Im in urgent need of wisdom, please educate me?

[siva]

Also would you mind running down the entire stock of that tank?

Red tail sharks need a minimum of 55 gals and as they mature become territorial and aggresive towards eachother and can typically only be kept 1 per tank...so they actually weren't going to work out in the end anyway.

If there's other fish in there that aren't suited to the tank, if we can establish that now, maybe you can take some back to the fish store. The less fish you have in there producing waste the quicker you'll be able to get your tank parameters under control. They are pretty darn bad at the moment (the nitrite is alarmingly high) so daily water changes are going to be needed for a while.

So glad you got that kit right away!!!

 

[librarygirl]

Ok my friends what steps do I take from here??? Ive recorded in my notebook the following water test resultsi might be over critical of the color chart)
PH- 8.2ppm
Ammonia- 0.5~1.0ppm
Nitrite- 2.0~5.0ppm(chart jumps from 2 to 5 I believe the purple wasnt quite 5 but darker than 2)
Nitrate- 20ppm

Agree with Deckape and Siva. A very large partial water change with Prime ASAP. You may need to do two large back-to-back changes to get the nitrite down to .25 though, just keep doing water changes until ammonia and nitrite are <.25 then test every day and keep them there (do water changes as needed and don't forget to use the Prime). Good luck.

 

[IvanMike]

good job on getting the gravel (did you stick it in the filter?). Hey, the test results could be a lot worse.

The big water change ideas are good. I think this seeded gravel in the filter will help enormously as well. don't sweat the PH, that's probably what you have on tap (check the ph of your tap water too). IME it's a huge mistake to try to alter the ph of your tap water - especially if it's on the alkaline side - in high ph waters, there's a great chance that it's also very hard water, in which case it contains buffers that will raise the ph every time you try to lower it. Stable ph is much more important that having a magical "ideal" ph of 7.

I wouldn't sweat the adult size of your fish just yet either - many mom & pop stores will take fish that have outgrwon your tank for store credit - sometimes if they're in great shape you may get a good deal for them - just don't get any more fish that will end up getting huge.

At this point you just need to change 50% or so of the water every day and keep testing ammonia and nitrite (forget everything else) till both are zero. When the new filter arrives you can either use both filters for a while, or shoehorn the old filter media and bag of gravel into the new filter along with its own filter media. Don't sweat it -you're halfway there and doing great!

 

[Jimboslice765]

Alright with research ive done and all of your help ive started the daily water changes as of last evening. I will test water this evening and do next water change. Ill keep you posted and after this learning experience has produced an habitable environment I would like to get into a larger aquarium to comfortably house what seems to be my kind of fish. I enjoy this hobby and the serenity that comes with just looking and listening to the sounds of the tank...

 

[Jimboslice765]

Good evenings folks,

This evenings water tests still developed high, I expect no real miracle over night and water change...
Eventually when the water is habitable, I would of course like to replinish the population, I'm hoping the survivors arent permanently harmed... This started way too many to fast.
I would really enjoy it if I could pick the collective mind once again.. With the size of my aquarium what are some good ones? As the fish grow of course I would like to grow with them both in wisdom as well as operation...i would truly be lost and broke without the great people that have given me hope and their time

 

[IvanMike]

You really have to give some consideration to what type of fish you'd like to keep. Many species enjoy living in schools and do much better that way (tetras, barbs, etc). Black neons are one of my all time favorites, but they stay small.

goldfish get very big (even fancy goldfish do, but not quite so long and robust) but all goldfish are rather messy fish and all enjoy cold water.

A 29 with a dwarf gourami or two and a school of black or other small neons can be quite cool, but that's just one of my favorites.

For giggles - give us your current stock that is left, and any fish that you find appealing.

 

[Jimboslice765]

The new filter just arrived... My plan is to piggy back them until the water is at desired specs... Another new development a good friend of mine has asked me if I would keep her 70 gal aquarium until further notice shell be gone for 2yrs. I am gonna undertake this new addition,as long as my wife doesnt kill me... Ive told her a tentitive yes but only after I can keep my small habitat in good clear order. I also bought two plants off of fish guy today will it be ok to introduce them yet(purchased but left at shop until ive checked, hes a friend but also a business man I wanted to consult with un biased source first) hope this labor day weekend is good for all

 

[IvanMike]

what kind of plants? some require more light. Most plants will do fine in an uncycled tank and some will actually help move things along.

FWIW, if you keep the stocking reasonable, a large tank is actually easier than a small tank.

