# Story of my first tank! Please, I need help!!!!



## jungle_pixie (Mar 23, 2008)

Hello
This is my first post and I'm very new to fish tanks so here goes.
A friend had an old setup in his bedroom, complete with festering 1 year-old water 8 inches high with what he thought "no life left for months and months" that he told us we could have if he we cleaned it...

 ... so we did.

Now keep in mind, we thought we were only getting equipment and we were on our way to creating a nice 25 gallon plant tank with a community of tetras and such and a 5 gallon betta habitat (for me)... we knew it would take weeks to cycle the tank, we were ready to do it in stages so that our tanks were 100% ready for our fish...

*We found 3 fish at the bottom of that nastiness!!!* I swear, they were still alive after over a year of no lights, no food, no filter, no NOTHING! Two glowlight tetras and a clown loache. We just couldn't throw them out so we decided to get them home. Part of the 3 tank setup deal was a 5 gallon tank and we decided this would be the rescue tank. We did the best we could by rinsing the heck out of it, changing the filter media, used "Cycle" to try and speed up the process, declorinated the water, let it run for a little while (all the time the fish in a big clear plastic container in their old water) and finally dumped them in.

Well of course their water was so filty the pH and amonia levels shot right up. After a few days, we decided we had to do a big water change. We prepared water again, it was PERFECT in the bucket : pH 6.8! We were thrilled, changed out as much of the water as we could : Did nothing! The moment we put the fish back in, pH levels up to 7.4-7.6 and amonia levels hadn't moved.

After restling with the whole thing for some time now (and our fish are still all energetic and such, for them, after the cesspool, this is AWESOME!) we decided to go completely drastic. Since nothing can kill these fish, we decided to do a 100% water change.

I KNOW! I KNOW!!! But this tank makes no sense! We did a complete water change, water softened, the pH perfect, the "Cycle" in, amonia levels non existant, temperatures regulated before we put the fish back in... We put them back in at 11pm last night : 30 minutes later, pH stabilized! YAY! We go to bed, I get up at 8am this morning, pH is back up at 7.4.

*HELP!!!! *


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

​I am wondering why are you trying to get the ph stable at 6.8? Are you adding chemicals to adjust the ph? It seems your tap water is ph 7.4 which is okay for the fish you have adopted.

Also the Clown loach will need a larger tank eventually as it gets quite large.

Kudos to you for rescuing the tetras and loach from a miserable life.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

You need to learn about water chemistry. Your obsession with messing around with pH is unfounded. You need to learn about what pH actually is, and how everything works. You also need to take those fish to a store like Big Als and trade them in. Then read up on starting an aquarium by seeding. Someone will give you filter media to start so you dont have to cycle


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I agree, a pH of 7.4 is fine for the fish that you have adopted; the tap water around my area is 7.6 - 7.8, and I've managed to keep Clown Loaches and Neon Tetras just fine.

The difference in pH may simply be due to dissolved CO2 that may be in your tap water. Once it gasses off, then the pH will go back to its "normal" value of 7.4.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I really respect what you have done by trying to rescue those fishes.

I'm surprised they lived for even that long.

Best thing you can do right now is to get a temporary ammonia binder like Prime or Amquel+ to remove the toxic effects of ammonia right away.

As for the filter, you can try to find established filter media from someone or a fish store (they shouldn't charge).

You can also get some fast growing stem and floating plants to help with the biological filtering and ammonia build-up. Plants love to take in ammonia right away.

The fish will have not eaten for a long time now, so it will take a long time before they are ready for full sized meals. So feed very slowly and add a bit more each time. You do not want to feed more than what they are used to all of a sudden.

Any more concerns just post them on here!

Have fun with your fish tanks.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

1. No more big water changes!

You have to let the bacteria develop.

2. Don't try and mess with the pH anymore - it is fine.

The ammonia is the dangerous thing.

3. Maximum 20% water change at a time.

4. Ideally, give these fish to someone with a cycled tank

5. If you can find someone with duckweed, put duckweed in the tank. It will suck up ammonia like nobody's business.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

*temperatures regulated before we put the fish back in..*

You dont take the fish out to do water changes do you??


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## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

I would imagine he took the fish out to do a complete water change. 

I would agree with Pablo and Chris, you might want to either give the fish away to an established tank or trade them into BA's. 

They may have survived the gross neglect of the previous owner, but I think that the ups and downs of being used to cycle a tank may just push them over the edge.


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## jungle_pixie (Mar 23, 2008)

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I'll try to answer all your questions in one post!

About the loach : Yes, I know they get very VERY big and we never plan on having more than a 25 gallon tank so I called a pet store that I go to alot and they are more than happy to take him in. I'm actually driving it over there today. They said that if it's a bit too big to sell (cause it's about 2 1/2 inch now) they will put it in their display tank with an already existing group ( they lost two of them recently and the group is down to 2 and they are thrilled at the idea of adding a third!) I will miss it cause it's the cutest thing ever. Especially when it decides to climb all over the wood piece that is in there like it has little hands. 

Filter media : We did use filter media that had been used. We went to one of our favorite reptile/fish store and the nice guy that always helps us gave us a baggie full of Bio Max Biological filter media so I'm guessing that is what you guys meant. We had to put in new charcoal and sponge, but those Bio Max cylinders were nice and full of life!

