ok, ive messed up.... need help

[ImTheCrew]

ok yesterday morning i stopped in at the local fish store and picked up a aquarium kit... i talked to the guy for about an hour and a half about getting setup. According to him i could come back in a few hours and pick up some fish to put into the tank.

i got home and used tap water (w/ filter) to fill up my 10 gallon tank. i also assorted some rocks and a castle in the tank. On the guys recommendation i added about 90% of the scoop included to raise the ph level to 8.2. Then threw in some water conditioner.

Without knowing anything about "Cycling" i went back to pick up some fish. I chose an African Chiclid. He told me three would be the max hed put in it to start. so of course i chose three fish.

i got home and acclimated them. for about the first 6-7 hours they seemed fine, swimming around testing the "caves" out and the castle. Then i made another mistake by leaving the light on last night. i woke up about 4 30 am and they were swimming up and down very aggressively in one corner of the tank. so i turned the lights off and went back to sleep. I for got to add that i fed them right before i went to bed and at 4 30 ( i thought they may have bee hungry) .

i got back home around 2 pm, they were still doing the same thing, staying up against the glass going up and down very rapidly. So i decided to try to get them in a pattern by keeping the light on from 2pm to around 9pm and turn it off till the morning. So at about 845 i feed them and turned the light off at 9. i left the room almost pitch black for about 2 hours. i went to check on them a few minutes ago and they are still doing the same thing!!!!

some final notes.. i realize now that i jumped into this WAY to quick... i know i should have cycled the tank.. but i didn't... the temperature dropped overnight to about 70-72 degrees, so i went out and bought a heater. its now running at about 76-80 degrees....

so my question is what do i do? are these actions normal? can i expect these fish to die?

Thanks!

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

If you have someone that can handle the fish for about a month.. id get someone to help you out while cycling.. cichlids arnt something id cycle with.. they are to big for a 10g for starters... but.. without a cycle.. your ammonia will probably end up killing them..

Another thing.. dont use ph buffers.. where your water ph level is now.. as long as it is steady.. the fish will be fine with it...

But if you can at all.. either talk to the lfs to take the fish back.. or if you have a friend id get them to help you out.. thats the 2 options id use..

 

[ImTheCrew]

If you have someone that can handle the fish for about a month.. id get someone to help you out while cycling.. cichlids arnt something id cycle with.. they are to big for a 10g for starters... but.. without a cycle.. your ammonia will probably end up killing them..

Another thing.. dont use ph buffers.. where your water ph level is now.. as long as it is steady.. the fish will be fine with it...

But if you can at all.. either talk to the lfs to take the fish back.. or if you have a friend id get them to help you out.. thats the 2 options id use..

im going to the LFS tomorrow morning i can ask them( but highly doubt it).. and i dont know anyone that owns a freshwater tank.

what would be my options... wait till they die?

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

unfortunately... i dont really see any other way... you might be able to get away with keeping them.. .but it would kinda be a little cruel..

do frequent waterchanges to keep the ammonia down.. almost daily..... if you dont have a water test kit.. id go invest in one...

Also PRIME will be your friend threw this.. it will help lock down the ammonia. What kind of filtration do you have on the tank now? If its just 1 10gallon filter.. it wont be enough =/

 

[ImTheCrew]

unfortunately... i dont really see any other way... you might be able to get away with keeping them.. .but it would kinda be a little cruel..

do frequent waterchanges to keep the ammonia down.. almost daily..... if you dont have a water test kit.. id go invest in one...

Also PRIME will be your friend threw this.. it will help lock down the ammonia. What kind of filtration do you have on the tank now? If its just 1 10gallon filter.. it wont be enough =/

yes just one 10 gallon filter... what is PRIME?

 

[fort384]

Sounds like you got a lot of bad advice from the LFS. I would do whatever I could to take the fish back. What kind of African Cichlids are they? Most African Cichlid setups are 35G+. A small tank housing African cichlids will "breed" agression, in an already agressive species of fish.

As mentioned, pH additives are bad. They use phophates, which can easily cause an algae bloom.

I can't believe he sold you a setup with no heater, and then sold you african cichlids. I wouldn't trust a word of what this store tells you from the sound of it.

Prime is a dechlorinator btw.

If the fish are going to live, you will probably need to do 25%+ water changes per day while the tank is cycling. Do you have a test kit? It will be vital to test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, and pH.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

talking to them on aim lol

 

[angeltank]

hay man first off welcome to AA!!!
second off im not sure that you messed up i mean you did your home work by talking to the guy for an hour and half and you thought that HE would know what he was talking about witch really is sad that he didn't

i don't know much about those fish you got but i do know about angel fish so if you ever decide to get one ill try and help yea out lol

best of luck getting them to take thoes fish back. id talk to the manager and see what he is willing to do. some times they will bend the rules to keep your buisness i know that i have made a stink a few times and i got at least some thing out of it

so best of luck and hope to see you around here more often at AA

 

[missileman]

You can cycle the tank with the fish in it but be ready to make a few partial water changes a week and don't mess with PH.
My african cichlid tank has a steady PH of 7.4 and they are happy and healthy. Stable PH is more important than trying to hit a specific PH for a fish species.
As you do water changes to keep the amonia and nitrite levels good your PH will adjust to your normal tap water PH.
You might ask the store owner for some squeezings from his filter sponges to speed up your cycle. The dirtier the better. Put the squeezings into the back of your filter.
Also, if you haven't already, get a good test kit.
I recommend the API freshwater master test kit.
You will need to keep a very close eye on your waters parameters while you are cycling.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

If you are going to cycle with fish, return the fish to the lfs. Chances are, the fish are going to be way too big for the 10 gal tank. Most African Cichlids at a standard lfs are Mbuna or Peacocks. Min tank size, 55 gal. You'll want something smaller and a community fish. The African Cichlids are not going to be happy in the 10 gal tank as they need plenty of room to swim. Aggression will kick in and they will fight for territory.

