frogster221

i over stocked my fish tank and i cant get rid of fish. the fish are all very active and happy but is there anything i can do to help? its a 20 gallon planted with a penguin bio wheel 150 and a small air pump. i dont overfeed the fish and i do regular weekly 25% water changes. any help is welcomed. thanks

Morph

your info is a bit odd, you say you know about your nitrogen cycle yet you list ammonia nitrite and nitrate as and you say your tank is set-up for 4 months, are you doing water tests at all?

If you can't get a bigger tank and your keeping the fish then upping your water change frequency will definately help.

frogster221

i dont have a water test kit but every week i get it checked at the petstore where i watch the guy to make sure it is done correctly. i just havent asked for the numbers. i said i knew about it and that nitrogen forms from ammonia build up and that bacteria process it and that is why we cycle aquariums because fish can die because of ammonia poisoning. sorry if this sounded kinda rude.

Morph

not rude at all if you are going to the petstore weekly to get your water tested then you should take the numbers down for your own reference as most petstore people are kinda not good at their jobs.

Knowing what your parameters are helps you determine when you should be changing your water and how much.

if you don't have the tests then you are relying on your ability to notice behavioral patterns in your fish which from my experience isn't the easyest way to go about it.

someone with greater knowledge will be by to help you out more.

Just so you can compare a tiny bit with my tank, i have about the exact number of fish i can have for my 75 gallon tank, i do a 40% water change every 5 days and i'm way over-filtered. I've got puffers and they are extremely sensitive to water conditions so i am vigilante to avoid potential problems. if you think you are overstocked and don't have a filter to compensate then 25% a week water changes is surely not enough.

frogster221

im saving up money for a 55 gallon and a test kit so it should all be good soon but other than larger more frequent water changes what could i do?

angelfish22

Do you use a good water condioner like Prime? Used with the frequent water changes and not a substitute for the water changes, it is a very usefull tool.

frogster221

ya i use prime just like the bottle says

COBettaCouple

Fortunately, the tank isn't too overstocked and i believe the neons are relatively low waste producers.. and you're using Prime to treat the water. I'd recommend just increasing the water changes to 25-40% twice a week and clean the tank once a week.

frogster221

ok thanks for the help