It's been tough keeping an aquarium
Discussion
I seem to be getting though a lot of fish since I took up this hobby 
It's been quite a tale of woe. I have a Love Fish 64L Panorama tank with a Fluval 106 external cannister filter which has been set up for about 6 months now.
I used Fluval Cycle to help start the tank up and introduced a platy a week later. I tested the water with the API kit and it tested fine. Another week and I put in 6 tiny Endler guppies, all male. The water still testing ok and I was going to wait longer before introducing more fish, but the endlers kept trying to mate with the platy and was chasing her all over the place. I put in two female guppies, but they were still mainly interested in the female platy. I started having water quality issues at this point and had to do daily changes and started using Tetra SafeStart to keep ammonia and nitrate down. I also used aquarium salt to help negate any affects from ammonia.
The endlers were still so bothersome to all the other fish, I ended up returning three of them and swapping them for a female platy. Finally there was peace in the tank and the cycle had fully completed at last! A couple of days later the most recently purchased female guppy died after having her fins clamped for 3 days. I replaced the guppy with a German Blue Ram.
At this point I reduced (and still do) the water changes to 25% weekly. Ammonia and nitrite are always zero. Nitrates stay at around 40ppm which is the same as what my water tests at straight from the tap. PH of 8.0.
A few weeks later I took a weeks holiday abroad. I left a dissolving food tablet on the bottom and a soft food ring stuck on the side of the tank near the top as a back up. I returned home to fine about half the ring eaten and the tablet mostly gone, and the three endlers had completely disappeared. I never found them. I assume they did not eat the food, but it said on the packet that it was suitable for very small fish.
All was well for a couple of months, but the Ram started getting less active. Lost a guppy suddenly. It did not seem to have any symptoms. I replaced it with a Dwarf Gourami.
The second platy developed a brown lump on its side near the tale. I did not treat it because after research it could have been any number of issues with different treatments and I did not want to put medication in the tank which had a good chance of being the wrong medication. Meanwhile the ram started eating less and over time seemed to get smaller....then after another month, it died. Lots of people report their rams dying after 6 month or so of keeping them, so I put it down to bad breeding and them being not a very hardy fish.
I bought 6 Ornate tetras since I did not have any schooling fish. All was well for about 5 weeks then I lost a female platy. The first fish I bought.
I found a baby platy in the tank. I had seen fry before, but this one looks to have got to the point where it is a proper little fish.
This brings up up to two weeks ago when the tank was stocked with 6 ornate tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 platy and 1 tiny platy. I bought 6 marbled hatchet fish which would bring the tank up to 100% stocked for the first time according to the aqadvisor website.
A couple of days later the platy started flashing so I added aquarium salt. The following weekend I did the normal 25% water change, but did not add any salt back in. After about three days of swimming around with clamped fins it died.
Friday evening one of the hatchet fish died. After having two deaths so close together, I had a close look at them and all fish had symptoms of ich (white spot), loads of it!
I did not see the spots before because I stopped using the aquarium lights a while back when I replaced my live plants with plastic ones since they kept dying and getting caught in the filter intake so there did not seem any point putting the lights on. Plus the tetras get a bit scared of the lights. With the lights on the spots are really noticeable, but almost invisible with them off.
I dosed the tank with King British WS3 yesterday and raised the temperature to 82 degrees Fahrenheit from 75 degrees. I raised the temp slowly over the course of the day. I lost two tetras yesterday, one more overnight and one today. The remaining two are listless on the bottom. Gourami and baby platy seem ok. They have very few spots on them. The 5 remaining hatchet fish fins have quite a lot of spots and the fins have gone ragged.
I am not sure what to do now. The tetras only started dying since I added the medication, so maybe it is too toxic for them, but it could be the white spot....I just don't know! The tetras had a lot more spots on them than the other fish.
Should this really be so hard? Have other people had a similar experience or have I been unlucky? I know I have made lots of mistakes, but the water quality has always been good. I feed them on Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets and Tetramin flakes on alternate days and cooked peas weekly or fortnightly. The fish have been bought from a variety of aquatic shops, pet shops and the usual big chain.
