I'm Afraid These Fish Won't Survive...

[Ale_xis]

Thanks for helping me identify them! That's pretty brutal with the babies.... but hey, I'll let them do what they do.
I checked that site but found nothing in my area saldly. The good news is, they are all looking pretty much back to normal. Their water is being kept clean (I do a 4 liter change and add 5-6 liters of clean water with about 2 drops of water conditioner per 2 liters of water) and I've been trying to scoop any poop I see out with a sifter. The water has a slight smell but nothing too strong so I feel like I'm doing a good job. I've been feeding them very small amounts, enough to where there isn't any leftovers. I think I may have to feed them more because I'm afraid the poor Cory isn't getting any food

He's been searching but the other fish always get there first. I even brought a flake down to the bottom for him but he got spooked and the others ran off with it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I brought home 2 small rocks covered in algae from the old tank specifically for him, so it does have some algae left. The other fish are beginning to eat at it though. But those rocks probably still have the good bacteria from the old tank on them, so that's... good I hope!

They are getting a bit hungry, but I'll continue trying to feeding in very small portions. I'm trying to do it every 1-2 days to minimize waste, just until Monday. I'll try to hide some flakes for the Cory though. Don't want my little buddy starving. (And thanks for the sand suggestion again, he LOVES it :3 He snuggles his little nose into it. so cute!)


And other good news... I went ahead and emailed my teacher regarding me keeping them. I told him the old tank at school was most likely toxic at this point from handful of foods dumped into there, and how it would probably kill the fish. I'm just trying to convince him to let me keep them at this point. Hopefully I will hear back from him this week. If I can keep them, I'll be ordering a water test kit, some plants, and those pellets mentioned for the cory!

Again, thank you guys so much for the help. I'm so glad they've made it this long, and I don't think I could have done it without everyone's help. By next week, I'm hoping these little guys will have a new and healthy home. I'll keep you guys updated if/when I hear back from the teacher, and if anything changes.

Edit- I am a little worried about another thing with the Cory. He's turned to a gold color. I don't know if that's just his coloring or if the light is just making him look that way, but... is that normal for them to change colors?

 

[MrsM]

Not sure on the corys colouring but sounds like your doing your best, well done

 

[betta fish]

If the teacher does agree on you keeping the fish ask if you can take the filter and heater! I take it the tank is still at the school with no fish? seems wrong to just leave them sitting there when you have the livestock

personally I would go to the school rather than email to speed things up a bit, if he is aware you have taken the fish it should be ok? as for the fish you have I can't see any guppies or swordtails, the orange/red fish are platys you also have the cory and some tetras the larger silver fish is a black widow tetra, the only fish of that lot to give birth to live young are the platys if they are pregnant and give birth the other fish will just eat the fry unless you separate them so I would not worry about getting overun since you don't want anymore keep them together

I can't see the minnows you want to release in a pond? could we see a pic? are you sure they are wild?
As for the cory changing colours as far as I am aware they don't, so keep an eye it could just be the lighting but then certain illnesses can cause a gold dusting to appear on fish too

I think the biggest issue here is the lack of filter/heater I know you are doing your best to keep things stable but there are still large fluctuations going on as you cannot monitor 24 hours a day like the equipment can, this will unfortunately be putting the fish under immense stress which leaves them open to illness as their immunity drops, they may act ok but animals are programmed to hide illnesses to avoid predation.
Hope all is well.

 

[Ale_xis]

Well I gave in and bought a filter. It happened to be on sale, so why not And I picked up some shrimp pellets and wow... they loved it. The little cory has been going at the sand since I've added them in, so he seems a lot happier! Okay, now I do have a small question regarding cycling. What I plan to do now (if I keep them) is go to school on Monday, and bring home the old filter media only (along with heater, air pump, etc), but now that I have a filter, can I just take out the cartridge I'm using temporarily with the one from the old tank and start cycling the tank? How exactly should I approach this to ensure the fish won't suffer from ammonia spikes or making sure the tank will cycle with the new media in place? I don't mind doing water changes still, but any idea of how much, how often etc?
And... can someone explain to me how these cartridges work? It said on the box to replace every 4 weeks... but won't that just be getting rid of the good bacteria?

