zowie717

Hello all! I am a new, new hobbyist. Okay here is the problem and my history. 26 gallonw tank, have gravel, 2 airpumps hook up decorations and a few artifical plants. main part of tank is open for swimming. have filter that runs from top (waterfall) and heater, the temp is at 78. all test are okay. ammonia is .05, no nitrates,nitrites (didnt check yesterday) and pH is high i think at 7.6

1. bought new tank 26 gal about 3 weeks ago. they told me to let it run 1 day and come back to get fish. i went back and got fish. i had 2 pink gouramis, 2 ablinos barbs, 2 tiger bars, 2 picturs catfish and an algae eater.

2. everything was okay and i added 2 yellow gourmanis who were so agressive that i took them back to the store and got the little green barbs. then i started reading about the nitrogen cycle, which they told me nothing about, and also that i had too many fish. I was concerned.

3. the pink gouramis one day i went to feed the fish and noticed as i was inspecting them that had what looked like ICH. i immediately went to the store and this lady gave my ich clear by jungle. and also fungus clear by jungle. she tried to give me an "all in one" medication but i read the box and it said it was not to be used for new tanks.

4. i treated according to the instruction on the box. i used 2 1/2 tablets. i did the 20% water change the next day before second dose.

5. the fish started dying after that. first the pictus, ( i took the other one back to the store because i knew he would die if i didnt). i did another water change, my levels were okay my ammonia was in the stress zone but no nitrates, nitritites. i treated again only with 2 tablets of ich clear.

6. the pink gouramis were the only ones showing signs of ich. but at this point i assume the trophates fell off and the fish looked normal. except no fish were eating.

7. the 1 pink gourami died. again water change, levels okay

8. then the 2 green tiger barbs died , found them stuck to filter, then the ablino died, my pink gourami looks like he devolped cloudy eye. i was told to treat with the fungus clear. i did. for 2 days. the other barb died.

i read up on salt treatment and decided to put my carbon filter back in and do that.


i went to the store several tiems and they kept telling me to medicate. i read up on the salt treatment and raising the tempurature. and did that. 2 days later the other barb died.

so i called a differed aqua store who told me not to medicate anymore. they said to do a 50% water change use the carbon filter. and to wait it out.

so my 1 albino barb does not eat , swims when the light is off and "shimmys" when it is on. the pink gourami still has cloudy eye. and he swims all around. he might peck at the food.
My algae eater is the only one who is eating his wafers and acting normal.

so what do i do? I want to get my tank fixed and be able to stabilize it. ( i did go out a get an hosptial/quarintine tank so that when i can get new fish i wont re-infect my main tank.) please help and tell me what i need to do to help pink gourami and the barb.

thanks so much!

Mike19

welcome,

unfortunately your water parameters are not ok 0.5 for ammonia is toxic to your fish you should always try have it at 0 but this is because your tank hasn't cycled yet, nitrates of 0 are not necessarily good this another indication that your tank has not cycled. im not sure on the definition of a cycled tank although if cycled you should have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and some nitrates.

• What i would do is conduct daily water changes using a product called prime, this detoxifies ammonia although allows the bacteria to benefit from it still.
• i wouldn't buy anymore fish for the time being
• and make sure you cycle your q tank (theres a product called tetra safe start which cycles the tank really quick, i haven't used it nor have much knowledge on it although other members do if your interested in knowing more about it.)
• ph is not to much of an issue most fish can become used to any level as long as there are no dramatic fluctuations.

If there are any specific questions you have please don't hesitate to ask

Mike


Questions from me

1. Are you using a water condition what type
2. how regular have you been conducting water changes
3. do you own a test kit and what type

Nick Goody

Welcome to Fishlore! Sorry about your fish, it's hard when you're first starting. Firstly it sounds like your tank isn't cycled yet. A fully cycled tank will show readings of 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrites, and 5-10 Nitrates. The best advice I can give you is to do 50% daily water changes and add a water conditioner when you do so. Prime is generally considered to be the best, This will detoxify the ammonia in your tank for 24hrs. Do this until your tank shows the above readings. I would also stop medicating personally, as the meds won't be effective if water changes are being done daily. Also don't add anymore fish until the tank is fully cycled. You will hopefully find by doing this the fish will perk up and start feeding again. Good luck! Theres a couple of links on the homepage that you should find helpful. Freshwater Beginners and Nitrogen Cycle. Check them out

Mike19

Yeah as Nick and myself mentioned prime would be good if you want to save your fish as it detoxifies ammonia for 24hrs. Also i have herd that for ich you can just increase your temperature for two weeks and then vacuum the gravel for spores this is a non-medication method used by some members.

