Keeping Fish

[LeafBlade12345]

Hello everyone,
I hadn't realized that the koi would be so vicious since I often add fish the betas' size and smaller, and I've never seen such blatant aggression. They are inside now. Can my two females and male live in an 18 gal. Together? Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Every male is different, so I would try it and see if he chases the females too much, the females can swim better and the males often need to rest.

 

[Shellybean02]

Nitrate: 0 Nitrite: 0 Hardness(GH): 25 Chlorine: 0 Alkalinity: between 120 and 180? pH: 7.2 Ammonia: The more I test, the harder it gets to distinguish whether it's closer to 0.5 or 1... my levels must be rising '~' I feel bad now! What should I do to save my fishies?

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Every male is different, so I would try it and see if he chases the females too much, the females can swim better and the males often need to rest.

Thank you so much for the reply. I'll see how it goes. He is quite docile and the females are small and quick.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your tank is still cycling, do a water change and add more bacteria if you have some, stop feeding the fish for a day or two, you will know it's cycled when you start seeing nitrates, that means waste is being converted through the cycle, ammonia to nitrites, nitrites to nitrates, ammonia and nitrites are toxic, nitrates are toxic only at higher levels, you keep nitrates lower by either plants or water changes or both, nitrates should be below 50 ppm, preferably less, best around 10 ppm.

Edited to add remove 10-20% of your tanks water and replace with fresh water, you may have to do this for a couple of days.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Not sure why this didn't occur to me until now, but Shelly you said your father has a tank with Ciclids in it, ask him if you can have some gravel or a decorative item like a fake plant or rock from his tank to put in yours, it will seed your tank with bacteria and get it almost instantly cycled, within a day, I always put a couple of handfuls of gravel from my established tanks into them when I fire up a new tank or my pond.

 

[Shellybean02]

Unfortunately my dad lives a thousand miles away from me

I'm living with my mom
So for the next two days: add bacteria today, fast my fish, and do a daily 1-2 gallon water change. In two days I'll check the nitrate levels. I'll keep them under 50 ppm with daily water changes. Sound good?
Do you think the fish will be okay while the tank cycles and the levels change?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

If you see the fish looking uncomfortable do a water change, that's the best you can do, sorry about your dad being so far away, that's not helpful at all. The fish should be able to ride it out, remove anyone that doesn't seem well for a bit to get some fresh water, hopefully it will get going quickly.

While it's cycling you will see an ammonia spike, which will go down, then you will see a nitrite spike which will go down, you are trying to establish two types of bacteria in your tank and then keep them alive, so never empty and clean the tank or you will destroy them, clean parts as needed.

When it's all done you should never get any ammonia or nitrite readings only nitrates, after a while you will know the best amount of water to change every 7-10 days to keep a healthy tank. Later if you are getting a lot of algae it means your nitrates are high, they may not test high because the algae is feeding on it, I judge mine by algae growth, though some algae can help keep nitrates down.

 

[Shellybean02]

Could this(my tank's levels now) be THE ammonia spike? The one you're talking about? Also Penny is moving around more now, but has white stuff on one of her side scales; can this be ammonia burns? Or is it something like ick/a disease/a parasite?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It could be, time will tell, ick looks like salt, fungus is fuzzy, a white mark could be from rubbing, is Penny the one that bloated up, could be a bit of damage. If it wasn't for the snail, aquarium salts are a good cure for a lot of things. Step back and relax for tonight, learning to keep an aquarium sometimes comes with casualties, and bettas are tricky sometimes. They are both easy and hard.