 

[KCB]

If you want the new media to have a bacterial colony too then try and cram a sponge from the old filter into the new one. This should transfer some of the colony onto the new stuff. To ensure the fish do not suffer ammonia poisoning you should do large water changes everyday (say 50%?), you should buy a liquid test kit to know exactly how much to change a day .

You are bang on about replacing cartridges; it does get rid of the good bacteria so don't do this, it's just a way the filter company can get more money out of you! Instead, what most people do is rinse the sponges in old tank water once a month to prevent it from clogging

 

[KCB]

How are the fish doing? Are you back at school now?

 

[MrsM]

dropping in for news??

 

[Ale_xis]

Hey! Good news and kind of bad news. Good news is, the fish are officialy mine. Bad news is, teacher wanted to keep then minnows so he wouldn't let me take the media. However, I did squeeze the media into a bag to get some of the water and.bacteria, and when I got home I poured some of it onto my filter cartridge and some in the tank. more good news is he gave me the heater, so I have that slowly warming the tank now! I'll be going to the store tonight to buy plants and some decor since he wanted to keep what was in the tank. I think they'll be good to go in a few days
Better news- all the fish survived! I'm thinking of getting 2 more corys since I feel my tank is stable, but I may be patient until the levels are exact. I'll post some pics when the tank is set up!

And excuse any errors, on phone

 

[assistant52]

Cant wait to see pics. this thread is awesome
Well done Ale_xis

 

[Ale_xis]

Oh and another question... So the tank didn't have an air pump but didn't really seem to need one. The filter I have is like the school one where it makes a lot of bubbles and hits the surface a bunch. Mine can be either external or internal so I have it at the top to agitate the surface. Will I be fine without an air pump? They didn't seemto need it during the past week... Plus I'll be adding plants in tonight so am I good?

 

[Ale_xis]

Alright so I bought everything but the water test kit. Will do that tomorrow hopefully. I did purchase 2 healthy Corys for the lonely guy.
I do have ANOTHER dilemma.. I will be bringing back the 2 minnows to school for sure tomorrow, but that means I'll still have 14 fish in my 10 gallon... I get a feeling that's way overcrowded. I could also bring back a group of 3 with the minnows so that'd leave the school tank with 6 fish total (there's 1 fish already at school) and then mine 11... And 3 of those are bottom feeders, so would that be healthy? I was thinking of bringing back the 2 larger fish as well but I'm not sure. If I did, that'd leave me with 9 and school tank 8. I'm debating on doing that since I'm afraid my teacher will think I just took the ones I wanted rather than keep them all.
Suggestions on what to do? I was thinking of taking a couple to the store... but I'd feel bad for giving them up.

Oh and here's some pics! Not the greatest quality, sorry

It's close to complete, water's almost completely filled and new plants/more sand. Just got to buy some nice decor and hiding places now.

 

[betta fish]

Much better, the fish are looking much happier, well done! as the tank stands it does not look too overcrowded by your pics but I may not be able to see all the fish, 14 does sound a bit much for a 10 gallon, as for the filter you can lower it a bit more into the tank so that the outlet is just below the surface rather than splashing but it doesn't matter too much, you do not need an airpump but you will need a little thermometer to read the temp that you can stick inside the tank, now you have a heater in you must measure the temps they are very cheap probably the cheapest bit of kit you can get!

you are aiming for a temp of 24 degrees for the fish you have.
You may want to push the heater down a bit further too or perhaps raise the water level a bit, you don't want any of the glass exposed to the air, most are fully submersible but you can keep the control dial above the water for ease of use.

 

[CezzaXV]

I'd say you can raise the water level too. Fill the tank right up. That way it takes longer for nitrates and stuff to build up and your fish have more space to play in

 

[MrsM]

Great job well done you, id suggest to raise the water level too, as water evaporates the level will lower more and more of that heater will be out of the water, being out of the water whilst turned on will break it...but youve done a fab job, and if the tank is over stocked youll just have to get a bigger one haha, well done again

 

[KCB]

It doesn't look overcrowded, but it depends on how big the fish will get. And no you don't need an air pump for your tank, it's used to increase aeration but if your filter creates enough rippling on the surface of the water then that is plenty .

The tank looks really good, your doing a great job and I bet those fish are MUCH happier now. I'd suggest adding a few more easy-care plants and maybe a plain black background .