New Member With A Huge Problem. Help Me!

[dh058977]

Most good dechlorinators will also get rid of any harmful metals in the water as well as any chlorine. Although your well water might not be ideal, to be honest, I think more frequent water changes using your well water is going to do less damage to your fish than leaving water changes once a month or whenever you can get the spring water. Although I dont think the lives of fish are something throwaway, the way I see it is this: if you don't do massive, frequent water changes at least until your filter is fully cycled, your fish will definitely die of ammonia poisoning or related illnesses. If you change it with the well water, there's a chance they may survive. I think it's worth a shot.

Like I said, What if I drain everything, clean it out. Fully cycle the filter. Could a green terror survive if I use my well water and a good dechlorinator?

I dont think your tank is big enough for a green terror to be honest.

 

[B Rolls]

Ok let me add this. I just now did an ammonia test. It reads 0.50. That seems very little to be able to bring down a healthy fish in 3 weeks

This is deadly. Surprised they lasted 3 days, not to mind 3 weeks. Go get the buckets and start water changes. Then test again and make sure you've done enough water changes to not be able to detect any ammonia. There is no fin rot there, you are poisoning your fihs is my opinion. Sorry if I sound cross, but that's the truth. What are the nitrites?

Ok if this still doesn't solve the problem. If I do a water change and do all this stuff to prevent this, I still don't know what is going wrong. I came to this site for answers, not to just for people say how bad I am at keeping fish. I came to this site for one last effort to try to save these animals before I drain the thing and either sell it, or use it for target practice. Someone please tell me how to correct the tank and get it to be healthy and happy for years to come please. I'm begging you.

With all due respect, I have already answered this in post 5.
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine. (This means more than 1 water change per month)
- Enjoy your fish.

The problem is I have done this so many times I want to make sure this is my last time for a long time. What if I do what you say, drain everything and clean. Read all I can about it. Could I get like 1 cooler fish, such as a green terror and have only him in the tank? That way I can focus on just that one fish instead of many. I will make sure to get him from a lfs that is very well on there upkeep of there tanks. Would that be ok to have just like 1 or 2 south American cichlids?

The choice of stocking shouldnt be an issue and is purely down to personal taste and what your tank can accomodate. After all, you dont keep fish, you keep water!
Regardless of the fish you choose, your filter needs to be cycled to handle thier bioload and you need to maintain your tank.

Despite the name, a good quality Dechlorinator will remove more than chlorine from the water, such as metals etc.

Can I ask how you have cycled your tank in the past?

I put some stress coat in, waited about a week, then put some cheap fish like danios in to get some of the bacteria to get established.

Most good dechlorinators will also get rid of any harmful metals in the water as well as any chlorine. Although your well water might not be ideal, to be honest, I think more frequent water changes using your well water is going to do less damage to your fish than leaving water changes once a month or whenever you can get the spring water. Although I dont think the lives of fish are something throwaway, the way I see it is this: if you don't do massive, frequent water changes at least until your filter is fully cycled, your fish will definitely die of ammonia poisoning or related illnesses. If you change it with the well water, there's a chance they may survive. I think it's worth a shot.

Like I said, What if I drain everything, clean it out. Fully cycle the filter. Could a green terror survive if I use my well water and a good dechlorinator?

I dont think your tank is big enough for a green terror to be honest.

Well, I would have no problem upgrading to a bigger tank in the future, If I could get the fish to live a happy life to where it would need one. Do you think a GT could live in the 29g for about a year or so before I need to upgrade?

 

[dh058977]

Ok let me add this. I just now did an ammonia test. It reads 0.50. That seems very little to be able to bring down a healthy fish in 3 weeks

This is deadly. Surprised they lasted 3 days, not to mind 3 weeks. Go get the buckets and start water changes. Then test again and make sure you've done enough water changes to not be able to detect any ammonia. There is no fin rot there, you are poisoning your fihs is my opinion. Sorry if I sound cross, but that's the truth. What are the nitrites?

Ok if this still doesn't solve the problem. If I do a water change and do all this stuff to prevent this, I still don't know what is going wrong. I came to this site for answers, not to just for people say how bad I am at keeping fish. I came to this site for one last effort to try to save these animals before I drain the thing and either sell it, or use it for target practice. Someone please tell me how to correct the tank and get it to be healthy and happy for years to come please. I'm begging you.

With all due respect, I have already answered this in post 5.
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine. (This means more than 1 water change per month)
- Enjoy your fish.

