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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| What I did today for a newbie fishkeeper...
A friend inherited a huge freshwater tank, 150-175 gallons, not sure. Talk about a nice setup. He has no idea how to take care of a tank, knows nothing. He set it up over 2 1/2 months ago with fish that came with it. He filled it up with a garden hose at that time. I walked in the room where he had it and OMG! it's overstocked, huge and screaming for a water change and canister maint. I tested for ammonia with the liquid test, it was zero. OK....then I tested the nitrAtes....I used the test strips cause it was all I had at the time.....and it read somewhere between 160-200ppm or more!!!!  He's been loosing fish lately, so that explains why. Since he set it up he has never done a water change because he doesn't know anything. He had a huge canister that was soooooo nasty that he bought a new one and took the old one off....I opened it up and it made me gag...just full of gunk!!! It is sooooo gross that he is throwig it away and I agree. It's not worth cleaning cause it is just plain nasty!!! Well, I changed as much water as I could with the back breaking bucket way.....it wasn't enough though, only about 40%. I would of done more because it needed it but doing a water change with buckets isn't easy with a huge tank. I brought the nitrAtes down to around 80ppm or so. I brought my Amquel plus with me because I knew what I was in for! Moved the decor around to try and vaccuum the gunk from underneath them but alot just floated up. There's sand in there mixed in with gravel and pebbles so that really sucked. I feel like I didnt do enough for those fish. The new canister has been running for two weeks and it was just gross. I rinsed the media out as best I could, replaced the charcoal, added more biomax stones and called it good.
He has:
6 silver dollars, 4 of them are babies.
1 huge common pleco
4 goldfish (he got an ear full about that!!!, but didn't listen, he wanted some color was the story I got)
2 Catfish, both different species, 1 is a foot long
1 JD (about 2 inches)
1 African Cichlid ( i'm not familiar with cichlids, he's light purple)
6 Tiger Barbs
2 Senegal Bichirs
1 Tetra left
He's had fish die that are not included in the list, another catfish and Angelfish...I think he had a Clown Loach and a nice school of Tetras. He's going to loose more is the sad part about it.
Last edited by AlyeskaGirl; October 2nd, 2009 at 09:35 PM.
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Well done! you gave your heart out for those poor babies!
Tell him to come on FL, so we can explain the whole thing to him, who knows! maybe he'll listen  | |
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Hey AlyeskaGirl, hope your well, what type of friend would dig right in with such a mess.  Your friend is lucky to know you, you are kind, more so to the inhabitants of what could be beautiful tank with alot more TLC and wisdom  . Hope he gets the love for fish...
Dave | |
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| He doesn't want to do another water change until 2 weeks. I guess what I did today helped somewhat but waiting for 2 weeks to go over and do it again isn't good. But it's not my tank, so I guess I don't worry about all those fish? They look so unhealthy.  Tattered and frayed fins. I really notice it on the Silver Dollars. Poor babies! Such a beautiful tank going to waste. Let me tell ya' I was a bit overwhelmed when I went over there and saw how huge that tank was, I was like what did I get myself into, let alone having to use buckets!! I have a plan for next time.  | |
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Good luck girl!  | |
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| OMG talking about overstocked tank. That is a huge load. Good Job girl. | |
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Kudos to you for doing that for those poor things!!  You totally rock! Maybe suggest he gets a Python Gravel Cleaner (or they have cheaper version I can't think of right now and little faucet adapters if necessary). They're really a *must have* for tanks that size. They make water changes fast and simple and those fish will seriously benefit from it.
*If he doesn't want to spend the $50-70 bucks, here's a DIY version : http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_python.php | |
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October 2nd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by iloveengl  Kudos to you for doing that for those poor things!! You totally rock! Maybe suggest he gets a Python Gravel Cleaner (or they have cheaper version I can't think of right now and little faucet adapters if necessary). They're really a *must have* for tanks that size. They make water changes fast and simple and those fish will seriously benefit from it.
*If he doesn't want to spend the $50-70 bucks, here's a DIY version : http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_python.php |
He had a 50 foot python he ordered that I picked up at the LFS for him with a few other things, but wasn't long enough.  Need a 100 feet or more to reach the kitchen. He put the tank in the dumbest room, farthest away from water and draining access.  On top of all this the room is also being painted! I told the man that is painting that he better put a plastic cover over the tank before he gets on a ladder over it. Don't need any paint in the tank!
Last edited by AlyeskaGirl; October 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 AM.
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October 3rd, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Good job AlyeskaGirl.  Sometimes we can only do so much. I'd love to see the Goldfish come out of the tank and rehoused (as you probably are aware already). Maybe you could print this out: The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
for your friend and convince him to be doing weekly water changes instead of every two weeks.
I'm sure the fish in the tank appreciate what you've done and are trying to do. You sound like a wonderful fish mom!
