Soap contamination question

[Marconis]

Okay. My dad won't let me take anything back to Petsmart, he said enough is enough. I have two filter media things in because my filter has extra slots.

However, the shrimp are gone. Something is going down completely against my will, along with everyone on this forum which may get me hated. My dad almost seems to be more fed up than I am because of my constant complaints. So, he went out to Petsmart and bought two feeder fish, even after my insisting not to thousands of times. Kind of a weird thing to be arguing about. What he wants to do is see how long they can last. He said that in his opinion, if they last more than four days without dying then the soap probably isn't a problem. I feel horrible for the little guys, but I am going through with it. On Saturday I am going to do a 20% water change to help them out. If they are alive by day four, I am purchasing pure ammonia.

Please everyone, I do not want to be disliked for using these two fish. I feel horrible about it and it was not really my way of doing ti, but I guess it is worth a try.

 

[neilanh]

Well, lots of people use fish to cycle, so it's not like you're an outcast, and it doesn't sound like it's exactly your choice.

However, if you have residual ammonia in your tank that's higher than 0.5ppm from the shrimp, those fish won't last anyway, soap or not. So if it's up, PWC it down before putting them in, or doing this will be completely pointless anyway IMO.

 

[Marconis]

I did a about a 40% PWC before I put them in and then tested for ammonia and it was pretty much almost completely around 0.

 

[NeonJulie]

Also see if you can get some Bio-Spira. Maybe it'll help. Don't feel bad - I got TONS of pressure from everyone as well. (Except DH.) If I was younger, I'm sure my dad would have plunked fish in there as well. Just keep up with the testing and water changes, and make sure you know the environment is not toxic from the lack of cycle, in case anything does happen.

Try and keep the ammonia down below .25 ppm. At least he didn't put in 10 or 20.

 

[Marconis]

What does bio-spira do?


~~Edit: When should I test for ammonia...tonight or tomorrow?

 

[fish 'n' fries]

Don't feel awful about the fish. The worst thing now is that you have two fish that weren't up to par enough to be sold as anything but feeder fish so may not be the most healthy fish at baseline.

If you keep your ammonia and nitrites below 0.5 (at the most, the lower the better) they will be ok from that standpoint. If you were 0 before you added them, you should be ok to wait until tomorrow. Just keep doing water changes (even 50% once or twice a day if you need to) to keep ammonia and nitrites down.

I would not add any further ammonia to the tank. Now that you have fish, they will make ammonia with their poop. Adding extra would be toxic to them.

Biospira is the bacteria that you were trying to cultivate with all that ammonia you were putting in the tank. Even better (and much cheaper...), get some filter foam or floss or even gravel from an established tank. That puts the exact bacteria in immediately. If you don't know anyone with a tank, someone said they go some from either Petco or Petsmart on a post recently.

 

[Marconis]

I know, I am going to add the ammonia in once I take the little guys out and do a few water changes.

It's kinda sad to see them swimming around because they're cute and they are going to probably have a tough, short life.

 

[NeonJulie]

Give them the best shot, and don't underestimate the little guys. I've learned in the past hard 3 weeks sometimes they can surprise us, if you try and do the best you can for them.

 

[Marconis]

When I do the water change tomorrow, should I stir the gravel as well? If so, how do I do this since with the spoon handle (or chopstick I havent chosen yet) it seems quite tough to get every inch.

 

[Sicklid]

I wouldn't stir it just yet... Maybe vacuum it lightly, but don't get too crazy. I bet those GF are going to live. That's not your problem, your problem is what to do with them when they survive. Unless, you wanted goldfish.

 

[Marconis]

Lol, I really appreciate you saying they'll live. Gives me hope.

I need some opinions. How does my plan sound?

Thursday(Today)- Add two feeders
Friday- Test water, about 15% PWC
Saturday-Leave it alone
Sunday-Test water, leave alone or PWC, depending on results.
Monday-Test water, " "
Tuesday- INSTALL MY MOON LIGHTS . Then test water, " "
Wednesday-If they are still alive, take them out and assume that my tank is able to provide an environment for fish. Or, wait til Thursday. After I take them out (I have a week to decide what Ill do with them), I do about a 40-50% PWC, test, if everything is 0, start cycling with pure ammonia.

What do you say?

 

[neilanh]

I say, "Is it Tuesday yet?"
haha

I think your plan is fine, like you said, the PWCs are going to be completely driven by the test results. The higher the ammonia or NO2, the more % of PWC you should do.

Is a week enough? I assume soap would kill a small fish like those rather quickly, but I don't know.

BTW, see my updated moonlight pic in my thread?

 

[Marconis]

I say, "Is it Tuesday yet?"
haha

BTW, see my updated moonlight pic in my thread?

Lol I really can't wait til Tuesday. Your light looks awesome! It seems pretty bright, I can always return the second one if I don't need it,but I'll do some experimenting. I guess I am sticking to my plan. If the fish are alive by then, then I can be almost positive that soap isn't an issue. Let's pray.

 

[SparKy697]

Don't sweat it with the feeder fish. Now that you have them just work with it. If they live, don't get rid of them. Keep them in the tank and keep an eye on the levels. Do pwc when needed to keep levels down and you should be fine.

There is truly more to the whole cycle thing other than just getting the nitrites down in a timely fashion. The longer the tank runs with those fish the better it will be for your permanent fish.

So go get yourself an airpump and a stone and some fish food and have fun. Just keep a close eye on that water.

 

[Marconis]

I tested the water today, all is well. It was the slightest light green possible after testing, almost 85% yellow, maybe more. So I did a 10% water change. They seem pretty happy to me, they are rather mellow and chill in the corner of the tank under the rock with each other. I feed them a very tiny amount every 12 hours. Should I up the feeding or is that the right amount?

When all is well by Thursday, I am most likely giving them to my friend so I don't have to kill them or anything. I feel I'll be attached to them by then, so who knows if I'll give em away

 

[Marconis]

They're still alive, doing daily water changes, they are swimming nicely. Woo

 

[SparKy697]

Ok, you get the big geeky smiley face!

My money is on the little guys surviving. I know you are anxious to get your permanent stock in that tank, but let it go a few weeks at least. The longer you let the tank get going the better off it will be for your fish in the long run.

Do they come out and eat when you feed them? If so just follow the "as much as they can eat in a couple of minutes" method once or twice a day.

Oh and if you are going to do water changes, do %40 or %50. It's the same amount of work if you are using a siphon/python, a %10 really does not do much good.

 

[Marconis]

Well, the reason I am doing only 10-20% ( I did 20% today) is because there is really almost absolutely no ammonia at all when I do them, but I just do them anyway to be safe. Yes, they do come out and eat when I feed them but it takes about 40 seconds before they notice and start shooting around to beat each other to it.

I think I ma still going to keep them in until Thursday, because all I really did this for was to see if soap was a problem. I have read that soap can kill fish very quickly, and they don't seem to be effected at all which is a beautiful thing. Also, I have decided to just use pure ammonia from Ace, because...I don't know, I really don;t care because I know there won't be any soap in it and shrimp just made my tank smell horrible. (I could smell it from my bed, and my tank is about 7 feet away). Thanks for the huge smiley lol

 

[SparKy697]

Please, Please, Please post a picture of your bottle of ammonia before you use it!

 

[Marconis]

Will do, and I am shaking it like 5000 times before I buy it to see if it foams.