New To Fish And Need Some Advice/help

It's actually like a 10 inch bubble wand that spans the length of the tank (along the back wall) and does a wall of bubbles. But as long as it shouldn't hurt him I'll keep it going for aeration.

And yeah, I wasn't going to add fish until it was ready for them. The lady I talked to (not the one that said bettas like a vase but one who seemed to know a bit more about fish) told me it should probably be ready in like 4 days or so, but I will take your word for it when it's ready and not hers as you all seem to know a great deal more about fish than anyone I've previously talked to.

JillianJaclyn said:

It's actually like a 10 inch bubble wand that spans the length of the tank (along the back wall) and does a wall of bubbles. But as long as it shouldn't hurt him I'll keep it going for aeration.

And yeah, I wasn't going to add fish until it was ready for them. The lady I talked to (not the one that said bettas like a vase but one who seemed to know a bit more about fish) told me it should probably be ready in like 4 days or so, but I will take your word for it when it's ready and not hers as you all seem to know a great deal more about fish than anyone I've previously talked to.

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So long as he doesn't have any problems swimming with it on, it should be fine

I wouldn't add fish until your levels are stable. That way, your tank will be able to cope with them and you won't need to worry so much
What did you have in mind for with tank mates?

Ahaa, I've only been fish keeping for a year! We all learn from our mistakes, and I'm sure you'll be a great fish keeper soon enough.

-FighterFishh said:

JillianJaclyn said:

lilfishie said:

Make sure theres some surface movement to allow more oxygen into the water, turn the lights off for now give him a few hours see if that helps, it may just be the stress of being moved about, which is not your fault

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He is swimming some now. I have the bubble wand so there's a good amount of surface movement. Oh, and I have the temperature set at about 81 degrees. Is that about right?

Is there a decent test kit that's not really expensive? I'm not working while I'm finishing college and I have limited funds. This has definitely turned out to be more money than I expected it to be, but I've always been taught if you have a pet take good care of it.

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Sounds brilliant!

The best test kit would be this one, but I only have an ammonia one, and that does me fine. For you though, I'd suggest an ammonia one, a nitrate one and a nitrite one so that you can keep up to date on your cycle

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Yeah, I think that's the one the guy at the store recommended. I was just not sure if it was overpriced there. I'm going to a new aquarium only store today (was going to ask advice, but I think I'm good now so I'm just going to go look and get a test kit) and probably get one there.

Thank you all so much again. I'm sure my fish appreciates you giving me a crash course. I had no idea there was SO much to fish.

Okay! I think my one ammonia test kit was around £7? They are pretty expensive, but they are a world more accurate than the test strips.

-FighterFishh said:

Okay! I think my one ammonia test kit was around £7? They are pretty expensive, but they are a world more accurate than the test strips.

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Well I suppose that with all the money I've already put into it I may as well add a bit more and get it working correctly instead of just trying to save money and make this drag out more and more which will probably cost more in the long run.

After the cycling is complete how often should I test the water? With every water change or more often than that?

JillianJaclyn said:

Well I suppose that with all the money I've already put into it I may as well add a bit more and get it working correctly instead of just trying to save money and make this drag out more and more which will probably cost more in the long run.

After the cycling is complete how often should I test the water? With every water change or more often than that?

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Yeah, it probably would!

I test my water in my tanks every week, though it's really up to you how often you test it.

Loads of good advice already given, so I'll just say hello and I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with your new boy. I hope that he is soon swimming around happily. Even with good water conditions it oftens takes them a few days to settle and often they seem very lethargic and don't eat. Best of luck!

fuzzynicki said:

Loads of good advice already given, so I'll just say hello and I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with your new boy. I hope that he is soon swimming around happily. Even with good water conditions it oftens takes them a few days to settle and often they seem very lethargic and don't eat. Best of luck!

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Thanks for the welcome! Yes, he does seem lethargic. But he is swimming around a good deal more. However neither he nor the platy that is in the tank have eaten since I got them yesterday. But I won't worry about that just yet, I know they can go several days without eating.