Ken  | |
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October 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by AlyeskaGirl He had a 50 foot python he ordered that I picked up at the lfs for him with a few other things, but wasn't long enough. Need a 100 feet or more to reach the kitchen. He put the tank in the dumbest room, farthest away from water and draining access. On top of all this the room is also being painted! I told the man that is painting that he better put a plastic cover over the tank before he gets on a ladder over it. Don't need any paint in the tank! | Alyeskagirl most Pythons can accept a garden hose into the side that creates suction. When I have to clean my turtles tanks I use the garden hose to reach them. | |
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October 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by navyscuba Alyeskagirl most Pythons can accept a garden hose into the side that creates suction. When I have to clean my turtles tanks I use the garden hose to reach them. | Thank you navyscuba. I'll check that out. | |
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October 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by aquarist48 Good job AlyeskaGirl. Sometimes we can only do so much. I'd love to see the Goldfish come out of the tank and rehoused (as you probably are aware already). Maybe you could print this out: The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
for your friend and convince him to be doing weekly water changes instead of every two weeks.
I'm sure the fish in the tank appreciate what you've done and are trying to do. You sound like a wonderful fish mom!
Ken | I told him the Goldfish can't be in there, that they are a cold water fish, 65-70, but he likes them for color. I did print him out the nitrogen cycle and Water Chemistry pages to read. | |
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October 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Well, I told him again today when he stopped by to pay me for my time yesterday that the Goldfish really must go. It turned out he had 5 not 4. Anyway, we negotiated and he is taking 3 goldfish, 2 catfish that includes the foot long common pleco to the lfs, that's a start Gotta work on the other two goldfish. He likes them for color. I told him that his tank cannot wait for two weeks for another water change that it has to be sooner, I actually told him today the tank needs another partial water change to bring the nitrAtes down even further. So I have Monday off and I am going over again to perform a water change....with him there to learn since he was out flying yesterday and didn't get to learn anything. I basically flat out told him if we don't do another water change asap rather then wait two weeks that he will probly loose a few more fish. I'm just waiting for an ICH outbreak or fungul/bacterial infections.  | |
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October 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Oh good luck to you and those fish. You are doing a wonderful thing for them. I am glad he is giving up some of them at least that is a start. Maybe you can talk him out of some more and teach him how to do water changes and how often. Fingers crossed here. Maybe there won't be an ICH outbreak or anything. | |
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| I need to vent! He wont listen to me or anybody else for that matter! I helped him do a water change about 3 weeks ago....anywhay I went out to my lfs yesterday to look at the fish and drool overthem LOL they got in Tuesday these beautiful Koi Angelfish about the size of a silver $ coin...priced at $25 a piece. I'm like, Oh you sold a couple of them....she's like to you know who! My mouth hit the floor...Nooooooo!!!!! Then she said he has fish dying too!!!! Nooooooooo....those Angels are going to die!!! Then he keeps buying African Cichlids that have no business being in his tank. He pretty much doesn't understand why he keeps loosing fish. I can explain it to him until i'm blue in the face! I left him a message on his cell but he didn't call me back, I wanted to just yell at him!!!  | |
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| It sounds lke you are doing all you can. Sometimes being a bit unconventional, maybe "if you keep buying all these fish, it will cost a fortune, they'll die soon, you'll buy more and end up spending a fortune on fish that will only live for a short time and be stuck in this cycle until you get them and keep them clean and with fish that are suitabler for the conditions you want to use, i.e. tropical..." I don't know but maybe trying a different approach might help.
Best of luck and keep us posted, great job so far, there's no more you could have done (I struggle with 2 buckets, so big kudos to you!!)! | |
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| You go girl! Maybe if you try throwing the phone at him lol! You keep trying sometimes they give in! | |
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hi Aleyska Girl, you've done a great job trying to educate this guys head but to no avail. If it were me i would speak to the staff and manager at your LFS and tell them not to sell him any more fish unless he can provide them with a perfect water sample, i would,friend or no friend.
Nick | |
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hi Aleyska Girl, you've done a great job trying to educate this guys head but to no avail. If it were me i would speak to the staff and manager at your LFS and tell them not to sell him any more fish unless he can provide them with a perfect water sample, i would,friend or no friend.
Nick
Not sure y it posted twice 
Last edited by gunner13; October 29th, 2009 at 02:22 PM.
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| I guess it depends on how good a friend he is but if it were one of my good friends I'd just start yelling until how he understood what he is doing is wrong. Of course all my good friends have been friends for a long time and would get over me yelling at them quickly (most of my good friends are guys who don't hold grudges). After I was done yelling I'd get on to a computer at his house introduce him to this site, show him a good stocking guide and re-show him the nitrogen cycle. Then if he doesn't want to change his way I'd just consider not being friends with him anymore, because at that point if he doesn't want to listen to you despite you trying to help him than he isn't a good friend. | |
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January 9th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| So what Happen here..did he get it AlyeskaGirl ?  | |
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