The problem is I have done this so many times I want to make sure this is my last time for a long time. What if I do what you say, drain everything and clean. Read all I can about it. Could I get like 1 cooler fish, such as a green terror and have only him in the tank? That way I can focus on just that one fish instead of many. I will make sure to get him from a lfs that is very well on there upkeep of there tanks. Would that be ok to have just like 1 or 2 south American cichlids?

The choice of stocking shouldnt be an issue and is purely down to personal taste and what your tank can accomodate. After all, you dont keep fish, you keep water!
Regardless of the fish you choose, your filter needs to be cycled to handle thier bioload and you need to maintain your tank.

Despite the name, a good quality Dechlorinator will remove more than chlorine from the water, such as metals etc.

Can I ask how you have cycled your tank in the past?

I put some stress coat in, waited about a week, then put some cheap fish like danios in to get some of the bacteria to get established.

Although you wont find a fish in cycle like that recommended by anyone on these forums including myself, the fact is dispite how cruel it can be on the fish providing you do regular water changes with dechlorinated water you can cycle a filter. However, you havent kept up the water changes. Also waiting a week will do no more than increase your electric bill.

I still suggest you read up on fishless cycling in the beginners section.

I and I am sure many others would never recommend buying a fish based on the thought of upgrading in future.

 

[snazy]

Ok if this still doesn't solve the problem. If I do a water change and do all this stuff to prevent this, I still don't know what is going wrong. I came to this site for answers, not to just for people say how bad I am at keeping fish. I came to this site for one last effort to try to save these animals before I drain the thing and either sell it, or use it for target practice. Someone please tell me how to correct the tank and get it to be healthy and happy for years to come please. I'm begging you.

Well, I would have no problem upgrading to a bigger tank in the future, If I could get the fish to live a happy life to where it would need one. Do you think a GT could live in the 29g for about a year or so before I need to upgrade?

Hi. I actually wasn't saying anything about you being bad in keeping fish. Obviously you just weren't aware, changing filter media once a month as per the filter manufacturer's instructions, ending in a never ending cycle.

But you are aware hopefully now, that all those issues you were having and have now are caused by toxic ammonia and probably nitrites too, for which you aren't even bothered testing, and instead, you want to know what new fish you can buy.
This doesn't come across to me as a person that cares about those little beings in the tank, dying from ammonia poisoning as we speak. I just give up. Sorry.

Hope you sort everything one way or another anyhow

 

[B Rolls]

Ok let me add this. I just now did an ammonia test. It reads 0.50. That seems very little to be able to bring down a healthy fish in 3 weeks

This is deadly. Surprised they lasted 3 days, not to mind 3 weeks. Go get the buckets and start water changes. Then test again and make sure you've done enough water changes to not be able to detect any ammonia. There is no fin rot there, you are poisoning your fihs is my opinion. Sorry if I sound cross, but that's the truth. What are the nitrites?

Ok if this still doesn't solve the problem. If I do a water change and do all this stuff to prevent this, I still don't know what is going wrong. I came to this site for answers, not to just for people say how bad I am at keeping fish. I came to this site for one last effort to try to save these animals before I drain the thing and either sell it, or use it for target practice. Someone please tell me how to correct the tank and get it to be healthy and happy for years to come please. I'm begging you.

With all due respect, I have already answered this in post 5.
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine. (This means more than 1 water change per month)
- Enjoy your fish.

The problem is I have done this so many times I want to make sure this is my last time for a long time. What if I do what you say, drain everything and clean. Read all I can about it. Could I get like 1 cooler fish, such as a green terror and have only him in the tank? That way I can focus on just that one fish instead of many. I will make sure to get him from a lfs that is very well on there upkeep of there tanks. Would that be ok to have just like 1 or 2 south American cichlids?

The choice of stocking shouldnt be an issue and is purely down to personal taste and what your tank can accomodate. After all, you dont keep fish, you keep water!
Regardless of the fish you choose, your filter needs to be cycled to handle thier bioload and you need to maintain your tank.

Despite the name, a good quality Dechlorinator will remove more than chlorine from the water, such as metals etc.

Can I ask how you have cycled your tank in the past?

I put some stress coat in, waited about a week, then put some cheap fish like danios in to get some of the bacteria to get established.

