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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Need help
hey i'm brand new to this site and new to this fish set up thing i was wondering if somebody here could help me out. 
i have a 20 gallon tank setup wit sand on the bottom, i've had it for about a month before i started to put any fish in it, about a week ago i purchased a green terror which i might when it gets big enough move it into my 55 gallon that i have yet to set up, but i'm thinkin i might want to have that a mixed cichlid tank with with maybe 2 blue johanni's and whatever may be compatiable with it, but my question is this, i just got a pleco this morning and no lie within like a 4 hour time span he died i don't know whats wrong or what to do. while i observed him and the terror the terror would'nt even go near him or anything so i don't think he bullied him, plus the pleco did'nt have any marks on him. The terror i've had for a bit longer seems to be doin just fine, though it seems he has'nt eaten that much. How can i tell if the fish is stressed out or not ? or if he's gettin stressed and what i can do about it? thanks for everybodies time and i hope somebody can help me out | 
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Hi, Welcome to Fishlore! Where to start? I see from your info that you don't know about the Nitrogen Cycle, so first up go to the homepage and read the Nitrogen Cycle Link. This will explain about properly cycling a tank. Also on the homepage is the Freshwater beginners article. This is an excellent article giving basic advice on starting out. Your Pleco could have died for many reasons. Ammonia poisoning, stress, or it could have been sick when you bought it. Any questions just ask, everyone is here to help! | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Mike19 is right. Too you might have gotten a sick fish. I would take it back to where I got it and see if they would replace it. It never hurts to see and they often know that their fish are a 50/50 proposition. That is all contingent on your water test results, and don't trust the test strips they REALLY suck! | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike19  | Good work Mike! I don't know how to add liinks to my posts! | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Whoops NG and I posted at the same time and said basically the same thing. lol | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Hey everybody thanks for the quick response, this site rocks!!.. Yea i know alot about the nitro cycle but there are still some things that i did'nt quite get, but those links you guys gave me have alot of good infortmation in them, i'll be up all night reading
i noticed i might of overfed the terror because i see some left over food still in the tank, do you know what would be a good way to go about getting it out of the tank, i've heard a few people say they use gravel vacum to get food waste from the bottom, but i have a sandy bottom so i'm kind of uncertain as to how to approach it. also how long can the food be in there until it becomes hazardous to my terror . ? Sorry for all the questions | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| also im going to go to the pet store tommorow to get my water tested again and pick up a test kit. Is there A particular kit that anybody perfers that are better then others? | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| API Liquid Master Kit, seems to be the forums favorite  , try not to overfeed your fish as it will mess up your water parameters its better to underfeed then overfeed. you could get a snail which will clean up any excess food but im not sure if they compatible with green terrors.
Last edited by Mike19; February 2nd, 2009 at 03:31 AM.
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Welcome to Fish Lore
I'm really sorry about your pleco. It's really frustrating when you lose a fish and don't know why.
All good advice from the above posters.
When things go wrong in your tank one of the first things to check are your water parameters.
However, I doubt a cycling tank would kill a fish that quickly. I'd agree with Dusty your pleco was probably already ill and the stress of moving was too much for him.
Read the links the others gave you, they'll help you a great deal.
Good luck with your tanks | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Ok I went and did some looking and couldn't find any thing on snails and green terrors being compatible. If I'm not mistaken they would be fine together. Some of the chicklid(sp) lovers might be able to confirm that.You also might check on a group of cory cats to clean up as they are awesome and fun to watch. Personally I like the tetra water test kits best but that is my own opinion! | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| My Oscars live with 3 Apple Snails, they don't kill them but they do chuck them around a bit. Mind the Oscars are only 5-6 inchs so they might eat them when they get bigger! | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Goody My Oscars live with 3 Apple Snails, they don't kill them but they do chuck them around a bit. Mind the Oscars are only 5-6 inchs so they might eat them when they get bigger! | Thats why i was thinking the green terror may not be good with snails. | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| hey thanks everybody for the help , it's greatly appreciated , so the best way to clean the sand on the bottom of my tank would be to get a snail or cory? Or some sort of bottom dweller that's compatible with the terror? there's no vaccum to get? Also how long can it be in there before it becomes bad for my fish | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| its hard to clean sand but id say for the extra you can see, use a turkey baster...leaving it will make the ammonia even higher...but id worry more about ANYTHING in a 20 gal with a green terror...the name means something ...and 20 gals for him alone is all id ever put in there...they do not like other fish | |
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February 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| yea i know it is kinda small for him, i also know he's a pretty aggresive fish, but i have a 55 gallon to that i'm goin to set up this weekend so when thats all set up and cycled i'm goin to put him in there. i never would have thought to use a turkey baster ! makes sense though thanks | |
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