When the ich parasites are dead I intend to re-stock the tank, so I would appreciate it if anyone has any advice to stop this happening again. So far, under my care I have lost 3 endlers, 2 guppies, 2 platys, 1 ram, 4 tetras and 1 hatchet fish I expect to lose at least the last 2 tetras before the ich is gone and probably a few more hatchet fish.
Thanks for reading this lengthily post!
It's been quite a tale of woe. I have a Love Fish 64L Panorama tank with a Fluval 106 external cannister filter which has been set up for about 6 months now.I used Fluval Cycle to help start the tank up and introduced a platy a week later. I tested the water with the API kit and it tested fine. Another week and I put in 6 tiny Endler guppies, all male. The water still testing ok and I was going to wait longer before introducing more fish, but the endlers kept trying to mate with the platy and was chasing her all over the place. I put in two female guppies, but they were still mainly interested in the female platy. I started having water quality issues at this point and had to do daily changes and started using Tetra SafeStart to keep ammonia and nitrate down. I also used aquarium salt to help negate any affects from ammonia.
The endlers were still so bothersome to all the other fish, I ended up returning three of them and swapping them for a female platy. Finally there was peace in the tank and the cycle had fully completed at last! A couple of days later the most recently purchased female guppy died after having her fins clamped for 3 days. I replaced the guppy with a German Blue Ram.
At this point I reduced (and still do) the water changes to 25% weekly. Ammonia and nitrite are always zero. Nitrates stay at around 40ppm which is the same as what my water tests at straight from the tap. PH of 8.0.
A few weeks later I took a weeks holiday abroad. I left a dissolving food tablet on the bottom and a soft food ring stuck on the side of the tank near the top as a back up. I returned home to fine about half the ring eaten and the tablet mostly gone, and the three endlers had completely disappeared. I never found them. I assume they did not eat the food, but it said on the packet that it was suitable for very small fish.
All was well for a couple of months, but the Ram started getting less active. Lost a guppy suddenly. It did not seem to have any symptoms. I replaced it with a Dwarf Gourami.
The second platy developed a brown lump on its side near the tale. I did not treat it because after research it could have been any number of issues with different treatments and I did not want to put medication in the tank which had a good chance of being the wrong medication. Meanwhile the ram started eating less and over time seemed to get smaller....then after another month, it died. Lots of people report their rams dying after 6 month or so of keeping them, so I put it down to bad breeding and them being not a very hardy fish.
I bought 6 Ornate tetras since I did not have any schooling fish. All was well for about 5 weeks then I lost a female platy. The first fish I bought.
I found a baby platy in the tank. I had seen fry before, but this one looks to have got to the point where it is a proper little fish.
This brings up up to two weeks ago when the tank was stocked with 6 ornate tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 platy and 1 tiny platy. I bought 6 marbled hatchet fish which would bring the tank up to 100% stocked for the first time according to the aqadvisor website.
A couple of days later the platy started flashing so I added aquarium salt. The following weekend I did the normal 25% water change, but did not add any salt back in. After about three days of swimming around with clamped fins it died.
Friday evening one of the hatchet fish died. After having two deaths so close together, I had a close look at them and all fish had symptoms of ich (white spot), loads of it!
I did not see the spots before because I stopped using the aquarium lights a while back when I replaced my live plants with plastic ones since they kept dying and getting caught in the filter intake so there did not seem any point putting the lights on. Plus the tetras get a bit scared of the lights. With the lights on the spots are really noticeable, but almost invisible with them off.
I dosed the tank with King British WS3 yesterday and raised the temperature to 82 degrees Fahrenheit from 75 degrees. I raised the temp slowly over the course of the day. I lost two tetras yesterday, one more overnight and one today. The remaining two are listless on the bottom. Gourami and baby platy seem ok. They have very few spots on them. The 5 remaining hatchet fish fins have quite a lot of spots and the fins have gone ragged.
I am not sure what to do now. The tetras only started dying since I added the medication, so maybe it is too toxic for them, but it could be the white spot....I just don't know! The tetras had a lot more spots on them than the other fish.
