New Member With A Huge Problem. Help Me!

[snazy]

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.

Well, fish is alive, isn't it? Since you are able to catch some
It is actually not recommended to eat aquarium fish either for exactly the same reasons

 

[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

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.

I find this post extremely rude if aimed at me, all I have tried to do is help you in this thread but if that is your attitude towards me then fine, do whatever you want. I wont be helping you any further.

 

[fluttermoth]

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.

Mate, we don't want to flame you, but the the bare facts of the matter are that you want to keep fish. Your fish are dying because your filter isn't cycled and the one and only thing you can do is water changes.

I know it's difficult and inconvenient for you, I understand that, but we're telling you the only thing you can do to save these fish; there are no other methods available to you, except water changes and/or getting some mature media.

The real key to most fishkeeping is large, regular, partial water changes, especially in an uncycled tank; that's the bottom line, I'm afraid...

 

[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.

I find this post extremely rude if aimed at me, all I have tried to do is help you in this thread but if that is your attitude towards me then fine, do whatever you want. I wont be helping you any further.

Every single person is saying the same thing. So I am trusting you guys( fish forums. net) with my fish. I am trusting that you know more than me about fish and am taking your advice. It seems all I did was start a war here. Ill just do what you say and hope your right.

 

[fluttermoth]

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?

Your filter will still cycle with an amount of ammonia that is too small to register on our home test kits.

The trick with fish in cycling is to do enough water changes that the ammonia never goes above 0.25ppm, as anything over that will kill or cause long term damage to the fish.

 

[B Rolls]

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?

Your filter will still cycle with an amount of ammonia that is too small to register on our home test kits.

The trick with fish in cycling is to do enough water changes that the ammonia never goes above 0.25ppm, as anything over that will kill or cause long term damage to the fish.

So what do I do? How much of a water change? Do I add my conditioner before I put the water in the tank? Do I just leave my filter cartridge be? What do I do?

 

[snazy]

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

A cycled tank means 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes. All this once the tank is fully cycled, starts getting converted to nitrAtes. NitrAtes are not toxic to fish. It depends on the fish what levels they can accept, but it is good to keep them at 40 ppm max where possible, because high nitrAtes can cause another chemical processes in the water that can indirectly harm your fish(like sudden Ph drop).

To cycle your tank with fish, and if you want as many as possible to survive, you need to test the water everyday. If you detect any ammonia or nitrite, do a massive water change to bring as close to 0 as possible. For example you said you have 0.50 ammonia at the moment. If you do 50 % water change, that will bring it only to 0.25 % ammonia. So to make your life easier, do a larger whater change, like 80% at least. Take your time adding the water back, not to stress your fish additionally.

Tomorrow, test the water, if you detect any ammonia/nitrite, do another water change. And then keep going like that every day.

Eventually, the bacteria in the filter will grow enough to take care of the ammonia/nitrites and hopefully sooner, rather than later, ammonia and nitrites will be zero and NitrAtes will be on the rise.

It sounds hard, but you may already be at some stage of the cycle, as you already had it running for a while. And changing the water regularly may save some of your fish hopefully.

 

[fluttermoth]

Have you done an ammonia test at all? If not, I'd do 30% and see how things look after that.

There are two ways to dechlorinate; you can either measure each dose into the bucket and then add to the tank, or you can add enough dechlor for the whole tank's volume into the tank and then refill; as we're uncertain about your water, I'd recommend you use the first method

Yes, leave the filter cartridge well alone for the moment unless it seems clogged, in which case give it a quick rinse in some of the old tank water.

Best of luck!

 

[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.

I find this post extremely rude if aimed at me, all I have tried to do is help you in this thread but if that is your attitude towards me then fine, do whatever you want. I wont be helping you any further.

Im sorry that came out wrong, but its so hard, every day for the last 8 months I wake up and worry about my fish. Im constantly looking at them for disease. Not once have I been able to look at my fish in pleasure. Its a huge stress on me. I dont like to kill animals. I thought that a small tank would be easy and enjoyable. Feed them and enjoy. Thats what I was told by everyone I asked about fish tanks. Its been nothing but hardship with this thing and I wouldnt be beat up by it every day if I didnt care about them. I havent even named a fish yet because its always been called" the one with the ick" or " the one with the fin rot"

 

[fluttermoth]

you said you have 0.50 ammonia at the moment.

Oh, I missed that!

Yes, in that case I recommend a larger water change, as snazy has outlined; we know the ammonia is harmful to your fish, whereas we don't know that your tap water is; it's the lesser of two evils to do a large water change, or you'll probably lose the fish anyway, sorry to say.

