Possible disaster in my Edge

[Debs]

I can't believe I have been this silly !! I should know better but then I am more used to Koi. I have 6 Endlers and 4 Galaxy Rasoras in my Fluval Edge (23l but realistically probably 20l with 1" sand, rocks and wood) Because they have been hoovering up the food before it hits the bottom I was concerned that my 5 Crystal Red and 2 Amano shimps might get hungry so have been adding shrimp pellets and algae wafers. I assumed they were eating it all as I never seemed to see any mess in the sand.

WRONG WRONG WRONG. I don't know what made me think something wasn't quite right maybe it was because the shrimps didn't seem to be about. I had a feeling to run some tests and picked the Nitrite. Shock, horror it came up with a reading of 0.25ppm according to my API test kit. Ran the Nitrate and that came up with 5ppm reading, the Amonia showed 0 but that may have already spiked and gone back down. The food I had been putting in for the shrimp had been carried off and was hidden under the log and I guess going rotten.

I have been so proud of myself for keeping 0 on Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate ever since the tank cycled back in August. I changed just under 50% (about 7 or 8 litres) and cut up 2 1" strips of polyfilter and put that in the top of the filter. Also added some Nutrifin Cycle. Retested again a couple of hours later and all was back where it should be at 0. Have retested again nearly 24 hours later and again all three are sitting on 0. Polyfilter still in as a precaution. I think I have managed to syphon up most of the muck.

The fish seem OK no gasping at the top or flicking on the stones or logs. I know they are not massively high readings and if it had been in the koi pond wouldn't have been too perturbed.

It's the shrimps I am worried about. I don't know too much about them but know they are sensitive to even small spikes. I don't know whether I caught this in time or whether I am going to loose them. Can someone advise me what I need to look for. I have seen 3 of my Crystals and both the Amano's. Can's see any bodies so guess the other 2 crystals are still OK just can't see them. Will my mistake have instant reprocussions or will it take a week or two before they pop off from this poisoning.

I know some people have more fish in their Edges than I do but I thought even though I have picked very small fish (even when they are full grown) they finished size would be to capacity of this little tank. Do you think I could add a couple of small scavengers for the bottom - dwarf cory's or something. Or would I be better adding more shrimps. I can't find anywhere that says how much of a bio load they are on a system.

Obviously I wont be adding anything until I am sure I have got this system stable again.

Sorry if I have put this in the wrong area but any advise on how to save my shimp greatfully received. I have learnt from this. They are not Koi and don't eat handfuls of food and I don't have a skimmer or a bottom drain that sucks everything out.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Debs you have done the right thing by giving it a good clean and syphoning up all the organic crud. You are not massively over-stocked, I wouldn't add any more bio-load (keep an eye on the Endlers), but I think what you have is fine.

I'd keep up with the water changes. I'd change 50% a day if you have a reasonable source? (R.O. or rain-water) or 20% +"Prime" or other EDTA containing de-chlorinator if you have tap water. The toxic effects of the ammonia are pretty instant, so it sounds that you have probably caught it in time.

Symptoms to look out for in the fish would be "cloudy eye", fin burn and erosion at fin tips and red or brown streaking in the fins.

If you are worried about your shrimps not getting enough food, you can feed them vegetables. I have a large Cherry shrimp colony that I didn't feed any fish food to for several years, they purely got a piece of vegetable every day. I used to mainly feed cucumber or courgette, with once a week any of par-boiled carrot, red pepper and squash (or cantaloupe melon) rind.

cheers Darrel

 

[Debs]

Thanks for the tips. Might try the cucumber idea, at least they wont be able to drag it off and hide it - no I wont put the whole thing in.

Does it last well in water or do you remove after 24 hours? Do you give a whole slice or just the skin? Was it fed weekly or every other day? What about lettuce? Would that work?

I changed about a fifth of the water today (4 litres) as that was all the remineralised RO water I had left. Tested again this afternoon and Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate all sitting on 0. Will leave the polyfilter in for another couple of days to be on the safe side.

I haven't put any food in since Sunday so the fish have now gone 48 hours without food so a small snack this evening, I think.

We used to keep marines along with the Koi but gave that side up as we seemed to forever be doing water changes, tests and having barrels of water lying about waiting to go in the tanks. So this is my first venture into tropicals and a planted tank and everything has changed since we kept tanks before. Can't ever remember anyone talking about 'nano' tanks they all had to be BIG and the bigger the better. 10 liters of RO water sits under the shelf out the way and lasts a couple of weeks.

