AggieYen

Hey everyone,

Kinda new to Fishlore, really in awe of the wealth of information here.. I've gone from being a batty cat lady to being a batty fish lady. I have a 5.5 gallon tank with 2 goldfish and a loach - and yes, I know it's terribly, terribly, terribly overcrowded for a comet and ryukin. I've been dealt with in another thread

Trying to save up for a bigger tank but till then.. trying to make the best of a bad situation :/ Put it down to the durned pet shop that didn't give me correct information, and me not researching well and good before I bought them. Sigh.

My question - my tank appears to be in the midst of an algae bloom (it's about 4 weeks old now) - I'm doing the recommended daily partial changes, but i'm a little concerned about stressing out the poor little tykes. Everytime I do changes, they seem to get really stressed out.. is there a way to minimize stress to them while I make the change? Also - is it a better idea to condition the new water before I add it to the tank, or add to tank and THEN condition?

armadillo

Hi AggieYen

You're come to the right place. Honestly, I don't blame you, I blame the professional who ill-advised you, like so many other fish stoers. That's one of the first things I've learned in this hobby: always double-check whatever the shop clerks says. As a well-meaning customer, you assumed (reasonably) that he'd know what he was talking about. Soooo frustrating.

OK, some basics on water changes.

Water out
Before doing water changes, don't forget to switch off your thermometer (it could snap if it's on while explosed to a sudden change in temp) and filter (it will make complaining noises if you don't and it runs on empty).

Don't do 100% water changes, but max 50% at any one time. I prefer doing 25% twice weekly, but that's a big burden so I don't always stick to it. Here's another golden rules of fish-keeping: fish don't like change. Whenever you can avoid or minimise it, do it.

Part of the weekly maintenance is to vaccum the gravel. You can buy a vaccuum from any fish shop. They're basically a hose, with a funnel end. You put the funnel end against the gravel, and the hose end in a bucket lower than your tank. Then you start the vaccuum to create a force that will get the water to flow in your bucket. Don't vaccuum more than 1/2 the surface of the gravel per time (to avoid injuring your 'good' bacteria).

Once you've done 1/2 the gravel, you may still need to remove some water to reach your 50% water change/week. To do so while creating the least current, you can continue using your vaccuum cleaner, but just leave it in the same place above the gravel. You need to supervise this, or you'll soon have overflowing buckets or injured fish - if they come too close to the sucking end.

Part of the weekly maintenance is also to check the filter. If your filter is clogged, gently remove the foam pad from its container (do not leave it above the water too long, or it will leak its goo back in the tank) and squeeze it a few times in tank water in a bucket (not in your tank, obviously). The reason for doing it in tank water is that you have lots of useful bacteria in your filter that transform the produce of fish waste into less toxic substances, so harm the bacteria = harm the fish. And you'd harm the bacteria if it came in contact with tap water, which often has chlorine/chloramine.

Water back in
Condition the water before you put it back in. Put conditionner in a bucket (that's never been used for anything else: beware of detergent residues), and mix it really really well. I give it seven or eight 8-shaped twirls with a mixing spoon (again, that only gets used for this).

When I say bucket, I should say watering can. I have a 10L watering can at home, but you can find them in all sorts of volumes. That makes water change time really fun for the fish, as you're pretending it's 'raining' above their tank, and that's way more relaxing.

Pfew, what an essay!

AggieYen

Hi Armadillo,

Thanks heaps - I come home everyday with a sense of apprehension... hoping for another day for my little babies.

I do have a gravel vac, but its a manual vac, so i have to move it up and down to start the suctioning, and I keep feeling that kind of intrusion into their habitat stresses them out. :/ They go into hiding for a while after I've changed the water and turned everything back on.

Yeah that's what I thought, I was conditioning the water in a specially designated bucket, and leaving it overnight before making the water change. Then I read the instructions on the conditioner bottle, and it said to put 1 teaspoon into 20 litres of aquarium water, everytime water is changed or new water is added. So that kinda threw me a little.

Thanks again. Will the algae bloom sort itself out even without daily partials? I've cut down on feeding.

