Shocking Discovery

[mossonthemoon]

So I skirted around an issue with having to start my tank from scratch, but now it is necessary to explain further. The (insane) landlord we had previously locked us out of our last house and we have been trying to get in since. This was January. I presumed all fish to be gone. We finally got access today and there are four fish! Alive! My husband discovered them. The tank is a disaster, but he put in a new bucket of water and got the filter going faster. There is algae everywhere. He didn't want to change it completely and shock them, but he wasn't sure what to do, and he had a very limited amount of time. We are going back tomorrow. I have absolutely no idea what to do now. They are obviously very hardy! When we move them, do we keep any of the water despite it being terrible? It's Juwel Rio 180 and there are two bristlenoses and two emperor tetras. The tank was planted - not so much now I would imagine, but it sustained them for that long.

 

[creeker]

A big change at this point might shock them. Maybe change half the water a day for several days.

 

[DJH584]

Insane landlord aside, here's hoping that you can perform the ultimate rescue and get your fish, tank and equipment out of there PDQ.
Hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel for yourselves and your remaining fish.

David

 

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

you can do small water changes throughout the day if you want. Bristlenoses are very hardy fish. they were probably very happy with the algae growing around them. Mine lived through a tankk with no oxygen and alot of ammonia in the water once (that was when i didn't know anything). The tetras suprise me but one of my tetras, against all odds, survived with the bristlenose. Keep changing their water and the tank should start regulating itself.

 

[Henley96]

all right

 

[mossonthemoon]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't sure whether to do very small changes or a few larger ones, or other. The problem is that we will probably only be able to delay the move to our house until Sunday. Should I perhaps change a bucket every few hours (say four or so) every day until Sunday? We won't be there overnight at all, but will be there pretty late so that would probably equate to three changes per day, of 10-15 (I can't remember offhand) each. Would that be too much?

Or Should I do less and preserve some of the bad water for the move, move them into the bad water again (ugh), and do a more gradual change at home?

 

[drobbyb]

20% changes every few days. They might be suffering from what is referred to old tank syndrome and too quick of a change can shock them. They will need time to acclimate to new conditions. If you need to move the tank, save the old water and refill with the old water.

Feed sparingly during this time as well.