I need help tank issues

by **SucbaSteve** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:24 am

ok heres my problem, for the last 4 years my family has enjoyed our 30 gallon freshwater tank and we have never had any problems with it. 5 months ago we recently purchased a 75 gallon tank and it has been a nightmare.

75 gallon tank details:

length 49 inches
width about 18 inches

pump: JEBO 839 external bio/chemical canister filter with 750 gallons per hour pump
lighting: floral life 48" flourescent blub (tank is lighted about 12 hours a day)
Floor of tanks has 3 inches of sand cleand and bought at petsmart.
Plants i have 6 plants meduim in size (about 8 inches tall) bought at pets mart
I also have a lot of rock in the tank that we have aquired of the years that we in previous tanks.

my problem is at first once the tank was set up (water cycled for 6 weeks) we introduced 3 chichlids and 5 tigerbarbs. within 2 weeks i had a ich outbreak (i never ahd before) and it killed all of the wish within days. i went ahead and did a treatment with products bout and a pet store i also increased the heaters on my tank so it kept the temperature at 85 farenheit afor 2 weeks. i did then a 50 percent watter change.

after the water cycled again for 4 weeks i introduced 2 more tigerbarbs within 4 days both fish were dead. i fed them correctly not too much at this point i thought my water was bad

i took a sample of my water and tested it with every test kit i could find all results for PH, ammonia, nitrates, CO2 etc were perfect. i then took a sample of the water to 3 different petstores and they could not find a think wrong with my water .

the only thing i can find with my tank is i have a little alge build up on the surface of the sand and a little on the 6 live plants. the alge does not turn the watter green and it is not harming the plants they have lived strong though the whole ordeal. the alge kind of looks like little green hairy veins and it forms string like on the plants. it is very easy to clean off of any surface but could the alge be the problem. i have never had alge like this in the last 4-5 years si i dont know much about it.

does anybody have anyideas on what i should do next?

by **Zambize4899** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:03 am

When you say you first let the water cycle for 6 weeks, did the water just sit and filter, or did you introduce ammonia so that it would it would cycle through the nitrogen cycle?

Z

by **peterkarig** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:37 pm

Good thought Z. This is weird.

Scuba: Z is right in that without some kind of fish poop or other ammonia producing waste (even just ammonia as in fishless cycling) the bacteria needed for converting ammonia to nitrites, and the bacteria needed for converting nitrites to nitrates will not be able to grow.

Did you test the water that the dead fish were floating in? or did you test it before adding new fish?

It still seems strange that a planted 75 gal tank with a few small fish would have a problem in terms of establishing a cycle even if you didn't have any bacteria in the tank prior to adding a few small fish.

The green stuff is probably cyano-bacteria, and it's not great to have, but not terribly bad for fish. It usually indicates excessive nutrients in the water, like high nitrates.

How much food do you considder normal?

I would only just barely feed the fish for the first couple weeks, and then increase that amount till you are feeding what the fish can eat completely in 3 minutes.

by **Ant071510085** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:24 pm

i would use some Stress Zyme+. you can find it in your local fish store or petsmart. it would boost your beneficial bacteria. i would also use this to cycle any new tank. safe for all fresh or saltwater tanks. also how often are you changing your water and how much?

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2754033

I need help tank issues

4 posts