New Aquarium And Fish Transfer Concerns

[daizeUK]

That's all down to personal preference, although personally I agree with sand and live plants but it doesn't mean that everyone has to
A 10 gallon tank will make a fine home for these guppies, but it's true that Zeira won't be able to add much more to it if she decides to get more fish later.
I would also have attempted to clean and keep the current tank but Zeira can see much better than us how bad it is.  Rust and scale can be removed and I quite enjoy refurbishing second hand tanks by now - but none of them were as bad as this one, especially if the electrics have been compromised.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Oh boy! Thats a shocker of a tank! 

 

 

 
 

Hi all,
 
A friend of mine has given me his fish tank because he never takes care of it, and this thing is in bad shape.

 
A bit of an understatement! 

 
 

 to TFF.
 
You sure have got yourself into the deep end of fishkeeping!
 
What you need to do is simply follow everything Eaglesaquarium has said.
 
There has been a lot of good advice given already.
 
As long as you kind of know what this is going to involve and is not going to be a quick or easy process and a bit of hard work every day then I would say the very, very best of luck to you and good for you in your efforts to save those poor guppies.
 
And do continue to ask if you ever have any doubts, get stuck or unsure what to do. 
 
We will help you as much as we can.
 
If you can, can you keep up your post with updates and a pic or two as you go along. 

 
This is going to be extremely interesting and really hope those guys survives and gets a nice new home and a much, much better quality of life. 

 

[snazy]

If those guppies survived in there for 3 years, providing that some of them are near that age, then they weren't doing too bad as this is quite a lifetime for them.  Most folks with "clean" looking tanks can't keep them alive for a quarter of this period. The tank looks like it's suffered severe algae outbreaks without ever being cleaned and the dirty glass and frames outside are hardly a problem to the fish.
Having said that, it's a disgrace not doing any water changes in that type of setup without much plants but I'd be pretty curious what the TDS as Eagles already mentioned

From what I've read guppies aren't very sensitive to nitrAtes so that may not have been an issue but there are a lot other things that affect their health badly when water changes aren't done. Regardless of that, your tap water may be different from your friends tap anyhow, so acclimation should be done despite the bad situation.
 
I would not have a problem setting up a new tank, but using the filter media from the old tank into the new filter to preserve some of the cycle(some bacteria is in the substrate too), no matter how gross it looks. At the end of the day fish tank is not a pharmacy or a hospital and can't be maintained as such. Bacteria is "dirty" looking.
Then I'd just use all the old water available from the old tank into the new tank, then move the fish, top up 30% extra with tap dechlorinated, temperature matched water very slowly.  Once done, do a small water change every other day or 2-3 times a week for a while. Eventually the fish will be naturally acclimated. Once that period is over, switch to weekly water changes.

 

[Fluval-1200]

Just a thought would it be best to "drip" fresh water into this?

 

[Zeira]

So I read up on cycling the new tank and I have a question for you all.
 
Should I cycle the tank with ammonia first, and then once its cycled add the decor from the old tank and wait until its adjusted? Or can I cycle the tank using just the old decor as a source for the bacteria?
 
Once a tank is cycled, how much of a water change is safe? For example, if I slowly change the water in the old tank as Eagles suggested, can I eventually just add the fish, with 50% the water from the old tank, to 50% uncycled but dechlorinated water in the new tank?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes...
 
 
Ultimately a 20%-30% water change weekly is what you should aim for...
 
You could move over the fish to the new tank as soon as you are comfortable.  One of the reasons I suggested not moving them early is because of stress, any additional stress could be too much.  Just the water parameters changing over could do it.
 
 
You could seed the new tank with a bit of decor, gravel, etc.  But, honestly, I'd wait and not move the decor until you have a chance to really scrub it clean, including a bleach wash (and a thorough rinse in dechlorinated water - with a bit extra dechlorinator).

 

[snazy]

Should I cycle the tank with ammonia first, and then once its cycled add the decor from the old tank and wait until its adjusted? Or can I cycle the tank using just the old decor as a source for the bacteria?
 

