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HonourWest
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Are rasboras an easy fish you can keep in a 30 litre tank? (Just so I know in future)

I have only been feeding the fish once a day. On all the sites I researched the biggest thing was not to over-feed.  Even with the small pinch I give there is the occasional bit of food left at the bottom. With the four tetras being such a small breed of fish I've been reluctant to feed more. 

Did anyone recognise the snail?

Edited by HonourWest
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On 6/16/2021 at 9:06 PM, HonourWest said:

Are rasboras an easy fish you can keep in a 30 litre tank? (Just so I know in future)

I have only been feeding the fish once a day. On all the sites I researched the biggest thing was not to over-feed.  Even with the small pinch I give there is the occasional bit of food left at the bottom. With the four tetras being such a small breed of fish I've been reluctant to feed more. 

Did anyone recognise the snail?

The snail is a ramshorn, I think!

And I understand the reluctance to over-feed. My cycle in my tank is strong right now and my nitrates are pretty low, so I'm feeling comfortable trying some strategies to reduce squabbling in the group. Since you're still working on a cycle it probably doesn't make sense to increase feedings right now, but it's something you can try in the future.

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@HonourWest Yes, good decision- I don't think feeding 2x is good for you right now. TBH my experience with Black Neons, for MINE had nothing to do with food because my feeding has not changed since I got them and there has not been any species violence to the point of death. I still see the bigger ones chasing the little ones, but not witnessed any fin nipping. 

As to your Rasbora question- probably would depend on the rasbora because like tetras (neons even) there are several, how much of a plant population, filtration, bio-load etc- you have and all the other fun factors involved. I have 10 Harlequins in a 20 gallon. Now I've done that based on research over several platforms which said I COULD. However you can google search and see sites that say you CAN NOT keep ANY in a 5 gallon tank, only 2 in a 10 and for my 20 they only recommend 5. But they are schooling fish so that seems to be too small a number. 

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So I did a 25% water change with Seachem Prime and added Seachem Stability. I have also done a complete water test. 

The PH seems a bit high. Ammonia is definitely up from yesterday, but so is Nitrate. 

Am I doing everything right?

Currently I'm dosing Seachem Stability on a daily basis and a 25% water change every second day with a full dose of Prime (per full tank volume rather then just water replacement volume.)

Results are below.

Ph results:

20210617_172613.jpg.da418a734239343e9f8d7ffcc874321c.jpg

High Level PH results:

20210617_172657.jpg.d55868b5e9089e95c4e9a6e0a2874938.jpg

Ammonia results:

20210617_172504.jpg.3ec3e0a5d321b5e486afa86d51ccbf68.jpg

Nitrite results:

20210617_172727.jpg.97f9fde6a6dfbee825bcda58f3b05778.jpg

Nitrate results:

20210617_172750.jpg.92740c34d31b5abf31c7ea77d10786f5.jpg

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Also I lost the smallest black neon. I was isolating so he could heal from the bites, but he jumped out of the container and I didn't find out about it until too late. 🙁

It was only a small container (was going to do daily water changes to keep him happy)

I didn't know Tetras could jump. Won't do that again.

Edited by HonourWest
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Awww, @HonourWest I'm sorry. That sucks, but you know I was just watching Cory's recent live chat about "my 3 fish keeping secrets" and one of those is- you're going to lose fish. It's a reality in this hobby. You learned, and someday you will know things you'll be able to tell others who are learning from your own experience- and prevent them from making the same decisions. I know you probably feel bad but it will happen and it's time to talk about your progress. 

Personally, your pH is great- don't even worry about it. If it stays there, even better! We're good there. You can see that there IS progress because you have NITRATE which means that ammonia and nitrite are being processed. You have a bit of ammonia and no nitrite. Looks like ammonia is at .25 or .50 I would probably add Prime as well as Stability every day just to neutralize the ammonia and continue with your water change schedule as every other day. 

Edited by xXInkedPhoenixX
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You have some nitrate which is an excellent sign! Ammonia is still present, so water changes and prime are the right combination. Please don't worry about Ph at all. You don't need to reach a certain 'target,' just work with the Ph that you have. For example, my water is naturally at a Ph of 8.0 to 8.2, and I've had zero issues keeping my chosen fish (including tetras) in my water. I purchased all of my wish from my LFS except for my shrimp, which I ordered online and drip acclimated slowly. The only thing you should be concerned about RE: PH is if it swings violently due to a low kH. But your water as-is is safe and fine with your ph.

Edited by laritheloud
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Yep--I agree, you're totally on the right track and looks like your cycle's started to progress!  Yay!  As others have said, don't worry about your PH--let it stabilize and work with what you have.  I also have 8.2 PH like @laritheloud and have been able to keep any fish I've wanted so far, including corys, tetras, and other "soft-water" fish.  I think your Prime and Water Change schedule sounds awesome for now until that Ammonia totally disappears!

