Emergency

[markandhisfish]

i use an under gravel filter.im inexperienced fish keeper.i was told you dont need to gravel vac with an under gravel filter.i have had the tank for 5 months.on others advice ive never cleaned gravel.so its absolutely jam packed full of crap.changing from plastic plants to real ones ,ive disturbed the gravel.which has caused nitrites etc to go off the scale.so far have lost 2 fish ,and coreys are very lethargic.havent got a gravel vac as was told i didnt need 1.have done a 50% water change ,nitrites dropped slightly but still high.i think i should a complete tank strip down and wash gravel in tank water.obviuosly cant do this with fish in.will they be ok in a bucket or similar while i do this?.is what im thinking of doing is this the right course of action?.if not ,what should i do as need to get my tank sorted.

 

[invader]

Don't strip the tank down! That's like cleaning out the filter and you will have to cycle your tank again.

I would do another water change, with a gravel vacuuming. I used to have an UGF and I vacuumed all the time, because crap does get down there and gets nasty. I don't know who told you not to do that, but that's really bad advice.

Just start slow, do one water change with some vacuuming and test the water and work from there.

 

[markandhisfish]

have not got gravel vac even if i could get to lfs,have not any money what so ever at mo so cant buy one.is there anything i can inprovise with temporarily ??

 

[monkeywobbler]

I used to just use the clear plastic tube that came with my gravel vac - do you have a hose pipe?

 

[markandhisfish]

I used to just use the clear plastic tube that came with my gravel vac - do you have a hose pipe?yes i do have a hose pipe

 

[invader]

Er, I'm not sure what to suggest. How about putting some screen/pantyhose/something to that effect over the end of the hose pipe to make sure no gravel goes down, but waste does?

 

[monkeywobbler]

Yeah invaders idea is a good one - make sure the mesh is fairly large or half the muck won't go up. Or just use the hose by itself and wiggle it over the gravel, veeerry gently disturbing it

 

[markandhisfish]

ok will do . have just got in from work got my girlfriend to post for me while i was out. am going to cut some off of my hosepipe and get to work. should i do the vaccing a little at a time as opposed to trying to do the whole tank at once? im really pissed off thought i was doing everything right. i mean i do regular water changves etc but now thanks to some really bad advice i have a tank that is basicly a piece of crap. just hope i can pull it round and save the rest of my fish. will be buying a gravel vac at the weekend. how often should i vac ? never thought to ask about the vaccing on here as i thought i was doing it right. i feel bad now 2 fish have died needlessly 1 of which is my female krib . and the male was nudging her as if to say " come on wake up" . im gutted

 

[monkeywobbler]

ok will do . have just got in from work got my girlfriend to post for me while i was out. am going to cut some off of my hosepipe and get to work. should i do the vaccing a little at a time as opposed to trying to do the whole tank at once? im really pissed off thought i was doing everything right. i mean i do regular water changves etc but now thanks to some really bad advice i have a tank that is basicly a piece of crap. just hope i can pull it round and save the rest of my fish. will be buying a gravel vac at the weekend. how often should i vac ? never thought to ask about the vaccing on here as i thought i was doing it right. i feel bad now 2 fish have died needlessly 1 of which is my female krib . and the male was nudging her as if to say " come on wake up" . im gutted

Oh that's a shame, but don't kick yourself, we all make stupid mistakes. You trusted the advice you were given and that's not your fault. People can be nasty and tell you to do more research but you might not think you need to if you've been given trusted advice.
I clean my substrate weekly, but with the UG filter you'll need to do it less. What *I* would do is to just suck up any big bits of muck that you can see once a week from now on, and try not to let too much gunk build up on top of everything. Although I'm no expert so you might want to wait for more experienced people to comment.

Chin up! You're a better fishkeeper for the experience.

Monkey

 

[markandhisfish]

thanks for your help i appreciate it. im going to get stuck into the tank now. gonna vac a bit and do a water change then more of the same over the next few days testing as i go. should i withhold food for a few days while i do this?

 

[monkeywobbler]

It might be a good idea to either feed very lightly or not at all. It shouldn't hurt them, I recently went on holiday to Scotland and didn't feed my fish for 4 days and they were fine!

 

[invader]

I would hold off on feeding, since you are trying to get the water quality to come up. Adding food will only be counter productive. The fish will be fine, as monkeywobbler stated.

Imo, I would do as much as you can, because you can't possibly get too much with only the hose pipe (unless that is huge!). When changing the water in the future, gravel vac some, but not a lot, because the "junk" in the substrate is basically your filter.

Good luck! If you ever decide to switch away from UGFs, be prepared for the biggest mess you've ever seen, lol. Nothing you can't handle though. I remember switching away from them and I haven't looked back yet.

 

[markandhisfish]

i do plan on switching from ugf to canister filter in my next tank. this has mad e me realise i have a hell of alot to learn tho. well i have done a good gravel vac and a water change of roughgly 70% tested after and stats are very nearly normal. the change in the fish was almost instant. my corys are busy little bees again and no fish are gasping. this must of stressed them tho so havin a lights off period now . was thinking i probably wont feed for 3 to 5 days ( sound about right ?) fingers crossed i think i am on top of it and have learned a valuable lesson. thanks for all of your help people i really appreciate it

 

[monkeywobbler]

I would leave it 3 days and then give them a small amount of food. I'm glad the fish are perked up!

 

[tenohfive]

When you've got the cash, pick up a second hand internal filter - depending on your tank size it shouldn't be expensive, and you won't need to worry about a repeat.

UGF are pretty outdated as it goes mate, but like is said above - you live an learn.