Newbie

[Dave9365]

Hi all
My names Dave. I am very new to the 'fish world' and have made some pretty huge mistakes already but very willing to learn. I recently purchased a 28liter (about 6 Gallons) tank from a car boot sale, which came with an Aquastart 100 series internal filter. I set it up as a coldwater tank and left it for only 1 day before going out and purchasing some fish. (I had no idea about 'cycling' and rushed into it :-( I have;

4 white cloud mountain minnows. 2cm in length
2 Goldfish (unsure what breed, going back to the shop today to find out) 1.5" in length
2 Golden agae eaters. 1.5" in length

The woman at the shop said they'd be fine in a tank together and I was none the wiser :-(
The fish have been in they're for 48 hrs and seem to be fine at the moment. I know my tank is way too small for 1 goldfish never mind 2 + the algae eaters which I now know can grow to be massive. I am going to take the goldfish and algae eaters back to the shop a.s.a.p and just do a 'fishincycle' with the mountain minnows. I did a 25% water change 24hrs after putting them in there and will do another one today, maybe even a 50% change depending on the results I get when I buy an API test kit later on. My neighbour had some spare Tetra 5in1 test strips so I did a test this morning and the results were as follows:

PH: 8.0
KH: 6.0
GH: >10
Nitrite: 10
Nitrate: 25
Haven't been able to test for ammonia as of yet but that's why I did the water change yesterday and will do another one today.

Sorry for the VERY long intro but want to do this properly and feel guilty for not doing my research before adding live fish to my tank. Any advise would be very much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Dave

 

[Dave9365]

The Golden algae eaters chase each other a lot. How can I tell if they are just playing or fighting for territory?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Hi all
My names Dave. I am very new to the 'fish world' and have made some pretty huge mistakes already but very willing to learn. I recently purchased a 28liter (about 6 Gallons) tank from a car boot sale, which came with an Aquastart 100 series internal filter. I set it up as a coldwater tank and left it for only 1 day before going out and purchasing some fish. (I had no idea about 'cycling' and rushed into it :-( I have;

4 white cloud mountain minnows. 2cm in length
2 Goldfish (unsure what breed, going back to the shop today to find out) 1.5" in length
2 Golden agae eaters. 1.5" in length

The woman at the shop said they'd be fine in a tank together and I was none the wiser :-(
The fish have been in they're for 48 hrs and seem to be fine at the moment. I know my tank is way too small for 1 goldfish never mind 2 + the algae eaters which I now know can grow to be massive. I am going to take the goldfish and algae eaters back to the shop a.s.a.p and just do a 'fishincycle' with the mountain minnows. I did a 25% water change 24hrs after putting them in there and will do another one today, maybe even a 50% change depending on the results I get when I buy an API test kit later on. My neighbour had some spare Tetra 5in1 test strips so I did a test this morning and the results were as follows:

PH: 8.0
KH: 6.0
GH: >10
Nitrite: 10
Nitrate: 25
Haven't been able to test for ammonia as of yet but that's why I did the water change yesterday and will do another one today.

Sorry for the VERY long intro but want to do this properly and feel guilty for not doing my research before adding live fish to my tank. Any advise would be very much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Dave

to AA

Glad you figured out you need to research first and I'm just saying it never ends there lol. 6 gallons is not a whole lot nor big enough for most fish, I'm glad your going to take back the goldfish and algae eaters. Now for the minnows, you need to do some more research because they need a bigger tank, but not as big as the others. If you wanna Google search a fish put the name in and profile after to learn tank sizes etc. Ok now that's out of the way let's talk test kits. You need to get an API freshwater master test kit not the strips. The strips are often very wrong and can't be trusted. Good work on the water changes just don't mess with the filter till it is really nasty and the water can't hardly flow any more. You'll need the bacteria in it to make the fish in cycle easyer. When testing your water when cycled it should read o ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 40 nitrates. So when fish in cycling you will need to do a ton of testing and water changes to keep your water right and fish alive. Make sure you look in the article section of the site it has great info including cycling. Thanks for joining again you'll learn a lot around these neck of the woods.

 

[Dave9365]

to AA

Glad you figured out you need to research first and I'm just saying it never ends there lol. 6 gallons is not a whole lot nor big enough for most fish, I'm glad your going to take back the goldfish and algae eaters. Now for the minnows, you need to do some more research because they need a bigger tank, but not as big as the others. If you wanna Google search a fish put the name in and profile after to learn tank sizes etc. Ok now that's out of the way let's talk test kits. You need to get an API freshwater master test kit not the strips. The strips are often very wrong and can't be trusted. Good work on the water changes just don't mess with the filter till it is really nasty and the water can't hardly flow any more. You'll need the bacteria in it to make the fish in cycle easyer. When testing your water when cycled it should read o ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 40 nitrates. So when fish in cycling you will need to do a ton of testing and water changes to keep your water right and fish alive. Make sure you look in the article section of the site it has great info including cycling. Thanks for joining again you'll learn a lot around these neck of the woods.

Thank you for the advice. I have just taken the goldfish and algae eaters back to the shop (was sad to see them go) especially the algae eaters they're very fun to watch although very boisterous with the other fish, I think if they had a lot bigger tank they would be great fish to have.

I went to buy the API test kit but it's about £30 in England and can't find the £'s just yet. I am still using the strips for now as I suppose it's better than nothing. I did mange to buy an API ammonia tester tho (liquid form) and the first test this morning showed 4mp/ltr. I did a 50% water change straight afterwards and will re-test tomoro morning. I have also bought 'filter booster' to get the bacteria into the filter.

I am already looking on E-bay for a bigger tank so hopefully next month I can move the white clouds into that tank. If I get a new filter with the new tank can I put the sponge from the old one into the new one so I don't have to cycle the tank again or is that wishful thinking

Thanks again

 

[jondamon]

Dave

Good job for at least getting the ammonia tester.

4ppm of Ammonia is highly toxic to fish.
By doing a 50% water change you have reduced this to 2ppm.
The bad news is that anything over 0.5ppm is toxic.

So you are going to need to do another 50% to drop it to 1ppm. Then wait an hour and do another 50% to drop it to 0.5ppm.

Then I would wait an hour and perform another 50% water change.

Then I would continue to do 50% water changes every day once you've completed the above water changes.



Jon

 

[aaronjohn20]

I would also like to mention getting some dechlorinator if you haven't already.

 

[Dave9365]

Ok I will start doing 50% changes until the ammonia gets to 0. Yes I have Aquasafe to make the tap water safe. If I'm doing 50% water changes every hour and I'm adding the Aquasafe every time is it safe (ie; you can't overdose the amount?)
Thanks

 

[jondamon]

Ok I will start doing 50% changes until the ammonia gets to 0. Yes I have Aquasafe to make the tap water safe. If I'm doing 50% water changes every hour and I'm adding the Aquasafe every time is it safe (ie; you can't overdose the amount?)
Thanks

It will be fine.

Your main concern is getting the ammonia down.



Jon

 

[Samzter]

Welcome to AA! Hope you like the site so far!