Btw.. this forum is amazing.

armadillo

No worries. I was so glad someone was there to help when I was starting out and I was really anxious as my fish were really poorly from me not knowing I even had to do water changes.

Yeah, I was also talking of a manual vac. Good that you have one. I didn't when I first started, LOL.

Do they have enough hiding places? Perhaps if the aquarium was divided in two parts by a wall of tall plants, they could hide on the other side when you do one side. You can use fake plants to do that, so they're really easy to re-arrange and 'plant'. Also, the fish would need a couple of caves and suchlikes. Just ornaments in which they can hide. Sorry for assuming you don't have these, but as I can't see your setup, am trying to cover all angles.

Yeah, I love Fishlore too. Sooooo much info, so many people there to help.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - but am sure you do that already: you need to test the water temp (I do it with my finger, nothing high-tech) in the bucket. If you leave it overnight, chance is it's quite a lot different than the temperature in the tank (is it heated?).

I think the algae bloom will be sorted by really frequent water changes, and pristine water conditions (i.e. gravel vacs, wiping the glass if you see any residues on the glass. Again, without soap and using a sponge that's never touched soap).

You from Oz?

AggieYen

I've got a plant (that I really need to replace this weekend) and a sunken battle ship with a cavity that Spike (the loach) loves hiding in. Sometimes I freak out when I come home and can't find him anywhere, but now I know to look into the hole in the ship and I'll see just his head.. I check to make sure he's breathing. Heh. I bought recently an archway type thing, but haven't put that in yet... going to give Hermione and Harry some time to de-stress from my water changes.

Will try to take a picture of the setup once I get batteries for the camera. Yep, I hail from Oz - Essendon, Victoria, to be exact. How did you guess?

COBettaCouple

welcome to Fishlore I see that LA has been helping you with good advice so I'll just wish you the best of luck and suggest less light to starve the algae.

armadillo

You said 'heaps', LOL! Oh cool, I spent some time round Shepparton last year for work. Isn't Essendon closeby? It's inland, isn't it?

When you say they go for cover when you do a water change, as in they hide in the ship? I think if you have the space, I'd really add lots and lots of fake plants. They're not that pretty, but yours is just a temp set-up, isn't it? The good news is they're cheap and low maintenance. The fish love to hide in its leaves or around the 'roots'. It seems to relax them.

So cool about the loach. I looooove loaches. Is he a kuhli loach? What sort of a loach is he?

It's weird that these fish are freaked out by humans. Were they relaxed in the shop? Maybe some kids taunted them when they were in the shop. That happens a lot. Kids bashing around, tapping on the glass, scaring the bejeesus out of the fish. It could be nothign to do with your water change method.

But I do wonder about the temp. You're totally sure there is only a tiny difference between the new water and the tank water? Maybe that's what's unsettling them?

I just know that mine used to be freaked out because I did't condition the water (I knew n.o.t.h.i.n.g, LOL!). So all these metal residues and chloramine burning their gills. They hated it.

Also, I used to disturb the substrate a lot with the strong current of the water being put back in. Now they really love it with the watering can.

jsalemi

I have one of those for my 10g, and I finally got to the point where I just start the suction by sucking on the end of the hose until the water comes through. Usually I get it in the bucket before the water is all the way to the end, but I figure if I get a bit of a mouthful, well, if it's ok for my fish it won't harm me too much until I spit it out.

I got a Python for the 56g though, because it won't be very far from a faucet. Can't see trying to do water changes on that one 3 gallons at a time (the size of my bucket).

AggieYen

So I've been doing more reading.. and I now know that you'd age the water only if you don't want to use conditioner in it. I learn a new thing eeveryday!! So now I'm not going to age the water anymore.

I didn't think that goldfish would be too sensitive with temperature. The tap water tends to be a touch colder than the tank water.

Also read your thread on the watercan, Armadillo.. SO getting myself one.

armadillo

Cool. Really really really glad to help. I was in your position not so long ago and I learned, like 10 things everyday. I was surprised there was so much to know about fish.

The worst thing is: it's not stopped. Am still learning loads, and it's been months.

Really glad about your watering can decision. They'll LOVE their mummy for it, am telling you!