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kimunaffected

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 29, 2020
Messages
46
I am sadly feeling like an over experienced rookie.
I can’t believe I am back in this position and I need help. This is so hard.let me back up and give you all the info.
We have had a 5 gallon heated tank to avoid water crashes went with a betta and happily had him for 3 years.

When we lost him I kept the tank going for a few weeks and the kids convinced me to do 3 neons tetras & I got a new live plant & I picked up some test strips ( have not needed this in so long with the betta. Just weekly water changes )

With the exception of finding two pest snails over the next two weeks everything was fine.
And I thought I could easily add two fish & upgrade to my clean 9 gallon fluval flex all in 1 tank.
Since it is the better tank and essentially just doubled the water.

So I did a regular partial water change in the 5 gallon. Without vacuuming gravel. And moved everything over. Plus one bag of new gravel. I kept the old filter stuffed in the back with the new filter. And filled the tank up with new water treated with safe start & stress coat. Floated the two new fish ( glo fish tetra’s) and released them.

This morning all 3 original neons are dead. �� ugh so my assumption that it would just be an easy upgrade is way wrong, & I basically have an uncycled tank? & if so will I likely loose the two new tetra’s?

I did a 25% water change and I am watching close. Tests strips seem ok, But they are only strips ( I will get a kit once unemployment fixes our glitch )
but here is my strip.

So moving forward what do I do?
 

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The only thing you really did wrong was adding new fish. Glowfish are very hardy though, you may be able to safe them. Do a 50% water change with chlorinated water. Use a drip system to add the water/ All you have to co is fill a water bottle with the new water, put some airline tubing in it. Get the siphon started by sucking on the dry end, tie a knot in it. The size of the knot controls the drip rate, I would aim for about a drop a second.

How often are you feeding? Switch to light feeding every other day until you get this tank recycled. Do daily small water changes, about 5-10%.
 
I don't see any ammonia on the test strips. Does it not test for that? Your nitrates and nitrites look fine as well as your ph.
So my theory is 1 of 2 things.
1. You added too many fish at once and you had an ammonia spike killing the neons.
Or
2. Glofish tetras (aka skirt tetras) are aggressive in small numbers. They need to be in a school of 6 but they won't comfortably fit in that small of a tank.
 
Thank you so much. I too noticed these strips don’t seem to test for ammonia. I figured I would do small daily water changes and watch closely And hopefully manage that way? I ordered some seachem prime too. Also One of the two glow fish are pretty dang bossy. I initially trusted my water and thought over stressed with water and tank change followed by bully tank mate? I have never had glow fish or the skirt tetras before but in my previous tank with live bearers and neons the neons were so easy to stress.
 
I have been feeding once per day I can back off on that too. Should I do another 50% water change today? Or should that be tomorrow’s amount? And after the 50% I can go back down to smaller water changes?
 
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Just bought a master kit on amazon I am hoping to make it through , fingers crossed
 
I wold do one more large water change then settle down to small ones personally. I would also get rid of the glowfish. If you MUST have glowfish get the danio type, less aggressive.
 
Did Strip test and hope it posted . I did 50 % lastnight total a 25% water change this morning and both fish are doing well. I do have more questions.
Hoping to scale back the % of daily water changes if you think that’s appropriate
I am really kind of hoping I moved everything over from the small tank and I am just being paranoid. This yellow tetra is very bossy to the other one ( probably because there is only 2 of them ?) anyways I went through the old stuff and found my old driftwood and figured I would boil that but I also found a bottle of Top fun bacteria supplement ( it just expired 12/2019 ) should I add some?
 

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Bacteria supplements are generally not of much use. No use at all if expired. Until its cycled again I would do smaller water changes, about 10% a day.
 
Ok thanks, all of my live plants seem to be doing AMAZING under this fluval flex light
 
Hopefully the photo loaded
 

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Isn't that an LED? I do all LED these days, even the off brands are SO GOOD for plants! As well as good for your electric bill!
 
Yes the website says
Fully adjustable 7500K White + RBG LEDs enhances fish colors and is capable of growing lush low-to-mid light plants. I am excited! Plus the filtration system is a huuuuuuge upgrade
 
If you are growing any more interesting plants you will have to get rid of that gravel eventually... Two reasons

First is its not appropriate for plants. It has no nutrients. You CAN get around this with tabs. You being a bit newer, I don't recommend liquid fertilizer at ALL.

The second reason is that gravel is covered in a plastic. That coating will wear off, and if the rock is toxic or PH buffering it can spell disaster for your tank. This usually doesn't happen for at least six months.

What kind of filter? Did you know you can make those filters even better if they have any bare space inside them? Ill give you a youtube link to a video about it!

 
I would love the you tube video thank you , this does have space designed for added filter I will copy and paste the filter info.
Pump output
61 US Gal/h
(230 L/h)

Powerful 3-stage filtration with oversized (1) Mechanical, (2) Chemical, and (3) Biological media for optimal water quality.
And the gravel is absolute basic gravel yes.
one bag is new gravel and the other is old from the cycled 5gal. Like the three years we had the betta old ( do I have a problem there? I do want to do a more planted tank but I can’t go all natural since the family has chosen the artificial neon colors. So they picked the glo fish plants but I still my get to bring in my plants as well.
 

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That is an... interesting filter. I would fill the intake are FULL of a coarse filter sponge, if it where my tank.

You can get black gravel that is plant friendly, and I know Petsmart sells little plastic aquairum "Gems". You also can by bright colored glass beads.

Now for fish, you can still get bright colors. Again, I would get rid of the glow tetras and get 4-5 glow danios. Male guppys come in truly obnoxious colors. Without the tetras, you can get cherry shrimp that are bright red and will POP on the black gravel. With enough plants the shrimp will even breed!

My point being you can do both. There are even low light red and yellow plants to give more color to the tank if they insist on "bright".
 
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I did try to convince them to return the glow tetras. They were all against it. Most likely because I have always done community tanks with neon tetras and a few either guppies or platys or sometimes Molly’s for color and never did the Glofish anything. And after the betta tank dad and kids are all on glow tetra team. I did tell them they are happier in bigger groups and our tank can’t do a variety with the tetras. They ultimately want 4 or 5 glo tetras ( 2 or 3 more ) once water is cleared to do so. To give them a mini school to swim with and not do a community. Here is the link to the tank. https://fluvalaquatics.com/us/flex/
 
I can’t thank you enough for all your help so far. I will absolutely get some better Gravel for the plants I really enjoy them. black will be perfect for the hubby.
 
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