It's silly mistakes like this one that can dull the enthusiasm and chuck towel in. The Edge has a few pitfalls like trying to clean it with a wacking great log in it but it does stop the cats putting a foot in and hooking out the fish, which is why I opted for this one.

I'll get there in the end and thanks for the tips.

Thanks again

 

[Lisa_Perry75]

Many people on this forum keep fish in much higher levels of Nitrate so you don't need to worry so much about keeping that value at 0ppm.

We all make mistakes so try not to take it to heart!

 

[ejit]

theres a few fella's I know using there edge's as marines,
there a real nighmare trying that so thats why I used mine
for tropical.im only reading up now how to make my egde
a planted tank so going to give it a go, as said already dont
worry too much about keeping nitrate at 0ppm.how much and
how often do you do your water changes out of intrest?
I know what you mean about barrels of water with marines lol
im only running a nano as im not really interested in a big tank just yet.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

keep fish in much higher levels of Nitrate so you don't need to worry so much about keeping that value at 0ppm

Yes, even if you don't add any nitrate in established planted tanks there will always have some NO3 reading (In other words availability of nitrogen is unlikely to be the factor limiting plant growth).

Have you thought about rain-water as an alternative source of water? I've always used it without any problem (I live in a rural area with a reasonably high rainfall).

cheers Darrel

 

[dw1305]

Re:

Hi all,

Does it last well in water or do you remove after 24 hours? Do you give a whole slice or just the skin? Was it fed weekly or every other day? What about lettuce? Would that work?

I remove the cucumber after 48 hours, although usually by then there isn't much left. I de-seed the courgettes, but otherwise just put a round slice in, the shrimps or Otocinclus don't eat the skin or rind on squash, but Panaque etc do. De-shelled peas are another good option.
I've never tried lettuce, but I wouldn't leave it longer than 24 hours as it will grow very slimy and be difficult to remove.

cheers Darrel

 

[Debs]

Thank you all so much for all the advice and tips. I will try them. I may surf the net quite a bit and look at forums but this is the only one I have actually joined and I'm really glad I did.

You have all been so polite and helpful with my long winded ramblings on the Edge. Not one comment on it being a death trap and not really a "proper tank". All the questions you have been asking have made me think and I found an old photo of our marine tank just before we gave up and it was dated 1992. It was a Tunze system with loads of pots and 3 metal halide lights over the top which the cats liked to sit under. Not sure what the fish thought of that.

So things have changed dramatically or so it seems to me. Fast start for filters, fishless cycling to name a few - can't remember any of that back then. If we have a blanket week outbreak on the pond we just chuck in a bag of barley straw and a few handfuls of watercress. Zero on all tests were what we aimed for in the marine and we did 25% water change weekly. It was just what was recommended so did it. Now having the Edge I do the same tests Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate get my Zeros and then go and change 25% of the water every week. For no other reason than that is what I was told to do for the marines - good housekeeping. I haven't got the Ph where I want it - it's 8 and I would like 7.5. Again not sure why but it's neutral and when I look at what my fish and shrimps prefer that is the recommendation.

As you keep giving me this advice and I get my confidence back with having an aquarium albeit a very small one I wont follow that book quite so avidly but know what I can get away with.

Collected another 10 liters of RO water today and they had some Java Fern or thats what they said it was. Looks a bit like a christmas tree. I have left it in its foam and metal band and stuck it in the sand for the time being as I have decided on yet another re-vamp (my poor fish keep getting their home changed but as least they wont get bored with their surroundings). Instead of having that great big bit of wood that goes from bottom to top of the Edge have got 4 or 5 small bits of bogwood which I am now soaking in a bucket. Will transpant the anubias, Jarva Fern and moss to those and see if that makes maintenance easier.

Should I get special stuff to tie things on to wood or is black cotton that I have been using OK. I am definately getting the bug with planting as have just got my 3 piece set of scissors, gravel flattener and tweezers delivered. It will be a mini garden one day !!! Or possibly a total mess !!!

Thanks again for all the tips

 

[ejit]

im still doing all that but trying to get into the planted tank.
originally my edge was for the kids but they got bored(as they do)
so was googling edge tanks to see the pics of what people do with
them an thats how I found this site.some amazing looking tanks
on here and have been showing them to my other marine tank friends
and everyone of them are impressed.im following your tank adventures
as ur a few steps ahead of me and what works for you hopefully will work for me lol