# Help!



## raw88gt (Nov 23, 2005)

Hi all Alright i dunno how to put this but maybe someone can help. I Recently help my mom set up a 55 gallon freshwater tank with the intent to have a planted tank. She has a few goldfish,a few (sharks) A large Pleco, and a couple other small fish.. i dunno much about freshwater. Well She had the factory provided 2x20 watt normal flourcents on thier all was fine. I told her i thought for a freshwater tank to grow good plants she would need beter lighting than that. So she bought a 2x55 watt hood. and upon recieving the bulbs one was broke so we only ran the one for about 3 days. I was thier on the first day all was fine. On the second day some of the goldfishs started showing red splotches on thier sides. (she says its sunburn) And today she lost 2 of the sharks. So could the light be causing this somehow? it is a 10k pc bulb on the one side. I beleive for filters Shes running a a/c 300 and some other type can't remeber excatly she says all water parameters are fine. I'm 45 mins from her so i'm not much assistance wanted to see if you all knew of anything. Also she runs the lights approximatly 8 hours at night and 1 hour in the mornin :roll: Thanks in advance for all help!


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

"All water parameters are fine?",.. Please be specific.( ammonia, nitrite, nitrate ) A recently set up tank? Do a net search for " nitrogen cycle" and see if that answers any questions for you. Then let us know. Good luck.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Better yet. Do a search on this site!!!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

No little PC light is going to give fish sunburn in a 55 gallon tank.

This tank is newly set up, and that's why the fish are sick. The tank isn't "broken-in" yet and thusly it isn't able to purify itself under the load of all those big fish.

By the way, mixing all those really big species in one tank was a bit of a blunder. It won't take long for them to outgrow it, or to push the tank beyond it's limits.
Mixing goldfish & tropical fish together was also a mistake to avoid repeating.

The red blotches could be any of a number of things. A little "Melafix" should help with that quite a bit. It's readily available at any petshop or WalMart.


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## raw88gt (Nov 23, 2005)

The tank was setup for 3 weeks before adding fish. All the fish where small besides the large pleco. As she took them all out of the 10 gallon. She used a bio-zyme?? to cycle the tank. an she lost the third shark.. these were all around 3 inches long. she tests for ammonia,nitrate,nitrite, an i'm not sure if anything else...


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

First of all bad combination o ffish and second of all bio zyme is worthless and effects your water as much as saw dust, which it looks suspiciously like it.


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

What kind of sharks are they? Balas, Columbian, ect? What is the cleaning schedule, maintaince like? I highly doubt it got sunburn, maybe get the fish some sunscreen, LOL. 



> This tank is newly set up, and that's why the fish are sick. The tank isn't "broken-in" yet and thusly it isn't able to purify itself under the load of all those big fish.
> 
> By the way, mixing all those really big species in one tank was a bit of a blunder. It won't take long for them to outgrow it, or to push the tank beyond it's limits.
> Mixing goldfish & tropical fish together was also a mistake to avoid repeating.


I agree, she will run into troubles when the fish start to grow. And Gold fish are cold water.



> The tank was setup for 3 weeks before adding fish


I suspect that the bio-load was way to much, 3 weeks really doesn't mean much. Unless you test the water conditions you will never know if or how long the tank is cycled. It can take a tank much longer to cycle then 3 weeks, depending on many factors, like cleaning schedule, how many fish added and when they are added, ect. I would purchase a test kit, mainly including pH, ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and keep an eye on the water conditions. This is very important, even after keeping fish for years I still test the water. The fish could be dying from a secondary infection from Ammonia or/and Nitrite burn and it sounds like some kind of bacterial infection.

For now your mom should do some water changes, add some Melafix and Primafix and maybe a stronger antibiotic. I would also feed lightly especially if you your test results show Ammonia and/or Nitrites.

Ammonia and Nitrites should always be at 0ppm and Nitrate should be below 20ppm.


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## raw88gt (Nov 23, 2005)

she changes the water once a week approximatly 10 gallons... tri color sharks maybe?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

What's a tri color shark? WHat does it look like?

Some shraks like red tail or rainbow sharka can be kept in that size of a tank with the only worry is some aggression to smaller fish. Other ones like balas get too big and need a lot of swimming space to maybe house 2-3 of them. The colombian sharks also get too big and are bracksih and need close to full saltwater when fully grown.

For teh sunburn thing it's close to impossible. Many fish are kept in tanks with 400 watt metal halide lighting and are perfectly fine. It's most likely some sort of disease.

Have her do some more research and somewhat start over with her fish list and check compatibilty and what they're specific needs and tank sizes are.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Rae, I'm afraid you are missing the point. Your tank is likely not "cycled" yet. This is much more of a problem than what fish you have. You said your mom tested for ammonia, etc. What were the readings?


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

> What's a tri color shark? WHat does it look like?


It's a Bala Shark. They are the ones in my signature. They get huge and need a really big tank and prefer to be kept in groups of 6 or more.


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## raw88gt (Nov 23, 2005)

Yes they must be bala's they are in your sig thier was a group of 3 i'm unsure of the readings but they where low as far as i know...I will be going out thier next weekend to check things over but i've never had a freshwater tank only saltwater


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## heatherhoge (Nov 13, 2005)

those are balas I have 3 very large balas they are wonderful fish. Gold fish will die if temp is high. They are cold water fish and will hemrage and die. that sounds like what is happening to them. They need water around 70 and no high that 75. Balas are tropical and at leat 78 no higher than 82 temp. Babby balas are very hard to grow. Once they get over an inch then less acceptable to problems such as ick and fungus. The baby balas are hard to start off since they are easily stressed and don't have the ammunity to fight deseases. I had problems at first with them then once I found good meds I was able to help my three now through begining problems. I always use melifix when adding new fish to help with injuries from being netted and helps their scales and gives the fish what they need through hard times. Primafix is great for fungus. My balas are now 2 years old and 13in. They are playful and fun fish to watch.


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

> those are balas I have 3 very large balas they are wonderful fish. Gold fish will die if temp is high. They are cold water fish and will hemrage and die. that sounds like what is happening to them. They need water around 70 and no high that 75. Balas are tropical and at leat 78 no higher than 82 temp. Babby balas are very hard to grow. Once they get over an inch then less acceptable to problems such as ick and fungus. The baby balas are hard to start off since they are easily stressed and don't have the ammunity to fight deseases. I had problems at first with them then once I found good meds I was able to help my three now through begining problems. I always use melifix when adding new fish to help with injuries from being netted and helps their scales and gives the fish what they need through hard times. Primafix is great for fungus. My balas are now 2 years old and 13in. They are playful and fun fish to watch.


Wow, that is very interesing. I did a TON of research on my balas before I bought them but I did not know that about little balas and their ammunity, I guess we learn something new every day. Good Post!


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