Although you wont find a fish in cycle like that recommended by anyone on these forums including myself, the fact is dispite how cruel it can be on the fish providing you do regular water changes with dechlorinated water you can cycle a filter. However, you havent kept up the water changes. Also waiting a week will do no more than increase your electric bill.

I still suggest you read up on fishless cycling in the beginners section.

I and I am sure many others would never recommend buying a fish based on the thought of upgrading in future.

I have been through so many kinds of fish, the only thing I have not done is south and central american cichlids, besides the fish that are very rare. I juat want to know if I should keep buying water from the spring. If I could use it out of my tap at home I could do as many water changes as I wanted too. I know the PH of it is about 6.7, and ammonia is at zero as it should be. The problem is it has a very high iron level. You can see it and smell it. Thats the issue with my tap water.

 

[B Rolls]

Ok if this still doesn't solve the problem. If I do a water change and do all this stuff to prevent this, I still don't know what is going wrong. I came to this site for answers, not to just for people say how bad I am at keeping fish. I came to this site for one last effort to try to save these animals before I drain the thing and either sell it, or use it for target practice. Someone please tell me how to correct the tank and get it to be healthy and happy for years to come please. I'm begging you.

Well, I would have no problem upgrading to a bigger tank in the future, If I could get the fish to live a happy life to where it would need one. Do you think a GT could live in the 29g for about a year or so before I need to upgrade?

Hi. I actually wasn't saying anything about you being bad in keeping fish. Obviously you just weren't aware, changing filter media once a month as per the filter manufacturer's instructions, ending in a never ending cycle.

But you are aware hopefully now, that all those issues you were having and have now are caused by toxic ammonia and probably nitrites too, for which you aren't even bothered testing, and instead, you want to know what new fish you can buy.
This doesn't come across to me as a person that cares about those little beings in the tank, dying from ammonia poisoning as we speak. I just give up. Sorry.

Hope you sort everything one way or another anyhow

I have spent countless hours of time into the fish. As I said again I have to drive to get water. Its not just me going to the tap and getting some water. Its almost 6pm where I live. It would take 45 minutes for me to drive there. 15 minutes to fill the jugs. Then 45 minutes to get back home. Probably another hour to drain the tank, fill it up again, and get everything back in working order. Plus we just had a snow storm and its in the negatives right now. The roads are very icy. Im not willing to put my life at risk to save 15 dollars worth of fish. I am simply saying that looking at the condition of these fish, its time to start thinking of cleaning the tank. All I can do is wait till tomorrow and get some water. That is if they are even savable.

 

[fluttermoth]

I have been through so many kinds of fish, the only thing I have not done is south and central american cichlids,

Once you get your filter cycled, you can keep whatever fish you like (within reason; obviously if your well water is very hard and alkaline, you won't want to be trying to keep Amazonians! It's the cycling of your filter that's the important thing here; not 'bad fish' from your shop, or the wrong species.

I juat want to know if I should keep buying water from the spring. If I could use it out of my tap at home I could do as many water changes as I wanted too. I know the PH of it is about 6.7, and ammonia is at zero as it should be. The problem is it has a very high iron level. You can see it and smell it. Thats the issue with my tap water.

I know you have well water, which has no chlorine, but if you use a dechlorinater it will lock up heavy metals like iron and they shouldn't cause you any problems.

 

[snazy]

I have spent countless hours of time into the fish. As I said again I have to drive to get water. Its not just me going to the tap and getting some water. Its almost 6pm where I live. It would take 45 minutes for me to drive there. 15 minutes to fill the jugs. Then 45 minutes to get back home. Probably another hour to drain the tank, fill it up again, and get everything back in working order. Plus we just had a snow storm and its in the negatives right now. The roads are very icy. Im not willing to put my life at risk to save 15 dollars worth of fish.

I understand that. But you do realise that fish live in water and they happen to need water urgently. So this is not an excuse.
Cycling a tank with fish in it may take over 4 weeks with daily water changes required. Are you able to do that? If not, then I would suggest a hamster instead. I've had them for years and they don't drink water

 

[B Rolls]

I have spent countless hours of time into the fish. As I said again I have to drive to get water. Its not just me going to the tap and getting some water. Its almost 6pm where I live. It would take 45 minutes for me to drive there. 15 minutes to fill the jugs. Then 45 minutes to get back home. Probably another hour to drain the tank, fill it up again, and get everything back in working order. Plus we just had a snow storm and its in the negatives right now. The roads are very icy. Im not willing to put my life at risk to save 15 dollars worth of fish.