Since you already have to return them to the lfs, you may as well fishless cycle. It's faster and a lot less maintenance. When you have fish int he tank you will need to test daily and do water changes when needed. With the Africans it will be almost daily.

As mentioned earlier, don't mess with the pH. It's just going to cause it to fluctuate.

 

[missileman]

the fish are going to be way too big for the 10 gal tank. Most African Cichlids at a standard lfs are Mbuna or Peacocks. Min tank size, 55 gal.

I forgot about that point.
10 gallons is too small for most Cichlids.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Prime: A dechlorinator that does a few other things for you. It's manufactured by Seachem and sold in red bottles under the name 'Prime'. For starters, when you use tap water, it most likely has some form of chlorine to keep the water safe... for human consumption. The chlorine will kill both fish and the beneficial bacteria you are trying to build up in a tank while you cycle it. Prime has a chemical in it that will bind to that chlorine and make it safe for the fish. In a similar manner, it can bind with SOME of the ammonia to make the ammonia safe for fish.

You don't have to wait for the fish to die. They might be able to survive the cycling process. But I suspect that you will have to do 25% PWC EVERY DAY. When I did a fishy cycle with a common gold fish and a rosy red minnow in a 10 gallon tank, I had to do daily water changes. The few times I was forced to skip a day, the ammonia or nitrite levels got way too high.

Something else to consider. If you are going to keep cichlids, you need a bigger tank. If you go ahead and get a bigger tank, you will be instantly helping the fish because the fish waste (i.e. ammonia) will be diluted in a much larger volume of water than it is right now.

So as I see it, you need to either find a way to return the fish, or go ahead and upgrade to a larger tank... and consider the 10 gallon tank to by your quarantine tank. After all, if you go ahead and get a bigger tank, you can eventually add other fish. But before you add fish to an established tank, you want to quarantine them from the other fish for a few weeks. You will be able to do that with the 10 gallon tank, as well as be ready to use it if a fish gets sick.

And if you do decide to get a bigger tank, I would suggest that you do a fishless cycle on the 10 gallon. Once the filter in the 10 gallon has built up some bacteria, add the filter from the 10 gallon to the bigger tank (have two filters going in the big tank). Once everything is cycled, you'll have that small 10 gallon tank and the 10 gallon tank filter ready to setup a hospital or quarantine tank on a moments notice. (You would want to keep the 10 gallon filter going in the bigger tank to keep the bacteria alive in it... if you just run it in an empty tank, the bacteria will die unless you keep feeding the 10 gallon tank ammonia every day).

 

[ImTheCrew]

thanks guys for all the help.

an update- i have done a 30% WC two days in a row. and added Cycle to speed up the cycle process. i have been conditioning the water with stress coat. i went to petsmart last night and got my water tested everything is ideal. while i was there i also picked up a liquid testing kit. for the past two days the fish have been acting completely normal.

 

[fort384]

good to know. What are your ammonia / nitrite / nitrate readings showing now?

 

[ImTheCrew]

good to know. What are your ammonia / nitrite / nitrate readings showing now?

tonight i was quite busy so i only checked the ammonia. Right now its at 2.0 so i did another 30% WC. I have a question, when i put the stress coat in the water im about to put in the tank, do i mix it or do i just need to let it sit for a few minutes or does it even matter?


Thanks

 

[marchmaxima]

Welcome to AA ImTheCrew. Unfortunately your story is not unfamiliar! Bad advice from an LFS, finds you here. Don't worry, there are tons of people here with good advice to be shared.

2.0ppm is WAY to high. I advocate taking the fish back asap, and doing a fishless cycle. It'll be faster and the most humane option. If you can't, you need to find a way to keep that ammonia under 0.5ppm. Any higher and your fish are suffering and are unlikely to survive. The only way to remove ammonia at this point is through water changes. Do as many water changes as necessary to get the level to 0.25ppm. If it goes above 0.5, do another change. With 3 cichlids in such a tiny tank, I regret to say you may need to do more changes than you'd like.

When you change the water, try to match the temperature and add Prime. I can't rave on enough about Prime. Don't bother with cycling products as they are useless and a waste of money IMO. Nothing replaces the processes of nature.

Best of luck

 

[ImTheCrew]

Welcome to AA ImTheCrew. Unfortunately your story is not unfamiliar! Bad advice from an LFS, finds you here. Don't worry, there are tons of people here with good advice to be shared.

2.0ppm is WAY to high. I advocate taking the fish back asap, and doing a fishless cycle. It'll be faster and the most humane option. If you can't, you need to find a way to keep that ammonia under 0.5ppm. Any higher and your fish are suffering and are unlikely to survive. The only way to remove ammonia at this point is through water changes. Do as many water changes as necessary to get the level to 0.25ppm. If it goes above 0.5, do another change. With 3 cichlids in such a tiny tank, I regret to say you may need to do more changes than you'd like.

When you change the water, try to match the temperature and add Prime. I can't rave on enough about Prime. Don't bother with cycling products as they are useless and a waste of money IMO. Nothing replaces the processes of nature.

Best of luck

so prime over stress coat?

 

[BillD]

How big are these 3 fish?

 

[ImTheCrew]

How big are these 3 fish?

like an inch and a qtr

 

[ImTheCrew]

so i should use prime instead of stress coat?