2 sudden deaths in a day.

[BigFishSmallPond]

So far really good I have never seen her so active. Exploring the tank, not erratic or anything looks happy to be in the new tank. So long as nothing crazy happens...

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

The black has now left her face and she looks much healthier in just a day. She's bright yellow again, and full of energy. Thats her in my avvy. I did a 75% water change or so on the old tank today and cleaned the gravel in tank water it was very dirty lots of food in the gravel from when my wife overfed. My gravel vacuum was too large for a 10 gallon it refused to suck properly so i poured the water into a fish net over and over and trapped much of the crap from the gravel. I then prepared some water and refilled the tank. I just did a reading and the nitrites are still high but hopefully they will balance out. At least there are no fish in it anymore =[.

 

[Chaos bringer]

Dont worry everyones done it some more than once it sounds like youve built the tank up two fast i advise you in future to take it nice and slow.


Nice choice of fish

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

Thanks! =] Just a quick question about my old ten gallon. I cleaned the gravel (in tank water) and did at least a 70% water change and STILL the Nitrite is NOT moving its still as high as the test shows (dark purple) My question is will it eventually come down (there are no fish in it) in a week or so? or should i just start from scratch?

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

Nitrite is still at 3.3+ in the ten gallon =[

 

[pahansen]

Hi. You asked a while back about adding salt to the tank. Plecos are scaleless fish, and scaleless fish cannot tolerate any salt in the tank. Be very sure that future fish can all tolerate salt before you add it to the tank. The most common fish that don't tolerate salt are some types of catfish (plecos are one) and loaches, but it's important to check on all your fish before you add salt.

If you wanted to, you could probably start from scratch in the 10 gallon tank, but you'll still have to find some way to add an ammonia source to the fresh tank. (I assume you've read about cycling a tank by now, both with and without fish.) Even if you use the old gravel (which should contain some beneficial bacteria), the bacteria will simply die off without a source of ammonia to feed from. So if you start from scratch, it will still take a while to cycle the tank. If you leave the tank alone (or continue to do some water changes), I would think that eventually the bacteria would catch up and your nitrite levels will begin to drop. I also think that it will be difficult to guess which way would be faster.

My suggestion is to stay on top of the nitrite levels in your larger tank to keep those fish healthy. At this point, you're not really needing the 10 gallon, since the pleco and cichlid should probably not go back to the 10 gallon anyways. (They're fairly large fish for that tank.) Once the nitrite levels get very close to 0, I'd find some small hearty fish to put in the 10 gallon so that the bacteria doesn't die off. Don't go overboard, just put in a pair to keep the tank going. Personally, I'd let them enjoy the tank alone for 3 or 4 weeks before adding anyone else.

If you want a sense of movement and "fullness" for your 10 gallon, house small schooling fish in your that tank. Their collective movement makes the tank seem like it has more fish in it. Generally speaking, the rule of thumb would be 1" of fish per gallon (assuming adult sizes and small fish). So you could add, for example, ten fish that would grow to an adult size of 1" or five fish that grow to 2". I think that it's always shocking (when you're new to fishkeeping) just how few fish should go into a tank. Try adding some plants (live or fake), aquarium-safe wood or rocks, or other ornaments to fill up some of the "empty" space, and it will seem like the fish population is larger also.

Good luck, and someone correct me if I've given faulty advice!
Pamela

A helpful article about Good (and Bad) Beginner Fish:
http/faq.thekrib.com/fish-popular.html#livebearers

EDIT:
PS -- A decomposing fish would certainly give your beneficial bacteria something to feed from, but YUCK! Nothing quite like cycling a tank and adding potential disease risks at the same time! I'm with you -- I'd check here before I trusted any advice from that LFS again!

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

Great reply, Pamela, thanks for the informative post. =]