New at this

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Nicchris1

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1
Hi. Through my kids, I entered the aquarium world 2 wks ago. My daughter started with a 5 gallon tank...then in less than 2 wks upgraded to a 12 gallon tank, and my son now has the 5 gallon. The 12g currently has 1 glofish and 1 cory cat...with plans to eventually add 4 more glofish. The 5g is currently empty but plan to eventually have 3 male guppies and 1 cory cat.

After initially setting up the 5g, we noticed what looked like tape residue inside the tank. So, when changing the tank from my daughter to my son (with new gravel/decorations), I decided to clean off the sticky residue. Plain water didn't work, so I used elmers sticky out...not remembering at time that I had read to never use cleaners/detergents on aquarium supplies).

After adding safestart and letting tank run 24 hrs, we tried adding 1 cory cat...which started floating on it's side within 3 hrs. It was not dead, but obviously not swimming right, so we took it back. Water test by me and lps showed slightly elevated ammonia, but not significant. So now I'm wondering if I poisoned the tank with the adhesive remover...and what I can do to fix it?!?

I have also learned more about fishless cycling and will be doing that before adding fish to the 5g.
 
Not sure how to get rid of that but once you do get it fixed a single betta might be a better idea for a 5g. Cories are schooling fish and like to be in groups of 5+. Really, better are the only I'd want to keep in a tank under 10g (but more than 2.5g lol). You should also probably think about getting a few more friends for your lonely cory in the 12g.

And about the 5g, if you don't find a solution, you may be better off just getting another tank, preferably larger so that you can keep more of a variety of fish lol :). HTH. Welcome and good luck! :)
 
After adding safestart and letting tank run 24 hrs, we tried adding 1 cory cat...which started floating on it's side within 3 hrs. It was not dead, but obviously not swimming right, so we took it back. Water test by me and lps showed slightly elevated ammonia, but not significant. So now I'm wondering if I poisoned the tank with the adhesive remover...and what I can do to fix it?!?

I have also learned more about fishless cycling and will be doing that before adding fish to the 5g.

It seems to me as though you didnt let the tank cycle long enough, you should really let the tank "cycle" for about a week, if there was an elevated ammonia level that ususally means the tank didnt fully cycle.once the tank fully cycles there will be almost no ammonia in the tank. Not to mention when you add a fish for the first time there will be a spike in the ammonia level due to stress, this will also cause tank cloudiness. As for the adhesive remover, you could try to just rinse the tank really really well and try again with a 1 week cycle and if you get the same results i would look into a new tank. you seem on the right track. :) glad to help. and welcome.
 
Last edited:
Going to move this to the FW getting started forum. You`ll get more answers there. BTW welcome to AA.
 
I would empty the tank and get some Aquarium Safe glass cleaner and give the tank a good cleaning and rinse it multiple times. Then do a one month fishless cycle as many have suggested. That should give you a good start.

Also as others have stated I think you are planning on putting too many fish in a 5 gallon tank. All of those fish would require at least 20 gallons. Check out AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

Aquavisor is not the best at stocking an aquarium. The site does many updates over a month screwing up the system and giving you wrong readings. The only thing that I have found that it is good for is the compatibility and tank sizes for fish

Tyler
 
Aquavisor is not the best at stocking an aquarium. The site does many updates over a month screwing up the system and giving you wrong readings. The only thing that I have found that it is good for is the compatibility and tank sizes for fish

Tyler

So you think the site is getting worse and worse with each update?? That doesn't make any sense. Updates are done to improve results.
 
Back
Top Bottom