New. And need some guidence

[Mustangman11224]

Hey all,

I'm new here, and I may need some help. I have a ten gallon tank with 5 guppies, 4 Tetras, and one pelco. Before I put the fish in I set it up and ran it for 3 weeks I put a little food in it to kick a nitrogen cycle in. ( I read this spreads up the process) after three weeks I got the pelco and 3 tetra. All was well I vacume the tank every week till I have lost 25% of water. Then add new water in with safe start and easy balance and stress coat. Two weeks later I got 5 guppies and 1 more tetra. And everyone was fine. 3 days lateral pelco started acting funny laying around not doing anything. But then he would be fine. I kept checking the water and the nitrite kept going up to stress. Well a couple weeks went by and after checking on him a couple hours I came back and he was dead. I went to the fish store with a water sample and they said it was fine and the pelco must of had something wrong with it. They gave me a real little guy 2 days ago and he's fine but I notice after vacuuming and changing 35-40% of the water, nitrite is back to stress.. Is my tank trying to cycle I really like my fish and I don't want them to suffer there all happy and normal. Any suggestions? I have a 30 gal tank I'm going to use as Brutus (the pelco) lol gets bigger. My last pelco was growing about an Inch every two weeks. Also I did research on pelco and I'm getting him driftwood this week and a hollow log so he should have plenty of hiding spots. My tank is also equipt with a heater and filter with a medium bio bag and an aerator with three air stones each one is in a different corner of the tank (all my fish love swimming through the bubbles lol) I'll post a picture of my tank. Thanks for the help everyone sorry this is so long just wanted the whole story here so everyone new all the info.

 

[molliwopp]

Keep on top of your daily water changes and change out water whenever your reading is higher than 1ppm for ammonia or nitrite. Good luck.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok I'll change the water, but the lady at the fish store said to only change it once a week regardless of water levels. She said it would be too hard on the fish to do water changes that often and it would be bad for the good bacteria in the tank.

 

[molliwopp]

Ok I'll change the water, but the lady at the fish store said to only change it once a week regardless of water levels. She said it would be too hard on the fish to do water changes that often and it would be bad for the good bacteria in the tank.

Wow. She really said that? No you need to change the water when the reading say so, which in an uncycled tank will be Probably daily. It wont effect the bacteria, the majority in inside the filter. Once a week.. Jeez, your fish wont make it through the first week and will most definitely die by the second. Large water changes are needed with fish in cycles.

What she probably said was when your tank is cycled you should do weekly water changes of 20% depending on your stocking.

If you dont change the water for weeks when its established and then if you do a large water change of 60%+ this could shock the fish because it will alter the parameters and the chemistry of the tank water the fish have come acustomed to for the last 2weeks. Small frequent changes are ideal. But when cycling with fish in the water changes shocking your fish are the last of your worries. Ive never shocked fish from water changes id like to add.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok thank you so much lol I'm new at this. I'm ganna do a 25%change right now..

 

[Mustangman11224]

This Is my reading now I'm doing a 40% change

 

[molliwopp]

What are your readings? Do you have a test kit? Its easy to work out how much water you need to change to keep them in 'safe' levels.

For example. If your ammonia was 2ppm a 50% would take it to 1ppm and another would take it to 0.5. Its that simple.

If multiple changes are needed then do them hours apart if youre worried about shocking your fish.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Sorry I thought it attached is there anyway I cn get the tank to a point were I DNt have to do this everyday... I'm worried in the summer when I go away for a week all my fish will be dead these readings are after a water change Saturday

 

[Mustangman11224]

Also are these constant water changes going to effect my pelco, because he doesn't eat algae wafers so he relies on eating what's on the glass and whatnot..

 

[molliwopp]

Yes, once the the tank is cycled you can do weekly changes. But that could take a month or maybe even 2. Now you have the fish in, theres no other way. Skipping changes is just going to harm your fish.

I always do fishless cycles because there are many advantages doing it that way. Your not damaging or putting your fish under stress being the main one and little to no maintainace needed while it cycles.

The only advantage of a fish in cycle is you get to put your fish in straight away.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Boy I really did this wrong..... I have a 30 gal tank..if I get that tank to cycle. would I b able to take the plants and house out of that tank and into the cycled tank or would that
Mess it up? I guess I'll start to get that tank together since my pelco is growing.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Btw other then the nitrite reading were the other readings ok?

 

[Mustangman11224]

Thanks so much for all this help btw I really appreciate it

 

[Mustangman11224]

I'm a noobie at all this but I'm ganna try to set up that tank tomarrow how would I know weather it is cycled and what should I doo to cycle it.... Do I put fish flakes in there and what not

 

[molliwopp]

The thing is.. It will take just as much time if not longer than it would to cycle the one with the fish in already.. So either way your fish are going to be in an uncycled tank. So water changes are the only option other than taking the fish back and having an empty tank for a month. The other results are ok but i dont see one for ammonia. If you buy another kit id suggest a liquid one as strips can be inaccurate.

 

[molliwopp]

But yes its worth doing if you plan to move your fish to that 30gal.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok thanks.. I have a common pelco so I no that he will need the bigger tank the 30 gal is not new it was used before my friend doesn't have room for it so is there anything I should do before filling it or should I just fill it. I was going to wash it and scrub it down but I just read that it's better to rinse it and fill it.. Keep in mind it's been vacant for over 5 yrs... And ugg this lady at the fish store was wrong again.. She said that nitrite was ammonia.... So that's how I was reading it by nitrite and that was at 2-3 ppm which was stress

 

[molliwopp]

2to3 nitrite is dangerous. Anything over 1ppm is bad news 2to3 is pretty drastic. Id do another water change when you can asap. And id recommend at least 50% if you took those results days ago your fish might be on deaths door.

As for the tank, is it dirty? Theres lots of ways to clean it. I used white vinegar and salt on one i got second hand and gave it a good scrub, vinegar is the harmless way. You can also soak it over night in bleach for a deep clean if its really grubby. If bleach, you should rinse it more than once and then once more. Then you should soke it for a day adding double the amount of dechlorinator you need for 30gallons of water to neutralise the bleach. Bleach is basically concentrated chlorine.

 

[Mustangman11224]

I did one about 40 mins ago did a 40% water change added stress coat and easy balance to the water and it doesn't seem dirty so I'll use the viniger and salt and give it a scrub just to make sure thanks for all the help... I never new there was so much that went into fish care lol.. In the past I had betas and that was it... So this is all so new to me.

 

[molliwopp]

I did one about 40 mins ago did a 40% water change added stress coat and easy balance to the water and it doesn't seem dirty so I'll use the viniger and salt and give it a scrub just to make sure thanks for all the help... I never new there was so much that went into fish care lol.. In the past I had betas and that was it... So this is all so new to me.

Yeah its simple when you know, its like riding a bike. Well i would still definitely recommend another water change in an hour or 2. If you had 2-3 nitrite days ago, it will of risen by quite alot. But for arguements sake ill take the lowest reading 2ppm

2ppm with a 40% change takes it down to 1.2ppm. (bare in mind that was days ago)

Ammonia and Nitrite wont kill the fish out right, it will be a slow death. It isnt just the risk of death, you risk perminantly damaging them. Imagine if you would something in the air constantly burning your eyes, mouth, skin, everything, every time you breathed in it burnt you on the inside too, what would you do if you had no choice but to breath the air. Would that stress you out?