Glofish Help

HI All,

Brand new to forums but a friend recommended since I had so many questions. First off thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and possibly help.

I have had my 20 gallon hexagon aquarium for about 5 weeks now. I would like to tell you about my experience and you can let me know if I should be doing anything differently as I worry about day about my fish being stressed out.

Unfortunately I found out about the nitrogen cycle after getting my fish. I did what the store recommended and ran my filter after adding API Stress Coat + to the water and brought the water to them to test and it all cleared out. I then bought 6 Glofish Tetras and brought them home. Half of them were staying towards the top and after some research I found out about the nitrogen cycle and the oxygen in the water. I added a air pump and that did the trick and they all seemed to be swimming well. The following day after a lot of research I went out and bought API Quick Start, Stress Coat +, Stress Zyme +, Ammo Lock and a test kit. I've been doing water changes every 1-2 days. When I notice the fish acting strange or looking stressed, I test the water and if the ammonia is high I do a water change.

After 3 weeks the water seemed to be testing well and very minimal ammonia, I added 2 more glofish tetras. As usual I continued to do daily tests on waters and do water changes often. After a week went by, I added 5 albino cory catfish to the tank. Its been about 3 days now and today I noticed the fish not being active as usual. They all seem to be staying in there territories and just floating there. There is one blue glofish tetra that is staying towards the top of the tank. I assumed that the oxygen is fine as the same air pump is going from the first week. The biggest red flag was when I fed them today only half of them ate so that is when I decided I had to reach out. I did a water change yesterday and not sure if I should do one right away as I don't want to stress my fish out more. I will list my tank details and attempt to attach some pictures and hopefully someone can help me out.

Tank Size - 20 gallon
Fish - 8 glofish tetras and 5 albino cory cats
Water Temp - 78 degrees
Test Kit Readings - PH 7.8-8.0 , Ammonia -.025 ppm Nitrite- 0ppm, Nitrate 5.0 ppm-10 ppm.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions or if I'm doing anything incorrectly. None of my fish have died yet and I want to keep it that way.

 

The PH and ammonia seem to be a little high. I don’t think you should do WC as often as you said you do unless it is obsoletely needed. But when you do have to do a WC, vacuum your gravel very thoroughly, this could help with ammonia levels.
I also think this link could help you:
Glofish Tank ; Weekly Additives & Water Readings Help - | Glofish 176484

 

Fist things first - DO NOT ADD MORE FISH until and unless your tank is cycled and stayed cycled for 3-4 weeks.
2nd thing, - you don't have room for more fish anyway, albino cories are generally a species that gets well over 3 inches, and is not ideal for a 20 gallon tank. Making your tank slightly overstocked before it is even cycled.

You are getting where things need to be, but a fish in cycle is stressful, and not all fish will survive it.
I don't have much helpful advise sorry. I suggest you leave the tank lights off while the fish is struggling. Consider getting some extra good food, like new life Thera plus A pellets and frozen blood worms.

also, I have heard that a black light is bad for the fish and may not be a great thing to leave on constantly but IDK

 

Don’t change the water so much and it looks like you need some larger plants. Imagine being in a big tall cage that's 40ft tall and all you had for privacy was a 2 foot hutt. The decorations don’t fit the tank make the fish feel like they have a home and shelter. I know you want to look at the fish but they need a home too.

 

The PH and ammonia seem to be a little high. I don’t think you should do WC as often as you said you do unless it is obsoletely needed. But when you do have to do a WC, vacuum your gravel very thoroughly, this could help with ammonia levels.
I also think this link could help you:
Glofish Tank ; Weekly Additives & Water Readings Help - | Glofish 176484

Thank you for your time. All the info I know is from google or youtube as i’m brand new to fish keeping. The ph I believe was good for glofish is 6.5-8. Also for water changes, I was told once it’s the ammonia over .25 (at times my ammonia has reached 2.0) I should do the water change and in my case use Ammo Lock to detoxify the ammonia but that only works for up to 48 hours. After the 48 hours shouldn’t I still do another water change?

