Natalie's Fishtank.

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NatalieFish

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
44
Location
Canada
Hello everyone, My name is Sienna, and my baby Natalie loves her fish-tank. My older brother (aquajoe) told me about this site and gave me information about my tank and such on how to maintain it. WELL.. when i went to... i promised the fish i would clean their tank today. The only pic of it in my only album so far.. I didn't get before pics, which i should have but i think for the sake of everyone's sanity here i'd best just explain how terrible it was. As i mentioned as a caption for the picture of my tank on there, i bought that tank off of the previous renters when we moved in.. I don't think they've ever cleaned it and apparently they've lived here for 3 years. IF that tank was not cleaned in 3 years, i believe it. what i don't believe is that ALL their fish are still alive. well they probably just got new ones after the others died and couldn't be bothered to clean the tank. when i dusted it off the first day we were cleaning there was a blanket of dust on it. disgusting. So today i went all out and took it all apart, cleaned it. The filter, i swear it was clogged with sludge. thankfully my brother (aquajoe ) gave me more information on how to clean this thing. but i sweat the tubes were clogged, the entire thing was just filled to the rim with sludge! So, i cleaned all that out with the brushes and everything, wiped everything down, cleaned the plants, ( with just plain water and set them to air dry ) the filtler (mechanical) as well and left to air dry.. the filters themselves.. i cleaned them but my brother advised me to clean them in the tank water but i remembered at the last minute as i put one under the tap!!! so they're air drying right now.im still iffy about them though! This is my first time EVER cleaning a tank and a HUGE one at that. ( It looks small in the pic ) but, so once all that was done i started the syphoning. i did it three times. Just because well, the rocks are blue and the very bottom was black (poop) and i went all through the rocks and everything. Of course i was very careful i wouldn't suck one of the fish up.. when i took the plants out, stuff went everywhere it was unbelievable.. i felt so bad for the fish i stuck in the a million times to try to get as much as i possibly could. after the stress of me invading their home and taking their plants and the syphoning i sprinkled some fish food in there. I filled ( but not quite ) the tank with water that i had sitting out for .. maybe 3 days.. so i thought it safe to through that in. well, carefully.. so ill update and display a new picture of it soon to show you all then ill be asking some questions!!!!!
 
Welcome to the site!

i hate it when people dont consider fish as a pet, and dont care for them when they lose interest. glad to hear your mantaining the tank!
 
:)

Welcome to the site!

i hate it when people dont consider fish as a pet, and dont care for them when they lose interest. glad to hear your mantaining the tank!

Thank you!
The only thing is that i find it hard to name them. :p haha. but fish have personalities too! And i don't know about the previous owners but i wouldn't want my pet fish to me swimming around in their own poop and have no oxygen.

thanks again!
 
Your doing a good deed!
Sounds like your on the right track, just remember, you want to preserve the bacteria in the tank. When cleaning anything, don't use tap water, it kills the bacteria, just fill up a bucket of tank water and scrub with your hands (gross...but think of the fishies!).
As long as the fishies are all alive, thats a sign that your doing good. Never clean everything in the tank, especially with tap water. You will send yourself into a mini-cycle.
Great that you had the heart to rescue our oh so favorite, slimy friends!!
 
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