Help and advice please.

Bongo wrote:
"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

"Bongo" wrote in message
...

Hello



I am new to these news groups so sorry if posted in wrong group.



I have got 2 tanks 1 tropical and 1 coldwater.



I have got the same filter products in the two tanks and I use TetraAqua
EasyBalance, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Zyme and there Stress Coat.

My

tropical tank stays nice and clean but the coldwater does not am I doing
anything wrong and also are there any other treatments that I should be
putting into the tanks?



Also when I am replacing the water I tend to do it using a 2-litre jug

and

I

put the treatments into each individual 2-litre jug. Do I have to do

this

or

can I put the treatment into the tanks before and then just add the

water?



Thanks in advance for your help and advice,



Regards Bongo.



Hi Bongo,

Welcome to the NG :-)

A few questions for you:-

1. What fish do you have in each of the tanks?
2. What size are the tanks?
3. In what way doesn't the coldwater tank stay clean? Is it an algae
problem?
4. Do you have plants in the tank?
5. Have you tested for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH?

In terms of the chemicals that you need to add....personally I just use a
water conditioner - Nutrafin Aqua Plus - which I add to the water I am

about

to put in rather than the tank, and also plant food. The only time I would
add anything else is if I was dealing with some type of infection. I do

also

use Stress Coat if I am moving a fish - at which point I put that into the
bag with the fish.

Cheers
Gill




1) 4 orandies and 2 black moors and 3 clowd minows.
2) 60 litres (so it said on the box but only holds around 40 litres).
3) there is algae but also the water looks clowdy.
4) no plants.
5) will do so but the last time i did they where all within reason.

Bongo



Ack! 40 litres of water is enough for ONE adult goldfish. The water is
going to stay cloudy until you find homes for at least four of your
goldfish. The fifth will probably have to go once they get close to
adult size.

As for water treatments, you're already using far too many. Tropical
fish in the wild mostly live in very clean water compared to our
aquaria. There's no Stress Coat clinging to their gills. You need to
know whether your tap water has chlorine or chloramine, and whether it
has any heavy metals like copper. Then choose the simplest tap water
conditioner that does what you need. None of the products you are using
are something I would add to my own tanks. I use AmQuel for chloramine,
and that's all.

Since your tanks are not heavily planted, the other thing you want to
use is lots of fresh high-quality carbon once a month. If your water
stays yellowish, add fresh carbon more often or use more. Carbon is
nice because it doesn't add anything to the water; it only removes.
Carbon pulls out dissolved organic compounds that build up in the water,
excess water conditioners, and many toxic heavy metals.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm has a summary of which
water conditioners do what, and recommendations depending on what you
need to remove from your tapwater.

TetraAqua EasyBalance should be unnecessary. Regular water changes do
far more for your tank.

Stress Zyme is probably contributing to the cloudiness as you add
millions of dead bacteria to the water. Only a small fraction of the
bacteria in most bacterial products are actually alive.

Stress Coat is nice to have around if you're moving fish, or have an
injured fish. Otherwise don't use it because the aloe adds the very
dissolved organics that you're trying to remove with carbon back into
the tank.

HTH, and that you can find good homes for all those goldies.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com