Problems with new tank setup (2 weeks old)

[Jon]

Around 2 weeks ago now I ventured into fish keeping again, last time
was over 5 years ago. I am starting with a small tank, and maybe move
up in size. The tank is around 13-15 litres.

3 goldfish, nothing fancy, at the moment there are no plants. I am
using a Fluval 1 "Plus" Underwater filter. I started my tank off with
tap water, left over night, I also added Tetrafin Aquasafe into the
water to make it safe for the fish.

This was 2 weeks ago. Within about 24 hours the tank went quite
cloudy, kind of a green/grey colour. After some research, as I have
never had this problem in the past, I thought it may be a case of "New
tank syndrome".

Just now I tested the PH and also ammonia levels - ammonia was at
1.5mg/l and the PH was around 8.5. These I think are a little high.
Should I just wait it out for another few weeks - after all the fish
seem to be feeding fine and appear to be "happy" - or should I part
change some of the water, or would that just make the problem go on
longer?

Thank you in advance,

Jon

[WD]

"Jon" > wrote in message
om...
> Around 2 weeks ago now I ventured into fish keeping again, last time
> was over 5 years ago. I am starting with a small tank, and maybe move
> up in size. The tank is around 13-15 litres.
>

Well, there are several issues to address here. One, the tank is way too
small for those goldies. I woud hesitate to put *one* in a 3 gallon
tank.Goldfish are little poop machines, and filth up a tank quickly. Also,
they grow fast, and will quickly outgrow that tank, or they may die before
that. The algae bloom is quite common in a new tank, do water changes on a
regular basis to keep the ammonia and nitrite down until the bacteria in
your filter have a chance to catch up. BTW, have you tested for ammonia and
nitrite? These two substances are very poisonous to the fish, and should be
your chief concern right now.
May I direct you to a great resource, the "krib" FAQ.---
http://faq.thekrib.com/

hth

billy

[Paul]

WD wrote in message ...
>
>
>
>
>"Jon" > wrote in message
om...
>> Around 2 weeks ago now I ventured into fish keeping again, last time
>> was over 5 years ago. I am starting with a small tank, and maybe move
>> up in size. The tank is around 13-15 litres.
>>
>
>Well, there are several issues to address here. One, the tank is way too
>small for those goldies. I woud hesitate to put *one* in a 3 gallon
>tank.Goldfish are little poop machines, and filth up a tank quickly. Also,
>they grow fast, and will quickly outgrow that tank, or they may die before
>that. The algae bloom is quite common in a new tank, do water changes on a
>regular basis to keep the ammonia and nitrite down until the bacteria in
>your filter have a chance to catch up. BTW, have you tested for ammonia and
>nitrite? These two substances are very poisonous to the fish, and should be
>your chief concern right now.
>May I direct you to a great resource, the "krib" FAQ.---
>http://faq.thekrib.com/
>
>hth
>
>billy
>

Goldfish (at least the Australian variety) seem to be pretty hardy. how many
people do you know that have a goldfish with no filter, and rarely do water
changes? I know of a few, it's common, so I wouldn't freak out, but don't
let the ammonia get above what it is now, do plenty of 1/4 water changes,
even one a day, until your filter catches up, this could easily take upto
six weeks.