Possible tank setup

[Harbin57]

Currently I have a 10 gallon tank, with a heater and filter, and for a couple weeks now I have had one betta living in it along with two mystery snails and a dozen ghost shrimp, along with a cut in half mossball that is kind of dull green, but i think the shrimp eat tons from them, some peacock ferns that may or may not be growing in the tank, they dont look as bright anymore ut that may be because my snails keep uprooting them, which is why i got sand to go on top of my flora max bed, and six tiny fake plants

I just put some black sand in it and was wondering if adding 5 or 6 cory catfish would be ok, and not a strain on the tank.
I change two gallons every day, and really want to get some catfish, and corys seem to be the best bet, but ive seen contradictional reports on snail bioloads in tanks, some people saying 2 snails per gallon, some saying 1 snail per 4 gallons, and even some people claiming that they have a negative bioload (which seems impossible, imo)

Will 6 cory catfish be ok to add to the tank? and also any specific cory breed to think of?
also i see white whispy strands coomming off of all the plants, real or fake, and along the walls, like spider webbing but under water, is this something I should be concerned about? its too thin to show up in a photo.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You will do best with pygmy cories in a 10g - they stay small (like under an inch). Otherwise one of the smaller cories like pandas would be a better bet than the bigger species. With just the one other fish, I think you'd be okay with 6 small cories or maybe 10-12 of the pygmies.

 

[Newman]

take out the mystery snails.
big bioload.

 

[FreshyFresh]

take out the mystery snails.
big bioload.

I've heard this before, but I just don't see it in my 10g and 20L.

I've got about 15+ mystery snails in my 20 long and ~7 of them in my 10. Only the 10g is planted and my nitrates might get to 20ppm after 7-8 days between ~40% water changes.

Harbin, what type of lighting do you have on this 10g? You need proper lighting to maintain plants.

 

[Newman]

then you must have small mystery snails. some grow to baseball size and produce a ton of waste, it's like having two goldfish in a 10 gallon tank - no good.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Baseball sized? WOW.

I've seem them slightly larger than golf balls in huge display tanks, but that's about it. Many of mine are approaching golf-ball sized. They're all golden mystery snails. Didn't really want so many, but they bread.

 

[Harbin57]

Well I added 5 corys into it, and I have two decent sized led lights on my hood, maybe 2 to 3 square inches every light, turns out the plants I got were not underwater ones after all tho so had to take out everything but the mossball (damn you petsmart and your tube plants)

also bought a topfin 30 filter to replace my topfin 10 filter, and put the old undersized filter bag into the new filter, is there any better way to "seed" the new filter? or should that be posted in a new thread?

 

[big54bob]

then you must have small mystery snails. some grow to baseball size and produce a ton of waste, it's like having two goldfish in a 10 gallon tank - no good.

I believe you are referring to apple snails which are damn near impossible to obtain since they are banned from being imported to other states.

Well I added 5 corys into it, and I have two decent sized led lights on my hood, maybe 2 to 3 square inches every light, turns out the plants I got were not underwater ones after all tho so had to take out everything but the mossball (damn you petsmart and your tube plants)

also bought a topfin 30 filter to replace my topfin 10 filter, and put the old undersized filter bag into the new filter, is there any better way to "seed" the new filter? or should that be posted in a new thread?

You did everything right. You may get a mini cycle since you added a new filter but that shouldn't be an issue if you keep up on WC's.

 

[Harbin57]

ok awsome, I have already noticed the corys kicking up tons of food off of the ground so im thinking I need to cut back on feeding now

And a;sp I change 2 out of 10 gallons daily, is that too much water change for the tank? I think I read somewhere that anything under 80% was ok, but I would rather be safe than sorry

 

[CAPSLOCK]

That should be fine (really good, actually). You can siphon some of the excess food / gunk of the bottom during the water change to help out even more.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Harbin, that sounds like a great stocking plan. The corys should leave your shrimp alone. Keep in mind, you can take the water level down to the point the fish can still stay safely submerged and swim. Your fish will love you for the fresh, dechlorinated water once filled back up. A ~90% water change will have no effect on your nitrogen cycle / beneficial bacteria.

 

[Harbin57]

Awsome, now I have a new problem, for three days now I have tested my water and found over 10 ppm of nitrite, only 1ppm of nitrate, and change50% of water and triple dose of Prime seachem, the levels have not budged
I have read online that test strips are not as accurate as liquid tests, is there a chance that the test strips are just giving me false high ratings? my fish seem fine, no gasping or brown gills, kinda ravenous but that may be since I cut their food down to 25% of their normal food intake, any other things I can do to help the fish? the three other tests on the strip seem normal, but everything I read online says just a day of 10+ppm nitrite is lethal, and I dont see any fish dieing

also if I do have nitrite poisoning, will the shrimp be the first ones to die? I ask since Ive counted and all of them are there still

 

[FreshyFresh]

You should be doing more than 50% water changes given this is only a 10g and you really haven't established a proper nitrogen cycle in it. Get yourself a 5gal pail and a 3-4qt dollar store pitcher to bail it out.

It's also another expense, but you should invest in a API Master Test Kit. They're $25-30 in stores, but they last years. You can mail-order them cheaper. Test strips don't cut it. You need a decent liquid test kit.

 

[Newman]

fish arent dying because Prime detoxifies things, so keep doing what you are doing but amp up the water changes.
sounds like you stocked too fast, fed too much, didnt do enough maintenance. also i believe your tank is overstocked now with those cories..

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I believe when things are detoxified with products like Prime that they still can show up on tests. I agree with everyone else, do a good 80-90% water change.