Need help for my brother's tank

[EMdina]

My brother has a 5g hex tank that has been running for about a month...in it he had (to start as most of the fish have died) 2 dwarf puffers, 6 neon tetras and a red tailed shark...since then both of his puffers have died...my sister put ONE albino tiger barb in there (because she wanted to get it out of her 55g- uggh), which has since killed 3 of the neons...
That is only the beginning of the problem...my sister set up this tank for my brother, and I thought that she had informed him of all of the neccessary tasks involved in keeping his tank, but apparently she did not...ugghhh...
anyway, I went to my brother's house (parents' house- bro 15) to see his setup- he's been asking me for weeks to come and check it out- as mom of 3, haven't had too much spare time....I digress, sorry...I should have gone sooner, because I might have been able to help prevent all of the death and destruction....
His water is incredibly cloudy and I believe he has ick...I couldn't tell for certain, but my daughter (who is the most knowledgable 6 year old when it comes to fish- too funny really) swears that it is...
My question is this: Where do I begin I felt completely overwhelmed...and compelled to help him save his remaining fish...
I will start with a water change and take out the barb...but if he has ick in his tank, I don't want to take it to a fs...so, what do I do there?
I will check his amonia, etc...he knows nothing about any of that...I told him to not feed them for a couple of days- as I think this might cut down on the cloudiness, but not certain...
can he use salt for ick? will the shark and tetras handle that?
what else to do? any help would be so appreciated...thanks in advance.
E

 

[Alien Anna]

Oh dear! What a mess

The first thing that needs to happen is that that tank needs to cycle. If you are not familiar with cycling please follow the link in my sig - that should explain all you need to know about it. Any questions, just ask.

Secondly, you need to re-home that shark, assuming he survives the ick and an un-cycled tank. A 5 gallon tank is way, way too small for such a large, territorial fish (adult size is 5"). A rough rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish length (not including tail) per US gallon of water - but in a hex tank you have the complication of much less surface area (therefore less oxygen) and also less swimming room.

The puffers on their own probably would have been fine (assuming the tank had been cycled), or with the neons (if they are compatible - which I'm not entirely sure about as I thought puffers were brackish water fish?) but a RTBS definitely not.

Next, as you are cycling the tank you need to consider treating the ick. Get a proprietary ich treatment, but instead of leaving it for how ever many days and then doing a water change, you'll have to do daily water changes and top up the ick treatment accordingly.

Once your tank is cycled and the ick kept at bay you can come back to the forum and we'll advise on re-stocking.

 

[EMdina]

The first thing that needs to happen is that that tank needs to cycle. If you are not familiar with cycling please follow the link in my sig - that should explain all you need to know about it. Any questions, just ask.

Yeah, I know about cycling (we have two tanks in our home)...

Secondly, you need to re-home that shark, assuming he survives the ick and an un-cycled tank. A 5 gallon tank is way, way too small for such a large, territorial fish (adult size is 5"). A rough rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish length (not including tail) per US gallon of water - but in a hex tank you have the complication of much less surface area (therefore less oxygen) and also less swimming room.

I will check the shark out and see if one of our lfs can take him- I'm surrounded by many, so hopefully someone will take him...I really know nothing about sharks, and did not help little brother pick out his fish...perhaps, I should have...I do know about stocking, etc...

I know what's wrong with this poor mess of a tank, I just am uncertain how to remedy it...

Next, as you are cycling the tank you need to consider treating the ick. Get a proprietary ich treatment, but instead of leaving it for how ever many days and then doing a water change, you'll have to do daily water changes and top up the ick treatment accordingly.

What do I do with the tetras? Shall I just leave them in there?
How much of a water change? 10%, 25%?

Once your tank is cycled and the ick kept at bay you can come back to the forum and we'll advise on re-stocking.

Sounds good...thanks a bunch...
E

 

[Alien Anna]

Yeah, I know about cycling (we have two tanks in our home)...

I will check the shark out and see if one of our lfs can take him- I'm surrounded by many, so hopefully someone will take him...I really know nothing about sharks, and did not help little brother pick out his fish...perhaps, I should have...I do know about stocking, etc...

I know what's wrong with this poor mess of a tank, I just am uncertain how to remedy it...

What do I do with the tetras? Shall I just leave them in there?

How much of a water change? 10%, 25%?

Once your tank is cycled and the ick kept at bay you can come back to the forum and we'll advise on re-stocking.

Sounds good...thanks a bunch...
E

Good that you know about cycling. I don't suppose you've had to cycle a tank with non-hardy fish before but it can be done - it's just very stressful

The good news is that you have a ready source of matured gravel and filter innards in your own tanks - take a bit out of both and put it in the hex. That'll seed it with bacteria and hopefully jump-start the cycle (or rather jump-finish it, since it's probably partly cycled already).

Red-tailed sharks are lovely fish, but extremely territorial and can be aggressive. They need territory space and they need swimming room - in personality they are more like cichlids I feel. If you get a RTBS you really need to stock the tank around them, not the other way around.

To remedy the mess of the tank you need to do daily water changes and you need to test your water for ammonia and nitrite. If the values are zero in both cases, then check the nitrate levels. They're probably high but you can get them down fairly quickly with regular water changes (10-15% as I mentioned in my article).

If there are live plants in there, consider changing the light bulbs. If not, clean the algae off the glass with one of those scrubber pads (bought from fish shops) and you can clean the plants in a plant cleaning solution you can also buy from the LFS - but only do this if you're satisfied the tank is cycled. Also, rinse out the filters in used tank water (again, only if the tank is cycled).

While the tank is over-stocked keep feeding to a minimum (once every other day) and continue the daily 10-15% water changes.

If you can house the bigger fish that would be great. The tetras are probably suitable for a 5 gal hex so you can leave them in there, or swap them at the LFS for something more appropriate for a small tank, such as a betta and a few cories, or a school of minnows (once the tank is cycled).

With care it is surprising how quickly a mess of a tank can become an attractive little aquarium.