This forum saved my fish! Going forward...

HI everyone My husband and I are pretty new to fishkeeping, and boy has it been a saga. The good news is that thanks entirely to this forum and my obsessive reading here, we have made it to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Right off the bat, we made the mistake of setting up our tank, adding fish the next day, and expecting all to be fine. You all know what happened there.. They were all dead within days.

We did a lot of reading, and got the tank cycled over the next 3-4 weeks, without fish. We then added our fish, and everything was seemingly great for a few weeks. Then we started to suspect problems. Our big male molly started hiding in the corner, only coming out to dart around aggressively or eat. Soon others were hiding out too, and one of the female mollies seemed disoriented and was looking very skinny. This was when I went out and picked up the API liquid master test kit, and learned that our cycle was in a shambles. Ammonia and nitrites were both high.

Again, I came here to see what went wrong and how to fix it. We immediately began dosing with Prime and Stability and doing daily water changes. Throughout this whole thing, the skinny female molly developed popeye, so we also bought some Melafix.

I'm happy to report that it seems like we intervened just in time, and got things back on track. All our fish are back to normal, happy behavior- even Marian the molly. Her eyes are all better and she has already plumped back up and is swimming around with everyone again. We've been testing the water every night, and it looks like we finally got our cycle going again. I also know where things went wrong - we changed the filter cartridge for a brand new one. That's when it went suddenly downhill. (Lesson learned.)

With all the research we did, it's become apparent that the whole "inches of fish" thing is a big lie, and we need a bigger tank if we want to keep the fish we have. At this point we have done a lot to keep these friends, so we would rather upgrade our setup than rehome if possible.

We have a 20 gallon high. Our residents are 4 mollies, 2 dojo/weather loaches, and 4 catfish that I've seen labeled as DebauwI Catfish or African Glass Catfish. It's worth mentioning that none of them are full grown. The catfish are each about an inch long, but I read they may reach close to 4". The loaches are maybe 3.5-4".

With it being tax return season... Upgrading to a larger tank in the near future is doable. What size do you think we would need to comfortably house our current friends, plus a few more catfish and loaches since we know they should have a larger group? Would a 55 gallon long work or would it have to be bigger?

Thanks so much for all the help!

 

I would say that your safest bet would be a 75 gallon tank. Glad to hear that some of your fishes survived. Good luck!

 

I was kind of eyeballing a 75, will just have to measure and see for sure if I can get it where I want it. I see now how easily one becomes obsessed with fish!

 

Bigger is better than with fish soon you will be wanting to put something in the 20, and then you'll have tons of tanks. MTS(multiple tank syndrome) is coming for you!*insert evil laugh here*

Welcome to the forum by the way!
We would love pictures of your tank as well(us fishlorians love pictures)

 

Bigger is better than with fish soon you will be wanting to put something in the 20, and then you'll have tons of tanks. MTS(multiple tank syndrome) is coming for you!*insert evil laugh here*

Welcome to the forum by the way!
We would love pictures of your tank as well(us fishlorians love pictures)

Thanks for the welcome! I've been lurking around here for months now, so I figured it was time to join in. I am going to keep my eye out for a good deal on a 75. MTS! I can absolutely see how quickly it all snowballs! Fishies are such fun friends to have. Photos to come.

 

Nice to have you here on the forum! I just want to say that although you credit the forum for the advice and success, it is YOU who decided to read about your problems and act on them properly. That is much more than a lot of people would have done. So I think you deserve a pat on the back, not just the forum.

 

Another thing I've learned is how hard it is to take pictures of fish- especially with an iPhone, lol. The cat loves her new TV.

 

Aw, I'm a sucker for kitties - and loaches! That is an attractive tank.

 

Congrats on doing things right and getting all your little buddies back into shape!

Many lessons learned the hard way, but with the knowledge you have now, going forward will be so much easier. You also know that you're working with a delicately balanced ecosystem, and that no major changes in the future should go without research - thereby making planned projects as painless as possible on your pets!

I bet you feel pretty good right now, and you should. Much like I did when I rescued my newest addition from a nasty case of ammonia poisoning (overnight shipping gone wrong). I lost three out of four fish, but saving that little guy's life and watching him become the most adventurous and curious loach in the tank rewards me with all kinds of happiness.

Well done!

 

Thanks guys It really has been quite the learning experience that's for sure! We are definitely committed to these fish and the hobby, so I don't think I'll be deleting my FishLore app anytime soon. I come on here and read almost every post and the replies, even if I don't think it pertains to me, just to learn more for the future. This is a really great community you all have here!

 

Glad you have plans to stick around.

 

Falcor! I loved that movie...and the original translated-from-the-German book Haven't seen/read it in ages!

 

I didn't even know there was a Neverending Story origin story... There were many parts of that movie that unsettled me as a child so I never really took to it. But it is definitely ca-razy.

 

It's one of those movies that I loved as a kid (still do), though it also totally scared me too. Definitely won't be naming any fishies after Gmork the scary wolf guy. :/ But the loaches look just like little luck dragons flying around!

 

Haha, so true!

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I didn't even know there was a Neverending Story origin story... There were many parts of that movie that unsettled me as a child so I never really took to it. But it is definitely ca-razy.

You mean like the part where Artax gets sucked into the Swamp of Sadness? I still ball my eyes out:'(

 

That scene, the wolf dude, the giant rock guy, the sphynx things... Movie was like a nightmare factory for me when I was small, haha.

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A 75 gallon would be great for your fish, if you can find a good deal on one - when I got my 75, I thought it was going to be such an enormous tank, but now that it's all set up with our fish, I can't having gone smaller, & it doesn't seem big at all. Plus it just looks really nice, & is a great focal point in the room it's in. Bigger tank means it's much easier to maintain water quality. Sounds like you have some neat fish - I love dojo loaches, & want to get some someday!

 

I'm definitely keeping my eye on any sales at the pet stores in my area, and also checking Craigslist. I do find the idea of a 75 gallon a bit daunting, so I'm trying to research and plan before impulse buying (like I want to).

Mostly, I'm going to have to come up with a new way of doing water changes, and I'm not sure how exactly to do it with such a big tank. Our current tank is in the basement, and this is where we would want to put the 75 gallon too. My current bucket method isn't gonna cut it for water changes of that size. (Up and down the stairs with a 2 gallon bucket.)

We do have running water down here - the hookup for the washing machine already has a splitter on it. The water that comes out of it is super cold though. So I guess I would need a big container of some sort to fill, and a heater to heat it?

 

I use a pond pump with my Python water changer. Takes a little less than fifteen minutes to drain my 150 halfway. I'm not sure how you'd go about adding water back since mine has a temperature control.

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If you have a window into your basement, Maybe get a long garden hose to fill? The pond pump would help get the water out.

 

I saw someone had mentioned using those big trash cans on wheels as containers.. I have read so much on here I am not sure who said it. But I think maybe something like that could work?

We could fill (or partially fill) one from the washer hookup, put a heater in it to get it the same temp as the tank, and fill from that. A second can could be for the water coming out. We have a sump pump down here so it could be emptied directly into that.

It's kind of a low tech way to do things, but I think it seems feasible?

 

That could work

 

I'm one of the trash can users. I use a Brute trashcan and wheel cart. I use a 800gph submersible pump to move the water to and from aquariums and the trash can.

 

I'm one of the trash can users. I use a Brute trashcan and wheel cart. I use a 800gph submersible pump to move the water to and from aquariums and the trash can.

Ah! Awesome. I definitely think that's the way we will go too. Thanks!