74 replies to this topic

[littlen]

A noble and cost effective approach. A bass would certainly be a personable fish to enjoy by itself.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Oh, a couple or more crappie would be quite nice.

[Leo1234]

Would a smallmouth bass work? They seem to be the easiest bass to obtain (besides largemouth) and I really like how they look. I actually remember that I got my 150 for the smallmouth bass I had before. Also, could I add a northern Hogsucker?

[littlen]

Smallmouth is a good choice.  I wouldn't recommend a hogsucker.  Hard to get them enough food, especially with a bass in the tank.  It would very likely starve to death over a long time.  And would likely be the target for the SMB's aggression.  

[littlen]

Leo, there are a LOT of threads on med/lg tanks with few fish in them.  We have covered a lot of what works well together, and what doesn't.....good ideas on how to set them up, etc.  Search the forum and you should find more than you're able to read in a night on that stuff.  Just saving you some time from having to ask a lot of the same questions.

[Leo1234]

I'M SHOCKED! I just tested my canister filter before I emptied the water out for a filter change. My results were completely off from the 150. This water was the filter water from when I had all the problems.

Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:0
Hardness: 300
Alkalinity; 120
Ph 6.8

Now for the fun part 

Ammonia: 8.0ppm 

[Matt DeLaVega]

Has that filter sat turned off for a while? I think their is probably something staring you right in the face, but you have not picked up on it yet. Soon you will smack yourself and won't believe you missed it.

 

If your filter is running, and the water tests that high for ammonia, you tank is not cycled. Your system crashed. The water coming out of you filter should have the lowest ammonia level. Did your filter have loads of snails in it that might have died off? Did a fish get sucked in and decompose?

[Betta132]

If the filter was turned off for any major length of time, the useful bacteria in it could very well have suffocated.

[Leo1234]

I got the 150 set up again and I guess I'm going to attempt a community again. I have 3 swordtails in the 150 to test it out and so far they look really healthy. They have been in there for 3 days so far. Hopefully the filter was the problem. I got new gravel for the tank and new filters for the canister filter.

[Doug_Dame]

My understanding is that Windex is essentially a 5% ammonia solution, with other stuff added in, probably primarily to make it smell better to humans and to reduce streaking. You certainly would not want that shot directly into the tank.

 

But I'd be concerned about the 80% water change. That's potentially a pretty dramatic change in water parameters. If you are treating the water as if it has chloramine, before the new water hits the tank, you're probably okay on that. But 80% of a 150g tank would be 120 gallons of new water, which is more than two 55-gals drums would hold. How are you handling the logistics of that? Water straight from the tap often has a very low DO content. And depending on where you are, it often is way colder coming out of the tap than your normal aquarium water, so you could have thermal shock for species that are sensitive to that. What is the temperature of your out-of-the-tap cold water ? Are you mixing warm and cold water to approximate the water temp in the tank? If so, are you guessing, or measuring, the temp of the new water? Are you aerating the new water for 24 hours before adding it to the tank?  

 

I will occasionally do a 80% change on a big tank. But when I do, I empty it to 20%, then add new water in batches, never adding more than 50% new water per 12 hour period. For example, with a 150 (ignoring non-water contents), after taking out 80%, there'd be 30 gals of old water. Which means my first partial refill would be no larger than 30gal x 50%, or 15 gal. Fill a 5-gal bucket with not-quite-cold tap water, dechlor in the bucket, pour into tank, repeat two more times. Twelve hours later, 2nd batch would be 45gal x 50%, or approx 4 buckets full. Doing it in slow steps is a nuisance but it gives the fish some time to adjust as the water parms change, and I don't have to obsess about the temp differences or aerating the incoming water for x hours before using it. 

 

Good luck. These kinds of incidents are very discouraging. 

[Matt DeLaVega]

Like.

[PBK]

Collecting your fish during cooler weather will reduce mortality rates from
stress of capture and transport. Additionally, your captives may have flukes
(Dactylogyrus gill flukes and/or Gyrodactylus skin flukes) that will cause them to scratch. In my experience, NOT TREATING your tank water for chlorine helps to suppress these flukes, however, if you live in a soft water low PH
area the chlorine might be more toxic to your fish. Here in Cleveland with our
hard water it doesn't seem to be a problem. You'll just have to take a chance.

[Leo1234]

Collecting your fish during cooler weather will reduce mortality rates from
stress of capture and transport. Additionally, your captives may have flukes
(Dactylogyrus gill flukes and/or Gyrodactylus skin flukes) that will cause them to scratch. In my experience, NOT TREATING your tank water for chlorine helps to suppress these flukes, however, if you live in a soft water low PH
area the chlorine might be more toxic to your fish. Here in Cleveland with our
hard water it doesn't seem to be a problem. You'll just have to take a chance.

I bought them, but they were collected in cooler weather from what I remember. Water here is hard and basic. It's been a few years so I forgot what parameters I had at the time in the tank, but from what I remember they were similar to what I have currently. Wish I kept a log of everything when this was going on. Haven't been keeping many natives for a bit, but I'll try some of the stuff you suggested when I try darters again

[PBK]

i know that undergravel filters are out of fashion but Ive been using them with a hang on back filter with success.
trick is to vacuum the gravel every 2 - 3 weeks to prevent anarobic dead spots in the gravel & rinsing the hob filter in the water from the tank. siphon no more than 1/4 of the old tank water after scraping away excess algae. Introduce some plants to help remove ammonia too. dont use any heaters. good luck!

Edited by PBK, 19 November 2021 - 03:06 PM.

[Leo1234]

Funnily enough I have 2 logperch darters and they’ve been doing well for the past 5+ months. I think the extra feedings is helping them do well. One even loves to eat the cichlid pellets I put in for the other fish