Scribble1979
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2019
- Messages
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Hi everyone,
This will be long, apologies. I am new here. I have had my current tank for a week and a half. Sadly like so many others here, I did everything wrong in the beginning. Originally I bought two bettas from a store and put them in a 2.5 gallon separated tank. One of them got swim bladder and I watched him slowly die. As sad as it is, that is what inspired me to learn more about what I was doing.
I started with two bettas, a 2.5g tank for one week. Then I moved to a 6.6g tank with the one surviving betta. He had swim bladder too, but thanks to all of you here, I saved him and it was CLOSE. (Learned I had to soak the betta pellets before feeding). I had this set up for a week.
Still doing everything wrong, I decided I wanted a 10g tank so I moved my betta to that tank. I didn't wait a day or two like you are supposed to, I just did the swapping a cup of water here and there over the period of a day and then put my betta in. I know, this was BAD. Thankfully he was doing fine. I've had this tank for a week and a half.
THEN and I made another rookie move on day three with this tank and got 3 xray tetras, and five ghost shrimp and a pleco that I have since been informed will end up being two feet long one day! Aside from acclimatizing them to the water, you guessed it, no quarantine.
Thankfully 9 days later, everyone is still alive. Through this forum I also learned that plecos need food! Whew... Soaking driftwood now, two days left and he gets it along with the cucumber and algae wafers he likes.
Since then I have bought those measuring strips to assess the tank situation. I have had several crisis situations with both ammonia and nitrite. Thankfully I was able to do a 50% water change twice and correct the situation. I use half tap water and half ro water because my tap water pH goes sky high when combined with my bubbler. Amazing what I've learned from my self induced panic situations
Well I did a 75 percent water change two days ago, and also changed the filter because it was plugged up. The filter is a whisper bio filter with carbon inside it.
Tank specs:
10 Gallon * I know I need a bigger tank. Not right now, this one has been hard enough! *
One preset water heater 78 degrees
One 6 inch bubble stick
7 artificial plants
Medium tetra whisper filter.
One artificial castle decoration
20 round smooth rock decorations.
Current water specs:
Nitrate 10-20
Nitrite 0
Hardness 150 (very hard, how to fix?)
Alkalinity 180
PH 7.8 - 8.2
Ammonia 0
Fish specs
1 bn pleco
3 xray tetras
5 ghost shrimp
1 round tail male betta
Thankfully I'm not really having any fish issues at the moment other than my betta can act kind of strange sometimes and rub on his floating log. The tetras act wild and crazy and they are always together. My pleco for some reason likes to sleep on the bottom of the tank during the day which scared me because I thought he was dead.
The real issue here is the cloudiness of the tank. 2 days ago I did a 75% water change because I had put cucumber in the tank for my pleco and I didn't realize he didn't eat it. Two days later my tank was a cloudy mess of disintegrated cucumber.
My water change process:
1. Remove all of my ghost shrimp from the tank
2. Remove betta from tank
3. Use gravel cleaner to suck nasties from gravel. By the time I'm done, approx 50 percent of water is removed.
4. Wipe walls of tank down.
5. Add water half ro and half tap. Tap water is declorinated first.
6. Let tank cycle for an hour and test, if it is within specifications I put my shrimp back in and acclimate my betta to the water before putting him back.
Feed:
Betta and Tetra - Tropical fish flakes and bloodworms
Pleco - Cucumber and alge tabs, soon to be driftwood.
I feed one pinch three times a day. The light is on 8 hours a day.
Can someone please tell me if you think I'm even somewhere in the nitrogen cycle, and why my tank might be so cloudy 2 days after changing 75% of the water? It is very frustrating because I think I'm going to have to do another water change. I'm scared I'm going to shock my betta because this will be the fourth water change in nine days.
Since I know somebody will ask if I was able to get a cycled filter from somewhere, no I was not able to do that. No I did not use any of the bacteria from my previous tanks because I did not know I should have.
At one point the ammonia in the tank hit at least 4, it was in the Danger Zone on my strips and the nitrite had been as high as 5.0. I have to thank my betta for letting me know something was wrong, he was not acting right.
I am very protective of my betta now because I lost one and it was heartbreaking. My friends are starting calling me the Crazy Fish lady because I actually started talking to my betta LOL
Every time I come near the tank he comes to the front to greet me and he follows my finger across the tank. I was able to touch him the other day and he was okay with it. This fish may be making me crazy LOL
Everyone told me he would eat my ghost fish and he hasn't done anything of the sort. He chases the Tetra around but I think they're playing because he has never shown any signs of trying to hurt them.
He has never made a bubble nest. I have no idea what that even is or if I would even notice because the bubbler makes lots of bubbles.
Anyway, told you this was long. Any advice about my foggy tank or any advice in general would be great. Please and thankyou!
OH, if anyone will be in need of a two foot long pleco in a few years, hit me up!