 
If you fishless cycle the new tank it will take quite a while, possibly 6-8 weeks and then you still need to face fish acclimation after.
What's the reason why you won't use the already established media from the old tank and all the old water the fish are already swimming in? No matter how gross it is now, it's the safest way to move the fish and then eventually with regular water changes that water will be replaced without the fish getting stressed.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

When using old media to cycle a tank, ALL bacteria move over to the new tank.  Personally, I wouldn't do it, because of that reason.  From the picture, its nearly impossible to see what kind of shape the fish are in, and if they are suffering from any disease (which is very possible, given the state of the tank).  I'd rather not to have worry about disease in the new tank and that's why I don't suggest seeding it with media from that tank - or the decor, etc.

 

[hobby5]

If you transfer the fish you will transfer all bacteria too, hence you can also use the media to start the new tank.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

My point being, I'd treat the fish, if necessary, in the old tank, before moving them to the new tank as well.

 

[snazy]

My point being, I'd treat the fish, if necessary, in the old tank, before moving them to the new tank as well.

 
But the fish may not be sick in the first place and even if they are and one is to have a good chance of curing them, then they need the best possible conditions. Often improving the enviroment is all is needed. If they are sick, it's probably caused by the enviroment and enviromental diseases aren't contagious because they are caused by common pathogens that are present in any tank.
On another hand, transfering media and water to the new tank will give them the safest acclimation method to prevent any shock.

 

[Zeira]

Hey Everyone,
 
I obtained the old tank and gave it a nice dose of clean water. Cleaned up all the big media and threw out the stones. I replaced the substrate with some things of my own and then placed the fish in the new tank with 50% old water and 50% freshly dechlorinated water. They've been in there for nearly 12 hours and they seem much more energetic already. The water is still not perfectly clean, and some of the algae from the old tank got transferred with the water, is there any way to get rid of said algae aside from cycling the water out regularly, and "vacuuming" the bottom of the tank?
 
The nitrite levels were 0 after adding all the new water, the media, and the fish to the new tank but ammonia is around 0.2. I plan on testing again later today to make sure they're not rising. Total hardness was ~150ppm, Alkalinity ~40, pH ~6.5. I didn't get a read for nitrate, still need to figure out which parts of the test strip are for what.
 
Here are some pictures! Also, is that fish in the top left of the second picture pregnant or chubby?
 

 

[hobby5]

Female guppies housed together with males are always pregnant
 
Did you cycle the new tank? Did u transfer anything else except the 50% water from the old tank to the new tank? What kind of filter are you using now, is it new too?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

To eliminate algae, just do a 'black out'  Cover the tank with a blanket or towel and leave it covered for about 3-4 days.  This will kill the algae.  The fish will be just fine.  They don't need light.

I suggestion now that they are out of the old tank...  You can clean up the old tank and separate the males and females.  You'll still have fry issues for a while (livebearers can store sperm from a single encounter with a male for about 6 spawnings).  But, this will limit it and keep you from being completely overrun or overstocked.

 

[Zeira]

I did not cycle the new tank, I filled it with cleaned media and used as much of the water from the old tank as possible before topping it off with clean dechlorinated water. The filter is new, although I have the old filter if you think using it in the new tank will help.
 
I have lost two fish, a teeny guppy and the one that I suspected was pregnant. Both pretty suddenly this afternoon after they appeared fine this morning, and a little slow about an hour before I noticed that they were dead. I re-tested the water, still hard, alkalinity and Ph are down into lower ranges now. Ammonia has dropped to 0, or something very close to it and nitrite has risen to 0.1. Does anything seem off about this? Should I use the old filter in the new tank for awhile to help acclimate the fish to the new environment?
 
Thanks for the algae suggestion. As for cleaning up the other tank, it is beyond salvation and is now occupying a happy space in the garbage. The thing was leaking a little.
 
How often should I feed the fish?