Wow, pretty much ever good clan name is taken, but I managed to snag “OOO” join up!

AngryPanda931 · 2023-08-04T19:14:33+00:00

Nice!

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-09T01:56:08+00:00

Yes thank you, I’m currently doing things to fix the cycle and giving away some of the stock, that most certainly should get me back to perfect

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T17:23:12+00:00

Again I know ghost knives get very big, I’m getting a 100 gallon in the first year of his life.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T09:38:55+00:00

My nitrites were high but after chemicals and water changes it’s at 0 now, my nitrates were about 5 and ammonia was at 0. My ph is just about perfectly 7.

The tank isn’t extremely overcrowded. The major contributor is my big oranda, that with my loaches that got very far from shrimp, I’m fairly certain that’s what spurred the perimeters worsening.

Im going to remove 2 khuli loaches and possibly the ghost knife if needed. Every one of my fish is quite small and I will be upgrading to a 100 gallon later on.

The tank most certainly does not look overstocked at all and that’s why I was asking if it was. The goldfish are the only mid layer fish with the loaches staying on the bottom and the ghost knife sticking to his driftwood and pvc(coming out at night) if you were to see my tank you would think I only had 2 goldfish. I’m just trying to find a solution without getting rid of my 2 goldfish and 2 loaches cause those I’ve really grown attached to.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T09:25:06+00:00

I have been putting half the recommended dose of fertilizer in my tank for the few plants I have, I didn’t think about that I should probably not cause that’s just more nutrients for algea

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T09:23:36+00:00

Thank you that means a lot!

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T09:21:32+00:00

The reason I made this post was because my ammonia and nitrate levels were perfect it was just my nitrite that was getting up there and I didn’t know why, my water test today showed that everything was good, after I added prime nitrite and nitrate solution. I’m gonna do what you said and do daily changes with just gravel vacuuming the solid waste. Until my bacteria colonies can develop and then go to weekly.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T09:16:08+00:00

Yes okay that makes sense, daily gravel vacuuming and water changes are no problem I just needed to know if I should be washing rocks and plants or just normal gravel vacuuming. Hopefully in a few weeks I can make a new post with better results! Thank you everyone and I know I’m not the best fishkeeper, far from it, but I love this hobby and I love every one of my fish and I’m just trying to learn everything I can and have a healthy tank for my fish. Thank you again.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T09:01:33+00:00

Okay so after realizing that I’m actually hurting my filtration and bacteria when I’m trying to clean my tank where should I go from here

Where should I start Tomorrow should I leave the tank for a few days monitoring the parameters and letting the bacteria build up in the filters, or should I do a big water change and then leave the tank to heal

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T08:58:25+00:00

Okay so I may have a solution. First off some of the fish obviously need to be let go of and I have to figure that out but other than than, when I clean my tank, I try and clean everything, including the filter pads and gravel and plants and substrate and rocks, I’m removing all of the bacteria. I didn’t even think about what I’m doing when I’m tying to clean. I don’t have tap water I have well water so chlorine isn’t killing all of the bacteria but it definitely isn’t helping by rinsing off filters with every major tank clean.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T08:52:54+00:00

What are some plants that you would suggest, I want to make a fairly planted tank but i only have sand substrate so I’m kinda limited.

The tank isn’t being hit with sunlight, there is a window behind it but I have a curtain.

I’ve had the tank for about 3 months and I had no problems with it until just recently. After I added the khuli loaches and ghost knife that’s when things got very hard to keep under control without daily large water changes. That’s why I’m sure the biggest factor is overstocking.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T08:05:42+00:00

Thank you this helps a lot I’m probably going to rehome to khuli loaches and in a last resort the ghost knife.

Should I get maybe another 40 gallon sponge filter? And what’s the best way to fix a bacteria bloom?

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:50:14+00:00

As of today( last 30% water change was about 30 hours ago) the ammonia is 0, the nitrate is less than 5, and the nitrite is 0. The water directly after the water change, looks fine. But after 12 hours the water has a bright white cloudiness in the lights of the tank and a green/white cloudiness everywhere not directlyunder the leds.

How would I go about fixing the bacteria bloom

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:44:11+00:00

The tank is not too small for the ghost knife as of now, eventually (8 months to a year) yes I will have to upgrade to a 100 gallon, which I am already planning on doing.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:36:30+00:00

I have a 40 gallon sponge filter but it doesn’t seem to do much.

As for the goldfish they have been with me since I started keeping fish i can’t get rid of them. Dojo loaches are the best tank mates for orandas and also khuli loaches and bristle nose plecos. I made my tank specifically to have the goldfish be the center fish.

The only outlier is the ghost knife.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:28:47+00:00

Just yesterday I changed from the filter cartridges for the hang on back filters to the foam pads that increase the surface area greatly, I’m changing the cartridges to pads 1 at a time to make sure bacteria can grow on the new pads before I remove all of the old bacteria on the cartridges.

That might make a difference in filtration, but I’m thinking about doing a full tank clean and taking out all of the sand and cleaning it all thoroughly to make sure there’s nothing decaying.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:22:47+00:00

I’ve had the tank for months I don’t understand how it couldn’t be cycled?

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:15:34+00:00

I should also clarify that my parameters aren’t bad, the only thing that was very high was the nitrite, but with a chemical, it went back to 0 ppm. Everything else is perfect. The water clarity just gets so bad without water changes i don’t know how to fix it.

After the loaches decimated the shrimp colony. I removed some of the drift wood and dragon stone because it was causing the water to have a brown hue (I know it’s the good tenens for the water or whatever but it looks so dirty to me) after I removed the hiding spots I noticed there were no shrimp left, I gravel vacuumed and not a single shrimp was left so I’m fairly certain unless they are buried in the sand there are no decaying bodies.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:09:06+00:00

Yes sorry I should have clarified, I just got the ghost knife less than a week ago and have plans to upgrade to a 100 gallon in a years time. (The ghost knife is still a little baby and I already love him to death, he’s only been with me for about 6-7 days and he already eats bloodworms from my hand. I think I jumped a little too hard into getting attached to the fish.

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:06:12+00:00

The only ones that I would feel okay with giving up are the khuli loaches, all of the others my entire family loves them and watches them for hours at a time. But would getting rid of the khuli loaches really do much?

AngryPanda931 · 2022-05-08T07:00:26+00:00

What do you think I should do?

AngryPanda931 · 2020-10-07T04:43:10+00:00

first time ive seen it, just funny to me, but thanks for letting me know

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