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hi everyone i am new to the forum and also new to this great hobby. I have recently set up a us 10g tank and let is cycle for a week before adding any scout fist the tank has now been running for just over 5 weeks and i cant seem to get the levels right. ph is 7.4 ammonia around .25 nitrite .25, and nitrate 5.0, and i'm fairly sure from what i've read that these levels are "normal" however the water is still cloudy, after what i thought was the end of the nitrogen cycle (about 3 weeks) i have done regular water changes of 20% once a week. So am i on the right track?
4 platy's
1 guppy
4 phantom tetras
1 pleco

jj

Would adding live plants be beneficial to my tank? At the moment there are only plastic plants in the tank. I recently lost 4 fish in 4 days (2 guppies, and 2 cories) I just want to figure something out before i lose more fish.
thanks in advance to anyone who has any advice
jj

The problem is that you overloaded your biofilter(the bacteria) in a short amount of time, the pleco, even if a small kind with all the other fish, before the tank was cycled puts a lot of ammonia in the tank, their for your fish are deing and the parameters are mixed up. Plants would definantly help.

-Vincent

thanks bud, i brought samples of my water to the lfs and he said it would be fine, i guess i should put a little less trust in the lfs no matter how knowledgeable they sound. any advice in what type of plants for someone just starting out.
jj

"i guess i should put a little less trust in the lfs no matter how knowledgeable they sound"

You've learned your first lesson, the next is to make yourself at home here .

Few things to learn.
1. Even in the hands of experienced fishkeepers 10 gallons will sometimes "crash" meaning that the water quality suddenly goes downhill and often most inhabitants die.

2. Buy your own test kits, you don't really want to go with what the LFS tells you.

3. There are some 'rules' about fishkeeping that most of us around here agree with. The one that applies in your case is that we don't like 10 gallon tanks overstocked. This includes keeping goldfish, oscars, plecos, or koi in one. Even if they're "little" we just don't like to see it .

4. A properly cycled tank will have Zero ammonia, Zero nitrItes, and a measurable ammount of nitrAte.

What I'd suggest for you, is either try and trade the pleco into the LFS for some plants (I'll get to that in a bit no worries . Or see about getting a larger tank. If it's a common you'll need at least a 55, a 75 gallon would be better.

Are the platy a mix of male and female? And is the remaining guppy a female? It sounds like you were cycled and Budzilla is right, you overstocked the tank, and it crashed. For now I'd reccomend doing twice weekly small waterchanges. Take out 1-2 gallons a time, make sure you only rinse your filter media in used tank water and not under the faucet. Try and get as much fish waste from teh bottom of the tank as possible.

If you're going to exchange the pleco get it to the store soon, if you're going to upgrade to a larger tank do it NOW! Larger tanks are actually quite a bit easier than 10 gallons.

And now for the plants.

Until we know the WPG (watts per gallon) of your tank I'll assume you only have a standard tank light and it doesnt even give you 1 wpg. You can look for a floating plant called Hornwort. It's farily delicate and tends to break up from the flow of a filter but it's great at absorbing excess nutrients from the tank. Java fern and java moss will also do well in low lit tanks. Both get tied to a rock or piece of driftwood and they attach themselves. Java fern especially does not like to be planted in the substrate (gravel) and will usually die if it is.

^_^

thanks,
there are 3 female platy's and 1 male as far as the guppy goes just one male left the others were female unfortunately they were pregnant and a day after giving birth they died.
I had no intention of breeding the lfs just gave me pregnant fish (as far as i can see two fry have survived and are looking fairly good, that is when i see them) Other than the levels being off the fish look healthy and happy.
since i had the fatalities (about 1 1/2 weeks ago all is well in my little slice of paradise.
i will definately look into getting the pleco exchanged unfortunately at the moment i dont have the means for a larger tank, but in the future it is definately something i will be looking into.
I have already started more regular water changes every 2 days and ive done 3 but still no change. im running out of ideas so i guess all i can do is keep going and wait/hope for biofilter to catch up.
jj

oh ya the light source is giving about 2 watts per gallon
jj

Okay that's a good ammount of light so you're lucky there. Try and exchange the pleco towards some plants. Most any low to moderate light plants will work fine in the tank. Stay away from any red ones, they usually require more light.

Another thing you're going to want to look into is some CO2 for the tank. Otherwise with that ammount of light and an overstocked tank you're likely to see algae pop up quite soon. Have a look through some of the threads in the planted forum to get some ideas and tips for that.

As for the guppies, good luck getting some that arent' preggers . I actually had a guppy give birth 6 months after being seperated from a male. She spat out 6 before I could turn around!

Doing water changes is good, make sure you've got lots of surface agitation as well that will make things a little easier on the fishies. Add an airstone if you don't already have one, or lower the water level by a half inch or so if you're running an HOB filter.

^_^

I think you are a wee bit crowded for your 10gal. Phantom Tetras are typically more comfortable in a school of 6 or more and may eventually become nippy twords your guppy (especially if it has long fins) The plattys may also reproduce and then you will also have a bunch of little fish to take care of, and, may risk overcrowding your tank more. I would definitly loose the pleco, especially if its a common pleco. Plecos can get rather large depending on the species, plus they exput alot of waste.

I would suggest something like this instead:
4 Platties (3 F 1 M)
1 Guppy
2-3x Otto cats or a small pleco like a rubber lipped (although you would probubly have to relocate it after awhile... they get to 5"

OR

6x Phantom Tetras
2-3x Ottos

You could add plants and it would bring out the color more on the fish (especially the platties- they tend to stand out more against green background) ^_^

Inky

Hi and welcome to FP. I believe everyone here is basically right. I think you are overstocked. I think you definitely need to rethink your stocking. I think the cloudiness is a bacterial bloom.
In my opinion the platies alone would be enough for the ten. The pleco must be removed. Even if it is one of the dwarf varieties it would exceed the tank's capabilities by itself. A common pleco may exceed 18 inches, the dwarfs will make 4-5. Easier to find a needle in a haystack then to find a female livebearer that aint poppin out puppies. (Sorry, I'm rambling). You're tank is still cycling, it will take about 4 weeks to completely cycle. OK, the larger the body of water (tank) the easier it will be to maintain the water parameters. The smaller tanks will spike very easily when heavily stocked as yours is.
Should go something like this. Fish make waste, this breaks down into ammonia. Ammonia is consumed by a bacteria that grows on your substrate and decorations, making nitrite. Now more bacteria grows to consume the nitrite leaving behind nitrates. The process never ends, but when fully cycled the bacteria will consume the ammonia and nitrite as it's produced and your readings on them will be zero. More, or larger fish means more waste which means more ammonia which means more nitrite and nitrate. Nitrate must be controlled with water changes and gravel vacuumings. With a ten, especially one as crowded as yours changing 2-3 gallons twice a week may keep it in check, but I'd test daily for a month or so until you begin to see how your tank establishes itself. A good master test kit like the one from aquarium pharmaceuticals will work well, test strips are largely inaccurate.
I have changed my ten around several times to meet my needs. Now it holds one otto and a small school of neons. thats it, I'd not put any cats, plecos or algae eaters in for the time being as some, like ottos and some cories for example are too sensitive for the fluctuations that a ten will have and should not be attempted until the tank is well established. Probably what caused your deaths was the spike caused by adding too much all at once. Cories can be somewhat sensitive.
BTW best advice you can get is to research everything and ask questions, the fine folks here are knowledgable and helpful. Take what you hear at the lfs with a grain of salt... remember their job is to sell you stuff. Good luck with your tank and welcome to FP