Camacho

last night i feed my jds green peas. come home from work all three of them were just chilling at the top of the water one was neer the filter outlet and the other one was next to a heater and then the thrid(this poor guy) was at the surface just hanging out i dont think this is normal...... i put my hand in to see if the would move then sure as heck did. Then 2 min later they were in the same spots. can some one tell me if this is normal. nitrates 10 nitrites .5 amonia .5 pH 7.0

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Thanks!
Ken

eiginh

I'm not sure if you your aquarium is correct but your tank is over stocked and barely being cycled. Have you been doing daily w/cs? They might also be hanging out on the top b/c of oxygen deficiency.

Camacho

over stocked 55 gal with 3 JD and 9 tiger babrs? i have an air pump hooked up and yes i did water changes everyday till the begining of this week i was starting to do them 1 every two day

eiginh

What kind of filter are you using and have you cleaned it lately?

Camacho

yes i cleaned the filter sunday but i have a aquatech 300 GPH 30-60 gall capacity

Tony G.

If you have nitrites then you havent finished your cycle. I would suggest you do a 50% WC and dose with prime to detox the nitrites. It is also toxic to them....
What is your temp?

eiginh

Did you clean it with tap water? Since your over stocked you should get a more powerful filter since 1 Jack Dempsey can be in a minimum of at least 50 gallons but you have 3 and tiger barbs!

Camacho

76 i ran out of prime will amquel plus work?

eiginh

amquel plus will work, except you need to dose more with amquel plus than prime. My dad uses it on the 40 gallon.

Camacho

you keep saying over stocked...... how do you come up with that one? my buddy has 4 oscar 1 pleco and 2 firemouths in his 55 but his tank is working perfectly fine and hes doin water change 1 time a week

eiginh

b/c it is. They're doing fine at the moment but they're really stunting their growth. If your buddy has a common pleco which grows to about 18" eventually things will start happening to the fish. I'm just giving you advice since you asked for help. If you have any problems with that just let me know I'll stop. Remember to research, it's really inhumane to keep fish in not an appropriate tank.

Camacho

oh no dont get me wrong i appreciate the help and thats y i asked but i have read in places saying 1 jd can live in a 20 gal healthy

eiginh

Can you provide the resources for those places that you read that?

Here's a link from FL and from other sites that give a profile for JD's
http://www.fishlore.com/profile-jackdempsey.htm, http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile29.html, http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fres...lid/dempsy.php, http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/jackdempsey.php. I can provide more links to let you know that it really needs at least a tank of bigger size especially when you have more housed with them. To top it off, you have 9 tiger barbs and other cichlids. Which is over loading your bio load.

Did you clean your filter with tap water? I recommend daily w/cs until your cycle finishes.

aquarist48

Hello Camacho. Sorry to hear your fish aren't feeling up to par. I agree with Tony. Since you are showing ammonia in your readings I suggest daily 30 to 50% water changes and use the Amquel + or Prime. Note: should you use the Amquel + you may still get a positive reading for ammonia but it won't be toxic for the 24 hours until you do the next water change. Keep up with your changes until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 20 nitrates.

As for stocking your tank, remember to take into consideration the adult size of your fish.
Best wishes!
Ken

Shawnie

you really need to get some prime as amquel+ will do nothing for nitrites which could be as dangerous as ammonia....I also would keep up with the daily water changes as jd's hanging out at the top, is definitely not normal...

Camacho

thanks for all the help. last night when i got home from work the jd's were acting normal again. i did a 30% water change and put all the decor back in after i cleaned it with used tank water. i used amquil + too and used double dosage till i get prime witch will prob be tomorrow.when i woke up befor i went to work i too a quick peek at the fish and they were doing just fine sleeping lol then went to work...(i have 2 full time jobs) after leaving work ran home and checked on the babys they were having a ball weeving in and out of the decorations. i went to the pet store and picked up another aquatech 30-60 gal 330 gph filter and will install it when i leave work tonight. sorry for the story... also i have a question the box says that the filter is 3 stage. 1 is a blue filter 2 blue filter has a backing with activated carbon... dont know how to use the carbon part. 3 bio-fiber mesh it "says never needs to be replaced helps eliminate amonia and nirites" how do i clean the bio-filter and "activate" the carbon? and eiginh thanks for the linxs i read them all and i will try and get rid of 2 of my jd's asap i almost forgot i pick another airstone

eiginh

You don't have to get rid of them! Just get a bigger tank! that way you can start your MTS The carbon is already activated once you put it in, some people don't even use carbon in their filters unless they want to filter out medication they put in the tank. The mesh is probably used for bacteria build up hence it's telling you not to throw away. To clean the bio-filter use tap water to clean it out as well as with the mesh in case it gets too clogged. 3 stage = mechanical, chemical, biological. What kind of filter are you using?

I'm glad your JD's are doing ok now

Camacho

the filter is call aquatech rated 30-60 gall w/ 330gph 3 stage and thats pretty much all it says on it.... the same with the filter its self on the box it says aquatech 30-60 gall one side is a blue color and the reverse side has the carbon heres a link if you wanna look at it

http://www.aqua-tech.biz/sites/aquat...r=id&itemid=56