 

[B Rolls]

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

A cycled tank means 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes. All this once the tank is fully cycled, starts getting converted to nitrAtes. NitrAtes are not toxic to fish. It depends on the fish what levels they can accept, but it is good to keep them at 40 ppm max where possible, because high nitrAtes can cause another chemical processes in the water that can indirectly harm your fish(like sudden Ph drop).

To cycle your tank with fish, and if you want as many as possible to survive, you need to test the water everyday. If you detect any ammonia or nitrite, do a massive water change to bring as close to 0 as possible. For example you said you have 0.50 ammonia at the moment. If you do 50 % water change, that will bring it only to 0.25 % ammonia. So to make your life easier, do a larger whater change, like 80% at least. Take your time adding the water back, not to stress your fish additionally.

Tomorrow, test the water, if you detect any ammonia/nitrite, do another water change. And then keep going like that every day.

Eventually, the bacteria in the filter will grow enough to take care of the ammonia/nitrites and hopefully sooner, rather than later, ammonia and nitrites will be zero and NitrAtes will be on the rise.

It sounds hard, but you may already be at some stage of the cycle, as you already had it running for a while. And changing the water regularly may save some of your fish hopefully.

What is your personal tank setup and what do you do to maintain it?

 

[B Rolls]

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

A cycled tank means 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes. All this once the tank is fully cycled, starts getting converted to nitrAtes. NitrAtes are not toxic to fish. It depends on the fish what levels they can accept, but it is good to keep them at 40 ppm max where possible, because high nitrAtes can cause another chemical processes in the water that can indirectly harm your fish(like sudden Ph drop).

To cycle your tank with fish, and if you want as many as possible to survive, you need to test the water everyday. If you detect any ammonia or nitrite, do a massive water change to bring as close to 0 as possible. For example you said you have 0.50 ammonia at the moment. If you do 50 % water change, that will bring it only to 0.25 % ammonia. So to make your life easier, do a larger whater change, like 80% at least. Take your time adding the water back, not to stress your fish additionally.

Tomorrow, test the water, if you detect any ammonia/nitrite, do another water change. And then keep going like that every day.

Eventually, the bacteria in the filter will grow enough to take care of the ammonia/nitrites and hopefully sooner, rather than later, ammonia and nitrites will be zero and NitrAtes will be on the rise.

It sounds hard, but you may already be at some stage of the cycle, as you already had it running for a while. And changing the water regularly may save some of your fish hopefully.

What is your personal tank setup and what do you do to maintain it?

also how do u do a 80% water change. do u take all 80% out then put it back in? or take some out and replace it? then do that again

 

[snazy]

So what do I do? How much of a water change? Do I add my conditioner before I put the water in the tank? Do I just leave my filter cartridge be? What do I do?

So what do I do? How much of a water change?

I answered this above.

Do I add my conditioner before I put the water in the tank?

Conditioner is always added to the new water before you put it in the tank. I would put double the recommended dose on the bottle for each container of water you add, just to be on the safe side with the well water.

Do I just leave my filter cartridge be?

Probably 90% of the bacteria that will help you cycle your tank lives in filter cartridge. If you change that, you remove your bacteria and start from scratch. Filters should not be left to remove the flying waste around the tank if that's what you were led to believe by the filter manufacturers instructions. This type of maintainance is normally done via regular water changes instead and siphoning the gravel.

 

[fluttermoth]

also how do u do a 80% water change. do u take all 80% out then put it back in? or take some out and replace it? then do that again

Take out enough water that the fish can still swim upright, and then refill. Make sure you warm the new water (you can use hot water from the tap, or boiled from the kettle) so it roughly matches the old, your hand will do.

Oh, and do make sure you switch off your heater and filter when you do large water changes, as you don't want to risk them running dry

 

[snazy]

also how do u do a 80% water change. do u take all 80% out then put it back in? or take some out and replace it? then do that again

It doesn't have to be exact 80%. The point is once you change the water, and you test your ammonia, it is as close as possible to 0 and below 0.25.

Some people recommend to change as much water as possible at once, just to leave enough water in the tank to keep your fish straight. This is the easy way, but your fish get more stressed.

What I had normally done, is change just over 50%, maybe 60% at once. Then I would do straight after that another 50-60%. That would make about 80% of the water changed the hard way, but fish get less stressed in my opinion. It gives them time to adjust to the new water conditions and especially in your case with completely different watter, I would go with several smaller, rather than 1 massive water change at least the first time.