Once you’ve installed your fish tank aquarium you can take pleasure in your new hobby. Aquarium care is not too difficult, nevertheless several problems sometimes happen, particularly in new aquariums. It all looks OK for a while then slowly algae starts to grow and completely swamp the fish tank, the fish begin to get sick and die and your newly set up aquarium looks nothing like the clear, sparkling fish tanks you see in the pictures. What happened? What can you do to correct it?
What you shouldn’t do is panic and certainly don’t rush off to the aquarium supplier, buy remedies and dump them into the aquarium. This will only compound the problems! Something else that novice fish tank owners tend to do in a panic is to dump everything that is in the tank to start over. This is the worse thing to do as any helpful bacteria that you worked hard to encourage in the tank will be completely destroyed and you will have to recycle the tank again.
What you do need to do is understand what is going wrong and slowly put it right, without any chemical procedures which will more than likely upset the the balance of the aquarium further.
High Concentrations of Deadly Chemicals
The most worrying condition is sudden fish death. Did you cycle the tank properly before before adding you fish? The most frequent cause of fish dying suddenly is high concentrations of ammonia or nitrites from their waste products. You will need to use an aquarium testing kit to properly check if this is the what is happening. If you didn’t properly cycle there will be too few beneficial bacteria to cope with with these toxic waste products, especially if you have too many fish. Are there to many fish in the tank? This will inevitably be too much for the bacteria processing the chemicals and lead to an increase in the levels of nitrite and ammonia.
Fish Bullying
Do you have the correct mixture of fish varieties in the aquarium? Some fish may be OK when young but will turn into bullies when fully grown. One example is the Tiger Barb. Fish that are bullies should be removed and given away!
Not Enough Water Changes
Has the water been partially changed at least once a week? Even though nitrites and ammonia are processed by the beneficial bacteria, they are converted into nitrates which are less toxic. But nitrates can also cause a problem. If nitrate levels get too high they are able to cause damage to your fish and a partial water change is needed to remove them.
Using Water Contaminated with Chlorine
Tap water always be contaminated with chlorine which you can remove by leaving the water to stand for a day or two. Some tap water also contains chloramines which cannot be removed so easily. If your tap water contains chloramines, or you are not sure, you must use a chemical to deal with them them before you add the water to the tank.
Overfeeding
Overfeeding is a very common problem and results in the excess food decaying. This then releases noxious chemicals that cause more strain on the bacteria. The effect is a sudden increase in these chemicals that can damage the fish. When you are feeding your tropical fish take care you Do not give them more than they can consume in approximately three mins. If excess food is seen on the bottom of the tank you are overfeeding!
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