I recently set up a 70 gallon fresh water fish tank. The tank has housed two Red ear slider turtles till last year but after keeping them for more than 6 years I had to unfortunately give them away. They were growing too big for the tank & I just wasn’t able to keep up with the frequent water changes.
At that time the tank was rinsed with water only & was covered & left for a year it was in stable temperatures since it was standing in our living room.
Before setting it up for the fishes I rinsed it with vinegar water (1/10 ratio). While rinsing I was not able to completely empty the tank (I use a python for water changes) so I just filled & emptied the tank couple of times to hopefully dilute the water as much as I can & lower the vinegar’s acidity.
Now 2 1/2 weeks into the set up my Ammonia levels have started to go up. I understand the tank is supposed to cycle but does that mean that the Ammonia will go extremely high, kill my fishes & then the nitrates go high & THEN my tank will have a complete cycle?
My yesterday’s Ammonia reading was 2.0. Higher compared to my last 2 readings of 0.25.
My PH & HR PH have been constantly high as well. Is it because of the vinegar washing?
Below are the things I have in my tank
Water heater
Filter
Air pumps
Thermometer
Gravel
Decor
Artificial plants & 17 fishes (5 of them died the very next day & one died last week after a water change)
I did let everything run for 24 hours before adding my fishes & I have been doing 25 % water change every 4 days. I do add the conditioner as well.
Should I do 25% water changes every day to bring the Ammonia levels down?
Is a high PH & HR PH okay in a community tank. The rest of the fishes seem to be doing okay.
p.s I wasn’t sure if I should post here or in All views. Mods feel free to move my thread.
man I have kept fishes and turtles but I have never heard of such an advanced & sophisticated fish tank before may be that’s why my daughter’s fishes died last week as we don’t have such fish tank indicators here.
I do hope someone here would be able to help before (God Forbid) anything happens to the fishes.
Fish like any other pet require some care as well & since they are small & in water it can be very different & difficult in the start. I am still learning diamond.
Did you have 'em in a bowl or tank? You have to have a heater in water so the water doesn’t get too cold over time & filter so the water stays clean & air pumps so water remains oxygenated.
I am sorry that the fishes died. Your daughter must have been devastated. I have read that feeding too much food can kill fishes too.
I used to feed my turtles live fish so I am mentally prepared to see them die if that’s what will it will take a cycle to form. I just want to try my best to prevent that & at least get the Ammonia in control.
Quite a few things wrong there. Firstly you should have cleaned the tank thoroughly and not rinsed it with vinegar water. Regardless of how much you rinsed it afterwards you must have left traces of vinegar in there and that was probably partly responsible for the fish which died. Secondly you didnt cycle your aquarium properly and introduced the fish while the ammonia was still high, and the nitrite and nitrate spikes had not taken place. Again the reason your fish died. You say that ammonia reading yesterday was at 2. Properly cycled aquarium or mature aquarium should have ammonia at 0. What sort of filter are you using? You need a 10% daily change of water till ammonia drops to 0 and also keep an eye on nitrite and nitrates. Daily change of water will also help reduce and eliminate traces of vinegar. PH depends on the type of fish you have. What fishes do you have? With the water change also use some solutions to bring down ammonia levels.
Overall you introduced your fishes too early and therefore lost a number of them and might lose some more if and when the nitrite and nitrate spikes take place as the fish were introduced before the cycling was complete.
Mashallah you have a 300 litre tank which should give you lot of pleasure once the problems have been sorted out.
If kept properly they can stay around for a long time. I have fish in my tank which are over 3 years old and many over 2 years. I have only lost fish in huge numbers once when white spot disease broke out in my tank. Some of my prized fish died which was painful. I have bred fish in captivity namely Pakistani clowns, I bought a pair and bred one in captivity. All 3 are doing well.
Successful breeding sounds so cool. Love Pakistani clownfish. They are beautiful. Wonder how they got the name “Pakistani”. Aren’t they salt water fish though?
The reason I rinsed my tank with vinegar water was because I wasn’t too sure about using cleaning products & introducing any harmful chemicals to the tank. I did use a tooth brush & scrubbed away any dry water spots in the tank.
The associates at the fish store told me that in order to build a cycle I would need to introduce some fishes in the tank, hence I added the fishes. ( I know I should have only bought 2,3 fishes. I got carried away & bought more) Before adding the fishes I checked the water Hr, PH HR, Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrates. At that time only the PH & HR PH was high. Ammonia was zero so I added all the fishes at once.
5 Neon Tetras (died the very next day)
3 Danio Zebras
2 Black Lyretail Mollies
2 Tetra of Rios
3 Red Wag Platies
3 Gold Twinbar Platies (one died last week)
1 Rainbow Shark
I keep the temperature at 77 F & the Hr reading comes out at 7.6 & HR PH at 8.2.
