Water Problems?

I<3Platys

I<3Platys

Small Fish
#1
Jun 30, 2012
28
0
0
California
#1
Hi. I need help. I have a 20 gallon tank and I got some dwarf cichlids for it. I have let it cycle for a week and a half.. When i put my new cichlids in the tank the started breathing really fast and one just stayed at the bottom. The two that were swimming died and im left with just one + a pleco now. They've been moved to a smaller and welly filtered tank but i dont know what the prob is. the amonia and nitrates are at zero but the tank has started to turn cloudy. i have used amonia disolving tablets and nutrafin cycle on this tank with the proper dosages. This was before i got the fishies. I have had no luck with fish in this tank and i want to know what the problem is seeing that i have put alot of money into this tank. Thanks so mutch!
 

I<3Platys

I<3Platys

Small Fish
#3
Jun 30, 2012
28
0
0
California
#3
I have let my tank run and i have freqently tested for amonia and nitrates and my amonia was at .25 and nitrates at 0. I used tetrasafe amonia disolving tablets at the proper dosage. I used an API test kit for both. While cycling i have been using Nutrafin Cycle which is suposed to help cycle my tank. The nutrafin cycle seems to be making my tank cloudy but i dont think it should kill two fish. Thanks for all of your help!
 

Sky Diamond

Sky Diamond

Medium Fish
#7
Sep 30, 2012
76
0
0
Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia
#7
Not sure where you learned this, but nitrite does not cloud tank water. Cloudy water is more likely a bacteria bloom.

Nitrite IS very harmful to fish, so that point is correct.
Click to expand...
I've been told that a million times and found it to be so. My axolotl tank was cloudy the other day and my friend asked me why and sure enough I tested it and it had a slight result. After cleaning it, it was fine. :)
 

exhumed07

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
#9
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#9
the tank is not cycled if it just sits and runs for a week before u put the fish in the tank. a cycle is the proccess of the fish releasing ammonia through there gills and bacteria growing to metabolise the ammonia into less harmful components. thats the first step of the cycle and the cloudiness is a good thing cause it means the bacteria are growing. the cloudiness will go away but it WILL come back. this will be due to the fishes waste as well as the uneaten food. it releases organic compounds such as nitrate as well as nitrites. both are very good in some concentrations for plantlife such as algea, but nitrites are toxit to fish. you will have another bacteria bloom to nutralise the nitrites. once the bacteria colonies have become established and the ammonia and nitrites remain at 0ppm your tank will then be cycled. I think this is something every pet store manager and emlpoyee should know and first thing they should tell a person when they buy a tank. and ask if they are buying fish. to many people come here with this problem. don't get me wrong, i as well as everyone else here is more then happy to help but to me this should never be a problem to begin with if pet stores would learn this themselves and teach others who do not know and are new to fishkeeping.
 

I

InfamousMob

Small Fish
#10
Jan 14, 2007
39
0
0
36
San Jose
#10
i have to agree with you... unfortunately its not just the lfs fault or any of the big chains. Consumers do lie sometimes about their tanks on how long they have been up for or what they believe cycling is, they do sometimes lie about how long their tanks are. But thats neither here nor there.

I would have to agree with everyone though, you're tank is way to fresh for any fish right now. Unfortunately the heavy breathing could be due to ammonia burn because of the lack of denitrifying bacteria. Plus to be honest dwarf cichlids arent the strongest fish, anything can really get these fish going. So honestly i would say maybe do a big water change and start over with some giant danios to do a longer proper cycling process.
 

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