 

I bought some glofish all I had to do was put some water in a tank some water conditioner and some nutrition balance. A small heater and changed the water every 2 weeks. They lasted 2 years keep it simple. Don’t over populate it with all these chemicals.

 

Fist things first - DO NOT ADD MORE FISH until and unless your tank is cycled and stayed cycled for 3-4 weeks.
2nd thing, - you don't have room for more fish anyway, albino cories are generally a species that gets well over 3 inches, and is not ideal for a 20 gallon tank. Making your tank slightly overstocked before it is even cycled.

You are getting where things need to be, but a fish in cycle is stressful, and not all fish will survive it.
I don't have much helpful advise sorry. I suggest you leave the tank lights off while the fish is struggling. Consider getting some extra good food, like new life Thera plus A pellets and frozen blood worms.

also, I have heard that a black light is bad for the fish and may not be a great thing to leave on constantly but IDK

Thank you for your time and any input/information is helpful so i’m thankful for your time.

Okay, I wasn’t told so I didn’t realize it needed to be fully cycled to add more fish. Once I saw ammonia starting to lower and nitrates there I assumed I was doing everything correctly as the fish were doing well and none have died.

As far as tank stock, I was told the cory’s wouldn’t get bigger than 2.5 but at the current size a 20 gallon tank was fine. I was planning on going to a bigger tank in the future once I decided to add more fish / my fish for bigger. I don’t plan on adding anymore to my current tank. Maybe it’s possible they feel overstocked already? I’m not sure.

I will research the food and as far as lighting I keep the lights off at night and when I leave the house when I sleep so it’s off for at least 8 hours a day. Also its a blue led and white led light that my tank has, it has both options and off obviously if that makes a difference

Don’t change the water so much and it looks like you need some larger plants. Imagine being in a big tall cage that's 40ft tall and all you had for privacy was a 2 foot hutt. The decorations don’t fit the tank make the fish feel like they have a home and shelter. I know you want to look at the fish but they need a home too.

Thank you for your time.

I was told and from what I learned from google was that when I saw ammonia above .25 to make sure it was detoxified and I needed to do a water change within 48 hours as it was toxic to the fish. As more people respond to my questions, i’m seeing i’m water changes too much? So I just leave the water in the tank as is even though it’s showing me indications of ammonia? I’m just the rather safe than sorry type so that’s what I do them usually every 2 days. At least that’s what I was led to believe I should be doing until the tank fully cycles.

As far as the tank, yeah I feel like I made a mistake getting the tall tank just bc it was on sale. If I could go back I would get a regular long tank. I will try to look for taller decorations to put in the tank. Should I be worried about removing beneficial bacteria if there’s any on the decorations?

I bought some glofish all I had to do was put some water in a tank some water conditioner and some nutrition balance. A small heater and changed the water every 2 weeks. They lasted 2 years keep it simple. Don’t over populate it with all these chemicals.

Thank you for your time.

Unfortunately, I believe i’m at a point where I believe I need these chemicals. From what i’m being told I added too many fish before the tank fully cycled and when the fish looked stressed I usually test the water and the ammonia is high (at least .25 and sometimes reaching 2.0) I understand once the tank is cycled I don’t need to do water changes so much but I don’t want to let a tank sit there when the ammonia is high for long periods of time. Unless i’m totally missing something and that’s okay.

The PH and ammonia seem to be a little high. I don’t think you should do WC as often as you said you do unless it is obsoletely needed. But when you do have to do a WC, vacuum your gravel very thoroughly, this could help with ammonia levels.
I also think this link could help you:
Glofish Tank ; Weekly Additives & Water Readings Help - | Glofish 176484

From what I read from that article a moderator stated that the person should use Tetra Safe Start and not do a water change for two weeks to let the Safe Start cycle the tank. So should I do a water change tomorrow and add that and let it do its magic for two weeks?