I understand that. But you do realise that fish live in water and they happen to need water urgently. So this is not an excuse.
Cycling a tank with fish in it may take over 4 weeks with daily water changes required. Are you able to do that? If not, then I would suggest a hamster instead. I've had them for years and they don't drink water

They have water ,29 gallons of it to be exact. What do you expect me to do rush out in the middle of the night for 2 hours, to get water for fish that will probably die no matter what you do with them. I can test and test all night. The only thing I will find is that the water needs to be replaced. Would you rush out in the middle of the night on icy roads in below zero temperatures to save literally 15 dollars worth of fish? The news caption. "Man dies of hypothermia after his car collided with a tree at 10pm and he was unable to find help. The only item found was an aquarium ammonia test kit." Also I have had hamsters before. Lived for 3.5 years and was 20x easier and cheaper than a fish tank.

 

[dh058977]

I have spent countless hours of time into the fish. As I said again I have to drive to get water. Its not just me going to the tap and getting some water. Its almost 6pm where I live. It would take 45 minutes for me to drive there. 15 minutes to fill the jugs. Then 45 minutes to get back home. Probably another hour to drain the tank, fill it up again, and get everything back in working order. Plus we just had a snow storm and its in the negatives right now. The roads are very icy. Im not willing to put my life at risk to save 15 dollars worth of fish.

I understand that. But you do realise that fish live in water and they happen to need water urgently. So this is not an excuse.
Cycling a tank with fish in it may take over 4 weeks with daily water changes required. Are you able to do that? If not, then I would suggest a hamster instead. I've had them for years and they don't drink water

They have water ,29 gallons of it to be exact. What do you expect me to do rush out in the middle of the night for 2 hours, to get water for fish that will probably die no matter what you do with them. I can test and test all night. The only thing I will find is that the water needs to be replaced. Would you rush out in the middle of the night on icy roads in below zero temperatures to save literally 15 dollars worth of fish? The news caption. "Man dies of hypothermia after his car collided with a tree at 10pm and he was unable to find help. The only item found was an aquarium ammonia test kit."

You do however have access to well water and stress coat which if i remember correctly claims to deal with heavy metals. You have everything you need to do a water change and the well water can only be better for your fish than the Ammonia bath they are currently swimming in! lol

 

[B Rolls]

I have spent countless hours of time into the fish. As I said again I have to drive to get water. Its not just me going to the tap and getting some water. Its almost 6pm where I live. It would take 45 minutes for me to drive there. 15 minutes to fill the jugs. Then 45 minutes to get back home. Probably another hour to drain the tank, fill it up again, and get everything back in working order. Plus we just had a snow storm and its in the negatives right now. The roads are very icy. Im not willing to put my life at risk to save 15 dollars worth of fish.

I understand that. But you do realise that fish live in water and they happen to need water urgently. So this is not an excuse.
Cycling a tank with fish in it may take over 4 weeks with daily water changes required. Are you able to do that? If not, then I would suggest a hamster instead. I've had them for years and they don't drink water

They have water ,29 gallons of it to be exact. What do you expect me to do rush out in the middle of the night for 2 hours, to get water for fish that will probably die no matter what you do with them. I can test and test all night. The only thing I will find is that the water needs to be replaced. Would you rush out in the middle of the night on icy roads in below zero temperatures to save literally 15 dollars worth of fish? The news caption. "Man dies of hypothermia after his car collided with a tree at 10pm and he was unable to find help. The only item found was an aquarium ammonia test kit."

You do however have access to well water and stress coat which if i remember correctly claims to deal with heavy metals. You have everything you need to do a water change and the well water can only be better for your fish than the Ammonia bath they are currently swimming in! lol

Yeah I no, but I just dont want to add that without being 100% sure that it is safe. I wouldn't drink my well water. The acid rain has a huge effect on the aquatic life where I live. Like its only recommended to eat just 1 fish per month caught by the lakes around here. Why take 1 kind of poison out to just put a stronger poison in?

 

[snazy]

They have water ,29 gallons of it to be exact. What do you expect me to do rush out in the middle of the night for 2 hours, to get water for fish that will probably die no matter what you do with them. I can test and test all night. The only thing I will find is that the water needs to be replaced. Would you rush out in the middle of the night on icy roads in below zero temperatures to save literally 15 dollars worth of fish? The news caption. "Man dies of hypothermia after his car collided with a tree at 10pm and he was unable to find help. The only item found was an aquarium ammonia test kit."

