newbie hob
Fish Fanatic
hello to all and thanks for the feed back i have been receiving and to the efforts that are being given. actually reading the posts on this site encouraged me more on every time i have become totally discouraged to the point i wanted to give up.
i started out as any beginner of thinking that you just buy a tank and dump the fish in, little did i know that this got me addicted and sucked into something that is becoming harder and harder. I am still a beginner but i think i went through all. I started with a plastic 30 litre tank, and some ornaments, gravel, submersible filter, and tetras ( 8 ) (first mistake). the tetras lasted 2 days and they started falling one after the other some with all types of diseases and some most probably for the water conditions (which i knew nothing about) (second mistake) every time i checked with my LFS (whom i thought knew the answers to my questions) i ended up buying all types of chemicals and using them on my tank (third mistake) in addition to that i would buy more fish any type (as long as it looked nice) to replace the ones that passed away (fourth mistake) being impatient (fifth mistake).
after 3 weeks of agony and a lot of, sick, dead and stressed fish i found your site, where i started learning a lot about the hobby, however it was sad for me to know that where i am currently living ( UAE ) ALL the LFS are only good in selling you fish, equipment and chemicals ( they do NOT know about anything called fish keeping) i got my self one small additional plastic (1 gallon) as a QT and put one tetra survivor (the last one who lost every thing on her including the fins, tail and eye) in a solvent of methylene blue.) i disinfected the main 8 gallon tank and started a cycle.
after two weeks ( too short for cycle
) i got the test kits that i could put my hands on (nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonium) two platies and put them in there with a moneywort plant with a daily 25% water change. test results where good in the beginning however i started getting some string like fluffy white algae all over everything and the fish spent the time on the top gasping for air, in the same time the platie gave birth to thirty plus fry. two days after that one of my platies died and a lot of the fry did too.
I kept the 25% daily water change sometime 50% and vacuuming this algae which are present now but very little of them, I also added an air pump, the readings of the nitrite and nitrate where fluctuating and some times giving me a zero.
After loosing 80% of the fry in a week period i have moved the tetra back to the main tank and put the fry in the QT tank with a mini filter mixed with air with fresh water and daily 70% - 80% change and a 3 daily powder meals.
As of yesterday i have one black tetra ( fins, tail growing) looks healthy and eating fine, one wag tail platie looks healthy but acts strangely every now and then but no signs of anything and eating well, very high nitrite and zero nitrate, in the QT i have 7 fry left with a daily 70% water change. and 10 % water change on the main tank. All the water changes are being treated for chlorine, ( is there a limit ??? on how much dechlorinator is being put???), very little salt ( a small pinch for every gallon of water) and fed 5 flakes once a day (which they consume in seconds)
I cannot Find PH nor Ammonia test kits in here yet, and i cannot trust my LFS with anything they tell me, ( i have checked out 5 places ) i will just wait until i go home for a vacation and get them from the US in June. am I going to keep on suffering until that time?? Or is this normal?? or should i just forget about the hobby??
i started out as any beginner of thinking that you just buy a tank and dump the fish in, little did i know that this got me addicted and sucked into something that is becoming harder and harder. I am still a beginner but i think i went through all. I started with a plastic 30 litre tank, and some ornaments, gravel, submersible filter, and tetras ( 8 ) (first mistake). the tetras lasted 2 days and they started falling one after the other some with all types of diseases and some most probably for the water conditions (which i knew nothing about) (second mistake) every time i checked with my LFS (whom i thought knew the answers to my questions) i ended up buying all types of chemicals and using them on my tank (third mistake) in addition to that i would buy more fish any type (as long as it looked nice) to replace the ones that passed away (fourth mistake) being impatient (fifth mistake).
after 3 weeks of agony and a lot of, sick, dead and stressed fish i found your site, where i started learning a lot about the hobby, however it was sad for me to know that where i am currently living ( UAE ) ALL the LFS are only good in selling you fish, equipment and chemicals ( they do NOT know about anything called fish keeping) i got my self one small additional plastic (1 gallon) as a QT and put one tetra survivor (the last one who lost every thing on her including the fins, tail and eye) in a solvent of methylene blue.) i disinfected the main 8 gallon tank and started a cycle.
after two weeks ( too short for cycle
) i got the test kits that i could put my hands on (nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonium) two platies and put them in there with a moneywort plant with a daily 25% water change. test results where good in the beginning however i started getting some string like fluffy white algae all over everything and the fish spent the time on the top gasping for air, in the same time the platie gave birth to thirty plus fry. two days after that one of my platies died and a lot of the fry did too.I kept the 25% daily water change sometime 50% and vacuuming this algae which are present now but very little of them, I also added an air pump, the readings of the nitrite and nitrate where fluctuating and some times giving me a zero.
After loosing 80% of the fry in a week period i have moved the tetra back to the main tank and put the fry in the QT tank with a mini filter mixed with air with fresh water and daily 70% - 80% change and a 3 daily powder meals.
As of yesterday i have one black tetra ( fins, tail growing) looks healthy and eating fine, one wag tail platie looks healthy but acts strangely every now and then but no signs of anything and eating well, very high nitrite and zero nitrate, in the QT i have 7 fry left with a daily 70% water change. and 10 % water change on the main tank. All the water changes are being treated for chlorine, ( is there a limit ??? on how much dechlorinator is being put???), very little salt ( a small pinch for every gallon of water) and fed 5 flakes once a day (which they consume in seconds)
I cannot Find PH nor Ammonia test kits in here yet, and i cannot trust my LFS with anything they tell me, ( i have checked out 5 places ) i will just wait until i go home for a vacation and get them from the US in June. am I going to keep on suffering until that time?? Or is this normal?? or should i just forget about the hobby??