Nick Goody

Good advice from Mike. If you do have Ich i'd go with increasing the temp to 84f for two weeks and vacumning. This should sort out the ich and won't affect the cycling of the tank.

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hkirchen

Hey Zowie and welcome to fishlore!

You've been given some great advice, and I hope your tank stabilizes soon.

I also fell into the trap of adding fish 24 hours after putting water in it. It took over 6 weeks to cycle. I did a 50% water change every day adding stress coat+(similar to prime) After that, all you can do is cross your fingers and hope the fishies make it ok. Adding any medicine to help them at this point will only make more problems, and right now you just need a fully cycled tank!

Good luck, and post some pics when you can! This site is great, and everyone really wants to help you.

H

Mike19

This is correct, some medicine kill both the good and bad bacteria which may cause a mini cycle for established tanks in the case of your tank a slower cycle.

zowie717

thank you for your help. Well this morning when i got home from work, my albino barb had died. My pink gourami cloudy eye looks like it is clearing up. he is more active and was picking at the food today. my algae eater is still acting normal. I checked the water today and the ammonia was at .05 to .10 so i put in the ammonia clear i have from top fin. i use aqueon water conditioner everytime i change the water. i was doing water changes every day with the medication. i did the 50 percent water change on sunday when the pet store told me to stop medicating. since then i have not done one. i was going to do another large water change in the morning. the test kits i use are the ones with the little strips i cant remember the name right now. they are a little difficult for me to read and compare the color on the stick with the color on the bottle. my ph tester is the one where you fill up a test tube with water and add 3 drops of the solution from the bottle into it.

how long should i wait before getting new fish to put in the quaratine tank? and then adding to the main tank. I am still concerned with the pink gourami. the nitrates/nitrites test strip look like there is a little bit in there, the test strip has very light color to it for those two. i was considering moving the algea eater and gourami into the quaratine tank, and jacking up the temperature in the main tank to kill anything that is left in there. I did do the salt/ raise temperature treatment for a couple days last week. since then i put the temp back down to 78 degrees and have not added anymore salt since then.

zowie717

thank you! i will get pictures as soon as i am healthy tank! I do have a betta in his own little tank which i have been considering getting him a bigger tank with a heater. He is in a 1.5 gallon tank with no heater. I have had him since last summer. and do weekly water changes. he is quite picky and really hates it when i change his water. but with the cold winter i am concerned that it might get to cold for him. sugguestions? I dont want to mess up with him, he is so pretty, all black face and blue body. ( thats why i call him blackbeard) and seems to like the way things are now.

zowie717

thank you for your advice. I appreciate everyones advice, it means alot! i enjoy fish so much and just hope to get things in order so i can take care of my fish the right way and enjoy them and keep them happy and healthy! i hope the tank cycles soon! ; )

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AlyeskaGirl

Welcome!!

Wow! I am so sorry you had to learn the hard way! Yeah, falling into that LFS trap....come back and get fish in 24 hrs!! Good grief! Lots of what to do has been givin to you, so, well, just be patient and your tanks will cycle.....keep up those water changes. Get rid of those test strips and get a liquid test kit; API Master Test kit. Those test strips are not accurate.

Good luck!

Dozey

I'd have to agree that you should put aside the thought of more fish at this time. You need to cycle your main tank for right now.

As for having a q-tank you have two options. (1) Keep the tank running and cycled even when it’s not in use or (2) be able to quickly set it when needed.

(1) Will require that you do regular maintenance on the tank and feed it even though you won’t have fish in it except when needed.

(2) You can actually set up a q-tank very quickly. The way I do this is by running two filters in my main tank. When needed I pull out my q-tank (which has its own heater), fill it with water, transfer my secondary filter to it and a couple of rocks from my established tank.

Mike19

You should be conducted daily water changes, between Sunday and now is a long time for the fish to be in water with ammonia, like what many people said prime is probably the best water condition you can to detoxifying ammonia, nitrites and other heavy metals that your water may have also lasts for 24hrs just enough time for daily water changes.

zowie717

I did the water change this morning, and went to an actual aquarium store today. they gave me quick start to start the biological process in all my tanks. I did get my betta a new heated tank and will hopefully get him in there tommorow. i did use his gravel from his tank and also added some of that quick start. the store said to just watch my fish from my main tank for a couple more weeks and wait till the tank cycled and i should be okay once that happens to start adding fish after that.

Drew 43920

Your Aquarium Info says you understand the Nitrogen Cycle. Why did you add these fish ?

Drew 43920

What happens after 24 hours ?