Should this really be so hard? Have other people had a similar experience or have I been unlucky? I know I have made lots of mistakes, but the water quality has always been good. I feed them on Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets and Tetramin flakes on alternate days and cooked peas weekly or fortnightly. The fish have been bought from a variety of aquatic shops, pet shops and the usual big chain.
When the ich parasites are dead I intend to re-stock the tank, so I would appreciate it if anyone has any advice to stop this happening again. So far, under my care I have lost 3 endlers, 2 guppies, 2 platys, 1 ram, 4 tetras and 1 hatchet fish
I expect to lose at least the last 2 tetras before the ich is gone and probably a few more hatchet fish.Thanks for reading this lengthily post!
Thanks for taking the time to write all that. I feed them once a day now, but I have to admit, I probably do feed them too much as there is usually some of the smallest flakes left over. Should I withhold food this evening or give them a bit to keep their strength up?
I test the water using an API master test kit and since the cycle completed I have had zero ammonia and nitrite in the tank. I am sure it works because it did pick up some ammonia and nitrate before the cycle was complete, hence why I did daily changes when I realised the Fluval Cycle wasn't working.
I was (still am) most worried about the nitrates being constantly at 40ppm, but since the water straight from the tap tests at 40ppm, is it going to be beneficial to do more than one change per week? One of the reasons I stopped using live plants was that I thought the decaying plants might have raised the nitrate level, but the fish used to nibble the plants quite a lot, so maybe they have been missing some nutrients. I only started giving them peas after I took the plants out.
Turn7, I have not heard of a nitrate filter before, I'll do some reading on those tonight.
The fish that were introduced before the cycle was completely finished were the 3 endlers, 2 platies and 2 guppies. Even though I did daily water changes and used SafeStart, perhaps what they were exposed to weakened and made them susceptible to something that killed them later. One thing I can report is that Fluval Cycle definitely does not do what is says on the tin!
So disappointed to have lost the ornate tetras as they were a picture of health, very lively and had grown quite a lot before the ich struck them. It must have come in with the hatchet fish.
I'll keep you updated.
I test the water using an API master test kit and since the cycle completed I have had zero ammonia and nitrite in the tank. I am sure it works because it did pick up some ammonia and nitrate before the cycle was complete, hence why I did daily changes when I realised the Fluval Cycle wasn't working.
I was (still am) most worried about the nitrates being constantly at 40ppm, but since the water straight from the tap tests at 40ppm, is it going to be beneficial to do more than one change per week? One of the reasons I stopped using live plants was that I thought the decaying plants might have raised the nitrate level, but the fish used to nibble the plants quite a lot, so maybe they have been missing some nutrients. I only started giving them peas after I took the plants out.
Turn7, I have not heard of a nitrate filter before, I'll do some reading on those tonight.
The fish that were introduced before the cycle was completely finished were the 3 endlers, 2 platies and 2 guppies. Even though I did daily water changes and used SafeStart, perhaps what they were exposed to weakened and made them susceptible to something that killed them later. One thing I can report is that Fluval Cycle definitely does not do what is says on the tin!
So disappointed to have lost the ornate tetras as they were a picture of health, very lively and had grown quite a lot before the ich struck them. It must have come in with the hatchet fish.
I'll keep you updated.
Lots of good advice there thank you. I usually do a thorough gravel vacuum when I do the weekly water change. Perhaps I am being a bit too thorough and stressing the fish? Do you think I should change to a different substrate that might be easier to clean? Sand?
I think I'll get the 6.8L Spectrum vessel. That is the biggest size I can get as I am going to have to plumb in a T-piece off the mains feed pipe to the bathroom sink and fit another tap under the sink. I live in a flat, so the 6" wide space behind the basin pedestal is really the only place it can go. None of my existing taps are suitable for attaching a hose to.
How many litres of water do you think I can pass through the vessel before needing to regenerate the Purolite resin?
I lost a hatchet fish today and another hatchet looks to have 90% of its tail missing. I am worried that fin rot might be attacking them while they are in a weakened state. Not sure what I can do about that without introducing another medication which is dangerous in itself. They are already dosed with aquarium salt.
