newbie intro & questions

[tracygh]

Hey there!
I have been cruising this site for a few days, and let me say, you guys ROCK!

I am fairly new to this whole fishy-thing, and didn't realize there was so much to it! I wonder if you could help me ID some of my fish. I have three zebra somethings...they are long and slim with black and silver stripes running the length of their bodies...and they swim FAST!!! What are they?
Then I have these catfish-like albino bottom dwellers, any guesses?
My pregnant guppy looks ready to pop any day, and one of my long slim zebra things isn't very slim LOL.
All my new angelfish have ich, so I have to start treatment tonight, ugh.

ok, that's it for me, talk to you all soon!
Tracy

 

[NewFishGuy]

Welcome to AA

well...the albinos could be albino cory catfish if they have little wiskers on them....it they have sucker mouths and attach to the glass, then they are albino plecos of some variety.

do they look like this:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=953

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi tracygh and welcome to Aquarium Advice!

The fast fish are probably zebra danios. Here's a picture: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=941

The albino bottom-dwellers are probably albino cory catfish: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=953

Sorry to hear about the ich. A lot of members here had success with the heat treatment as described in this article: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

 

[Guest]

Ich is a pain, i just got through battling it myself, but had success with raising the temps slowly to about 86 and adding aquarium salt.

 

[tracygh]

Did I mention that you guys rock?
I checked all those links posted, and yep, those are my fishies
All the Speedy Bobs are Zebra Danios, and my albino scum-suckers are infact cory cats. Very cool.
Ich claimed 2 of my angels this afternoon We are in the process of cleaning and sterilizing the tank and accessories. Right now all the accessories (lighthouse, castle, rock formation, fake plant, filter-minus motor) are in the dishwasher. I even had a brainstorm about the gravel...We put it into a pair of knee-high pantyhose and used food-bag clips to close them, and they're in the dishwasher too! When this cycle is done, I will run it a second time with no detergent to rinse.
When I get the whole thing back together, is there anything I shpuld be mindful of? How long should I let it sit before re-introducing my fishies?
One more question. Hubby wants to get snails for algae control, is this a good idea? Are they better than the traditional black algae eaters?
Thanks so much for your welcomes and answers, I am definitely in the right place.

 

[An t-iasg]

Dishwashers are not a good place to clean aquarium accessories. Due to the soap residue that is always present in a dishwasher, it will be very hard to rid your accessories of the soap film. Did you use dishwasher powder when you ran the cycle? If so, I honestly would not put these things in an aquarium again. The least little bit of soap film is deadly to fish, and there's no real way of knowing if it's rinsed enough. Sorry, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear...but I would get all new gravel and decorations -- whatever was in the dishwasher, I wouldn't use in a tank again. Then you'll have to cycle the tank again when you set it back up.

 

[An t-iasg]

Here's a link to a previous post I wrote about disinfecting a tank with a diluted bleach solution:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=44775&highlight=
This is a safer method for the fish than using the dishwasher.

 

[tracygh]

Thank you An. You have been most helpful.
We had a major tragedy last night and lost our big angel and all three zebra danios when we transferred them to holding tanks to clean the main tank. Very sad indeed
I heeded your advice and grabbed everything out of the dishwasher before the cycle started, and spent most of the evening scrubbing and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing, only to have lost my babies in the process...I could just cry.
Anyway, thank you again for all the suggestions and advice, I still have the albino cory cats, small angels and fancy guppies to tend to. Hopefully Mama Goldie will deliver her brood soon.
Tracy

 

[An t-iasg]

Sorry about the fish, Tracy

When you re-establish the tank, you still should be on the lookout for ich. If some spots are still on the fish when you put them back in the tank, you still need to treat. Although a QT tank is useful for some illnesses, with ich you should treat the whole tank. The ich parasite has three life stages: free-swimming, encased in the fish, or as a cyst in the gravel. (The article I linked gives the correct names for each stage.) Since there are millions of parasites, (ewww!) you'll have all the stages at once in your tank. The heat method will kill all of them. Meds, for example, only work in the free-swimming stage. If the parasite is encased under the fish's skin, or encased in a cyst, the meds won't penetrate. In addition to the heat treatment, daily water changes remove the free-swimming parasites, and gentle gravel vacs remove the cysts that fall to the bottom.

About the snails -- I have never had any. Apple snails eat algae, but get very large. Browse Jchillin's gallery -- he has a few. Although the other types of snails (ramshorn, MTS) eat dead plant material and detritus, they reproduce rapidly and may become a pest. I would not get any solely for algae control -- there are better ways to control algae. Cut down on your lighting, and make sure the tank is not in direct, or indirect, sunlight. I had a tank once where the sun only hit the tank from 3-4 pm or so. It wasn't strong midday sun, so I didn't worry about it. But a few weeks later, I had the biggest mess of hair algae!