Feeling discouraged

[Byron]

You need to pin down the GH and KH (Alkalinity) as others have said. When you take a water sample (of your tap water on its own), the GH is the more important but it would be very helpful to know the KH (Alkalinity) as well if they will test both. Make sure you get the number (write it down, don't leave anything to memory as this is very important data) and their unit of measurement (it will be something like ppm, degrees, mg/l). Without both the number and their unit to measure, we can't proceed.

You mentioned adjusting the pH earlier in this thread...do not. The pH is connected to the GH and KH and once we know these it will be easier to asses things.

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

Okay, I need to buy a few things so the next time I go to the store I will bring my tap water to be tested. I never knew anything about that so I'm glad I found this group. My tank looks so much better today after doing just the 50% water change and all my remainder fish seem happy and swimming around. I put who know stability Soand prime in whatyeaterday with my water change. I don't know what was wrong, or why the 5 fish died, maybe that gourami just brought something bad in and it spread fast? My white guppy did have a little swollen belly and a little blood on fins and tummy, but it was weird that my original guppies that I've had for 5 months had to suffer for it I didn't see any spots on any of the ones that passed except the gouramis.

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

This hobby is heart breaking.... I feel like I'm gonna stop because you get attached to fish and they die... Yesterday I was doing a water change my pleco got scared and I saw him and then he dissappeared, well he's been gone over 24 hours and then it dawned on me when I first turned my filter back on after water change it didn't turn in until I hit it and messed with it for a minute, he must have crawled up the tube to hide during water change and then my filter sucked him up when it kicked back on he was stuck between the tube and the filter house. I'm so sad, I loved him. How do you prevent them from going up or near the filter tubes while they are little?

 

[Colin_T]

How do you prevent them from going up or near the filter tubes while they are little?

You can buy round/ cylindrical sponges for some brands of internal power filter. These sponges have a hole through the centre and fit over the intake strainer of most external power filters.

To clean the sponge simply squeeze it out in a bucket of tank water every week or whenever you do water changes.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Don’t give up if you love the hobby. Most of us lost fish in the beginning. One day you’ll realize you haven’t lost a fish in months and the joy begins. It’s a lot to learn but well worth it in the end. Hang in there.

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

Hey all it's me again!! I just started my QT tank and I have 4 fish in there right now awaiting their home. What's the minimum length of time I should watch them? Should I change the QT water daily with tank water? Also when I'm done with QT tank and move my second filter back to the main display tank do I rinse the filter out with watthe tankQ tank water or use dechlorinated water or dispose and put a new one in to start building up Beneficial bacteria for next QT? Thank you

 

[FishGuest5123]

Glad to hear from you. Most people say to QT for 2 weeks. A few say a month. I normally only give it a week to be sure there’s no ich. My reason is because most other diseases won’t show up in 2 weeks anyway. You can just move your filter back over when done as the fish will have been exposed to anything in it already. I usually rinse the media in the tank water. If the QT tank is cycled by the media then you don’t need to do daily water changes. I would do them every few days just to keep the fish healthy. Test your water while they’re in there. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

So I had 4 fish in my QT tank one fish passed away on the second day. I couldn't see anything apparent, so I had a bacterial infection remedy on hand that I treated the water with and the other 3 are fine, I thought I saw like 2 white dots on one of the fish but nothing really easily noticeable but I'm wondering if it's ich but I really can barely see and it's only on one fish, they have been QT for 5 days so far, I was going to do a week and then move them to my display tank after I observe a little bit longer, however now that one of them passed and I am questioning the second one I don't know how long, also Now I feel like I should for sure rinse the filter out and the media before I move my filter back to the display tank, what's your process on the filter if one of the fish passed.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Fish die sometimes during the QT process. Often it’s the stress of moving. Did you acclimate the fish before placing in the QT tank? This would mean allowing them to float in the bag for about 30 minutes and then slowly pouring a little tank water in bag a little at a time over next 30 minutes. Then remove fish from bag but do not pour the water from bag into the tank. If more spots appear on fish you can raise your tank temperature to 86F and leave it there for 14 days. It will kill all of the ich. Rinse your filter in tank water from main tank.

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

Yes I floated them on top in their bags for like 20 min then put them in my tank water, with non of their bag water. I just didn't add my tank water to the bags before. It does look like they have ich. Two of them have like 2 or 3 white Dots on their find, not very many. I can't get a picture that is easy to see. I don't have an adjustable heater on my QT tank, I do have aquarium salt, can I use that? And then just do 20% water changes every day?

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

 

[Sarah C Mckee]

You can only see one small dot on one of the feathwrfin rainbow and then one small dot on the ram fin

 

[Byron]

I cannot see the "dots," and if these fish were mine I would most certainly not add salt or anything else but clean water. Increase the temperature. Rams need warmth permanently, no less than 80F to begin with. Raising the temp to 86F is advisable for a week or two weeks. The fish can fight ich off easily if not stressed more.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I can’t really tell by the pic. If you can’t move the thermometer then you’ll have to purchase some Rid Ich or one of those ich meds. Watch them and see how they look tomorrow first to be sure it is Ich. Ich is the one thing that shows up quickly on QT new fish.