Fresh-Water Newbie

[King]

well prepare to feel worse like i do, angel is dead, another red platy is dead. one of the last red platy is hiding which they usually dont do so it might be next. everything else seems to be doing alright though.

 

[This Old Spouse]

What do you have left in the tank?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Unfortunately, I believe this is the outcome a lot of the time with fish-in cycles. If they aren't caught in time, this is always the outcome. Rest assured, that these fish have not died in vain. Your education is far better than it would have been if everything had gone off without a hitch. It is unfortunate, but you need to take heart that the lessons you are learning now will stick with you for the rest of your fishkeeping life. Your future fish will be far better off in the long run for the sacrifice these fish are making. (Not exactly, what you want to hear right now, I'm sure... but hopefully you can find some solace in it.)

 

[King]

yeah i didnt know what i was doing at first (obviously) and the angels could have been screwed up previously and finally just kicked the bucket, as i said this tank had never had a heater, and it didnt come with test kit so they basically just let it roll. took me forever to get the levels satisfactory, lots of water changes, had to have stressed them also. well i have learned ALOT in the past few weeks and SHOULD be able to do a better job from now on. plan to do another tank with proper prep this time, i got this 55 from a family that was moving and it had all these mature fish so i HAD to do it this way.

here is what i have:

big and little pleco (11" and 1.5")
2 big gold fish (3.5")
4 small albino cory cats (1")
2 red platies (1")
3 orange platies (1")
6 glow fish (.75")
8 neons (.5")
6 black fin tetras (1")
3 dwarf blue gourami (1.5")
3 yellow fantail guppies (1")

 

[This Old Spouse]

Then I guess you were well overstocked too!

Maybe all the remaining guys will make it. That's really not a bad combo you have, except for the goldfish IMO. Weren't you going to take them to the zoo? And the big pleco?

Other than that, I'd up the cats to at least 6 and you'll have a great looking tank.

Sorry this has been such a painful journey, but I know you'll have great successes from here.

 

[This Younger Spouse]

yeah i didnt know what i was doing at first (obviously) and the angels could have been screwed up previously and finally just kicked the bucket, as i said this tank had never had a heater, and it didnt come with test kit so they basically just let it roll. took me forever to get the levels satisfactory, lots of water changes, had to have stressed them also. well i have learned ALOT in the past few weeks and SHOULD be able to do a better job from now on. plan to do another tank with proper prep this time, i got this 55 from a family that was moving and it had all these mature fish so i HAD to do it this way.

here is what i have:

big and little pleco (11" and 1.5")
2 big gold fish (3.5")
4 small albino cory cats (1")
2 red platies (1")
3 orange platies (1")
6 glow fish (.75")
8 neons (.5")
6 black fin tetras (1")
3 dwarf blue gourami (1.5")
3 yellow fantail guppies (1")

So sorry to hear about the further deaths. Not unexpected, really, but still sad.

Based on what has died and what you have remaining, it also may be that the tank was significantly overloaded with fish. I haven't been doing it long enough to be positive of that, but is sure looks that way to me. If the bioload gets too heavy, it'll really put a lot of stress on the fish, not only because they are crowded, but because more food is being used and more waste produced, and then we're right back into ammonia spikes and such.

Not positive on the overloading. I'm wondering if someone with more years of experience might comment on that.

 

[King]

never did anything with the goldfish, now they are the only big fish i have other than the pleco. i always heard 1" per gallon of the tank and i did wind up over but hopefully not terribly. well the angels are gone so thats 7" of fish gone. i wouldnt mind having 2 more cory cats they are really cool.

if i do another tank soon, once cycled could i put some of these fish into that tank without shocking/stressing them?

 

[This Younger Spouse]

never did anything with the goldfish, now they are the only big fish i have other than the pleco. i always heard 1" per gallon of the tank and i did wind up over but hopefully not terribly. well the angels are gone so thats 7" of fish gone. i wouldnt mind having 2 more cory cats they are really cool.

if i do another tank soon, once cycled could i put some of these fish into that tank without shocking/stressing them?

The 1-inch rule is only a loose rule and not always spot on. However, with the stubstrate (pebble, gravel, sand), and rocks, wood or other decorations, you have significantly less than 55 gallons of water.

If you get a second tank up and running and through fishless cycling, it's easy to transfer fish. Just keep the plastic bags from the LFS and reuse them. From the old tank, put some water in the bag, net a few fish and put them in the water. Then lay the bag over the front edge of the new tank to let temps acclimate. Every few minutes, add a bit of water from the new tank into the bag so the fish can get a bit used to the new water. After maybe half an hour, we'll then net the fish out of the bag and put them in the new tank. Or you can just dump them in once acclimated. When we get fish back home from the LFS, we end up netting them out of the bag so we don't introduce significant amounts of strange (and potentially harmful) water into an existing and stable tank.

 

[King]

well i picked up a used 29gal today for a good deal. it is used and needs to be cleaned up. what should i use to clean it? i didnt want to grab dish detergent and just go to town (thinking ahead now lol). i know there is a good way to do it but i just dont know how.. also lost another red platy (that like 5 of them) and one of the yellow guppies. everything else "seems" stable.

 

[Blubble37]

u can use any detergent (preferrably one with a noticable fragrance) only if you wash it out really well (untill you cant smell it anymore) and then scrub it down with normal water.

 

[KittyKat]

I strongly advise against using a fragranced detergent, and not quite so strongly against unfragranced ones.

I use thin, unfragranced bleach (to disinfect) and/or vinegar (to remove limescale) to clean fish tanks, they are quite easy to clean out after washing is complete. First, I spray vinegar on any deposits, leave for a few minutes, then clean off with a new kitchen sponge. Repeat until all deposits are gone. Next, I fill the tank with a *very mild* bleach solution and let it soak for half an hour or so. Check tank for leaks here. Drain tank, refill with tap water, leave for some time. Drain tank, refill with water (apparently - I'm not quite sure on this point - if you use high dose of a dechlorinator like Tetra's Aquasafe, once there's no bleach left, the water will be blue instead of purple and you can keep adding dechlorinator to use up all bleach), give it a good scrub with the aquarium only kitchen sponge you used earlier, drain and dry.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1 Kitty Kat's recommendation - no fragrances, and no surfactants.



You can get the desired results with Kitty Kat's recommendations.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1
I use a scrubbie meant to avoid scratching, and the liquid is vinegar. Completely harmless. I also carefully use a razor on spots I can't get any other way.

 

[King]

thanks alot! wellll.... more bad news, as of 10hrs ago everything in the tank "seemed" healthy, i inspect it several times a day and look at the color of the fish and how they are acting. i just checked
it out and two of the blue dwarf gourami were turning BROWN, both were barely alive and didnt even mind me scooping them up in the net, i went ahead and flushed them. no need to let them suffer or potentially hurt the other fish. this SUCKS. i read that those have some disease they get or something, im getting online now to do some research. one of the big goldfish was just kind of chillin at the bottom and i was worried about it because thats odd behavior, now its swimming around and doing its thing, idk about it. ive looked for ICK, but none of them have any white on them. its still a mystery, i even called the fish genius at the LFS and he couldnt give me any advice. this tank is thinning out fast..

 

[This Younger Spouse]

Taken as a whole, you've got a lot of stress factors going on since you started up the aquarium. Ammonia spikes, overloading, possible serious temp changes, etc. Not to come across as callous (I hate it when fish die, myself), but it's not really surprising your herd is being thinned.

Have you done a water test today? If so, what results? If memory serves, you did your last water change day before yesterday. We'd be interested to see what's happend to your readings in that time.