Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

I am new to this forum - Unfortunately, I think I've made some rookie mistakes and am hoping you can help me fix them.

Originally I had a 15 gallon tank, with a mixture of about 20 live bearers and white cloud minnows, and one cory cat. This tank was fully cycled, but always had very low PH (6). The fish didnt seem to mind, so I didnt do much to change it. I had this tank for about 2 years with little to no fish death or illness. Temperature was about 73, with a large amount of java moss and black sand substrate.

One night I heard a creaking sound and realized my tank stand was on its way out - In my quest to replace the stand, I found an incredible deal on a 55 gallon (almost the same price as the 15 gal stand!), so I brought it home, set it up, and proceeded to move my fish (with their cycled water and bacteria-laden decorations and filter media) into the new tank.

I watched the levels and noticed a spike in ammonia, then increase in nitrites, and eventually a lowering of both of these values and an increase in nitrate. Once all the levels lowered to 0ppm, I thought the tank had fully cycled. At this time, the PH was approximately 7.5... So I did what any novice would do with what seemed like a fully cycled 55 gallon tank with 20 1-inch-long fish in it... I added some bigger fish that I could actually see!

I went to the store and got 6 pearl gouramis and 4 cories. The tank remained at its happy levels for another 3 weeks, with weekly water changes of about 10-25%.

Then my brother went to a fish auction and brought me home "a gift" of 6 fancy guppies, a bag of dozens of endlers, a 3-in pleco, some live plants, and decorative drift wood - he thought my tank was still too empty - I had no where else to put them, so in the tank they went.

And heres where things went bad. Fish started getting sick and dying. Three of my beloved white clouds, of which I have NEVER lost one, became bloated and died... the water ammonia levels spiked to a 2.0, fish were infected with ich, and the PH dropped to 6. This all happened in the matter of a week. :/ To combat the fish apocalypse occurring in my tank, I did frequent 10-25%water changes, added aquarium salt to help build a slime coat, removed the ph-lowering driftwood, and added crushed coral to bring the PH up. I also increased the temperature to 80 to accelerate the ich life cycle and pulled badly infected fish out of the tank altogether.

I realize the mistake of over-crowding the tank in such a short period of time... and am paying for my mistake. However, I need some help to repair the damage I've done.

Here is the current stats on the tank as of 30 min ago...

Ammonia 0.25 ppm
PH < 6.0
Nitrite 0.0 ppm
Nitrate 0.0 ppm
Temperature 78 degrees
6 pearl gouramis, 12 white clouds, 1 pleco, 5 guppies, a handful of baby guppies (they bred), 4 cories, about 3 dozen or so endlers livebearers....

Water is milky white
Dying plants were just removed from the tank
Gouramis are acting normally, however, endlers and guppies are mostly swimming in a small huddle near the top of the tank. Pleco and cories seem ok, but white clouds are sort of just floating in the center in a group, not moving much. The only plants that remain are bright green and thriving. All dying plants removed.

1. What do you recommend I do to get my levels back in line?
2. Also, why is my PH so low?
3. Where am I currently in the cycling stages? It seems I shocked my tank out of its "cycled" status
4. How can I cure the ich?

Please help, I know I've made a fatal mistake by overcrowding the tank, but could use some suggestions on how to correct this mistake.

Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the boards.

We've all been where you are, and most of the time it's a learning experience. When adding new fish to an established tank, you should have a quarantine tank to avoid passing disease to your established tank. Also, if you're doing weekly water changes, you only want to do 10% water changes as more than that would damage the bacteria.
I'm sure that the sudden change in pH may have increased your casualty rate because it's not just a little jump from like 6.0 to 6.5 it's a log scale, so that's a big change for healthy fish let alone stressed fish. The salt addition was a good idea though.

The huddling at the top of the tank indicates low oxygen levels, so you'll probably want to add an airstone or two especially since there's low oxygen in water in normal circumstances, and now they're stressed so they're using more oxygen. The milkiness of your tank may be an indicator that your ammonia is going to jump. Are you using an ammonia reducer?

The answers to your questions:
1) Patience is necessary as your water parameters won't return to normal overnight. Water changes (when ammonia is high) and highly oxygenated water will help your fish. If you don't notice the fish rubbing on things, you should be able to treat the ich and recover your fish. Like I said, check your water prior to putting it in the tank. If you're using tap water, you should let it sit for at least 24 hours to let out any toxins. If your pH is low from the water you're using you should adjust it prior to adding it to the tank, but be sure that your water in the tank is similar to avoid a massive jump in pH. However, if you fish were happy then, they shouldn't be sick from the pH. The fish you mentioned are pretty tolerable, and I think it was just the ammonia in the tank from overcrowding and possibly the ich came from one of the new fish. Stress will increase the likelihood of your fish getting sick, and the addition of a new fish starts your cycle over again. That's stressful for fish.
2) The water you are using could be the reason your pH is low. Have you tested the water prior to using it?
3)It seems you are starting all over again, but with frequent water changes (and lots of water being changed) you can upset the bacteria, and will need to start all over again.
4) There are several treatments available for ich, and I can't recommend one with the best recovery because the ones I used didn't work well (I lost all my fish), and usually it's too late to cure your fish. The good news - any of your fish that do make it through ich, will have a resistance to it. Also, your baby guppies may die when adding an ich treatment because they are so small and are more susceptible to illnesses (and therefore any chemical treatments in the tank).

Hopefully this will help, I realize it's been a couple of days, but I hope you can still use the information. Don't give up on your tank, mistakes happen, and that's what we're here for.

Keep us posted on your progress.