Lots of HELP needed

[Dixie]

Hi & help please,
We were givin a used 55 gal. tank with lots of accesories. I bought new gravel and filter cartriges. Everything else that was used, I cleaned real good with hot water (didn't know anything about cycling & wasn't told in the shop where I purchased the fish).
I filled the tank with our hard well water ( no chlorine) and added Start Right that the shop recommended along with 2-(approx. 2")Plecos, 2-(approx.2")Leporinus, & 3- (approx.2") blue Cichlids. One problem is, I don't know what kind of Cichlids these are. I can't find any pics of them on the internet, although I took some pics of them if I can figure out how to post them here.
About 5 days later, I added 6 more (approx. 2") Cichlids. 3 are yellow and their fins are starting to turn black (one of them has a white tummy though). I think I did see a pic of these but forgot to write down the name (dumb Dixie). The other 3 new Chichlids are albinos with pink eyes. All 13 fish are about 2 inches in size and getting along really well.
I found out on the internet about cycling and started getting really worried. I tested the ammonia and it was around 2.-3.0 so I bought some Ammo-Chips Ammonia Remover and put it in the 2 baskets in the filter. This filter was missing the bio-wheels & have them ordered but they haven't come in yet. After reading on here, I didn't think that the Ammo Chips was a good idea so last night, I took them out, did a 25% water change, and put an ornament from the perious owners of the tank (that I hadn't washed) in the tank along with some of their gravel in a mesh bag. I also started up another used filter system (also missing the bio wheels but this one I didn't clean as well before putting it in... it didn't have any used filter cartiges with it though).Today I tested the water for ammonia again and it was still the same(2.0-3.0).
The fish seem to be doing ok but one of the Leporinus has a spot on his top fin and one on his underneath fin that looks like a small grain of cornmeal. I also took pics of this but haven't checked to see if it shows up in the pics yet. Almost all of the Cichlids also has one of these on thier anal fin. I'm kind worried that it might be some kind of parasite.
I know this is alot of questions...parasites, cycling, what type of Cichlids I have. Cycling & parasites being the most important because if those problems aren't taken care of it won't matter what kind of fish they are lol.
Hope there's some help for me.
Thanks for reading this l-o-n-g post,
Dixie

[stunner]

I don't know the slightest thing about cichlids and I don't know what the spots could be...perhaps the beginnings of ich? I would see if the store you bought the fish from would take them back and hold onto them until you cycle your tank. Also, see if you can find some gravel or a filter cartridge from a cycled tank of somebody you know if possible (it will help speed up the cycle). If you can't take the fish back, I would do frequent water changes to keep the ammonia levels low.

Just re-read your post and you say that you added a bag of the previous owner's gravel and an old filter (minus the cartridge). I don't know if it will do any good...it depends on how long the gravel/filter was outside of the tank and if they had dried out or not. By the way, check out the ebook if you haven't already, it's really handy:

Goodluck!

[A340]

First of all, your tank has started to cycle. As you noticed yourself, you didn't find out about this until after you started. Unfortanatly, Pet Stores don't always tell you about this because they are there to make money, sad but true. However, this means it's up to you. The most important thing to have in aquariums in knowledge, and the only way to get this is by reading, researching and asking questions if you're stumped.

Now, that you've realized your first mistake (not doing any research) and don't worry, 99% of us have been there and made the same mistake, so you're in good company ... :ezpi_wink1: , let's see if we can help you.

1) First of all, the cycle process. In order to keep fish sucessfuly, you need to "establish the tank". There are basically two ways of doing this, either the traditional way with fish or as most members here do it, fishless. However, since you've already added fish, I won't explain the fishless process, you can read up on it yourself in the sticky on this forum.

Since you have your fish in there already, just keep them in but make sure you use a good cycle additive (explained later). Your fish produce ammonia through their poop and waste, this is toxic to them and the ammonia chips you bought, won't help so get rid of them. The only way to get rid of this ammonia and to cycle the tank is to turn the ammonia and nitrites (another toxin produced) into less harmful nitrates. In order to do this, you need benefecial bacteria which establishes itself in your filter and gravel to break the ammonia and nitrites down. However, this takes time and the ammonia and nitrite spike required to complete the cycle can kill your fish. So the best thing to do, is get yourself a product that will help you cycle your tank by adding the bacteria required to break down the toxins, accelerating your cycle while protecting your fish. There are several products on the market such as API's StressZyme, Marineland's Bio Spira and Seachem's Stability. We all have our favourites and different experiences with them, but personally, I use and recommend Seachem's Stabiliy.

You also need to test for ammonia and nitrite levels everyday to find out when you're cycle is completed. If you do it from day one, you'll see the ammonia level a 0 for the first time, then it'll jump up to 4-5 or even higher before coming back down to 0. The same thing more or less happens with nitrites and to a lesser degree with nitrates. If you can, use a good quality liquid test kit and not the dip-stips as they are not very accurate.

2) As far as the parasites, it's hard to say. It might be nothing, it might also be Ich. Do any of your other fish have small white spots on them? With some fish, such as Malawi Cichlids, it's really hard to tell as some have naturally occuring spots (mind you, larger than Ich spots) on some of their fins. We may need a bit more info on this, persnonally I don't like jumping the gun and yell "Treat for Ich" when in reallity there is nothing. Pics would be the best.

