Fish keep Dying.

[Houliham]

The plants seem to be doing ok but the fish last for about 3 weeks and then end up dying. I keep putting in new ones to replace but they systematically die off. PleAse help

[stucco]

Are you testing your water?

[badflash]

Sounds like the tank isn't cycled. Test for ammonia.

[Houliham]

I bought the master tester and nothing is out of wack. Could it be chilly temps? There is plenty of air from a long stone.

[jackalope]

I haven't been following your threads, and I'm on vacation, but I would like to know what kind of fish and what are your water temps? The reason I ask is that if it is freshwater/cold-water fish, I don't have an opinion or advice I can offer you, but if it is tropical/warm-water, like Tilapia, I have some opinions ...... can you give me more info?

[Houliham]

Mollies lasted the longest, goldfish nw zebras about 2 inch

[badflash]

Mollies are tough, what are your water tests? Give us the numbers.

[Houliham]

I will do a test first thing tomorrow.

[Houliham]

The ph is high, over 8 . Could this be why the tomatoes r flowering but keep breaking off. FYI the bell peppers r doing great.

[Oliver]

We really need to know all of your numbers if we are to help you understand what may be causing your fish problem.

The important numbers are:
Ammonia
Nitrites
Nitrates
pH
Water Temperature
Types of Fish and number (pounds)
What you are feeding them, how much and how often
Size of Fish Tank Gallons
Size of Bio-Filter/Grow Beds Gallons
Grow Bed area (square feet)
Number and types of plants

With this information, it will give us a much clearer picture of your set-up and help us to help you.

Oliver

[jackalope]

I'm not too excited about Goldies/carp .... they're pretty susceptible to just about everything that comes by ........... I killed about 45 or so just trying to get started ..... now I use cheapie feeder Guppies (10-20 cents each) to get my system cycled and haven't lost a one yet ..... plus when you stock it with Tilapia or another larger fish, they become food for the new fish ....... Tilapia love Guppies, but carp/Goldies don't seem to entice them that much for food :(.

Temps should be well into the 70s-F and preferably the '80s-F if you're going to go with Tilapia, and the Guppies are fine with those temps. Like Oliver has said, we need more readings than the PH ..... my local water is 8.4 and it won't be brought down no matter how much I try, so that reading could be your local water that just can't be adjusted ..... we gotta know more ........

[Houliham]

ammonia: .25
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates:0
ph:8.2
water temp:80
types of fish: 5 zebras about 1inch
feed: goldfish flakes
size of tank: 16 gallons
grow beds: 2:6 inch pots
plants: 1 tomato and 1 green pepper
The tomato has tons of flowers but is still snapping off and not producing.
The plants are covered in visqueen (small green house with fan)
this is my first experiment.
once again thanks to all that respond

[badflash]

The ammonia reading should be 0. If you can measure it, it is too high. Your system is still cycling. There are probably peaks that are much higher.

[catfish]

I have 7 Tilapia in a 10 gallon tank and they all seem healthy. I know that is way too many but that is what I have for now and I am trying to keep them alive as long as I can or until I get a larger tank.

I think I have my tank set to 74-77 degrees for now, should this be ok as I am just wanting them to be healthy and eat as little as possible to help with the tank not getting so dirty so often.

I have more questions so probably should post them in another thread.

Thanks

[badflash]

That temp should be fine. Limit their feeding to only about 3% of body weight per day. That is enough to keep them healthy.

[rfeiller]

catfish i don't know how big your tilapia are, but unless you do water changes there growth will be stunted. once cichlids are stunted they will never reach full size.

[catfish]

What does the water change have to do with stunting them?

I figure they may stunt just due to the lack of space to grow.

Plus I think they may have stunted due to their last enviornment they were in.

They range in size from about 2" to 5".

What is bad is that the smaller ones really have issues getting the food as the larger ones are hogs.

I think I have some sort of hybrid maybe a Blue x Nile or Blue x Mozzie, they guy that gave them to me was not sure what they were as the place to him he had blues and niles, so who knows.

I hope to move them out next spring to a pond for algea control if they make it.

I am also affraid that I may have all males, which would seem odd but of course I am no expert on determining the sex of them.

[Brier]

Nitrate will build up, and must be removed by water changes, or plants. This will stunt their growth.
The fish will also release hormones into the water, that will build up, and limit their growth.
With a ten gallon tank, I would recommend doing a 25% water change at least twice a week, if not 3 times. You can siphon out 25%, add dechlor straight to the tank(even if I am doing a 25% change, I add enough dechlor for the entire tank volume with this method), and add tap water slowly. Or a better method, but more time consuming is to fill a 5 gallon bucket with new water, dechlorinate it, and use it for make up water. I have added declor directly to tanks for years with no apparent problems.

You can also aerate the water in the bucket for 24 hours to off gas the chlorine, but if your water company uses chloramine, this will not work, so dechlor (sodium thiosulfate) is your safest bet.

[catfish]

Well they switched to Chloramine for some reason so I know the gas off will not work, which would have been nice next spring when I plan to put some outside in a 300 gallon water tank.

So I guess I will have to do some thing different from collecting rain water, pumping in pond water, or using something to remove the chloramine.

Does anyone have a source to get chloramine remover in bulk for cheap?


Thanks

[badflash]

Seachem Prime can be ordered by the gallon. It is the least expensive product to remove chloramines. I use a Kold-sterile water filter. Pricy, but a $75 filter set clears 15,000 gallons of water. Initial investment is around $300.

[davidstcldfl]

I hadn't heard of "Prime' before. The discription at thier web site sounds pretty good.
There was one sentence that caught my eye.....
Prime® also contains a binder which renders ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate non-toxic.

I wonder if the binder prevents the plants from using the 'N' ?
( I always forget which one the plants actually use...nitrates or nitrites)

I guess it wouldn't be much of an issue, especially if one is just pre-treating make up water (?)
What do you think Badflash ?

[keith_r]

plants take up the nitrates, i'd be more worried about killing off the bacteria the naturally converts the am, than killing the plants..

i know the blue dye stuff that is used in ponds to control algea and plants will kill your plants

[Brier]

It renders them non toxic to fish, but does not remove them. They are still available to bacteria.

[badflash]

Plants can still use the inerted stuff and so can the bacteria. I also like Amquel + and find it is even more effective, but it costs more too on a per gallon basis.


I hadn't heard of "Prime' before. The discription at thier web site sounds pretty good.
There was one sentence that caught my eye.....
Prime® also contains a binder which renders ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate non-toxic.

I wonder if the binder prevents the plants from using the 'N' ?
( I always forget which one the plants actually use...nitrates or nitrites)

I guess it wouldn't be much of an issue, especially if one is just pre-treating make up water (?)
What do you think Badflash ?