Did another test today & my PH is same but HR PH is down to 8.0 now.
Ammonia also went down to 1.0 from 2.0
I’ll start the 10% water changes from today & continue them till the the Ammonia level gets to zero. Do nitrites & nitrates have to go up for the tank to cycle?
Also the store associates told me to wait for another 2 months & then add the fishes I truly want. Was that I good advice? They said that I will lost at least 65% of my fishes within the first 3 months. Is this true & necessary?
I am extremely excited to see the end result as well. Thank you
Cleaning should be thorough and can be done with washing up liquid provided you clean it properly afterwards and rinse it with clean water two or three times. That is what should have happened before the new tank was set up. Any way now that the tank has setup and ammonia is coming down what you got to watch for is the spike of nitrite and nitrate. The number of fish you have mentioned above is too high for a new tank. Here is an article which will explain in greater detail the cycling process. Hope this helps.
Generally the article gives good tips. everyone has a slightly different routine of cycling a new tank but this article explains it well.
The Pakistani clowns come from the sub continent and are also known as the YOYO fish because of the yoyo pattern on their body. They are very shy and like to hide most of the times and very fast runners in the aquarium. Have had difficulty in catching them whenever I wanted to remove them from the tank. Lovely fish though. I have been keeping tropical fish now for nearly 35 years. I have had to return few fish which grew too big for my tank. I love the red tail shark but they do have a tendency to attack smaller fish, so be careful.
35 years is a long time. I am hoping I’ll be able to keep up with this interest of mine & hopefully instill the same interest in my daughter. Thank you much for sharing the link.
I am already noticing that the shark fish has been randomly bullying other fishes. Some of them the same size as well. Should I return it back so we don’t have any issues later?
Also what do you think of keeping an eel & a frog in a freshwater tank. Will that be good idea later?
Another thing that I forgot to mention earlier is that my water hasn’t been sparkling clean. On the seventh day it just got cloudy out of now where. Got better the next day but then hasn’t cleared up like before. I read that cloudy water is also part of the initial set up. Is that true? And that I should just let it be & within days or weeks the water will clear out itself. The water is not too cloudy but its definitely not sparkling either.
Is that normal as well?
Jazak Allah Khair much for answering my questions.
The cloudy water will clear in a few days, part of the cycling process, also as you change water on daily basis it will disappear. Just dont add anymore fish till the water is settled. Which shark do you have? Silver one or black with red tail?
I actually have neither one of them. I have a Rainbow Shark. I remember I wanted to get the Silver shark but the store associate told me they are too aggressive & I should avoid them in a community tank.
At least once a day I see it bullying one of the other fishes. The link you shared is so helpful. That site is amazing.
You think I should get rid of the shark fish? I do have plenty of hiding spots for the fish but none of them have claimed their territories yet. Most of them seem to just stay together despite being of different species.
^ No dont return it. Rainbow shark is semi aggressive and will be ok. The red tail mentioned above is aggressive even though it has lived peacefully with my fishes. The silver shark is non aggressive and does not chase or attack other fish. I dotn know why the store assistant told you otherwise. I always have them in my tank and they have never been aggressive, in fact the opposite. They are quite timid. It is a very sensitive shark and gets stressed quickly.
Thank you for sharing the link. I wonder why he said the opposite. When my water settles I am going to get one of those.
So that bullying is going to stop eventually? Isn’t all that chasing & poking stressful for other fishes.
I know I have been bombarding you with questions but here is a silly question. How do I know how much to feed the fishes. On the food jar it says feed enough that they can consume in 3 minutes. How much is enough? I feed them once a day & its around 1- 1 1/2 tablespoon.
They do seem to swim up top in hopes of more food perhaps so I add that other 1/2 tablespoon. Also I have noticed them sniff or swallow the food & spit it out & look for other food & then they’ll eat the next one without spitting. What’s that about?
I love ehsan bhaijan’s aquarium…very beautiful mA.
We also had a small aquarium for the longest time. Gave the whole thing away 18 months ago when we were moving. It is a hobby that requires some close attention and detailed care…particularly when you are initially setting up.
You need to feed them twice a day enough for them to eat in 3/4 minutes. The swallow and spit happens quite often, either because they didnt like the particular flake they are eating or the flake was too big for them., Nothing to worry about.
Aww! Angelfish are so beautiful. Love the shape & colors.
Would love to see Ehsan Bhai’s aquarium. Hint hint.
I am an animal person but unfortunately there are only certain type of pets/animals one can keep at home. Love fishes so will InshaAllah try to give my very best I can.
may be that’s why my daughter’s fishes died last week as we don’t have such fish tank indicators here.
Sara. Maybe I should ask to get the title changed.
