Fishtank Cracked, Had To Buy New Fishtank, Cyling With Fish It Help

[tan160581]

my fishtank, 2 nights okay 400 litres cracked at the back, and 4am in the morning i heard a loud noise and most of my fish were in the carpet, i found a large bin and put them in and managed to save 100 litres of water, i brought myself a new fishtank which arrived yesterday and i put new water in declorinated and added new stones and put in there old hiding caves, my old tank had the external fluvals but the new tank i have got is a trickle down filter, so i have the new and the old sponges mixed together and then i added stability into the tank and some bacteria which the shop told me i could add the fish within 2 hours, so i waited and then added the fish and then added there old water into the tank,

well i have lost 2 blockhead ciclids at the minute and my angels and parrots are sitting at the service, my dollars, plecs catfish severum cilclids and ells look okay touch wood at the minute, but when i got up this morning the water has gone very cloudy but yesterday it was clear, i have done a test and my nitate and nitrite are about a 6 and a 8 so in the middle, someone said do 25% water changes every day, but i didnt know i was suppose to do that as that would be old water i am taking ut and adding new, please advise as confused and i dont want to lose anymore fish, and i had to put them in the tank as i live in a one bedroom house with 5 cats so leaving them in the bin was no answer, i did ring my local fishshop who i have spent 100s in regarding equipment, tank mates etc and all i got was no sorry,

 

[holidayinn]

Sorry to hear of your situation. You seem to be doing the right thing tho.

Were the fluval filter running in the bin? If not, the beneficial bacteria would have died and you're now fish-in cycling the fish, which is why you see nitrite, have you tested for ammonia? How come you can't just hook up the fluvals again?

If this is the case, water changes when ever possible are necessary.

 

[tan160581]

no i didnt have the fluval filters in the bin, i coulnt did try, i had the thermotor in there and that was starting to melt the bin but it lasted for the days that i had to wait, i didnt lose any fish when they were in the bin only when i added them to the tank, angels are not looking well at all, they are kinda on there side at the top and not swimming much, i didnt put the fluvals in the tank as the man that delivered it, who was the manufacturer said not to as its all the system of the hood of the tank and just told me to take everything out of the fluval and add to the new sponges and carbon which i have done

as to the water change i was told by my shop NOT to unless the amonia was zero, which i was confused about as i thought if that was zero i wouldnt be having any problems, i am actually going out today to buy a proper testing kit, so once i have done that i will post on here to give more light of the situation

so you reckon water changes till the amonia is zero then, would that would be every day and 10% xx

 

[holidayinn]

Like you say if ammonia was 0, you'd have no problems, but you'd still have to check for Nitrite. I think the shop is suggesting a fishless cycling method only you have fish. When the cycle is complete then ammonia will be zero, then you can take out the nitrates that would be through the roof. Unfortunately this method puts your fish at high risk being exposed to ammonia and nitrite.

Depending on how stocked your tank is I woul do at least daily WC's of as much as you can manage, say betweem 20-50%, until nitrite and ammonia are 0. Or if you can get some mature media from anywhere that could seed your existing media and speed up the process.

I'm sure others will be along with bits of advice. Good luck!