Help!

[Eldx]

Hello! This is going to be a long one so I hope someone makes it to the end! I’d really appreciate it as I’m truly stuck and I cannot find the answer anywhere.

Since November 2019 I’ve had a biOrb 30l round tank with 3 zebra danios, 6 golden mountain minnows and 2 cherry barbs. I discovered it was leaking on a Sunday night at 11pm so I quickly phoned my dad who dropped me off a spare tank he had (20l I think) With absolutely no knowledge of the cycle or fish in general to be quite honest, I moved them over into the smaller tank with just their existing water and gravel and all was well for 2 weeks.

One of my cherry barbs appeared to have swim bladder, so after some googling I found some treatment to buy but sadly he died not long after I removed him from the main tank into a smaller one. The next day I noticed my last remaining cherry barb was going the same way so I ran to pets at home and bought swim bladder treatment and some kind of anti bacterial treatment. This is when I fell down what I can only describe as the worm hole that is fish keeping �� I’ve since learnt the basics about cycling and I’m horrified that I didn’t put any filter media in to the new tank!

A week ago today I bought a 55l tank which i set up with gravel, real plant cuttings and the filter. I was planning on cycling the tank from scratch, I bought ammonia and api testing kits the lot, I felt prepared and semi understood what I was doing..

Then I realised I ordered a salt water kit instead of freshwater kit so my first of many questions is 1. Can I use the saltwater kit or is there anything I can do to adapt it for freshwater fish?

Next question.. the smaller temporary tank has been running for 3 weeks so from what I understand won’t be fully cycled. I have my old biOrb filter still in the shed (3 weeks old which would be fully cycled but is it any good now?!)

Am I better just cycling it totally from scratch, or can I move over the filter from the smaller tank to the new tank, and also mix in some media from the biOrb tank? I’m really worried that the tiny tank is far too small for them but equally don’t want to throw them into a brand new tank if moving the filter media from the biOrb or the small tank won’t be enough because it’s been out the tank for 3 weeks / the small ones not cycled. Can I run the small tank filter side by side with the new filter and put some of the biOrb filter in there too? Or am I making a mess of it all?!

If anyone could give me any advice I would be so grateful, thankyou!

I’ve attached a picture of the new tank, the small temporary one and the filter in the small tank.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Hi Eldx

- All API test kits are interchangeable between saltwater and freshwater. The saltwater kit doesn't contain the standard pH test, just the high pH test, as saltwater is high pH. I think Pets at Home will accept returns if you want to exchange or you could just buy the standalone standard pH test.

- Your biorb filter media will not have any beneficial bacteria still alive in it if the filter hasnt had water running through it providing oxygen. Bacteria will survive upto 3 hours if left dry, 3 days if kept wet, and several weeks if kept wet and oxygenated.

Personally i think the best thing for your fish is to get them into the larger tank as soon as you are able. If you have any fish that look sick, keep them separated and use your smaller tank as quarantine and medicate in there. If possible run both filters side by side for a couple of weeks, if not transfer media from your running filter into the new one. Do a fish in cycle, some semi established media should speed up the process. If you need advice on this let us know.