New aquarium/problem with Cory''s

Hi there!  Thanks for accepting me to the board.<
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>My son got an aquarium for his third birthday.  I''m
and new to this aquarium thing and I''m having some problems.  I hope someone here can help me!<
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>I have a 10 gallon tank, set up with gravel, a few fake plants (I tried real ones but they turned
own and icky) and a decorative rock or two.  I have a filter and now also a bubble wand.  I don''t have a heater in yet, but the water temperature has been between 74-80 degrees.<
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>We want to add a small (maybe 6) school of either guppies or tetras to the tank.  According to the book I read, you are supposed to start it out with a couple of fish to cycle the tank and get the proper bacteria in order.  So I started with 2 emerald corys.  I''ve had one of those corys die on me twice now, always with the same symptoms.  They start by getting listless, then start to float around upside down on the bottom of the tank, lay there sideways, or straight up and down. At first, we didn''t have the bubble wand going and the pet store told me it was probably from a lack of oxygen, also that I had misunderstood some of what the book said about starting the aquarium up and was changing the water too frequently.  So I put in the bubble wand and tried another new fish.  We also added an algea eater because algea was starting to be a problem.<
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>I feed them three times a day with sinking shrimp pellets, 3 little sticks at a time.  One of our corys is starting that laying upside down thing again and I just don''t know what I''m doing wrong.  I don''t want to add in the other fish until we figure out what we are doing wrong.<
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>I test the water every couple of days.  These are the average results:<
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>the ammonia level has never gone above .25<
>nitrates are usually between 20 and 40<
>nitrites are 0<
>hardness 120<
>alkalinity 80<
>pH somewhere between 6.8 and 7.6, I honestly can''t tell the difference in the colors on that one.<
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>Can anyone offer me some advice?  I would really appreciate it! <
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>(I would also like to add here that I do have 2 small children but they don''t have access to do anything to the aquarium besides look at it, so I doubt it is anything they could be causing.) Edited by: mischief0617 at: 28/7/05 14:01<
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[ashhhh]

hi there and welcome aboard, there are many question you must have to ask us but without knowing exactly what you have ie type of filters water movement etc etc, its hard to tell you what to do, but i wouldnt use fish to cycle a tank they dont really like that.Just throw a dead prawn in there and leave it for two weeks and that will give you all the necessary bacteria for the tank to cycle.Feed your fish once a day as much as they will eat in 5minutes, left over foods will start to cause problems with your water ie ammonia will build up and if you dont have a properly cycled tank fish will die.<
>Firstly I would advise you to cycle your tank and leave it alone let it do its thing, no need for testing it every day, after 1 week remove the prawn and at the end of the second week test your water to make sure it is all ok.<
>whilst your tank is cycling do some research.Just use ''google'' search engine and type in, beginners fishkeeping, and you will have more than enough info there.<
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>this link (below) should help you out with any question regarding what you need to know, just click on the link and it will automatically take you there, there is lots of good basic info here...........hope this helps  <
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>www.adelaideaquariums.com.au/Faqs/freshwater.asp<
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>p.s this is just to help get you started, but if you do get stuck and cant find the answer to something, now, or in the future, there are many people here that would be more than happy to helpout <
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> Cheers<
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>Ash.....<
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>Edited by: ashhhh at: 28/7/05 18:39<
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Quote:I''ve had one of those corys die on me twice now<
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>Hehe - must be a Phoenix Corry <
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>Soz, got the Smart A$$ boots on tonight  

[aussieguy870]

gidday and welcome mischief<
>id have to agre with ashhhh''s comment there<
>if u follow that u should be pretty right<
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