cmbjohnson

ok...my brother is into breeding chilids and auctions and the whole bit. well, he set up a used 40 g tank @ my house and i've had all kinds of problems. the glass is pretty fogged up and scratched from a scrubber it looks like around the top 3 in or so. there was a blue paint on the back and sides that easily peeled off when i flipped an edge to get it started. in doing this i noticed that the silicone was blue...is this causing sickness in the tank? should i start over with a new tank, or try to fix this one. i saved several of the fish by converting them to a 10 g in the meantime, which is wayyyyy too small, but they've perked up hugely!! help please

Chief_waterchanger

99.9999% sure the silicone is fine. It was probably caused from 'Methylene Blue' being used to treat a bacteria issue in the tank. Methylene Blue will stain anything it touches. We have spots on our concrete floor of our fishhouse that is PERMANENTLY stained from methylene blue droplets, it stains skin until the skin sloughs off over the period of a few days it takes for dead cells to go, it stains clothes hopelessly, as well as silicone, fake plants, decorations sometimes, etc.

I would do 50% twice weekly waterchanges as a starting point anytime my fish act sick. The increased waterchanges would cut down on the number of parasites that almost all tanks have, as well as the bacterias that could cause sick fish more problems.

Peterpiper

Hi, is the tank plastic or glass? if it is a plastic you need to be carefull when cleaning as it will scratch easy. a tank that has scratches makes it harder to see everything in the tank.

cmbjohnson

Great...and thanks for getting back so quickly! this is my first forum of any kind ever!
i've completely emptied the tank and trying to get it clean. but just water isn't cutting it. i've read vinegar and bleach (not together of course) but i'm assuming it should be white vinegar...? unfortunately i don't think there's any way to get the scratches out, which sucks because it really obscures the overall visible clarity. oh, what's the best thing to use...white paper towel, or should i get some kind of brush?

cmbjohnson

glass...

Chief_waterchanger

Buy a washcloth (rag) that is used ONLY for the tank(s) and store it so that no one else may accidentally use it for other stuff.

5% bleach solution to completely sterilize the tank and equipment. It will make you have to re-cycle the tank, but that is a small price to pay. (Plus you can use filter media from the another tank to speed up the cycle. )

Try 1 cup bleach per 19 cups of water. I cleaned a larger tank recently and just for convenience used 3 cups of bleach and 57 cups of water.

Make sure to rinse with dechlorinator 2-4 times afterwards. Rinsing the tank, the equipment you washed with bleach, your hands, and anything else that the bleach-water may have touched is a good idea.

cmbjohnson

will do...how long do you think they'll be alright in the smaller tank? not sure what species, but there are 5 different ones of various sizes...total of at least 6 that are about 2in. and about 8 tiny guys. they are totally crowded, but came back to health in a big way. i have not much of a clue what i'm doing and my bro lives out of town, so it's hardfor him to tell what's going on, and honestly i don't think he trust me to handle it or bother so he's very vague. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for saving some of them. were floating vertically and really messed up, so that's why i got them out of there. i wish i would have checked you guys out sooner! i'm using an old hamster aquarium... but it worked, at least for the time being.

i think one of them is holding too...i'm sure she was before the switch and it's hard to tell now for some reason. could she have lost some and still have some? it hasn't really grown, but still seems something is there.

whew...

Peterpiper

With the number of fish in the small tank the Ammonia levels will go up, and this is not a good thing, Does your brother have another tank that you could house some of the fish in until the main tank is ready? If not you will need to do water changes everyday to try and stop the Ammonia killing the fish

cmbjohnson

ok, they've only been in there for a couple days and he'll be home wed. for turkey day. i'm sure he'll take them home till this one is ready. just glad they didn't all die. thank you both so much for all your help...this forum rocks! i've learned tons just by reading! should i do anything about the mama fish? pretty sure she still has some eggs in her mouth. like i said, i'm brand new and kind of anal in that i want to do this right...i've kinda taken it on as a project of my own and really enjoy the fish!

Chief_waterchanger

Daily 50% waterchanges until he gets there to rememdy the situation. Cori, you did awesome for someone who doesn't keep fish and who is basically being a free fishsitter. Your brother should be happy you worked as hard as you did, most people would've flushed them and went on. I must say a big congrats to you for effort and apparently a big congrats for successfully saving them. As far as the mama fish, I would say just leave her be and let them eat any fry that come, nothing that you can really do for them right now anyway.

cmbjohnson

hey, thanks a bunch!! that's really great to hear ! kinda sad about the fry, but i guess that's how it goes, huh? still working on it and they're still kickin' it in the mini-tank! My brother's gonna remedy the situation this week...he'll be home Wednesday. Mama's still hangin' on too! What's the best way to clean the gravel? Oh, and what kind of signs will they show if the ammonia levels are dangerous?

Peterpiper

Best way to clean the gravel is with a gravel syphon. you can get one at your
LFS. If you clean your gravel have some new water ready, so once you have cleaned the gravel you can top up the tank with new water.
Do you have a Ammonia test kit ? Its the best way to test the water. You can get the kit at your LFS.
Keep up the great work!

cmbjohnson

i do have a syphon, but i'm talking about the gravel i removed from the 40 g that i'm still working on. it's not in the tank now, i hope to get it going tonight to get the nitrogen cycle going, i was out of town for a couple days... but didn't know how thouroughly the rocks need cleaning. just rinse? i do have some h2o i pulled from the 10 gal during the change. don't currently have a kit, but i'll pick one up next time i'm out.

Peterpiper

Chief_Waterchanger cleaning should work fine for the gravel. Just remember to rinse it at least 4 times. did the cut and past thing for you :

5% bleach solution to completely sterilize the tank and equipment. It will make you have to re-cycle the tank, but that is a small price to pay. (Plus you can use filter media from the another tank to speed up the cycle. )

Try 1 cup bleach per 19 cups of water. I cleaned a larger tank recently and just for convenience used 3 cups of bleach and 57 cups of water.

Make sure to rinse with dechlorinator 2-4 times afterwards. Rinsing the tank, the equipment you washed with bleach, your hands, and anything else that the bleach-water may have touched is a good idea.

cmbjohnson

thanks for all the help guys...i never got the residue off the glass, but i'm in the process of thoroughly rinsing the tank! been changing out that water like you said. it's been a few days and they're really not happy...i did set up a second 10 g to reduce #'s but they're kinda going nuts and chasing each other around. only 1 heater though and i keep switching it between the 2 to keep temp up...fading color too...how long should i let the 40 g be set up for before i transfer back? don't think these guys will last for the cycle...

cmbjohnson

FYI..
got rid of the 40 g, lost cause! now have a 15 g, 3 10's and a 5 g holding the ob zebra fry! i can't believe she held on so long! 30 g to come soon! i actually saved all the fish and my brother stripped the mama when he got back. when he walked in and saw the setup with healthy fish his comment was "whoa, fish doctor!!" told him i couldn't have done it without your help though. feels good!