I think I'll get the 6.8L Spectrum vessel. That is the biggest size I can get as I am going to have to plumb in a T-piece off the mains feed pipe to the bathroom sink and fit another tap under the sink. I live in a flat, so the 6" wide space behind the basin pedestal is really the only place it can go. None of my existing taps are suitable for attaching a hose to.
How many litres of water do you think I can pass through the vessel before needing to regenerate the Purolite resin?
I lost a hatchet fish today and another hatchet looks to have 90% of its tail missing. I am worried that fin rot might be attacking them while they are in a weakened state. Not sure what I can do about that without introducing another medication which is dangerous in itself. They are already dosed with aquarium salt.
Just found it on the page for the resin. It works out to 3400 litres of water for a 6.8L vessel, so enough for at least a couple of years worth of water changes. A bit pricey at £180 initial outlay, but well worth it if it brings the nitrates down to 0ppm.
The only downside I can see is that instead of using the kettle to bring the water up to temperature, I would have to fill a bucket with filtered water and use a spare tank heater I have to warm the water.
How do you guys with bigger tanks heat your water? I don't feel comfortable using water out the hot water tank for the fish. My water is heated with an economy 7 immersion heater.
The only downside I can see is that instead of using the kettle to bring the water up to temperature, I would have to fill a bucket with filtered water and use a spare tank heater I have to warm the water.
How do you guys with bigger tanks heat your water? I don't feel comfortable using water out the hot water tank for the fish. My water is heated with an economy 7 immersion heater.
It's been at least 24 hours since something died so hopefully the ich parasites are getting killed off. I have learnt a lot from this thread, thanks to everyone who has contributed.
I have a spare chamber in the filter so I could fill it with NP Reducing BioPellets? If your nitrates are always zero if you use these pellets, what is the benefit of doing a water change?
slowx said:
Also have a pre-filter inline to my Eheim 2217 that have NP Reducing BioPellets XL in it to take out NO3, on the API test cards, my results is always 0ppm for NO3.
You never mentioned what you use for the 'media' in your tank/filter, a good tank needs all those goody goody bacteria to keep things going, some uses aquarium bacteria rings, some lay down a bed of sands/stones/dead coral/lava rocks to 'keep' these bacteria, look up on it, it may help you out.
I personally uses PH Mono balls, PH lava sands, PH lava stones and rocks, PH is a Japanese brand, not sure if you guys seen it, but their stuffs so far have given me no problems and crystal clear water.
I use the standard sponge and bio rings the filter came with. It's a Fluval 106 external cannister...oversized for the size of the tank. I don't use carbon as I read a lot of people don't these days. Perhaps I should? The water looks clean.You never mentioned what you use for the 'media' in your tank/filter, a good tank needs all those goody goody bacteria to keep things going, some uses aquarium bacteria rings, some lay down a bed of sands/stones/dead coral/lava rocks to 'keep' these bacteria, look up on it, it may help you out.
I personally uses PH Mono balls, PH lava sands, PH lava stones and rocks, PH is a Japanese brand, not sure if you guys seen it, but their stuffs so far have given me no problems and crystal clear water.
I have a spare chamber in the filter so I could fill it with NP Reducing BioPellets? If your nitrates are always zero if you use these pellets, what is the benefit of doing a water change?
slowx said:
As for white spots, my experience is temps are not high enough or temp shocks, meaning your water change is too quick, it's like taking you from a 33c summer day and dump you in a frozen lake straight away, it'll shock the fish and do bad things to them, likewise for water quality, never change water too quickly, water is their living environment, suddenly changing their water will shock and stress them.
Ok thanks, I'll be more careful from now on to make sure I match the water temperature exactly. Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to drip the new water in as my tank is quite high up. The lid is at shoulder height.48 hours and no more deaths. All the spots are gone and the remaining fish are acting normally again with the exception of "Stumpy"....the hatchet fish with a lot of fin damage. He tends to swim apart from the other hatchets.
Thanks for all the photos and information slowx, I have been reading about the bio pellets. All the brands I have looked at say they are for marine tanks and you should have a skimmer as well ideally. Is yours a marine tank?
I have ordered the pressure vessel and resin. Looks like I will be doing some plumbing this weekend!
