Newbie Needs Help

[weezebegs]

We bought a 45 litre tank a few weeks ago, left it empty for a week to mature. Water was fine so we purchased 4 Danios's to start off with ( This is going to be a family tank for the kids to enjoy)

At first they were very happy swimming/feeding well no concerns.

5 days ago we added a heater and gradually increased the temp slowly as we are going to start adding more tropical fish in the weeks to come.

In the last 4 days fish have gone from the bottom of the tank....to the top of the tank ....now they are swimming normally but are now not eating which is more worring.

Went back to the shop yesterday with water sample and they said all was fine and they symptoms sound like stress and to leave them for a week and to to take another sample back.

What do you think ??

 

[Harlequins]

Welcome

You have fallen into the 'lfs trap' has i call it,basically your tank wont mature in a week with just water in it,The filter(i assume you have one?)needs to build up good bacteria in order for your fish to survive this is called the nitrogen cycle.Have a read in the beginners section,theres a link under my signature pic,this will tell you all about the cycle the filter needs to go though and how to work you way through a 'fish in' cycle that is what you are in now...

Firstly i would buy a master liquid test kit (ebay the cheapest for API test kit around £20)so you can test your own water this tests for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate & ph. and will determine what water changes you do to keep the fish from an untimely death of being poisoned by the toxins built up whilst in cycle ( ammonia & nitrite are both poisonous to fish,fish excrete ammonia in everything they do breathing,pooing etc..which then turns to nitrite etc...) so regular water changes using dechlorinator are needed to keep them safe.

Did the lfs give you your exact readings?
What temperature do you have your tank set at?

 

[Harlequins]

Meant to add a cycle can take 4-6 weeks for your filter to cycle...

 

[weezebegs]

Meant to add a cycle can take 4-6 weeks for your filter to cycle...

Temp is 24, the said in the shop that the tank was well on it's way finishing it's cycle but didn't give me exact readings.
My PH is 7.5 which they said was good.
I have been using a dechlorenater and a filter start up liquid too.

Do you think the fish are going to die as they are not eating !!

 

[Harlequins]

I would do a good 50% waterchange with dechlorinator and see if they perk up.

 

[weezebegs]

I would do a good 50% waterchange with dechlorinator and see if they perk up.

Well I did a 20% water change first thing this morning as I wanted to remove the uneaten food.

I must admit they are swimming around a bit more and not hanging under the surface so maybe they will pick up.

Shall I not feed them this evening and feed them in the morning

 

[Harlequins]

I would do a large daily water change until you can either get your water tested asap or buy a test kit to mainly test for ammonia & nitrite has these are the 2 toxic ones that will harm your fish...

 

[weezebegs]

I would do a large daily water change until you can either get your water tested asap or buy a test kit to mainly test for ammonia & nitrite has these are the 2 toxic ones that will harm your fish...

Thanks for all your advice...

I have ordered some 6-1 tetra test papers, they seemed easy for a novice.
Do you think the API liquid tests are better then ?

I only did a 20% water change as that's what the recommended in the shop, didn't realise I was allowed to take so much out.

Will try that then tomorrow. Fish shop is open tomorrow so may take a water sample in to get them to test again.

 

[Harlequins]

I wouldn't get test strips they aren't accurate and they dont test for ammonia.

Liquid test kits are better and lasts for ages

 

[karin]

Please stop listening to your LFS. They are giving you bad advise with respect to your water. Remember that all they want to do is sell you lots of stuff... fish, filter material, medications. It is time you took control of the water with a liquid test kit. You will need to do daily water changes, 50%, until you get that test kit. It is likely that your ammonia and nitrites are positive and jumping about and this will cause fish death especially if you get something other than danios.

What was helpful to me when I first started is to think of yourself as a water keeper first and a fish keeper second.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! Part of the fun of this hobby is learning a bit of chemsitry.

 

[weezebegs]

Please stop listening to your LFS. They are giving you bad advise with respect to your water. Remember that all they want to do is sell you lots of stuff... fish, filter material, medications. It is time you took control of the water with a liquid test kit. You will need to do daily water changes, 50%, until you get that test kit. It is likely that your ammonia and nitrites are positive and jumping about and this will cause fish death especially if you get something other than danios.

What was helpful to me when I first started is to think of yourself as a water keeper first and a fish keeper second.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! Part of the fun of this hobby is learning a bit of chemsitry.

Thanks, I have just ordered a liquid test kit from ebay so hopefully that will come soon, I am going to do a 50% water change tomorrow and will get water tested at LFS on monday to see how it is going on. Fish are happier this afternoon, so hopefully the water cycle is almost complete as they mentioned on Friday and some more water changes will help.

Been reading and get conflicting advice, some say test water daily some say weekly....when you are new to a hobby all this different advice is so confusing....just ordered some more books on amazon too to read up on.

Hopefully I'll be back in a few weeks asking for tips on what fish to add next !!!

 

[karin]

Until your tank is stable for two weeks and this means getting zero ammonia and nitrite (with an "I" - nitrItes) test daily and if any positive numbers for ammonia and nitrite, anything over zero, you need to do a water change. This may take longer than you think. Once stable you can add more fish but not before. Any time you add fish, start testing daily for a week again to make certain your biological community (the good bacteria that are processing the ammonia and nitrite) can handle the new fish.

Again, you LFS will tell you what you need to hear so they can sell you fish. Skip them, do your daily water changes until you get that kit. They were wrong telling you that your tank is cycled last friday. I suspect this because your fish are responding well to water changes then that means that your water had problems and they didn't catch it. This is very common.

Above all have fun and take joy in the learning process.

 

[AdultMaleChicago]

As you wait for your liquid test kit to come in, you should check the beginners resource center here on the forums. There are a number of articles at the top on "cycling". You've added fish before the tank had the opportunity to develop biological filters to cope with their waste. It's possible to recover from this and get back on track.

I don't know a lot about cycling the tank with fish in, as I am doing fishless cycling. I believe that frequent large water changes are the only way to keep your fish from dying since there is so much untreated waste in your tank at this time.

Read up and keep asking questions. Please post your test results when you get your kit. Good luck!

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

really dont listen to your LFS especially if its a big chain store!! i personally have recieved nothing but duff advice from mine (i actually ask questions i know the answer too now just to see if they get it wrong lol)... the only thing thats helped me along is the friendly people on here and the articles they have written good luck and keep us updated

 

[Whitey_144]

glad to hear you are taking it seriously, ignore the LFS.

I've used strips before and now i use API and its much better. i test almost daily and i don't even have fish yet! so if i was you i'd be testing each day until you're out of the woods...which could be some time.

Do you have live plants? that could also help use up some of the ammonia and nitrate, but nothing beats water changes with dechlorinator, no reason why you have to do small ones, do bigger ones like advised above.

You could also feed a little sparingly for the short term, to save a bit on the waste - and do a gravel clean