# NEED A BIT OF HELP



## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

this is my first poet and hopefully not my last. i am a novice who just inhereted a tank with some beautiful fish. my problem seems to be a layer of small white bubbles on the surface of my water. the thickness and size varies from day to day. any tips to eliminate this? is this harmfull , normal? can you please help a newbie out?

the tank is 45 gal. pump and filter working, 3 fish , a pleko, a catfish and a SA ciclid.


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

can we have the water stats. and what kind of fish are in there. it could be Phosphate it will kill your fish.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Welcome,

Pls tell us the exact id of your fish. As the uploading of pics here is out for awhile yet, you may try Photobucket or Imagecave programs to be able to download the pics for id. I was asking for pics in case you can't identify your fish. Descriptions are harder than pics.

Pls try cycling your tank. As it now has some fish, you'll have to buy a test kit and keep testing the water stats. Ammonia and nitrites should stay at zero. Don't add ammonia(which was suggested for fishless cycling). Ammonia is toxic to the fish. Your fish's wastes may turn into ammonia which can be toxic to the fish. So to convert them into nitrites, you may speed up the process by obtaining an established filter media(foam, floss, etc), gravel and other decors from somebody who has tanks which have already been running for a long time. Those options will be your bacterial sources. Your lfs(local fish store) is also a good source for those items needed. Make sure those are disease-free.

With the presence of the bacteria, ammonia is converted into the most dangerous substance which is nitrites. Finally, it will be converted into nitrates which are the least harmful.
Again, pls buy a test kit. Ammonia test kit is bought separately as the ammonia test apparently isn't available in most test kits which already have the following: pH, GH, KH, nitrites, nitrates and high pH.

Good luck.


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

GREATLY SAID BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

oklike i said " im a newbie to this fish thing. i saved the fish from certain death in a stagnant tank from an abandonned house. so please dumbb some things down for me.

as to the types of fish: i have an AFRICAN FEATHER FIN CATFISH, a PLECKO, and what i believe to be a SOUTH AMERICAN CICLID. i have no way to up;oad a photo so i will describe the sa ciclid, very short dorsal adn ectoral fins, front half is blue with vert stripingback half is orange with no marking tips of dors and pect fins are white. when i took them to the pet store they had no idea what kind of fish he was.


pls define cycling the water.

so i should buy a test kit. i do believe that the local pet store does free testing so i will persue that avenue and folow their recomendations.



when we brought the tank home the petstore staff told us not to change too much in the tank so i have yet to clean the algea from the walls. i was told to wait 4 weeks to do this (that is this weekend). i did replace the gravel but not the large rocks. the filter was rinsed but not changed that also takes place this weekend i will change the charcoal . there seems to be an ebb and flow to the bubbles mass. before feeding time this eve it was far larger than it is now. (about ten minutes later).


also is AQUARIUMS FOR DUMMIES A GOOD BEGINNERS SOURCE BOOK?


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

wow u found fish in a emty house. how long were they in there for.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

I find identifying your fish very difficult. You could try my sticky thread in "Freshwater Species and Compatibility". If you read on "Cichlids", try to search in the South American category. Then copy the scientific name and paste it to the Yahoo Images. Yahoo images will automatically lead you to the pics of fish.



DR._Seuss said:


> pls define cycling the water.


I thought I had mentioned to you the processes already. Nitrogen cycle is applied in this cycling. There's a sticky thread about cycling but it's fishless cycling. However, the fish's wastes may serve as your ammonia as adding pure ammonia is already toxic for the fish.
Just follow my previous post and you'll do fine.


DR._Seuss said:


> so i should buy a test kit. i do believe that the local pet store does free testing so i will persue that avenue and folow their recomendations.


I doubt your lfs will ever give you the exact figures of the water stats. They'll only mention "It's perfect", "The water stats are fine", etc. Inaccurate IMO.
You can buy test kits but a lot of them lacks the ammonia test kit which you can buy separately.


DR._Seuss said:


> when we brought the tank home the petstore staff told us not to change too much in the tank so i have yet to clean the algea from the walls. i was told to wait 4 weeks to do this (that is this weekend). i did replace the gravel but not the large rocks. the filter was rinsed but not changed that also takes place this weekend i will change the charcoal . there seems to be an ebb and flow to the bubbles mass. before feeding time this eve it was far larger than it is now. (about ten minutes later).