Amonia : It's not even registering it's so low.

pH : I thought tetras liked slightly acidic / slightly hard waters???? I think I'm starting to understand about water chemistry, I haven't been dumping tons of chemicals in the water don't worry... We are trying to buffer the pH by getting the kh to get above 5. The only thing I'm guilty of having added since the acid buffer in the bucket during the water change is a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to harden the water a bit. I'm at kh 6 right now and thrilled. Our pH has also settled at 7.2 and our gh has settled at about 6.5 degrees so everyone is really happy right now. The loach's stripes are the darkest black and all the brilliant colors of my glowlight tetras are shining like nobody's business.

Water changes : Yes, I know we are not supposed to take the fish out, no more than 10-15% water changes... We won't from now on : Basically what happened is that when we first got the fish, we just wanted to keep them alive long enough to know what to do with them. Then, when we decided we wanted to keep the tetras (and give a nice home to the loach until we could find him a place to live) we decided to start fresh (except for the filter media) so there... Might not have been the smartest thing to do, but we did it and we were lucky! Everybody is super happy.

I think I answered everyone? 

Thanks again for your advice and comments.


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## jungle_pixie (Mar 23, 2008)

Oh, I did forget : About the food... yeah, I went really slow. Started by sinking one shrimp pellet the first night (I only sink one pellet every 2-3 days now) and giving the tetras about half a brine shrimp and then waited. Went gradually from there. The little flakes seem to be a winner now and they come up and actually eat them on the surface. (which they did not sued to do before, they'd wait until the food sank and ate them off the rocks.) But no over feeding, I know it just dirty's up the tank. Fish in the wild don't eat all the time, neither should mine!


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

*Bio Max cylinders were nice and full of life!*

they're quite dead out of the box. Unless he took them out of an active tank.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

jungle_pixie said:


> Thanks everyone for all the advice. I'll try to answer all your questions in one post!
> 
> About the loach : Yes, I know they get very VERY big and we never plan on having more than a 25 gallon tank so I called a pet store that I go to alot and they are more than happy to take him in. I'm actually driving it over there today. They said that if it's a bit too big to sell (cause it's about 2 1/2 inch now) they will put it in their display tank with an already existing group ( they lost two of them recently and the group is down to 2 and they are thrilled at the idea of adding a third!) I will miss it cause it's the cutest thing ever. Especially when it decides to climb all over the wood piece that is in there like it has little hands.
> 
> ...


Newcomers to aquariums/chemistry shouldn't mess with water chemistry. Get it out of the tap, put it in your tank, do weekly water changes, and that's it.

For someone who's so green as to not even understand filtration to be screwing with water chemistry is so so far beyond the most absolute extreme of the term 'absurd' that I can't find a better word for it.

And don't say 'everyone is super happy'. You have no idea what a happy fish looks like. You can't. the absolute worst thing you can do is to assume you understand what you are observing without sufficient background expertise.

I've heard people say their happy fish was dancing when it was a distressed fish in a panicked state.

Im not attacking you- I'm just saying stuff in a very to the point manner.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

And to make you feel more at ease - every fish you have is perfectly fine from 6.0pH to 8.0pH so there is no reason to worry about it. Your tap water is perfectly fine.

Right now, just make sure you dechlorinate your water when you do your 20% or so water change (a WEEK, not day!).

DO NOT clean your filter - I would even suggest just tossing the charcoal.

DO NOT add anymore fish for AT LEAST a month.

When you eventually do clean your filter, do it in aquarium water, and just give everything a quick rinse. That sponge is the life of your aquarium - never EVER EVER EVER clean it completely out and don't replace it with a new, clean one.

Follow this, and come back in two weeks to tell us how things are


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Chris Stewart said:


> And to make you feel more at ease - every fish you have is perfectly fine from 6.0pH to 8.0pH so there is no reason to worry about it. Your tap water is perfectly fine.
> 
> Right now, just make sure you dechlorinate your water when you do your 20% or so water change (a WEEK, not day!).
> 
> ...


_ghtly hard waters???? I think I'm starting to understand about water chemistry, I haven't been dumping tons of chemicals in the water don't *worry... We are trying to buffer the pH by getting the kh to get above 5. The only thing I'm guilty of having added since the acid buffer in the bucket during the water change is a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda* to harden the water a bit. I'm at kh 6 right now and thrilled. Our pH has also settled at 7.2 and our gh has settled at about 6.5 degrees so everyone is really happy right now. The loach's stripes are the darkest black and all the brilliant colors of my glowlight tetras are shining like nobody's business._

Highlighted in RED>> adding both of these basically cancel eachother out.

You don't know what water chemistry is.

Turn on your tap, water conditioner as per instructions. Make sure its the same temperature as your tank, and add to your tank.

I don't think you should even have a pH test on you at the moment quite frankly.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

I appologize if you were offended by any of my comments- perhaps different wording could have been applied on my part. I hope you took the core info to heart that I was saying- this is very important stuff. poor management of water chemistry kills fish. The only experimentation with stuff you dont understand should be a bucket in another room.

Cheers


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Ah Pablo...


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Dont ever assume anything of anyone in this forum. Ever.

Newbie or not.

Pixie, I know it can be difficult starting out and thrown into a situation where you suddenly have these fish. Its a lot to take in.. Everyone is trying to help. Even pablo.. in his own special way. :3

Just one step at a time..  Good luck!


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

I would agree with pablo...........take the fish and get a store credit or trade ................................
Really shouldnt have fish untill you know how to take care of them .
Amm can burn the gills off of them ,OUCH .
I am new to SW setup have never had a tank ,and i had mine set for a month now ,and no plans for fish for some months as i need to learn how to care for them.
It must be difficult for you as i know i would be overwhelmed!
Nothing like getting stuck with someone else's dream ,,,when it isnt yours!

Good Luck


My fav fish is .......powder blue tang


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