This will be long, apologies. I am new here. I have had my current tank for a week and a half. Sadly like so many others here, I did everything wrong in the beginning. Originally I bought two bettas from a store and put them in a 2.5 gallon separated tank. One of them got swim bladder and I watched him slowly die. As sad as it is, that is what inspired me to learn more about what I was doing.
I started with two bettas, a 2.5g tank for one week. Then I moved to a 6.6g tank with the one surviving betta. He had swim bladder too, but thanks to all of you here, I saved him and it was CLOSE. (Learned I had to soak the betta pellets before feeding). I had this set up for a week.
Still doing everything wrong, I decided I wanted a 10g tank so I moved my betta to that tank. I didn't wait a day or two like you are supposed to, I just did the swapping a cup of water here and there over the period of a day and then put my betta in. I know, this was BAD. Thankfully he was doing fine. I've had this tank for a week and a half.
THEN and I made another rookie move on day three with this tank and got 3 xray tetras, and five ghost shrimp and a pleco that I have since been informed will end up being two feet long one day! Aside from acclimatizing them to the water, you guessed it, no quarantine.
Thankfully 9 days later, everyone is still alive. Through this forum I also learned that plecos need food! Whew... Soaking driftwood now, two days left and he gets it along with the cucumber and algae wafers he likes.
Since then I have bought those measuring strips to assess the tank situation. I have had several crisis situations with both ammonia and nitrite. Thankfully I was able to do a 50% water change twice and correct the situation. I use half tap water and half ro water because my tap water pH goes sky high when combined with my bubbler. Amazing what I've learned from my self induced panic situations
Well I did a 75 percent water change two days ago, and also changed the filter because it was plugged up. The filter is a whisper bio filter with carbon inside it.
Tank specs:
10 Gallon * I know I need a bigger tank. Not right now, this one has been hard enough! *
One preset water heater 78 degrees
One 6 inch bubble stick
7 artificial plants
Medium tetra whisper filter.
One artificial castle decoration
20 round smooth rock decorations.
Current water specs:
Nitrate 10-20
Nitrite 0
Hardness 150 (very hard, how to fix?)
Alkalinity 180
PH 7.8 - 8.2
Ammonia 0
Fish specs
1 bn pleco
3 xray tetras
5 ghost shrimp
1 round tail male betta
Thankfully I'm not really having any fish issues at the moment other than my betta can act kind of strange sometimes and rub on his floating log. The tetras act wild and crazy and they are always together. My pleco for some reason likes to sleep on the bottom of the tank during the day which scared me because I thought he was dead.
The real issue here is the cloudiness of the tank. 2 days ago I did a 75% water change because I had put cucumber in the tank for my pleco and I didn't realize he didn't eat it. Two days later my tank was a cloudy mess of disintegrated cucumber.
My water change process:
1. Remove all of my ghost shrimp from the tank
2. Remove betta from tank
3. Use gravel cleaner to suck nasties from gravel. By the time I'm done, approx 50 percent of water is removed.
4. Wipe walls of tank down.
5. Add water half ro and half tap. Tap water is declorinated first.
6. Let tank cycle for an hour and test, if it is within specifications I put my shrimp back in and acclimate my betta to the water before putting him back.
Feed:
Betta and Tetra - Tropical fish flakes and bloodworms
Pleco - Cucumber and alge tabs, soon to be driftwood.
I feed one pinch three times a day. The light is on 8 hours a day.
Can someone please tell me if you think I'm even somewhere in the nitrogen cycle, and why my tank might be so cloudy 2 days after changing 75% of the water? It is very frustrating because I think I'm going to have to do another water change. I'm scared I'm going to shock my betta because this will be the fourth water change in nine days.
Since I know somebody will ask if I was able to get a cycled filter from somewhere, no I was not able to do that. No I did not use any of the bacteria from my previous tanks because I did not know I should have.
At one point the ammonia in the tank hit at least 4, it was in the Danger Zone on my strips and the nitrite had been as high as 5.0. I have to thank my betta for letting me know something was wrong, he was not acting right.
I am very protective of my betta now because I lost one and it was heartbreaking. My friends are starting calling me the Crazy Fish lady because I actually started talking to my betta LOL
Every time I come near the tank he comes to the front to greet me and he follows my finger across the tank. I was able to touch him the other day and he was okay with it. This fish may be making me crazy LOL
Everyone told me he would eat my ghost fish and he hasn't done anything of the sort. He chases the Tetra around but I think they're playing because he has never shown any signs of trying to hurt them.
He has never made a bubble nest. I have no idea what that even is or if I would even notice because the bubbler makes lots of bubbles.
Anyway, told you this was long. Any advice about my foggy tank or any advice in general would be great. Please and thankyou!
OH, if anyone will be in need of a two foot long pleco in a few years, hit me up!