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Another water change and the usual dose with Stability and Prime today.

I've also tested parameters.  Nothing much has changed. There are trace amounts of ammonia (just a slight touch of green), no nitrites and 5-10ppm nitrates.

Ammonia-

20210619_215544.jpg.951381b95838d468ec1468f81c214aa4.jpg

Nitrite-

20210619_215602.jpg.ddc89b7f5a8018b36793f93fbbdb45ca.jpg

Nitrate-

20210619_215655.jpg.6e393fd126f513d5a1df92141c3d3e3c.jpg

I have added a couple of healthy glolite tetras and some new plants which I hope will help to speed things up. 

(Was thinking I should maybe start a journal thread soon instead of continuing here as there aren't any sick fish now.. 🙂)

20210619_220005.jpg

How long will it take roughly for the tank (30 litres) to finish cycling, do you think? 

Also- what should I be expecting/looking for exactly? Does it go by stages (ie. .25ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, 0ppm Nitrate then next stage is 0ppm Ammonia .25 Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate etc.) or will it just suddenly show as 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite and 5 or 10ppm Nitrate?

Thanks in advance.

Edited by HonourWest
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Hi. So with the new tetras does that make it 6 fish now? You've added a bit more bioload (every fish, new bioload). Every time I add fish to my tanks I start Seachem Stability (just my method- and with the history here I'd say it's not a bad idea) so even if you haven't finished your first cycle of Stability treatment, I'd start the 7 day treatment over again from the 1st day you added the glowlights. If I were in your shoes I'd continue testing periodically, every other day maybe, during that time then scale back to 1x a week. When you've tested for some time with 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and say 10-20ppm Nitrate (you want a Nitrate read for your plants) (and some time I'd say at least a month or 2 of consistent testing) THEN your tank is probably pretty stable/cycled and you could consider adding more fish. Personally I'd wait a couple months at LEAST. We're avoiding something called new tank syndrome- if you keep adding fish while your tank is technically still cycling you could also shock the system and end up with spikes toxic to fish (which is why I say keep with the Stability) You could consider going to get a nerite snail now if you had a hankering to add something but I wouldn't consider adding any more fish now and maybe for a couple months. I'd let the fish settle and the plants grow more so the tank is better prepared if that's the plan in the future. I say these things because I'm being cautious with your newness to the hobby and the disasters you've already experienced- I don't want you to have to go through that again- BUT I understand our want in the hobby to keep adding things to new tanks. I've been waiting patiently for my baby Otos to grow big enough so I can sell them to the LFS and finally get my Hillstream Loach that I've wanted for my second tank since I started it 3 months ago. I have to be patient- I need the tank the Otos are in for a quarantine AND I will be able to trade to get that fish anyway. 

Edited by xXInkedPhoenixX
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On 6/20/2021 at 2:05 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Hi. So with the new tetras does that make it 6 fish now? You've added a bit more bioload (every fish, new bioload). Every time I add fish to my tanks I start Seachem Stability (just my method- and with the history here I'd say it's not a bad idea) so even if you haven't finished your first cycle of Stability treatment, I'd start the 7 day treatment over again from the 1st day you added the glowlights. If I were in your shoes I'd continue testing periodically, every other day maybe, during that time then scale back to 1x a week. When you've tested for some time with 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and say 10-20ppm Nitrate (you want a Nitrate read for your plants) (and some time I'd say at least a month or 2 of consistent testing) THEN your tank is probably pretty stable/cycled and you could consider adding more fish. Personally I'd wait a couple months at LEAST. We're avoiding something called new tank syndrome- if you keep adding fish while your tank is technically still cycling you could also shock the system and end up with spikes toxic to fish (which is why I say keep with the Stability) You could consider going to get a nerite snail now if you had a hankering to add something but I wouldn't consider adding any more fish now and maybe for a couple months. I'd let the fish settle and the plants grow more so the tank is better prepared if that's the plan in the future. I say these things because I'm being cautious with your newness to the hobby and the disasters you've already experienced- I don't want you to have to go through that again- BUT I understand our want in the hobby to keep adding things to new tanks. I've been waiting patiently for my baby Otos to grow big enough so I can sell them to the LFS and finally get my Hillstream Loach that I've wanted for my second tank since I started it 3 months ago. I have to be patient- I need the tank the Otos are in for a quarantine AND I will be able to trade to get that fish anyway. 

I got three glowlight tetras to keep my single one happy and one extra back neon (to replace the one who jumped out.)

So total fish at the moment equals seven. The extra glolight is in the quarantine tank though.

I want to buy a betta to replace Alphonso but I plan to wait until the tank is cycled and stable. I really don't want a repeat fish death if at all avoidable.

I've started a tank journal to record my parameters and get input. Technically this thread is no longer focused on disease I hope nobody minds if we switch the conversation to that one.

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