 

[Homer8]

right now petco has there dollar per gallon sale on right now. it honestly does cost any more to maintain a larger tank. you just need to buy the tank stand filter and heater. then from there on your not spending anymore except on more fish which is more fun.

 

[IvanMike]

yeah but FREE 70 gallon is FREE....

I just picked up a couple of 40 breeders at petco - thinking of building 3 identical stands to put those next to my other one and making a canopy to go over all three with 4 shop lights in it (yeah, I'm cheap).

 

[siva]

Yeah adding the plants is a good idea. You have to be careful with plants though...when I first started planting my tanks I wasted lots of $$ on what ended up actually being non aquatic plants that would eventually rot under water. Did you get the names of the plants? You can post pics of them if you'd like us to ID them for you. Plantgeek.net is a great site to research plants.

Some good ones that would work in a 20 gal are: betta, dwarf gourami, sparkling gourami, guppies, endlers livebearer, gardneri killifish, tiko green killifsh, harlequin rasbora, espe's rasbora, kuhli loaches, habrosus cories, panda cories, kuhli loaches, pygmy sunfish, oto cats, scarlet badis, ember tetra, cardinal tetra, neon tetra, glowlight tetra, rummynose tetra, lemon tetra, apple/mystery snails, nerite snails, dwarf shrimp such as red cherries or blueberries.

 

[glassbird]

Just another thing to know when stocking your tank...it is generally considered to be unwise to mix tropical fish with goldfish. Goldfish have dietary and temperature needs that are quite different from tropicals.

 

[Homer8]

Idk if anyone else does it but petco has a policy that allows you to return a fish if it dies within 30days they will give you a new fish or store credit all you need to do is bring the fish, reciept and a sample of your water. What i do is let say have a pleco for more then 30 days and it dies. I put him in a baggy in the freezer and I will go to petco buy a new pleco and come back a few days later with the pdead pleco new reciept and water sample and they will ask me if i want the same fish or one or more fish with the price.

 

[siva]

Well that is just unethical. I would worry about my fish karma if I did something like that.

 

[Homer8]

I havent done it in a while cause my fish dont die and its more unethical for petco to sell sick fish and not tell new to the hobby that they need to cycle so if anything petco is getting what they deserve and im saving fish that have to live there. I wouldnt do it to a mom and pop shop because they have a hard enough time staying in busoness and warn new comers abouy cycling and everything

 

[Jimboslice765]

Im in it for the long haul, ammonia in thirty gallon is down to .25ppm, nitrate and nitrites are still undesirable... Im in a town with three stores that have aquaria supplies: petsmart, and pet and garden(best place for me I can haggle and deal with them) and another place that is just nasty... So im a little limited. I have all kinds of vegetation bulbs(hoods are another thing) im welcome to plant ideas that would help my current situation, and also something desirable for both fish and appealing to look at. Suggestions?

 

[Homer8]

Im in it for the long haul, ammonia in thirty gallon is down to .25ppm, nitrate and nitrites are still undesirable... Im in a town with three stores that have aquaria supplies: petsmart, and pet and garden(best place for me I can haggle and deal with them) and another place that is just nasty... So im a little limited. I have all kinds of vegetation bulbs(hoods are another thing) im welcome to plant ideas that would help my current situation, and also something desirable for both fish and appealing to look at. Suggestions?

nitrate is a good sign. it shows that there are bacteria in the tank.

 

[Jimboslice765]

Guys its happening finally ammonia is gone, nitrates present. One question I do have is how much nitrate is ok I could have checked my literature but I havent posted in a while its been a very busy week. Im almost ready to re-populate the 30 gallon. How do you feel about ordering fish, there are some nice ones here but I like variety ideas? Good sources to buy from? Good idea bad idea? Hope all is well....

 

[Deckape]

Guys its happening finally ammonia is gone, nitrates present. One question I do have is how much nitrate is ok I could have checked my literature but I havent posted in a while its been a very busy week. Im almost ready to re-populate the 30 gallon. How do you feel about ordering fish, there are some nice ones here but I like variety ideas? Good sources to buy from? Good idea bad idea? Hope all is well....

Do you have nitrites? As far as ordering fish online, I have done it twice. The place I got them from was right here. Find Severum Mama and Jetajockey. They are the best. Order with confidence from them.

 

[IvanMike]

There's not a hard and fast rule for nitrates in freshwater, but the less the better. Partial water changes will take care of that. In most cases I find 50% a week to be good for a lot of cichlids and fish in general, some more messy fish or fish more sensitive to dissolved metabolites require more.

What fish do you have still in the tank?