Stoooopid Me... Help?

[jmpgop]

I hope this makes sense...

......So my 36 gal tank cycled completely about 3 weeks ago. Parameters perfect. I added a school of danios (7) to a Molly and an old danio (he passed last week). Water still perfect. A week later I added my angel and gourami from my 10 gallon tank to the 36 gallon tank and put my molly back in to the 10 gallon tank (technically added 1 fish to the new 36 gallon). All was still perfect and stayed that way - testing the water every few days. Stayed perfect for 3 weeks. I tested the water this Friday morning - it was Ammonia 0, trites 0, trates 5ppm, ph 7.4.

I added a snail and I decided to take in a plecostomas he is about a year and a half old. My employee needed a new home for him as he outgrew her 20 gallon tank. He's only about 6 inches in legnth.

This thing is filthy Color me clueless but I had NO idea that it would poop soooo much! I decided I would clean the tank today because of all the poop (only been in there since Friday afternoon) and do a partial water change... First I tested the water and holy COW the ammonia was off the charts! Seriously off the charts! Like 8.0! I was shocked. I tested it again to make sure I did the test right and yes! Off the charts! So I put the molly (who is in the 10 gal tank) in to my breeders cage in the 10 gallon (he hates the my gourami) - I put the Angel and Gourami back in the 10 gallon along with my snail (also put him in the breeders tank to protect him from the jerk CAE's I'm trying to find a home for...) Ugh...

Just WOW! I did a 1/2 water change and I added to mesh bags of ammonia crystals and Prime.

So my employee is going to take the pleco back Wednesday (tomorrow). I guess we'll just have to wait a little longer to get the tank more established? Grrrrr. I'm SOOOO upset. My tank was BEAUTIFUL - now it is poison for the 1 Pleco, 7 various danios.

Should I take the danios out and put them in the 10 gallon too? Remember, I have a breeders cage in there also hanging on the side so it isn't even a full 10 gallons.

I just FEEL awful. And there is nothing I can do with the pleco until tomorrow as the CAEs will suck him I'm sure. He's just going to have to deal with the mess he created Just awful sad...

Or should I wait and see if the ammonia crystals work and the water change helps? It was just SOOO high!

What would you do?

Janelle

 

[jmpgop]

Oh and I cannot use tap water as it has .5ppm Ammonia from the tap and I only have three 5 gallons of Ice Mountain water left for the month after today's 1/2 water change.

 

[librarygirl]

Yikes! Plecos are very messy and depending what kind he is your tank could be too small. They need pretty large tanks generally, minimum 50 gals for most of them. One or two could maybe be kept in a 30+ (bushy nose or tiger) but even that is probably minimum. Good thing your friend can take it back!

I would do large back-to-back water changes to keep the water as clean as possible for him and your other fish until he can go back. Then you might need to keep doing water changes until ammonia zeros out regularly. I would't bother with things like ammonia reducers; water changes are your better bet.

 

[librarygirl]

Oh and I cannot use tap water as it has .5ppm Ammonia from the tap and I only have three 5 gallons of Ice Mountain water left for the month after today's 1/2 water change.

Oh, just read that. What dechlorinator are you using? Prime is a good dechlorinator b/c it can detoxify ammonia for 48 hours, so doing some large water changes with the Prime will help detoxify it until your filter bacteria can convert it.

 

[jmpgop]

Yeah - I got the crystals in there and the Prime. I did a double dose of Prime. Who knows if that matters...

Do you think I should take the danios out? Maybe I'll order more water. I just can't believe it. I was SOOO proud of how beautiful it was and perfect for my fishes and I go and muck it up in 3 days with one darn fish!

 

[jmpgop]

The water change took it down to 1ppm Even when I was cycling it was NEVER higher than .5ppm Goodness...

 

[librarygirl]

The water change took it down to 1ppm Even when I was cycling it was NEVER higher than .5ppm Goodness...

It might be OK to just leave it there as long as you added a good dose of Prime. If you do another 80% water change you're just going to put the same amount of ammonia back in the tank anyway; the Prime will detoxify it enough. At least tomorrow it's going back home.

You could take out the danios and put them in the 10 if it's cycled and there's nothing else in there that will hurt them. Once the pleco is removed the tank should go back to where it was rather quickly, just do water changes again afterward to get ammonia back down and test the water for a few days to make sure everything stays stable again.

 

[jmpgop]

In the 10 gallon (4 years established) are 2 Chinese Algae Eaters (this tank was my sister n laws and I'm trying to get rid of them - 1 is a juvinile), 1 molly in the breeders tank hanging off the side (because it hates the gourami), my angel and gourami that I just saved from the ammonia in the 36 gallon, and an apple snail (also in the breeders tank to protect it from the CAE's). The Danios have been with all of these fish at one time or another except the CAE's. The CAE's are still young enough to not yet be a nusiance. SO... Being that the Danios are pertty hearty - maybe leave them be? The Pleco will be out of there by hopefully 10am?

I just ordered 40 gallons of water from Ice Mountain so I can do 2 half water changes over the next couple of days. (No I don't use tap water in the 36 once I realized that ammonia came straight out of our tap - I can use it in the 10 gallon as the tank is very well established and the ammonia zeros out right away...)

 

[librarygirl]

That sounds like a good plan.

 

[jmpgop]

Well my nitrites are .25 too. What the heck? I tried to catch the danios to move them and they're not having it. My lord they're fast (young leopards, pearls and long fins)... Pleco is going home in the morning if I have to die myself getting it there, will return and do a 1/2 water change.

Thanks!