Newbie And I Am Struggling :-( Fish Are Dying

[mark1979]

dont get an under gravel filter,in my opinion there are pants,lol!!!

there is alot of sizes of gravel vac,just get 1 that suits you tank size. you may need a bucket to to syphon the water into!!

what is the actual make of the filter?

i have used that filter,they are ok.

is there any LFS's around you that maybe will give you some established media/foam for your filter,that will help you out alot

i would be inclined to try and rehome all the fish and start a fresh

 

[Shantih]

dont get an under gravel filter,in my opinion there are pants,lol!!!

there is alot of sizes of gravel vac,just get 1 that suits you tank size. you may need a bucket to to syphon the water into!!

what is the actual make of the filter?

Award Winning IPF Internal Powerfilter, thats all it says on the website

I know this will sound extremely selfish but it would upset my kids extremely to get rid of the fish now, i know this is going to be difficult but i am willing to put the work in to make good with these fish if they may be able to stick with me through these trying times xxx

 

[mark1979]

dont get an under gravel filter,in my opinion there are pants,lol!!!

there is alot of sizes of gravel vac,just get 1 that suits you tank size. you may need a bucket to to syphon the water into!!

what is the actual make of the filter?

Award Winning IPF Internal Powerfilter, thats all it says on the website

sorry,i have used that filter before.

how on the earth did it suck in fish,they are not that powerfull.

unless the fish were dead a while and floated in that direction.

i would get that test kit 1st.like right now!!,do the tests and then post on here the results.

 

[crazychris]

Can't see that anyone's mentioned this but do you have a bottle of water conditioner? You need to treat the new tap water with this before you put it in the tank.

 

[arobinson1984]

Yes shantih has stress coat as a water conditioner.

With hard work you should be able to make the tank work with possible the exception of the plecs. We'd really need a photo to identify them because many plecs range from 6" to 2ft in length so it will depend on which species they are if they can stay in the tank.

Also if they do stay in the tank, you may wish to upgrade the filter as the plecs are large waste producers.

Andy

 

[crazychris]

I'd take the Plecs back today to the shop where they were bought from TBH. The OP would be better with some Corys when she's got the tank sorted.

 

[Shantih]

Ok am back, haha 4 pet shops and 2 1/2 hours later i think i have everything i need now, and my test results are as follows :
PH = 7.2
High Range PH = 7.4
Ammonia = 8.0
Nitrite = 0.25
Nitrate = 5.0
using the api full kit

i havent done any cleaning yet but am about to start, so from the above results my first steps should be?

Also should i clean the gravel whilst the old waters in then change the water or change the water then clean the gravel?

Many thanks for all your help and i shall just eat my dinner then find my camera so i can post pics of my plecks xx

 

[Shantih]

dont get an under gravel filter,in my opinion there are pants,lol!!!

there is alot of sizes of gravel vac,just get 1 that suits you tank size. you may need a bucket to to syphon the water into!!

what is the actual make of the filter?

Award Winning IPF Internal Powerfilter, thats all it says on the website

sorry,i have used that filter before.

how on the earth did it suck in fish,they are not that powerfull.

unless the fish were dead a while and floated in that direction.

i would get that test kit 1st.like right now!!,do the tests and then post on here the results.

You know the funnel bit at the top of the filter that blows the bubbles out? well that swivels round and we had it facing glass side so there was a gap at the fishes side, it got stuck in that gap, just incase it was a problem i have turned it to the middle now

 

[arobinson1984]

Right, as you can see your ammonia is sky high and this is your first problem to address. Any ammonia is poisonous to fish and causes long term damage to their gills making it harder for them to breathe.

When you are cycling your tank which you are at the moment you need to keep the ammonia down below the 0.25ppm mark which is the second one on the colour chart. The 2 plecs wont be helping as they are huge waste producers and fish waste creates ammonia.

The only way to get the ammonia down is by doing large water changes. It will take 3 or 4 to get it down to a safe level I'd guess.

As soon as possible do a large change, basically take the water right down as much as you can leaving just enough water to cover your fish, this may stress them slightly but that is nothing compared to the harm the ammonia will be doing. Re-fill the tank with dechlorinated water and match it as close to the current temp as you can with your hand.

Wait an hour and do another test and repost on here. If ther levels are still above 0.25ppm (and they will be) then after the hour you can do another large change, maybe not quite as large as the first one but probably 60/70%

Also when you do the water changes, use the gravel vac to take the water out that way your are cleaning the gravel and doing a water change at the same time to get all the muck and waste out of the gravel.

Andy

 

[mark1979]

ammonia 8.0

water change 80% now,test again then keep doing changes until your at below 0.25 on ammonia and nitrite

 

[Shantih]

Thankyou i shall do a change now then repost test results in an hour, many thanks for all your help xx

 

[Shantih]

I am struggling to use the vac, any tips? it says shake up and down vigourously for a few seconds but i cant seem to do it right

 

[mark1979]

I am struggling to use the vac, any tips? it says shake up and down vigourously for a few seconds but i cant seem to do it right

put the hose end in the bucket and do like its says ,move the vac part up and down pretty quickly,and this will eventualy feed the water from the tank into the bucket.

make sure whilst doing this the hose dont pop out the bucket or there will be alot of water going everywhere,lol

is the bucket below tank level?

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Shantih and welcome to the forum!

Just wanted to show some support after reading this and seeing that Andy and Mark are giving you excellent advice! Good job working to save your fish. Fish would be expected to die pretty quickly in an 8.0ppm ammonia level!

Note that if you are quick about it, you can simply suck on the bucket end of the hose to get the tank water to come over the edge of the tank and start dropping. Don't worry about a little water in your mouth. Its basically tap water and all this stuff we talk about is tiny stuff in parts per million.

Be sure to save off some of your tank water that went into the bucket (I use a large plastic glass) as a handy way to use your hand to match its temperature to the tap temperature back in the bathroom or whereever you are doing the refill.

Your ammonia level is so high I wouldn't even bother with a test necessarily (except it helps you learn) before doing the next large water change an hour later. Its always good practice to wait an hour between water changes but as Andy said, it may take as many as 3 or 4 in succession to get your ammonia level down to the 0.25ppm, below which they won't sustain permanent gill damage or death as they do above that level.

Note also that you'll need to also perform the low level pH test as your high-level test came out near the bottom of what the high-level one can read. But this of course is not urgent like the water changes are.

~~waterdrop~~
ps. when not water changing, keep up the reading.. not only the Beginners Resource Center but other threads will do nothing but help you learn more

 

[Shantih]

Thankyou very much for all your support, i understand somewhat more than i did this morning, i shall keep on reading till half 2 when i shall retest just so i can see if i am helping them, i sorted the vac, i was scared of rocking the water too much so was bein soft lol but av done it now, theres still tiny particles of that cat fish food fluff floating round but i have got tons out and figured that i would probably get the rest out in the next water change, wanted to give the fish a rest for a bit lol.

Just one thing before the next test, do i need to redo all the tests or just the ammonia as this is what i am concentrating on at the moment?