helping a friend.

[luvmyfishies]

hi i have a friend who just got a new 30 gallon. she is doing freshwater fish, but is adding to many to fast. she set the tank up on sunday and added fish, then went back monday for more fish. tuesday the tank has an ammonia smell. so i went over with water from my 40 gallon and one of my filter media things. we did the water change and put in the filter thing. is that going to help balance things out for a while. i have tried to tell her she is going to fast but she does not understand. i would just hate for her to lose the fish. will the water about 13 gallons and filter media help? anyone know?

 

[Allivymar]

The water will not do much, but if the filter media is mature and full of nitrifying bacteria it should help She'll still need to do water changes to reduce ammonia and nitrites of course, but they shouldn't spike anywhere near as high as they would without that filter media.

Ok, so I want you to take her wallet away and keep it until her tank is cycled LOL In the meantime, you may want to have her read these articles on the nitrogen cycle as she apparently doesn't quite have a grip on it yet:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

 

[LondonGman]

Allivymar is right.
However you did not mention how many fishes. Will you have to take back your media thingy, if so she may need to get an alternative set up. What filter system is on the tank?

Either way if you can smell the ammonia I would think the fishes would already be dead. It could be the bacterial bloom thingy that you smelt, hopefully.

To be on the safe side, change at least 20% of the water daily for the next few days. Then bi-weekly and see how things go. If everything is ok then return wallet but still no fishes for at least a month till her tank is up and running well.

 

[luvmyfishies]

lol, thank-you you guys. i will tell her i am taking the wallet. i did not smell the ammonia as bad after the water change. will do the water changes weekly. hmmm. can't remember how many fish but at a guess 8 or so.

 

[Allivymar]

Btw, make sure she changes the water anytime ammonia/nitrites show up; one time a week may not be enough if the tank is that overstocked.

 

[Terry]

I agree with Allivymar, (i always do)I would check the parameters daily and water change accordenly, it will slow down the cycling of the tank but the fish will be happier.

The only other thing to do is to get her to take back some of the fish, and ask her lfs if they would look after them for her until her tank has cycled.

 

[Gunnie]

Have her check the ammonia & nitrites at least once a day. When she's had a few days of daily if not more than once a day water changes, she might realize that adding more fish would be even more water changes. I know I got sick of it after only 3 days!

 

[Crow]

Or, give her twenty bucks from her wallet, and get her to buy some bio-spira. Go with her to the lfs though, or she may come back with more fish instead!

 

[luvmyfishies]

what is bio-spira? will it help?

 

[Gunnie]

Bio spira is great stuff. It is meant to be used when you initially add your fish. The difference is, when you normally cycle with fish, you add fish slowly while building up the bio filter. Bio spira IS the bio filter, so you add the bio spira, and then immediately add your full bio load of fish all at the same time. Is there any way she could temporarily move the fish, drain the 30 gal. and refill it? That way she could start over AND get those last extra fish she wanted. I have used bio spira 3 times in emergency situations similar to what your friend is facing, and have had excellent results. If this sounds like an option, try and find it locally from a reputable lfs (the stuff must stay refrigerated until used). You want to make sure you get live bacteria and not dead ones. If you can't find it locally, go to www.fishstoretn.com and Bernie will take care of you. His store is in Tennessee, and I live in Florida. I get my package still cold in 2 days. If you are interested in learning more about bio spira, go to www.fishgeeks.com and then to the general freshwater section. You should see a sticky about bio spira. I'd send you the link, but there are some site problems right now. Once you get the tank stabilized and manageable, try and get her interested in the forums as part of her new hobby, so she can learn how to cycle properly next time. I know my fish would all have died months ago without all this information!

 

[luvmyfishies]

thank-you so much for this info. i will talk to her about it and see what she wants to do.

 

[guppylove]

i think your mate is fish happy just like being trigger happy~LoL~ i can not put her down as i know where she is coming from as my first tank was not very well done as i just put water out of the tap in to the tank left it for one day then went to the shop got so many fish i could have started my own shop no filter media no aqua safe the fish did live for a long time.i dont know how after what i know about looking after fish.but i did finde out the hard way now i do every thing i can do to make it the best place for them to live.all you can do for your mate is try to help her by showing her what she needs to do it is down to her after that good luck..