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Fishnet

If you have a fish pond, fish tank or are seeking advice about keeping tropical fish, you can find advice on our Fish forum.

What's happening

33 replies

lentilbake · 16/01/2012 18:18

Last week one of my fish died. THe last few water tests had been absolutely fine. After I found the dead fish I did a test, and there was 0.5 ammonia and some nitrates but no nitrites. I was surprised as it was a platy that was dead, the neons, corys and guppies were fine and I had been advised to have these as they are hardy fish and I ahve had much higher ammonia before and nitrites and no dead fish. I rang the shop and they advised daily changes with prime, no food. Over the next few days I noticed the platys were all spending a lot of time hiding in the plants. Ammonia now down to 0.25 no nitrites. Just found another dead fish:( a platy again. COntuining with water changes and prime and now one of my other platys is acting strangely. she is at the bottom for a while, then she suddenly swims very fast and then goes to the bottom then, and she keeps sort of falling over, she cant swim properly. I dont think she is pregnant, I dont know if its swim bladder problem or dropsy but she isnt looking bloated. The other fish know she isnt well as they keep nudging her like they do with dead fish :(

OP posts:
EauRouge · 24/01/2012 18:08

Is it an old one or a very new one? I've never heard of it.

lentilbake · 24/01/2012 18:27

fairly new, had it for my old tank, a few months ago was told to use same filter in new tank because of bacteria

OP posts:
EauRouge · 24/01/2012 20:04

You were running it in your 54 litre tank? Did they tell you to upgrade your filter when you got a bigger tank? I've tried googling the model number but nothing's coming up apart from sponge refills.

lentilbake · 25/01/2012 14:29

yes i was, they said use the same filter because of the good bacteria in it and i wouldnt ahve to cycle the tank if i sued this, i take it i should have got a differnt filter ? :(

OP posts:
EauRouge · 25/01/2012 14:48

You do need a bigger filter for a bigger tank. I don't think it's a disaster but it could be causing a problem and you would definitely need to upgrade if you wanted to add more fish.

I know your local shop has been very helpful but I don't think their advice has always been 100% accurate. It would have been better to get a bigger filter and move the media from your current filter into the new one. The water in the tank needs to be circulated about 4-5 times per hour and I don't think a little filter designed for a 54 litre tank will be cutting the mustard in a 230 litre.

lentilbake · 26/01/2012 15:05

Ok, they ahve all said what a good filter this though because its a nice big one, thas why one of the staf said i could ahve more fsh, as its a big filter

OP posts:
EauRouge · 26/01/2012 16:08

It may be a great filter for a 54 litre tank but you need to match the size of the filter to the size of the tank. I still haven't been able to find the filter with that model number, did it have a name or anything else?

I would forget everything the shop told you, they do NOT know what they are talking about.

ButWhyIsTheGinGone · 28/01/2012 13:15

Can I just quickly share my experience? I was using a hopelessly inadequte filter in my 300 litre tank but didn't realise. The water never looked clean even doing big water changes every weekend.
For Xmas my brother bought me a massive filter that filters 1200l/hour and it's made MASSIVE differences. The water looks much cleaner and even smells fresher. The fish have also perked up no end....

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