# I NEED HELP!!!



## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

Hi, i am new to this forum
hopefully i can get a lil help here, i am going to try to make this as short as possible. i am a new aquarium owner. i currently have a 3 week old 30 gallon tank with 8 cichlids (1 yellow lab, 1 red shoulder peacock, 2 red zebra, 1 ob cichlid, and 3 others that i cant identity, will upload pics in a few)

altho my fish seem to be fine my tank went from clear to a milky/cloudy and nitrate, nitrite and amonia levels have went up quite a bit and i am a lil nervous that my fish that i paid a good amount for (from $80 - $15) are in danger ... also my p.h level is fine so im not to worried about that.

i have been told to try a million things ... i have used Dr.Tims bacteria,salt, prime and a few water conditioners ... and the levels still wont go down.

i originally had a aqueon filter and it sucked IMO so i purchased a marineland penguin 350 after reading a lot of good reviews, i also added a uv filtration light (not too sure of the name lol) and it seems that i cause an issue because the tank is even cloudier and now some of the fish keep swimming to the top of the tank, not sure if this is because they think the bubble are fun to play with or if its because they are bothered!

i also did a small lil 10-15% water change today even though i wanted to hold off on any water changes until the tank was fully cycled, the amount of waste building up in certain corner corners was annoying me and waste was floating around as well. i am only feeding the fish every other day right now (may sneak in a pinch on the "off days" because my fish seem to like to interact with me when im near the tank and thats my way of giving them a little treat lol)

im not sure if im just rambling so i will get to the dates and levels that i got on the dates that i tested the water:

Feb 11th--

amonia - .50 - 1.00 ppm
P.H - 7.6
Nitrate- 0 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm

FEB 18th--

amonia - 4.0 ppm
nitrite - 0.25 ppm
nitrate - 0 - 5.0 ppm (wasnt too sure)
P.H - 7.6

FEB 21st

amonia - 4.0 ppm
nitrite - 2.0 ppm
nitrate - 20 ppm

I would really appreciate if i can get some feed back on whats going on or if i may be doing something wrong. dont want my fish to die i actually enjoy having them and dont want all my hard earned money and beautufil fish to die on me ;(

thanks in advance!!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Your tank is cycling (it can take six weeks). Usually it is best to cycle the tank before you add the fish, but too late now, right? So do daily water changes in order to keep ammonia and nitrite under 1ppm so it will not be as toxic to the fish.

Your stock is not likely to work in a 30G tank but it might if you had a 55G tank with dimensions 48" x 12".

You can easily change 50% of your water each time and I would probably do just that maybe once tonight and once tomorrow morning. After removing 50% tonight your ammonia should be 2ppm and removing another 50% in the morning should bring your ammonia to 1ppm.

The bacteria you are trying to grow when you cycle don't live in the open water so there is no problem changing water.


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

thank you very much, i have been told to not do water changes that big because it will not be good for the fish. any truth tho this


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

No as long as you match your parameters. We would consider 50% weekly the minimum for good health. I often do 75% or even more without a problem.


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

ok -- again thanks for your help....

also i do plan to upgrade my tank size but not at the current moment, only 2 pf the 8 fish are over 3 inches so i think i will be fine for the next 6 mnths maybe, do you think that will be fine ?

btw my yellow lab is top tier in the tank and tends to pick on my red shoulder peacock -- is this ok or bad?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Many mbuna spawn at 2"...some even at 1.5" and when they spawn is when they start to fight.

Any fish hanging around in the top tier of the tank is getting harassed...so not good. If it continues they may be susceptible to disease.

Which ones are 3"? I'd expect the red zebras to cause the most trouble...especially because you have two.


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

The lad, red shoulder(who i bugger than the lab) and one that i cant identify-- the red zebras as the smallest in the tank...

I orginally wanted an all peacock tank but the guy that works at the lfs told me ut would be fine to mix -- can u suggest some peacocks that will work well in my tank?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would not add anything until you upgrade. You may want to post pictures of the fish you cannot identify in the Unidentified forum so you can find out what you have and see what will work with them.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

if u have someone u know with an established tank you could take one of their used filter pads and run it in your filter to help speed cycle process also


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

unfortunately i dont kno anyone with a tank and i wouldnt dare get any fromy my LFS


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

I'd do daily 50% water changes until your ammonia and nitrite are both zero. Then switch to weekly 50%. You have the bacteria types necessary, just not in the numbers necessary. Also like DJ said, don't add anything until you get a bigger tank and please post pics of the unknowns so we can advise on if you need to adjust your current stock.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

bwest168 said:


> unfortunately i dont kno anyone with a tank and i wouldnt dare get any fromy my LFS


i dont blame you for that


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

lilscoots said:


> I'd do daily 50% water changes until your ammonia and nitrite are both zero. Then switch to weekly 50%. You have the bacteria types necessary, just not in the numbers necessary. Also like DJ said, don't add anything until you get a bigger tank and please post pics of the unknowns so we can advise on if you need to adjust your current stock.


i posted a video but here's the link


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

ok so i dod the water changes .... jus did one of about 50% last night, i then tested and the amonia, nitrate and nitrite went down a bit

checked it again not too long ago and all levels are back to being high again ....

do i continue water changes ?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

You will need to continue to do daily water changes to reduce the ammonia and nitrite.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If you remove 50% of the water, you are also removing 50% of the ammonia and nitrite. If you test immediately after the water change, you should be able to confirm that.


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

ok ... is it safe to do that on a daily basis? and will changing such a large amount of water so often mess with the cycling process taking place ?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Actually, it's not safe NOT to do it because ammonia and nitrite will poison your fish. The bacteria you are trying to grow with your cycle are on the filter media and surfaces in the tank...not in the water. You can even do it more than 1X daily as required to get the levels down.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Continue daily water changes while vaccuuming up any leftover food and poo. And only feed very lightly every other day. Ammolock can make the Ammonia less toxic.

Then, decide if you are going to keep this tank, and stock accordingly. Or buy a bigger tank, because, as stated, this mix will be extremely difficult to keep healthy in a 30 gallon.


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## bwest168 (Feb 22, 2013)

Floridagirl said:


> Continue daily water changes while vaccuuming up any leftover food and poo. And only feed very lightly every other day. Ammolock can make the Ammonia less toxic.
> 
> Then, decide if you are going to keep this tank, and stock accordingly. Or buy a bigger tank, because, as stated, this mix will be extremely difficult to keep healthy in a 30 gallon.


i went out and purchased a standard 75 gallon tank, jus waiting for the wood stand to be delivered --

as far as the stock goes i am going to make the tank an all male peacock/hap tank, so i will be getting rid of certain fish that i have now

my ph,nitrite and notrate levels are fine now

amonia 0 ppm 
nitrite 0.25 ppm
nitrate 5.0 ppm

so im assuming the tank is almost finished cycling ??


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Should be getting close. Keep an eye on things. You can get ammonia spikes from something as simple as adding too many fish at one time.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

bwest168 said:


> i went out and purchased a standard 75 gallon tank, jus waiting for the wood stand to be delivered --
> 
> as far as the stock goes i am going to make the tank an all male peacock/hap tank, so i will be getting rid of certain fish that i have now
> 
> ...


Congrats on the new tank, yes your tank should be almost finished, however any amount of nitrites are not fine....NO2 needs to be zero...it's highly toxic, so continue with daily water changes until it is. And adding too many fish at one time can cause ammonia spikes, so be careful when you do add fish to monitor ammonia and nitrite levels for a while afterward.


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