Not at all. But you have chosen a hobby(I know it's a hard one to resist), that requires access to clean water. I was talking about the future success of your hobby. 25% changes once a month is inadequate if you want that good looking happy tank you were talking about. If you have more filters in the tank, filtering the whole 29 gallon tank over 15 times an hour at least, to take care of the waste build up for that period of time, then may be, and you have to be on the low side with stocking.
At the moment, all you can do is either risk with your well water, putting double the amount of dechlorinator you have, or just leave them die and do a fishless cycle which doesn't really require water changes until the tank is cycled.

 

[B Rolls]

I have spent countless hours of time into the fish. As I said again I have to drive to get water. Its not just me going to the tap and getting some water. Its almost 6pm where I live. It would take 45 minutes for me to drive there. 15 minutes to fill the jugs. Then 45 minutes to get back home. Probably another hour to drain the tank, fill it up again, and get everything back in working order. Plus we just had a snow storm and its in the negatives right now. The roads are very icy. Im not willing to put my life at risk to save 15 dollars worth of fish.

I understand that. But you do realise that fish live in water and they happen to need water urgently. So this is not an excuse.
Cycling a tank with fish in it may take over 4 weeks with daily water changes required. Are you able to do that? If not, then I would suggest a hamster instead. I've had them for years and they don't drink water

They have water ,29 gallons of it to be exact. What do you expect me to do rush out in the middle of the night for 2 hours, to get water for fish that will probably die no matter what you do with them. I can test and test all night. The only thing I will find is that the water needs to be replaced. Would you rush out in the middle of the night on icy roads in below zero temperatures to save literally 15 dollars worth of fish? The news caption. "Man dies of hypothermia after his car collided with a tree at 10pm and he was unable to find help. The only item found was an aquarium ammonia test kit."

You do however have access to well water and stress coat which if i remember correctly claims to deal with heavy metals. You have everything you need to do a water change and the well water can only be better for your fish than the Ammonia bath they are currently swimming in! lol

Yeah I no, but I just dont want to add that without being 100% sure that it is safe. I wouldn't drink my well water. The acid rain has a huge effect on the aquatic life where I live. Like its only recommended to eat just 1 fish per month caught by the lakes around here. Why take 1 kind of poison out to just put a stronger poison in?

Ok you guys want me to change the water with well water, ill do it, just expect the report to be grim tomorrow. I'm sick of arguing about this. Try to be nice and all you get is a flame war, whatever. talk to you guys later anyway, maybe.

 

[fluttermoth]

But the water from your well has alread had some kind of filtration, by going through the soil and rock, it's not like straight water from a lake; if the pH is the 6.7 you mentioned earlier, then that's not very acidic at all.

I do understand your frustration, but aquarists really barely keep fish; we keep water; having a plentiful supply of water is one of the essentials of fishkeeping, and if you can't provide that, then you may not be successful in the long run, but I honestly don't see why you shouldn't at least try and use your tap water.

Use a double dose of whatever dechlorinator you have, do a 50% water change and see how things look then.

If you can get hold of some mature media, either from someone you know who has a tank, or from your LFS, that would have a load of the good bacteria you need and would help you no end.

 

[B Rolls]

They have water ,29 gallons of it to be exact. What do you expect me to do rush out in the middle of the night for 2 hours, to get water for fish that will probably die no matter what you do with them. I can test and test all night. The only thing I will find is that the water needs to be replaced. Would you rush out in the middle of the night on icy roads in below zero temperatures to save literally 15 dollars worth of fish? The news caption. "Man dies of hypothermia after his car collided with a tree at 10pm and he was unable to find help. The only item found was an aquarium ammonia test kit."

Not at all. But you have chosen a hobby(I know it's a hard one to resist), that requires access to clean water. I was talking about the future success of your hobby. 25% changes once a month is inadequate if you want that good looking happy tank you were talking about. If you have more filters in the tank, filtering the whole 29 gallon tank over 15 times an hour at least, to take care of the waste build up for that period of time, then may be, and you have to be on the low side with stocking.
At the moment, all you can do is either risk with your well water, putting double the amount of dechlorinator you have, or just leave them die and do a fishless cycle which doesn't really require water changes until the tank is cycled.

Even if I add water, the filter is still not cycled. So let me ask 1 thing. If a changed the water with my well water how do i still get the tank cycled with the fish in ti?