I need help in deciding when and how to move my fish from their current aquarium to a new set-up.
I started off with no intention of starting an aquarium, but fell into this by a spur of the moment decision to play a goldfish ping pong game at the county fair. I won 3, only 1 of which survived. I didn't even stop to think that summer day about the cruelty involved with this game, though I think I now understand.
I have made every newbie mistake since then. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that this all ended up with my having a 10 gallon tank with 1 goldfish, 5 neon tetras and an albino pleco. The goldfish has tripled in size and everyone has seemed happy, though I know this is grossly overstocked.
I wanted to move them to a bigger home, though current available space has temporarily limited the size to a 20 gallon (on the kitchen counter and a 20 gallon long tank is the largest that will fit until I can move furniture around and get a larger tank elsewhere.)
So, I set up the new tank, moved over a couple of plants, put in new gravel and then transferred a third of the old gravel over. I put in 2 new airstones, and then moved the rock/gravel pack from the filter over into the new tank as well, though I left the filter in the old tank. I moved over all of the goofy decorations and a piece of driftwood as well. I used the water dechlorinator on filtered tap water and filled it about 2/3 of the way full.
Articles that I have read and the pet store guy said you can run it this way for 24 to 48 hours then transfer everything over. Given previous experiences, I was nervous. I have been testing my water with Tetra 5-in-1 strips and I always have some nitrates (20 ppm usually, but 40 ppm if I haven't changed the water in a bit) and zero nitrites, pH about 6.8 to 7.2. Thinking I would help myself through this transition time, I bought the API ammonia testing kit today.
Here's where I started to panic . . .
I tested the new aquarium and had 1 ppm of ammonia, maybe 20 ppm nitrates, no nitrites, pH7.8.
I then tested the old aquarium and found 2 maybe 4 ppm!!!! (color differences are little difficult to discern.) nitrates maybe 20 ppm, pH 6.8.
I tested my tap water and got a reading of 0.5 ppm! After reading, I guess I have chloramines, because the number came down to zero after I treated it.
I figured that the new aquarium sounds safer right now than the old, so I decided to attempt to move over the goldfish (who has proven himself a survivor.) I bagged him and tried to acclimate him to the new tank over 20 to 30 minutes then released him.
I then did a 50% water change in the old tank and brough the ammonia down to 1 or 2 ppm and then threw in a little Amquel Plus. Once done I checked out the new tank and found my goldfish just sitting at the bottom in the corner. He did not look good. I'm attached to this little guy now, so I kind of panicked, thinking that maybe the pH difference was too much to overcome. He seemed happier in the old toxic tank, so I moved him back and he returned to life. (Though I have since found a review that suggests pH difference concerns are overblown and that studies that have been done show that fish can tolerate a difference of 2 without too much stress.)
Now I am at a loss for how to proceed. My plan was to just transfer everyone today including the remaining plants and gravel as well as the filter, but the goldfish reaction has me unnerved.
I have been reading all day, and I am more confused than ever. Suggestions appreciated.
Just when I thought I had this all figured out!
I started off with no intention of starting an aquarium, but fell into this by a spur of the moment decision to play a goldfish ping pong game at the county fair. I won 3, only 1 of which survived. I didn't even stop to think that summer day about the cruelty involved with this game, though I think I now understand.
I have made every newbie mistake since then. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that this all ended up with my having a 10 gallon tank with 1 goldfish, 5 neon tetras and an albino pleco. The goldfish has tripled in size and everyone has seemed happy, though I know this is grossly overstocked.
I wanted to move them to a bigger home, though current available space has temporarily limited the size to a 20 gallon (on the kitchen counter and a 20 gallon long tank is the largest that will fit until I can move furniture around and get a larger tank elsewhere.)
So, I set up the new tank, moved over a couple of plants, put in new gravel and then transferred a third of the old gravel over. I put in 2 new airstones, and then moved the rock/gravel pack from the filter over into the new tank as well, though I left the filter in the old tank. I moved over all of the goofy decorations and a piece of driftwood as well. I used the water dechlorinator on filtered tap water and filled it about 2/3 of the way full.
Articles that I have read and the pet store guy said you can run it this way for 24 to 48 hours then transfer everything over. Given previous experiences, I was nervous. I have been testing my water with Tetra 5-in-1 strips and I always have some nitrates (20 ppm usually, but 40 ppm if I haven't changed the water in a bit) and zero nitrites, pH about 6.8 to 7.2. Thinking I would help myself through this transition time, I bought the API ammonia testing kit today.
Here's where I started to panic . . .
I tested the new aquarium and had 1 ppm of ammonia, maybe 20 ppm nitrates, no nitrites, pH7.8.
I then tested the old aquarium and found 2 maybe 4 ppm!!!! (color differences are little difficult to discern.) nitrates maybe 20 ppm, pH 6.8.
I tested my tap water and got a reading of 0.5 ppm! After reading, I guess I have chloramines, because the number came down to zero after I treated it.
I figured that the new aquarium sounds safer right now than the old, so I decided to attempt to move over the goldfish (who has proven himself a survivor.) I bagged him and tried to acclimate him to the new tank over 20 to 30 minutes then released him.
I then did a 50% water change in the old tank and brough the ammonia down to 1 or 2 ppm and then threw in a little Amquel Plus. Once done I checked out the new tank and found my goldfish just sitting at the bottom in the corner. He did not look good. I'm attached to this little guy now, so I kind of panicked, thinking that maybe the pH difference was too much to overcome. He seemed happier in the old toxic tank, so I moved him back and he returned to life. (Though I have since found a review that suggests pH difference concerns are overblown and that studies that have been done show that fish can tolerate a difference of 2 without too much stress.)
Now I am at a loss for how to proceed. My plan was to just transfer everyone today including the remaining plants and gravel as well as the filter, but the goldfish reaction has me unnerved.
I have been reading all day, and I am more confused than ever. Suggestions appreciated.
Just when I thought I had this all figured out!