Looking for some advice.

joe90

Hi all,

I have a 120L tropical community tank thats been running for around 6 weeks,full cycle etc..Lately i have had a good few fish die.

In the tank i have tiger bards,Danos,Neons,and some platies(not sure on the spelling )

Did some water testing tonight with a proper kit and got these reading,

Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5.0ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Ph 7.6
Temp 27 C

Is the PH,Nirate reading to high for these types off fish?

Thanks

Cookie_Monster

PH looks ok
Nitrate is a bit high I think
You need to change a good deal of water basically to remove some of the nitrate.

There may be other factors: chlorine, hardness, heavy metals.

Are you just using tap water? Treated with anything?

F-Stop

I agree with Cookie Monster that your Nitrates are a bit high (not drastic, but could be causing problems).

How many fish are (were) in the tank? Introducing too many too soon could cause a spike. Plenty of water changes with conditioned water (what do you use to condition your water to remove chlorine/chloramines etc?) should help. Of course fish dying could also be the reason for nitrates to rise.

Did you notice any marks or injuries on the dead fish? White spots in particular? Was there any strange behaviour by the sick fish like hovering in the corner near the surface or resting on the substrate, swimming vertically or sideways, gasping at the gills?

Also, what fish died? If it was the Platies it could be because of the tiger barbs which can be aggressive and are known fin-nippers. Tiger Barbs are lovely fish but it's best to keep them in a group of about 6 so that they focus on each other and leave the other inhabitants alone.

Your temperature is a little high, shouldn't really be a problem but the higher the temperature the less oxygen there'll be in the water column. Do you have an airstone running? Both the fish and the good bacteria in the filter need oxygen. Higher temperature also causes the fish metabolism to speed up so they want more food and therefore create more waste. If you have it high for a reason (to accommodate particular plants for example) then maybe add an airstone, otherwise drop the temperature gradually to about 24/25.

Also, be careful with over-feeding - we've all done it.

joe90

Thanks for the reply,

I had around 27 fish in the tank.8 tiger bards that seem to school together but sometimes i would see them nipping or chasing the neons and guppies.

Neons and guppys died all around the same time.1 day after i introduced the guppies,they may have brought in some illness from the pet store.No fish had any white spots but some were nipped or eaten when found.

I do a 20% water change every 2 weeks.and i use API stress coat for the conditioner.Also use Tetra easy balance every now and again.

The neon would stay near the button,some would swim vertically and sideways.

Have about a 10inch air stone running in the tank.With about 6 plants in the tank.

Have dropped the temp down to 25. And will do a water change tomorrow,

Thanks for the advice, im new to this.

F-Stop

No problem, and don't worry about being new. I've been at it for years and still have things going wrong in my tanks (well, tank now) and learning new things every week.

27 is a huge amount of fish for a 120litre, especially a newly set up one. That will put a massive load on the biological filtration which would be why the nirtrates are high. Do a few big water changes for the next few days - about 25-30% for three days and keep checking your parameters. Then drop down to smaller water changes of about 10% for the rest of the week (depending on the test results). Hopefully by then things will have had a chance to settle and with the water changes you'll be able drop the levels to where they are safer. For the next while do your 20% water change every week, if you can, but at least every two weeks.

Oh yeah, the API stuff is perfect for conditioning the water. When I had freshwater I used to use EasyLife "Fluid Filter Medium", which is excellent stuff. It's pricey here but you can get good deals online - it also makes the water crystal clear.

Good luck, hope everything works out and you can start enjoying your tank instead of stressing over it. There are two good Irish fish forums you should check out - those guys will give you much better info than I could and are always very helpful and friendly.

The nitrates are a problem and will have stressed out the fish, but the mix of fish aren't really compatible either. Guppy's are targets for barbs, especially tiger barbs, with their long fins and tails. Neons are unpredictable too and can live for ages or suddenly die off. The fact that they were swimming low suggests the water quality was a problem, but also like you say every time you introduce a new fish you risk introducing disease also.

