established tank residents, which added stress contributing to the death?

Nitrates are the end result of the nitrogen cycle (ammonia to nitrite to nitrate) the only real way to control the amount of nitrate is through water changes. Seeing that the tank has been established for such a long period of time, and if water changes have been few and far inbetween, then a high nitrate level would be expected. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Ken

Actually, Ken, Thats not the only 'real' way to get rid of high nitrates. Putting some live plants in the tank really does help. They take in nitrate's so it helps lower the nitrate. If the nitrate's is the problem I would try that first, plus the water changes. If we could get some water spec's that would be great in helping you with the situation. Someone should make a sticky on here saying when you are posting a subject that you need help with always give the water stats, how big it is, what fish you have, has it been cycled ( depending on the problem, this would help ), and how long established. Hope this helps.

Nick

 

[ktreffin]

Yep, my bad....Live plants certainly will help lower the nitrates, and help to oxygenate the water. Guess I forgot all about them. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Nick]

Yep no problems

 

[joeshmoe]

wach out for the tiger barbs

 

[Lupin]

I will have to add that tiger barbs will nip when kept in lesser than 6. The smaller the space, the bigger chances they'll nip.
They need to be kept in 8 or more in a large tank as tehy established hierarchy among themselves.

Another advice: Don't believe in anything the lfs say. Do the research yourself or ask for experiences. It's never too bad to ask others of their experiences.:wink: