Friday, July 31, 2009

I have 6 guppies 2 neon lights a placostamis, a bottom feeder and a shrimp, in a 5-gallon tank?

I got them yesterday and today and feed them properly and put 1 alergy tablet in yesterday but it looks REALLY CLOUDY is this normal??
Answers:
Read through this site as the pet store probably never explained new tank syndrome to you http://www.cichlidsrus.com/resources/tan. . You are going to have to change about one gallon a day for the next few days to keep your fish from being poisoned, add salt fro freshwater aquariums as it will help them to survive, and don't feed them for the next four days (they can go a week without starving). The less fish poop, the easier it is for the bacteria and the amount of pollutants will be reduced. The fish store can test water for you, just bring in a fresh sample.
A
you just now killed them..
Get some greenery for the tank.
The PH level is probably off. They have testing kits that you can buy at pet stores. You can test the water and balance the PH accordingly with the chemicals that are included in the kit. Also, you have too many bodies in the tank. The rule is one fish (crab, bottom feeders, shrimp) per gallon. Get a bigger tank.
an allergy pill?? or do you mean an algae killer? either way you will need a bigger tank soon there will not be enough air for them try getting an air stone to help-p no more algae tablets or there will be nothing left for the shrimp or your pleco fish to eat
You have too many fish in your tank. Also did you treat the water prior to getting the fish?
U need a bigger tank sista!
You should only have one inch of fish for every one gallon of water. You seem to be way over that and most likely your guppies will breed if they live long enough and you will have twice as many fish in the next few months.

Get a bigger tank ASAP..
The tank is probably cycling. It happens when a tank is first set-up, while the bacteria that clean the water in a normal tank are establishing themselves. Basically, certain bacteria live in the filter and convert the ammonia from waste, to nitrite, to nitrate - each less poisonous than the last. The nitrate is fine, as long as you do a weekly water change. You can search for different guides on how to start a tank, but you should really find a page on "cycling" a tank.

Other than that, the tank is extremely overstocked. 6 full-grown guppies in a tank of that size are going to put a huge strain on the filtration as is. But with 2 tetras, a pleco, and what I'm assuming to be a cory cat, the tank is going to need frequent water changes. Common plecos can get to be well over a foot long, so you'll need to make sure it's a different variety that stays small. Corydoras (if that's what you got) like to be in groups, so I'd reccommend returning him with the pleco. The guppies and the tetras will be fine as long as you make sure you keep up your water changes weekly, but the cycle will stress them.

Basically, before the bacteria fully develop, ammonia will build up in the water. This is EXTREMELY bad for the fish. It will take at least a few days for the bacteria to bring the ammonia down. Even then, you will have nitrites. They are poisonous as well, but not as bad as the ammonia. It will take a while for the bacteria to take them down as well. They will be turned into nitrates which you can take out with the water changes. Basically, until your tank "cycles", the water will be very bad for the fish. If you don't want your fish to die, return most of them, if not all of them. You can cycle it fishless, or you can leave a few in there, but there is a very high possibility of them dying, and the ammonia will damage their gills.
Well when i got my tank they said to let the water cycle throught for about 3 days and then get goldfish before any other fish to get the bacteria and everything cycling around in there for about 3 months or so and when i put my fish in the water it got pretty cloudy at first and then i gave it a day for the water to cycle through and it got much clearer and nicer. Also i took my water sample to PetSmart and they test the water for u right there so they can tell you if you have anything of balance.
that is way too much things in one tank. Your supposed to add 2 new fish per month. 5 gallons is not enough room for all these fish. Make sure you have a filter, that will help with the cloudiness. You can also buy stuff to make it less cloudy.
The cloudiness is a normal part of the nitrogen cycle that all tanks must go through when they are started up.

You should never put more than 2-3 fish in a new tank because the beneficial bacteria cannot keep up with all the waste that more than 2 or 3 fish produce.

Too many fish = lots of ammonia from their waste, then too much nitrite, then too much nitrate. All of these are toxic to the fish and will kill them eventually if you do not start doing some water changes. Never change 100% of the water, only change 25-30% when you do it.

With a new tank and as many fish as you have in it, you should do partial water changes every other day until the cloudiness clears up. Then go to every fourth day for about a month. After that, you can do regular water changes once a week for as long as you have the tank set up.

More fish are lost due to ammonia spikes caused by overcrowding a new tank setup by a new hobbyist than from any other reason. I believe this is the main reason so many people quit the hobby before they really start enjoying it.

Go to "About.com" and follow their links to setting up and maintaining a freshwater aquarium. They have lots of really good info there at that site.
sorry, but you have too much fish with your tank. let them do what they need to do.

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