3) As far as your Cichlids go, again, without any pics, it's very hard to to tell you which ones you have because there are literly hundreds of Malawi Cichlids and many look very similar. The yellow ones with a black fin are most likely these ...

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

... great fish, one of the more peacful ones among the Malawi's.

Also, what kind of filteration do you have on your tank?

PS - In order to post pics, go to an imagehost such as Photobucket, upload your pics, resize to 640 x 480 with the edit option and copy the IMG link. When you are typing a post here, underneath the "submit reply/preview posts" buttons, you'll see "additional options". Keep scrolling down and you'll find a "manage attachments" button. Click on this and a new window will open and simply paste your IMG code from Photobucket into the upload field and everything should go automaticaly from there.

[themusician]

A340 gave you pretty much all the answers you need. I just wanted to add that if you do decide your fish have ich (and it sounds like they might...ich looks like they've been sprinkled with salt, and you mentioned cornmeal...), you can crank your temperature up (mid 80s) and add aquarium salt to help fight it. The higher temperature will also help your cycle go a little faster.

Good luck!

[~Erik3.8.07~]

also just to add, if you get a bubbler or a powerhead, crank the oxygen flowrate up as that will also help the bacteria you want to grow.

[Lady Hobbs]

Patrick hit about everything on the head for you. You will have to do water changes to bring that ammonia down or your fish will die. Clean nothing in the tank, and leave all as it is. Just do the water changes.

[Dixie]

Thank you all for the great info.. It's greatly appeciated.
In responce to the type of filter(s) I'm running, the one is a Penguin330 with bio-wheels (the bio-wheels are missing but I have them ordered. The shop clerk told me it was ok to run it without the wheels until they came in). Water is drawn up from the tank through a big tube (with a basket thing on the end to keep the fish from being sucked up) and into the filter where it goes through the replaceable cartriges then the water spills back out the top into the tank. I've also started up another filter that looks almost the same. Both take 2 filter cartriges each.
I have a motor running a bubble bar but since it's used too the whole bar isn't producing bubbles. I have another motor,more tubing, and another small air stone that I will go hook up right now. (ok I'm back lol..that small stone seems to be putting out more bubbles than that bar is.) The more oxygen the better, right?
I also have two other things that kinda look alike which I'm not using because I don't know how. The one is a Penguin 550 submersible power head. I have the box it came in but not the directions. It looks, judging by the pic on the box, like some parts are missing. Maybe the missing peices are in that bag of accesories that came with all this stuff. Looks like I have another project to work on tonight lol. The box says it maximizes oxygenation (cool)! Also getting a photobucket account set up.
I have been keeping the water temp between 82F & 84F. What the shop keeper recommended and the fish seem to like best (the blue cichlids are a prettier blue at this higher temp.).
I'll check back in later tonight.
Thanks again for the info.,
Dixie

[Dixie]

Forgot to say... Think I'll do a 50% water change tonight as the 25% last night didn't show any results in lower ammonia levels.
Dixie

[A340]

You'll need to get a second filter for your tank. The Penguin330 is rated for up to 70g, but in reality, what you need to do is take that number and divide it by half. So, even though the box says it's for 70g, you're only providing enough filteration for 35g. Also, most of us recommend that you overfilter your tank which means provide more filteration then necessary. So, if you're going to keep Malawi Cichlids, I'd def get another filter, another Penguin330 will provide you with about 70g of filteration, but personally, I wouldn't feel that being enough.

In regards to the bio wheels, this is where many of the benefecial bacteria grow during the cycle, so it's important that you get them put on as soon as possible.

The powerhead you mentioned, is great to add current and surface agitation (providing much needed oxygen to your fish) to your tank. And if you add the appropriate sponge/adapter to it, you can also use it to help filter the water.

[Dixie]

Thanks again y'all are great,
ok I have 2 other things I could be running (if I have room on the power strip to plug them in which I kinda doubt but will figure something out). As I mentioned, the Penguin 550 submersible power head(145GPH)and a Regent Aqua-Tech(170GPH). I do have the undergravel platform filters to use with them but am missing the connecting tubes for connecting the powerheads. It would really be a pain trying to get them put under the gravel now anyway so I'm reading the booklets that came with the powerheads (finally found them) and trying to figure out how to use them without connecting to the undergravel platforms.
The biowheels are suppose to be in this Wed.. They should have been here last week but didn't show up grrrrrr.
I got a couple pics in photobucket of the spots on the fish (possibly ICK). Not sure if they are the right size or not. It didn't give me an option to resize them to 640X480. Only 320X240. So I resized them to what looked good to me in the paint program before I downloaded them. Hope they turn out ok.

The spot the albino cichlid is on it's anal fin and almost all the cichlids has the same spot in the same place.

The Leporinus has 2 spots, one on the top fin and one on the tail. The other Leporinus has none.

Here are the links to the pics:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

If the size of these are ok I'll resize some more pics the same way so maybe someone can help me identify the TYPE of Cichlids & Plecos I have.

I'm off for a bit to download the book and to try to get at least one of these powerheads working and maybe do a 50% water change. Who needs sleep, right lol.
Thanks again,
Dixie