Please help. Very new

[Z3N157]

I need a lot of help here. My daughter was given a comet at school. So we went to Petsmart to get a bowl and was told how that is a No no. Did reading all weekend (a lot on this forum) and decided to buy a used tank. Found a desperate, moving couple trying to offload their tank and bought it for asking price. It's a 40g, problem is it came with a large common pleco (10 inch to tip of tail), a bn pleco, a couple tetra, and a couple glofish. So now I've bit off more than I expected (or more than I was told till I show to pick it up). I assume from reading that the tank is too small for the pleco but no one wants him and I don't want him to just die. There is sand under the rocks and a very small plant rooted in the corner.

I get it all home and he had given me a price of driftwood for the pleco. I put that in for the guy and leave filter and rocks and all that alone. I filled the aquarium up with tap water, put the declor in and then put the fish, with their water from the bags in. All is well.

Right after I notice water is foggy. The business I work at we have an aquarium owner who manages our aquariums he tells me it might take a little to settle. I brought a sample to pet smart. They says it's ok and give it a week. Biowheel on the filter stopped, filter was nasty I buy a new one.

Today is a week. I have not had a fish die or anything but it's no clearer and today when I came home the tube for the filter had like stuff hanging off of it. I took it out to clean it and notice the wheel not turning. I pull out the filter and it's covered in pink slime. What do I do?!?!?!

Please help this rookie. All help will be appreciated.

Edit: If it helps I have a Penguin 150 and the first cartridge I threw away when the biowheel stopped did not have any of that pink slime on it.

 

[Coursair]

Try to get the big Pleco onto Craigslist or see if a store will let you donate it. Check Pond stores also.

Ok, the hard part.
The Comet is a cool water fish and will need a pond. A 40g would be ok for it, but they do hit 6" or more very quickly.

The other fish
BN Pleco
Tetras ( what kind ?)
GloFish ( Tetra, Danio or Barb ?)
Could stay, without the Comet or the big Pleco. They are appropriate size and won't outgrow the tank.

The Comet would need a minimum of 40g by itself. They need clean water with lots of filtration and no heat.

The others do best with heat, at least 75-76°F.

Biowheels are a pain. I don't use them anymore.

With that fish load, I'd look at a Canister Filter or a large AquaClear.

Buy a water test kit. The Plecos and the Goldfish are messy !!! You'll need to really keep up on water changes.

Temp solution ? Set up a heavy duty Rubbermaid bin or tub as an indoor pond. Add a cheap large sponge filter and throw in some Anacharis plants.

The Comet could live for a time in warm water, but it shortens their lifespan.

Common Plecos need about 125g tank to thrive. They can live 20yrs. And hit 12".

Thank you for doing the best you can on short notice. Not trying to bust your chops. Just giving you ideas for the long run.

I hate that they treat Goldfish like candy.

 

[Z3N157]

The teacher literally gave every student a comet. My kindergartener will freak if I get rid of her fish now.

Ran to Wal-mart as all other stores are closed and no good filter options. The filter running is already starting to accumulate more stuff on the feed tube.

The wife and I both got to go to work before anywhere opens in the morning. Hoping for the best till I can get to a store and hook this all up. My buddy offered me a free tank today. I may go get his too so I can seperate some of the fish.

 

[Delapool]

Oh wow, that's unfortunate from the teacher - I can just imagine 30 stressed out parents swearing off fish keeping for life

 

[Z3N157]

So me and the wife did not sleep last night. We bought some large Tupperware containers and put the fish in seperate containers. Threw out all the rocks, the plants, the sand, and the water Scrubbed out the whole tank. Hoping the little (and not so little) guys will be ok till my wife gets home from work at 2pm. So she can buy a new filter. I'll post how it goes.

 

[Coursair]

FYI there was no need to throw out rocks and sand. Or the plants.

Did you leave the old filter running in dechlorinated water I hope ????

I hope I didn't give the impression to tear down the tank ?

The indoor pond idea was for the Goldfish ONLY. Or one for the big Pleco.

The filter suggestion would be added to the old filter so the old filter could go on another tank.

If you tore down and cleaned the old filter ? You've thrown out all of your good beneficial bacteria ( BB). [emoji25][emoji25][emoji25][emoji25]

I'll try to type clearer in the future.

Please read pinned posts on Fish In Cycling.

I'm sorry you are stressing out.

 

[Z3N157]

I know what you were saying but the filter was accumulating pink slime at a crazy rate. I took pics but can't post them yet. The water was crazy cloudy and the plant I'm fairly certain was either dead at this point or beyond bringing back.

 

[Coursair]

I know what you were saying but the filter was accumulating pink slime at a crazy rate. I took pics but can't post them yet. The water was crazy cloudy and the plant I'm fairly certain was either dead at this point or beyond bringing back.

Ah got it. That would freak me out too.

 

[Z3N157]

So the fish lived for me to buy my aquaclear 50. The c3 or c4 were not available anywhere near here. (Called everywhere withen an hour of my office). I put it in and got them out of their containers. Tested the water and the ammonia was starting to creep above .5. Kids went to bed, and we started to do a 25% water replace. Did it at temperature using a meat thermometer. As we started to remove water all the fish started to go to the top for air. As we added water and once we finished the glofish and tetras all died one by one. We now have the comet, the bn pleco, the common pleco, and one neon guy who made it. About 7 hours till my kids freak. My wife was in tears....

 

[Coursair]

**** ! Sorry to hear.

What temp is the tank ?

What water conditioner did you use ?

Look up Drip Acclimation for the future.

[emoji25]

 

[Autumnsky]

So sorry to hear, it is an honest mistake and all too common.

It is possible the fish were in old water which wasn't properly cared for and the differences between the new water and the old water was too great a difference for the fish to live through. I have had it happen to me, it is very hard to experience. Many keepers who adopted or bought tanks of others' fish have had this happen.

What an awful gift for Kindergarteners and their families. :/

So a side note about the child's new pet situation.

A discussion with the child about however well intentioned the teacher was meaning the fish for a wonderful pet to take care of. It really was a difficult kind of fish to choose, especially for a family who was not prepared to care for it.

Share the hard facts kindly and with love. Let the child know that because of not being able to choose the pet with plenty of learning BEFORE getting it puts you at a disadvantange and will make keeping the fish alive very hard.

So as a family maybe need to plan better and make a better choice of a fish and share about how a tank needs special time to cycle. And that it is a magical world in the filter pad growing tiny critters you can't even see but help support the entire fish tank world where the fish live to help keep them alive. But they need lots of time to grow enough of them to be able to help take care of a fish or group of fish.

Gently and lovingly explain it and involve the child in the whole experience so there isn't that huge surprise if something (else) goes wrong.

And separately get a message to the teacher to please never give pets as gifts to young children with out parents wanting to take on that kind of responsibiity, and knowing what that responsilility is.

A seedling plant might make a better, inexpensive choice for sharing. With directions on care requirements.

It is unlikely many of the fish will even survive any of their new homes.

Very sorry a well intentioned idea was the absolute worst thing.

Fish keeping is usually enjoyable after knowing the basics.

There is a link in my signature if you haven't already read it, for Getting Started article like was previously mentioned.

 

[Coursair]

Well said Autumn [emoji1360]

 

[toolman]

Well said Autumn [emoji1360]

Agreed... Very well said.

Fishkeeping is a wonderful family hobby.... Ask my kids and 6 tanks of fish later. Thankfully I only have to care for 3. Lol

Growing up on a livestock farm (plenty of steak and bacon), this could be a good lesson for the kids.
Unfortunately not all pets or livestock survive. My kids had to learn their pets would eventually be food, lessons every farm kid has to learn.

So sorry for your situation.

 

[TMaier]

The teacher is an idiot. Honestly I would go to the school and speak with the principal. Giving live pets to children without a parental consent is a big no no.

 

[toolman]

The teacher is an idiot. Honestly I would go to the school and speak with the principal. Giving live pets to children without a parental consent is a big no no.

Agree wholeheartedly! Hard to believe a kindergarten teacher could be so ignorant!

 

[Sharmon]

The teachers heart was in the right place but common sense was missing. Yes I agree with everyone else. The school should be told and to your best ability explain what fish keeping entails. Plant seeds and flower pot would have been a better choice.

 

[Z3N157]

The last neon died right after I posted but all others are fine.

Tank is now at 70°. We had it at 72° when we still had everyone in there. Feel bad they never had a chance ones that guy gave them to us.

Kids took the news pretty well.

We have a bacteria supplement the pet store sold us and tap water dechlorinator. Both are top fin products sold to us when we were going to put comet in a bowl. Are they no good?

How often should I be doing water exchange? We did one yesterday at about 7pm and another at about 1:30am. Woke up this morning and we are back between .25 and .5 ppm ammonia.

My wife was told about the goldfish. But till we went to the pet store we had no idea goldfish were supposed to be in a tank that large. It's a really good private school and she's probably the best teacher I've ever met but yeah this was a bit of a boneheaded choice.

 

[TMaier]

Test your tap water. Some have that amount of ammonia right out of the tap. Your water conditioner should neutralize it but your tests will still pick it up. So you should monitor for how much of an increase occurs.

 

[toolman]

I know it's overwhelming and you've bought a lot of stuff, but I recommend buying seachem Prime water conditioner while doing a fish-in cycle.

Prime will detoxify the 0.25-0.5 ammonia you have left. Normally you want 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, but during a cycle you need those to feed the beneficial bacteria your trying to grow.
The ammonia and nitrites will still show up in testing and be there to feed the bacteria but Prime will make them non toxic to your fish.

Prime can handle only a certain amount, (less than 1ppm) but you can use up to 3x (in emergency) dose to detoxify more.

 

[Z3N157]

I've not had it above .5ppm so that shouldn't be an issue. I read the getting started links, al be it after I technically started. I'll check for Prime at the store and if not I'll order it.