Tropical Fish Tank Aquariums – How To Cope With Common Problems

Now you’ve installed your fish tank aquarium you are ready to enjoy your new hobby. Taking care of your new fish tank aquarium is not difficult but a number of problems may come up, particularly in newly set up aquariums. Everything may seem OK for a while then bit by bit algae starts to grow and overtake the tank, your fish begin to die and your beautiful, new tank stops looking like the pristine, sparkling tanks in all the pictures. So what did you do wrong? What can you do to correct it?

Do not panic and definitely do not go to your local aquarium supplier, buy chemical remedies and toss them in your tank. This will only make the problems worse! Another thing that new fish tank owners often do in this situation is to clean the tank to start again. This is completely the wrong thing to do as any beneficial bacteria that you have in the tank will be tossed out as well and you will have to do the recycling again.

You need to identify what went wrong and gradually put it right, without any harsh chemical remedies which will probably disturb the the aquarium’s balance even more.

High Concentrations of Deadly Chemicals

The most distressing problem is the sudden death of your fish. Was the tank cycled correctly before before adding you fish? The commonest cause of sudden fish death is high concentrations of ammonia or nitrites that are produced by the fish. You will need to use a fish tank test kit to see if this is the what is happening. If the tank wasn’t properly cycled there will be too few beneficial bacteria to deal with the waste products, more than ever if you have a crowded tank.  Is your tank too crowded? This will over stress the bacteria dealing with the chemicals and lead to an increase in the concentrations of nitrite and ammonia.

Fish Bullying

Have you made sure you have a good assortment of fish varieties in your aquarium? A few fish are fine when young but will turn into bullies as they mature. Tiger barbs are notorious for being bullies. Fish that are bullies should be removed from the tank and given away!

Lack of Water Changes

Has the water been partially changed often enough? While ammonia and nitrites are removed by the beneficial bacteria, less toxic nitrates are produced. However nitrates are not completely non toxic. When nitrate levels become too high they can damage the fish and they must be removed by doing a partial water change.

Adding Chlorine or Chloramine Contaminated Water

All tap water be contaminated with chlorine which you can remove by leaving the water standing in a bucket for two days. Some authorities also add chloramines which is not removable by this method. If your tap water does contain chloramines, or you are not sure, you must add a chemical treatment to deal with them them before adding the water to the fish tank.

Overfeeding The Fish

Overfeeding is a very common problem, that leads to the excess food decaying. This then releases noxious chemicals that put an extra burden on the bacteria. The consequence is a rapid increase in these chemicals that will more than likely cause damage to the fish. When you are feeding your tropical fish make sure that you only give them what they can eat in approximately 3 mins. If you can see food collecting on the tank bottom you’ve added too much!

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