I tested my water with the API liquid test kit after doing a 50% water change. The pH was 8.2 right after the water change and is now at 7.4 after a treatment of pH down. Apparently the pH is so high in our tap water because we have such hard water here. The ammonia after the water change tested at somewhere between 0.25 and 0.5 ppm (closer to the 0.25 I think). The nitrites were at 0 ppm I believe. The nitrates were also at 0 ppm.

I want the nitrates to be slightly higher than zero right? I know ammonia and nitrites should be at zero. Also, I'm assuming the water changes should take care of the ammonia, but if there's something else I need to do I would be happy to know what.

Thank you all for your help. Hopefully I'll be a quick study and won't have to bother you all with so many questions.

they probably won't eat for a few days to start with, but whilst cycling only feed them a tiny bit every 2-3 days to help keep the ammonia down.

Glad he is swimming about a little more now

JillianJaclyn said:

And yeah, I wasn't going to add fish until it was ready for them. The lady I talked to (not the one that said bettas like a vase but one who seemed to know a bit more about fish) told me it should probably be ready in like 4 days or so, but I will take your word for it when it's ready and not hers as you all seem to know a great deal more about fish than anyone I've previously talked to.

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Cycling usually takes 4-6 weeks, not 4 days: the filter is cycled when you feed your fish every day, but ammonia and nitrite are always 0 ppm.

JillianJaclyn said:

I tested my water with the API liquid test kit after doing a 50% water change. The pH was 8.2 right after the water change and is now at 7.4 after a treatment of pH down.

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I would stop adding the pH down. The swinging pH this is causing is not good for the fish, especially as they are also coping with a cycle. The number of water changes you will be doing during the cycle means your pH will be all over the place if you treat the tank every time. Leave the pH alone and see what it settles at after you finish cycling. Then if it's still too high, use something like bogwood or even peat pellets to lower the pH rather than a chemical.

essjay said:

JillianJaclyn said:

I tested my water with the API liquid test kit after doing a 50% water change. The pH was 8.2 right after the water change and is now at 7.4 after a treatment of pH down.

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I would stop adding the pH down. The swinging pH this is causing is not good for the fish, especially as they are also coping with a cycle. The number of water changes you will be doing during the cycle means your pH will be all over the place if you treat the tank every time. Leave the pH alone and see what it settles at after you finish cycling. Then if it's still too high, use something like bogwood or even peat pellets to lower the pH rather than a chemical.

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Okay. Thank you for the advice.

Hows he doing today?

lilfishie said:

Hows he doing today?

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He seems to be doing well. He seems to be enjoying doing some aerobic exercise by swimming around up and down and through the bubbles from the bubble wand. The platy is doing well also. I think my snail might be sick and/or dying so I guess I'm going to have to get him out of there.

I got 4 more plants (they didn't have any elodea at the store I went to so I have 2 fern plants and 2 other plants). The bamboo seems to be doing alright still but I've been watching it to make sure it doesn't start dying and making the water bad.

I have been changing 50-60% of the water daily and testing it every day after the water change. Yesterday the ammonia was up to 0.5 ppm and today it was up to 1.0 ppm. The nitrates and nitrites were both still 0 ppm yesterday, but I didn't test those today because I didn't want to use all my solution. I figured I'd do the nitrates and nitrites like every other day or so.

So I was just wondering, am I going to have to cycle the tank every time I need to change the filter?

But the fish seem to be doing okay so far. Although I'm not having much luck keeping the ammonia down.

Thanks for asking.

Brilliant! Glad to hear the platy and your betta are doing well!

If the ammonia isn't going down, then do bigger water changes to try and get it to a safer level
I know it's time consuming, but it'll be worth it in the long run

Sounds good! Could I see some pics of the plants you got? I can have a go at IDing them if you like

And with the filter, you don't really need to change it that often. Every 6 weeks or so, get a bowl of tank water and wash the sponge in it. Do not use tap water, as that will kill the good bacteria. Then you can just put that sponge back in and carry on! Only change it once it gets really manky