Look, you're doing everything right, you cycled the tank. You ran into trouble and you asked about it. It can be a real pain when things go wrong, especially early on. I know, I lost about a fair few fish in my new marine tank in the last 5 months and I've been at it for years. So don't be disheartened.

joe90

Thank you F-Stop,

Have done 2 30% water changes and had know more problems so far.Will be doing more water changes as your post says.Thanks again for the advice.

What would be the recommended number off fish for a 120L tank ?

F-Stop

Good stuff Joe90, sounds like things are improving. Fair play.

Stocking wise, the rule of thumb is 1" (adult size) per gallon and your tank is about 32 US gallons. An adult Tiger Barb is about 2.75 Inches, so eight of them would be about 22". So you get an idea of what you can have in the tank, but ultimately it's to do with what you want in your tank. One thing I like when setting up a freshwater tank is to try and break the tank into three levels and get a group of fish in each, and then maybe one or two centrepiece fish. Danios are perfect for swimming in the top third of the water near the surface, another good choice would be something like silver hatchet fish which don't get too big and really skim the surface - about 5/6 of either. For the bottom something like five panda corydoras, or a group of similar size corys - maybe something like pepper corys - or you could double it and have a little herd of pygmy corys. Kuhli loaches are pretty nice too but tend to be a bit more shy - clown loaches are brilliant, but will get too big for your tank. Then for the mid area something like four angel fish (two pairs if you can get them) or maybe two female and one male gourami (something like a lace gourami), or a group of tiger barbs. You could also add in a plec sucker fish to help keep algae down, but make sure it's one that doesn't get too big, some of them get huge. This way you don't overstock your tank but it will always look busy because the fish tend to be active in their own area (top, middle or bottom) and fish are more comfortable in groups so tend to be more active.

It is really down to what you like and what you want, and what your tank can handle. There are hundreds of options. You could have a pair of adult convict cichlids and watch them build their nest and take care of their babies by picking them up in their mouths. You could have a nice mixed community tank as above. You could get some limestone and slate, build some caves and get a colony of bright yellow labidochromis and watch them breed. You could set up an asian or south american biotope where all the plants and fish are as they would be in the wild. Or pick something small that shoals well and get something like 50 rummy nose tetras, or harlequin rasboras,or galaxy rasboras if you are loaded. All you need to do is research, find out what you'ld like to have, and go from there.

There are two good irish forums and one has a strong membership based in Munster and knows about good LFS in Cork. Check out irishfishkeepers.com and irishfishforum.com. The members are really helpful and welcoming of new members. They'll give you better advice than I can. Also, beware of More Tanks Syndrome, it can set in early without any warning signs...

mrpink6789

joe90 wrote: »

Thank you F-Stop,

Have done 2 30% water changes and had know more problems so far.Will be doing more water changes as your post says.Thanks again for the advice.

What would be the recommended number off fish for a 120L tank ?

I have a similar set up to yourself. I have a 110 litre tank with mollies, guppies, tetra's, fighting fish, gourami's and clown loaches. 21 in total and I'm keeping it at that as it looks pretty good now and don't want to overcrowd it in case the clown's grow a bit.

Water wise I change 30 litres a week, treat with the same stuff as yours, the water in my place is always high in ph so I treat it with PH down as well. I've been doing 30 litre water changes for a few months now and never had any problems, nitrate might climb up to 5 after 1 week nut I change it then so it drops back down.

Also are you cleaning your filter? I have a Juwel one and I have to change 1 of the pads every week and another 1 at least once a month.

Senor Willy

What is the real reading of Nitrate in your tank.
You posted 5.0mg/l. This is very low. Its not the nitrate causing the problem.

Tiger Barbs will eat Neons. They wont just chase them and nip them.
The temperature of your tank is too high. Neons dont like it this high either.
Drop the temp down to 24 25c Max.
27C is way too high.

What test kits are you using.
Some test kits are useless. API being about the worst.