Thanks for all the photos and information slowx, I have been reading about the bio pellets. All the brands I have looked at say they are for marine tanks and you should have a skimmer as well ideally. Is yours a marine tank?
I have ordered the pressure vessel and resin. Looks like I will be doing some plumbing this weekend!
I have just given the fish their final a dosage of the ich treatment. Everyone looks happy and Stumpy has had some fin regrowth and has rejoined the school. I am going to reduce the temperature down to 80 from 82 tonight.
I've got a question which is going to make some eyes roll, but here we go.... I am down to four hatchet fish which should be kept in schools of no fewer than six. The only supplier of hatchet fish that I am aware of is the shop I bought my current hatchets which introduced the ich to my tank. Should I go and get two hatchets tomorrow? The reason for the rush is that they can be put in the aquarium while the ich medication is still present and this should prevent another outbreak? I don't want to have to put the fish through another full round of treatment if I get more hatchets at a later date.
I've got a question which is going to make some eyes roll, but here we go.... I am down to four hatchet fish which should be kept in schools of no fewer than six. The only supplier of hatchet fish that I am aware of is the shop I bought my current hatchets which introduced the ich to my tank. Should I go and get two hatchets tomorrow? The reason for the rush is that they can be put in the aquarium while the ich medication is still present and this should prevent another outbreak? I don't want to have to put the fish through another full round of treatment if I get more hatchets at a later date.
Righto I'll give it a month to let things settle down. I plumbed in the nitrate filter today and I'm giving it a flush though now. I'll filter some water tonight and do a 10% change tomorrow as recommended on the WS3 instructions. I have a spare tank heater I can use to heat the water overnight.
I'll get some biopellets on order and add them to my filter, but I won't add them just yet. I'll do a few water changes with the (hopefully) zero nitrate water and let it reduce gradually.
ViperDave, I haven't kept any cichlids apart from when I had the German Blue Ram. At the moment I've got a dwarf gourami, a platy, two ornate tetras and four marbled hatchetfish. They should be fine with a PH of 8, except maybe the hatchetfish, though I read that 7.5 is ok for them. I have some Indian almond leaves which are supposed to make the tank a little more acidic, perhaps I will drop a couple in, though I did this a while back with one leaf and it did not appear to make any difference.
I see you can get digital PH testers on ebay for £6, I might give one of those a go to double check the API test kit reading.
I'll get some biopellets on order and add them to my filter, but I won't add them just yet. I'll do a few water changes with the (hopefully) zero nitrate water and let it reduce gradually.
ViperDave, I haven't kept any cichlids apart from when I had the German Blue Ram. At the moment I've got a dwarf gourami, a platy, two ornate tetras and four marbled hatchetfish. They should be fine with a PH of 8, except maybe the hatchetfish, though I read that 7.5 is ok for them. I have some Indian almond leaves which are supposed to make the tank a little more acidic, perhaps I will drop a couple in, though I did this a while back with one leaf and it did not appear to make any difference.
I see you can get digital PH testers on ebay for £6, I might give one of those a go to double check the API test kit reading.
Poisson96 said:
Update? Is everything going alright?
Hi, thanks for asking! Yes, everything is ok. Once the white spot was eradicated they seemed to recover very quickly. The hatchet fish I started calling stumpy, regrew his fins completely in about two weeks. The platy fry has grown a lot as well.The nitrate filter I bought works really well. 0ppm nitrate going in each change compared to 40ppm previously.
I have added three black phantom tetra as companions for the two ornate tetras. The ornates are more lively with the black phantoms in the tank. They are very similar in appearance and manner.
Poisson96 said:
Plans for more tanks yet? :P (I have 3, one in use, one which was emptied and now cycling due to leaking fear and a new one)
I think one tank is enough for the time being! I'd like to get some corys. The long fin peppered corys look great, also some cardinal tetras, some clown loaches, cichlids, angels.......GT03ROB said:
AlexC1981 said:
Poisson96 said:
Plans for more tanks yet? :P (I have 3, one in use, one which was emptied and now cycling due to leaking fear and a new one)
I think one tank is enough for the time being! I'd like to get some corys. The long fin peppered corys look great, also some cardinal tetras, some clown loaches, cichlids, angels.......Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff