Beginner thread

[brendal]

I'm fairly new at the whole really taking care of fish. I have now 1 iridescent shark who seems to have ich but it's not affecting it. It's swiming behavior is weird though, it swims upside down, runs into the tank walls, and will float upside down until i peek into the tank then it swims fast around. Then I have an angelfish who ate my goldfish, and a plecostomus that's about 4 inches long. The shark is quarantined in it's own tank which is about 3 gallons, and the other two are in a 10 gallon tank. I have one pump in the ten gallon, ick guard and aqua-safe in it. I'm currently trying to clean the protein film left in the 10 gallon thanks to my G.F. over feeding. That tank also has an air-stone in it. Any suggestions on the iridescent shark?

QUESTIONS
- How will I know if it's getting better?
- Can I introduce it into the larger tank since my angelfish ate the goldfish?
- Will the iridescent shark get as big as I've read? (3feet)
- What else should I do to make the aquarium better and safer to live in?
- The angelfish swims at the surface and floats in one spot is this normal?

Answers and any other advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[DragonFish71]

So first things first.

You have an angelfish and a 4 inch pleco in a 10g tank? You're asking for trouble. The pleco alone, if it's of the common variety can get extremely large. We're talking 8 inches to 18 inches. Angelfish can get large too, about a 4 inch body diameter. They both will need a much larger tank. I have a 9 inch pleco in a 120g and 4 juvie angels in a 115g. See what I'm getting at? The grown size of the fish will need much more room that you're giving them. Also plecos are heavy bio-load producers. Meaning they poop big time. If you took the advice from your LFS (local fish store) that they would be fine, I hate to tell you, they lied.


Now, do you test your water?
How long has the tank been set up?
You need to fully cycle a tank, just setting it up, letting the filter run for a few hours or days isn't cycling. I'll add links to the bottom of this.
Water changes with a good water dechorinator is your friend. A healthy tank needs nothing else.


The angelfish floating is not normal. It could be the small tank, water quality, or any number of other stresses.


And yes, iridescent sharks do get large.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ady-have-fish-what-now-116287.html#post983258

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/23/1/Tips-and-tricks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/Page1.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/24/1/Nitrogen-Cycle-/Page1.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/read-this-first-resources-and-references-83826.html

 

[brendal]

I greatly appreciate the advice. Unfortunately my shark just died from severe ich. I got lucky it was the only one that got it and i quarantined it in time. Running a cycle on the main tank though just in case.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Can you explain what you mean in detail by 'running a cycle' ?

 

[brendal]

Taking the fish out of the tank, cleaning the main one out, keeping some of the old rocks like they were so the bacteria is still on it, putting in a new filter and new water with aqua-safe and letting it run for a bit without the fish in it so the bacteria can reform in there then reintroduce the fish back in one at a time.

 

[BigJim]

Doing this will actually starve any bacteria in the tank, causing a major cycle crash. Those bacteria survive on your fish's waste ammonia.

It really sounds like you need a much bigger tank or to rehome your fish. You've got a lot of fish with potential to get huge. It's a common mistake to get these fish and many LFSs will tell you they'll be fine. Sorry to give you bad news.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Taking the fish out of the tank, cleaning the main one out, keeping some of the old rocks like they were so the bacteria is still on it, putting in a new filter and new water with aqua-safe and letting it run for a bit without the fish in it so the bacteria can reform in there then reintroduce the fish back in one at a time.

That's not doing a cycle :s. I'd call that a teardown and rebuild. In fact that sounds like a very bad idea all around.

Firstly, unless you are doing major work on the tank such as replacing the entire substrate, then you will never need to remove the fish from the tank, they will be quite happy in there for as long as you want to keep them.

All you need to do to keep things fresh are water changes, occasionally wiping down the insides of the tank with a sponge and a grave vac using a water syphon, this can all be done with the fish still in the tank. Some fish will get stressed by it, some won't, but it's a *lot* less stressful than taking them out of the tank completely.

Secondly, running the tank without any fish in it is probably the best way to kill all of your beneficial bacteria, as BigJim says, the bacteria need your fishes waste in order to stay alive, so a significant period without this, they will die, as they will if they are left to dry out - and that doesn't take long, around 5 minutes!

Best thing, get your fish back into the big tank and don't drain it down and don't change the filter media, and read about how to cycle a fish tank.

The other thing you must do is get a testing kit. The API Freshwater Master Kit is the one people here recommend. Then you can check your Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels, - this isn't an optional extra, get it now!

Yet more bad news, unfortunately, you do seem to have fish which are going to get far too big for your tank in very short order, the Shark, Anglefish, and Pleco are going to get very big very quickly, don't blame yourself for that, shops quite often sell unsuitable fish.

A 10 gallon is more suited to guppies, neons, mollies etc.