Newbie!!!

My water has been murky for the last few weeks. It is showing ammonia. I water change 25% weekly and it is a 180 litre tank. I have the following fish:

6 black phantom tetras - 12cm
6 bleeding hearts - 18cm
4 guppies - 8cm
5 mollies - 20cm
1 Angel fish (large) - 6cm
1 pleco (large) - 10cm
3 clown loach - 9cm
4 Platy - 8cm
2 rams - 6cm
2 Severums - 20cm
1 crab - 3cm

Total - 120cm of fish.

Could you please advise what I should do? I know I have been cleaning the filter too often (two weekly) so am now leaving this alone. Could you please tell me anything else I should or shouldn't be doing?  Should I do daily water change while the water is murky?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Silver 

You don't say whether you have an internal or external filter, as that will make a difference. Leaving out the plec as you don't say what species, and the crab which isn't in the fish profiles, an internal filter makes the tank 111% stocked, while with an external it is only 69 % stocked.

However, if you have a common plec, that will add hugely to your bioload as they are very messy fish (ie they create rather a lot of waste)

How have you been cleaning the filter, in tank water removed during a water change, or under the tap?
Does it get mucky quickly? I was wondering why you've been cleaning it every 2 weeks.


Can I ask, how high is your ammonia, what's the pH of the water and the temperature? I'm asking because it is possible to work out how much of the ammonia is in the toxic ammonia form and how much in the less toxic ammonium form - the proportions vary with pH and temp.

Have you done anything to the filter besides wash it? Changed any media?
If you have gravel on the bottom, do you clean it with a siphon every week?
How long has the tank been set up?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to work out why you have ammonia readings.


In the meantime, water changes every time the ammonia (or nitrite) reading goes above 0.25 is recommended.




Just a heads up - crabs and fish don't go well together. The crab is likely to nip the fish, if not catch and eat them at night if it's one of the bigger species.

Hi Silver 

I'm relatively new to this myself, and can say that they advice you can get from the experienced people on this forum is brilliant. They will be able to help you to resolve your problems.

Inheriting fish is always a problem.

Don't worry, we'll get you though this and you'll soon have a tank to be proud of 

With an internal, you are definitely overstocked, and you have other problems too, but first get the tank sorted. Though if you can find a shop that will take the plec off your hands it will make things much easier. Too many common plecs are sold, and these fish get massive - well over a foot long! And if you could find a new home for the crab you'd also be doing the fish a favour.


Unfortunately, whoever said the pH is what it is meant to be isn't being very helpful as pH is what it is when it arrives in your tank - there is no 'what it is meant to be'. It can be anything between 6.5 and 9.5, the legal limits in the UK.

The best thing you can do is buy a testing kit. The kind you dip in the water don't test for ammonia, which you need, so a kit with bottles and test tubes would be best. That way you can keep an eye on the water yourself and know when you need to do a water change. Master test kits come with pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate testers - be sure to follow the nitrate one to the letter!
If you get it tested at a shop again, ask them for the numbers. Shops are notorious for saying' fine' or a bit high' when the numbers tell a different story.

When you got the tank, was the gravel left in the tank when it was moved to your house? If it was, I suspect that the previous owner did not clean it properly, if at all 

Next time you do a water change, push the siphon tube right down into the gravel and wriggle it a bit. Not so much that it kicks the muck up into the water, just enough so the mess goes up the tube. Once there is no more mess, gently lift it out and push it into the gravel right next to where you just cleaned. Repeat the process until you've taken enough water out. Next time start where you finished.
Because of the state of the water, you need to be doing water changes more or less every day so you'll soon get the whole of the gravel done. Then start again at the beginning. This time there won't be nearly so much mess, so you'll get more of the gravel done each time. It won't take long to get rid of nearly all the mess in the gravel, then it will be just a case of removing what has gone in there between water changes - fish poo, uneaten food etc.


A thought just occurred tome - you said you use a sucker machine. Do you mean a siphon tube which puts the dirty water into a bucket, or a power/battery driven thing that puts the water back into the tank?

As Sue recommends, start doing a daily water change concentrating on clearing one area of the gravel until you don't want to remove any more water then top up with dechlorinated water. Break the gravel into sections and go one day at a time. Eventually you should see the water clarity returning.

My dad had similar issues when I was young which basically came down to the fact he wasn't doing enough cleaning... I did a lot of the remedial work when he was working and I was still in high school.

Right. I changed 30 litres last night from the gravel like you said. Water looked better. But murky again by this morning.  I phoned 2 shops local to me, none of which could take any of my fish   They tried to sell me an external filter for £100 instead!!!

I will advertise some of the fish free to good homes to get my numbers down but in the meantime is 30 litres of clean water enough to keep going temporarily? If I do it daily? Xxx

Yes hopefully I can rehome a few soon!!!

Lol what are my other fish issues?  I really appreciate your help and advice soooo much 😃 Xxx

Omg!!!!!  How do you know so much?  What a fountain of knowledge!!!!

My hubby says we have soft water.

If I were to get an external filter, which would be a suitable one for me to get? Xxx

I cheat a bit 

I know from a lot of reading how big clown loaches get - google marge the clown loach. She was the most famous of the species.
And I know that severums get big so I can't have any.

And I check with Seriously Fish
(I said I cheat  )


I have softish water so I know what I can and can't keep. Most livevearers are on the list of fish that won't do well in my water.




External filters depend very much on how much you are prepared to pay. The Rolls Royce of externals are Fluvals and Eheims. They are built to last. All Pond Solutions externals also rate highly provided you are careful with them, and bear in mind that the quoted flow rate is a lot higher than the actual flow rate.
I have internals in all my tanks so others will be able to advise you which makes they like.

Hi
Re external filters, Just to put  my two pennyworth in, I use an Aqua  One external filter. It's deliberately oversized for my tank capacity but allows me to have more fish, but def not overcrowding that wouldn't be fair on the fish.
I took the advice of people posting on the site and used  some you tube demos for the visuals which  helped  too.
More experienced fish keepers here  will be able to tell you more.