Wrong info. With the fish already in your tank, aim to do water changes when you see the ammonia and nitrites level rising. Try to make sure they are zero. Above zero=toxic to the fish. Ensure you have nitrates(about 10-20 ppm is preferable). Low nitrates will result to Blue-Green Algae(BGA). Blackout can remedy that. Nitrates higher than 50 can stunt the fish's growth and may cause the fish to develop deformities.


DR._Seuss said:


> also is AQUARIUMS FOR DUMMIES A GOOD BEGINNERS SOURCE BOOK?


I'll try to look on its contents as I haven't touch that book other than the books posted in Aquarium Books section.








Asking experiences from other people is better than relying too much on the lfs and the books. IMO, lfs are never that good in advising unless you understand what they mean.









On the side note, I tend to scoff at the advices of the lfs unless they know what they are talking about.


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## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

joeshmoe said:


> wow u found fish in a emty house. how long were they in there for.


about a week. i know the land lord and the tenent who stays in the apt above. the tenent was feeding the fish but nothing else. i was only able to save two the ??? named splitshot and the cat named theodore.


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## Oceane (Aug 4, 2006)

Hi try fishindex.com they have quite a good fish identifier section if you are really desperate to know what type of cichlid this is. I agree with Blue when he says that it is easier to get information online than in books. Like Joe i'm fascinated by the idea of abandonned fish, i heard of stray cats and dogs, never fish and yet they have names. Let us know how they fare :roll:


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## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

Oceane said:


> Like Joe i'm fascinated by the idea of abandonned fish, i heard of stray cats and dogs, never fish and yet they have names. Let us know how they fare :roll:


i will be happy to keep you all upto date on the fish. the names by the way were given by me.


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## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

So, last night out of desperation i did a 50% water change. Today i was able to purchase a " FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT". The foaming has stopped btw. 

here are the water stats:
pH----7.0

Ammonia----0 ppm

Nitrites----0 ppm

NItrates----10 ppm

so from what this test kit is telling me the water is in good shape.

my only other concern is that there is a good amount of green algea on the large rocks. The plecko seems to love this but is this healthy for the aquarium? Is this what is part of the " biological filter"?

also, Blue, when yousaid to cycle the water, were you refering to the product "cycle"? I noticed it in the lfs today.

thankyou all for your help.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Green algae is fine. But the overgrowth is an indication of something wrong with your tank. Factors usually are excessive lighting, high nitrates and direct sunlight exposure.
When I mean "cycle", it's just a process of cycling to ensure you get zero ammonia and nitrites, and a good/safe level of nitrates. Your results showed that your tank seem to have cycled already.
I'm not familiar with that product you are referring.


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## Oceane (Aug 4, 2006)

Glad to hear from Blue fthat he thinks the tank has cycled. I hope that Theodore and Slipshot are doing fine now and i suspect that you are now hooked on fish.


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## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

Oh i am definately hooked. INfact i have a 20 gal waiting to be used as we speak. I am looking into getting a feather dragon or a dinosaur for this tank. both of these fish are beautiful in my opinion. i will let you all know how that goes as well. i may have a few questions about that set up as well being it will be a brand new tank set up. ie fresh everything.

talk to you all soon.

btw.

funny thing i noticed last night at feeding time. Splitshot was taking food (flakes) from the surface and depositing them in the corner, when i looked into the corner i found Theodore laying there eating what Splitshot had deposited. it cracked me up so i thought i would share.


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## DR._Seuss (Aug 16, 2006)

not sure if this pic will post but here is Splitshot:
















if you want to see them larger here is the url:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c249/toe-knee863/splitshot2.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c249/toe-knee863/splitshot.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c249/toe-knee863/mytank.jpg


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## SKAustin (Aug 1, 2006)

DR._Seuss said:


> not sure if this pic will post but here is Splitshot:


Common Name [info]Boesemani Rainbow[/info]
Scientific Name Melanotaenia boesemani
Family Melanotaeniidae
Origin Austrailia
Community Semi-Aggressive
Class Danio
Temperature 78Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ÂºF
Swimming Range Top-Middle
Adult Length 4-5 inches


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