Newb please help

Hi all

Ok so this is how it goes-

4 Months ago i got given a 180 litre tank. Im running a fluval 304 filter (with carbon, sponges, noodle thingies and some other round substrate thingies in it), a UV steralizer (we had an algal bloom outbreak about 2 months ago, these things work very well!!),an 300mm airbubbler, 300w heater. we have a 2 piece ship wreck, a cave rock, fruit salad substrate, and 3 types of planted plants. (short grass, long grass and a plant with big leaves( all of which seem to be growing really well.

Our fish stock consists of,
4 rummy nose tetra, (which we started our cycle with)
6 neon tetra,
1 goldspot plec,
1 alge eater,
1 Julli catfish,
1 Whiptail catfish,
1 silver shark,
2 dwarf gourami,
2 khulli loaches,

they ge fed once every 2 days.

about a month ago our tanks ammonia spiked to 4.0ppm, with no nitrites or nitrates.
i have managed to get this back down to 2.0ppm ammonia with minimal ammounts of nitrates, and cant seem to get any lower.
is there something im not doing correctly or am forgetting all together.
would like to get ammonia down to 0 to have some happy fishies

thanks in advance

Welcome Grubster! Did you recently add a large number of new fish. The added strain on the bio load could have caused the spike. Also some medications can hurt the good bacteria that break down ammonia and that could have caused it as well. The fact that you have no nitrates is unusual. Nitrites should be 0, but nitrates are usually around ten. Keep up with monitoring your parameters. You do not appear to be over feeding. I am not sure how big your tank is in gallons so it is hard to say if you may be overstocked. How often do you do water changes? 20% once a week is my recommendation. However, it sounds like your tank may not be cycled yet even though it has been 4 months. Did you add the fish right away? The only thing I can recommend to help save your fish is to do a really large water change. I am thinking about 75-90%. There are products that will neutralize the ammonia, but I don't recommend chemicals unless you absolutely need them. Just so you know nitrites should also always read 0 and nitrates should read less than 20ppm. I hope this helps some. A little more information regarding the initial setup of your aquarium would help us get to the bottom of it.

ok thanks Megham
180 litres is about 40gallons.

have been doing 25% water changes,
and using stress zyme weekly for bacteria growth. all water changes are done at the smae temp as the tank with stress coat dechlouriniser.

no new fish have been added, we started with the 4 rummy nose after about 4 days of setting the tank up as apparently a couple of fish help the tank cycle.
the rest have been added at random intervals since about 2 weeks after the rummy nose.

from what ive read its pretty common for people to add fish too soon to the tank.

not sure what other info re tank setup you guys need so let me know if theres anythinh.

thanks Grubster

Welcome to our forum! As always, Megan has given good advice. My two cents worth appears below.

The UV sterilizer can kill all the beneficial bacteria in the aquarium, and that may be why you can't get the ammonia down. Usually, a heavily planted aquarium does not have much of an algae problem, so maybe you could add a few. Water wisteria is supposed to be good at keeping an aquarium clean, and hornwort also works. I'm not sure that you should use Stress Zyme all the time as a water conditioner. You can buy products that actually have beneficial bacteria, but that's not one of them; I believe it contains nutrients for the bacteria. A conditioner like Stress Coat fixes tap water without adding things that may not be necessary. Fish, plant and food wastes should provide all the bacteria the aquarium needs once the sterilizer is turned off.

As for capacity, one litre is a little more than one quart, and it takes four quarts to make a gallon. That means your aquarium is around 45 gallons. It's OK for its present biological load, but I would not add many more fish. You should also make sure the fish are compatible.

hmmmmmmm
the tank is parially planted,
ill try turning off the steralizer see if tht helps.
should i just turn it of or completly remove it from the tank.
all the fish we have at present are happy together do i have some that are not really compatible???

Stress zyme contains millions of good bacteria according to the lable, and the coat helps with declourination and fish stress according to the bottle too

i will add a couple of photos tonight of the tank might help with your diagnosis

The photos would be great. I didn't realise that Stress Zyme actually contained bacteria. Probably, you'll have all the good cooties you need after the UV sterilizer is turned off. I hope that works. About compatibility, some fish require different temperatures, pH values, water hardness, etc. to be at their best. Some also get territorial and aggressive as they mature. On top of that, many of the species sold as community fish are really not all that good in a community tank. Some aquarists, in fact, prefer single species tanks; that's especially applicable if you are trying to get the fish to spawn. It's something to think about in the future, since all of your fish seem to be getting along fine.

Please let us all know if any of our suggestions help.

ok so heres a couple pics

more

more

Hiya (Now my two cents?)

I had this problem as well...
Plecs are great as clean up as are the others
But you know who I found to be the best?
RED CLAW CRABS!
They don't harm your other fish, they might have a go at your plant life but nothing to damaging.

In addition why not invest in a Brita filter for your water?
I use tap water in my tropical tank, but not until it's been filtered twice with the Brita system...since I began doing this I find I have no problems!

Best
Jenn

Very nice aquarium. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

WOW thats a cool looking tank!!!!i love how the rims and stand and every thing is black and how the light is shaped XD

thanks animefan,

i did a wee job for a mate and he gave it to me. it came with filter and was only $600 new zealand.

its a great tank not bad for my first ever fish tank.

must say im loving caring for the live stock, a challenging but pleasurable passtime
+ our 2yr old loves the fishies

Hi....
Reading over your post...when you say you were given this tank four months ago... has it been up and running that long?
Reason I ask..it sounds as if this tank has not really "cycled'. If you have an ammonia reading..
and no nitrites or nitrates..then for some reason this tank is in cycle mode.
With this being a large tank ( what,,about 50 U.S. gallons?)
..large tanks take a bit longer to fully cycle as well.
Things may look great..
but then when the full bio load hits..your ammonia begins to soar before things balance out.
In the meantime..you could lose fish.
Doing water changes is fine...but it may be a vicious circle.
You do not clean the filter when doing water changes right?
Stress Zyme is a good additive to help give your tank needed "good' bacteria....but just not so sure it does all it claims.
This is what I would do..
I would get some Bio-Spira.
I guarante that stuff WORKS>.
Most LFS carry it in their frozen section.
It will add the beneficial bacteria your tank needs to get everything balanced.
I would not add any little "crabs". Chances are..they will eat all your smaller tetras.
... BTW..your tank DOES look very NICE!!
I wish you tons of luck..
and I do hope what I shared helps.

LOL...
Not to be a bearer of bad news...
but you asked about compatiblity?
Just from working at the Pet store..
and raising fish for many years..
Can tell you that the Rummy nose tetras & the neons..
with your shark, algae eater..catfish...and loach..
well....you may see the tetras "gone' one day.
Your algae eater & loach..they may be fine when small..but once they grow..there is going to be the aggression factor.
Also..when you say silver shark...also known as the bala..did you know it will reach around 12 inches?
It will out grow most 55 gal.tanks..
as they need lots of ROOM!