worst week EVER!!!

3 of my fish have died within the past week 1 jumped out the rest found dead this sucks
idk whats wrong very sad now

thy were a big happy faimly untill this past week for about 4 months

baglel10 wrote:3 of my fish have died within the past week 1 jumped out the rest found dead this sucks
idk whats wrong very sad now

Where the fish that died in the same tank as the one you used an "Aqua Clear" product in? Because chemicals are never the answer 99% of the time. Don't get me wrong, if your fish have a disease treat it accordingly. But if your having water quality issues never go out and buy a "wonder" product. Just remember water changes, water changes, water changes!

I've been watching your threads recently. I think that you should empty your tank of everything, and start fresh. Put new water in, cycle it for a week, and then slowly add fish in. Maybe some cool fancy guppies. Fun to watch, easy to breed, and they aren't TOO messy.

Got to agree with Mikey here. You have been having a lot of problems. Best to just start over and do it right.

If you take Mikey's idea and start over make sure you cycle your tank before you put fish in. It takes a couple of weeks. Maybe shorter if you get some good established beneficial bacteria. Here is a step by step on how to cycle:

Every new tank, with new filtration, has to be cycled to be safe for aquatic life. What is meant by "cycled"?
"Cycled" is a reference to the Nitrogen cycle. This is the bio filtration that happens in our filters.
In short,
"Ammonia" (toxic fish waste) is converted by bacteria into
"Nitrite" (toxic as well) then converted by a second type of bacteria into
"Nitrate"(basicaly harmless in low concentrations) that gasses off in the Aquarium.

This read is not for the advanced water chemist, this read is directed to
those fishkeepers that do not know what the nitrogen cycle is, and have had problems with keeping fish alive and well in their new tanks and with new filtration...

OK to start off there are a few things that you are going to have to have PERIOD...
1)Water test kit (Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate)
2)patience
3)Commitment to cycle the tank completely
4)Pure household Ammonia (clear w/no soaps or fragrance)
a)shake bottle- if there are bubbles - no good
if it looks like water - way good
5)Aquarium needing cycling with the water set to 85 degrees F.
6)Filtration, installed and working properly.

First thing, first...
Bacteria thrives in water over 80 degrees F.
Make sure to set the temp to 85 degrees F.

Once you determine how much water you have in the system, de-chlorinated the water with a de-chlorinator that does not contain anything that says "eliminates ammonia etc." I use stresscoat and I know that works.

Now, you'll add 5 DROPS of Ammonia per 10 gallons, no more no less. Pick a time of day that you'll be able to take readings, everyday, for a couple of weeks.

Do this everyday until you see a measurable amount of Nitrites.
When you have a Nitrite reading, this means you have started the nitrogen cycle and are effectively growing the Beneficial Bacteria, that converts the Ammonia into Nitrite. We are half way there.

Now you will lower the amount of Ammonia to 3 drops per 10 gallons per day. You will do this until you get a reading of
0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrites. ZERO means ZERO, no matter how long it takes to get there. You are now building the Bacteria that converts the Nitrite into Nitrate.

Ok, so now we are adding 3 drops per 10 gallons of water daily.
We are getting a reading of Zero Ammonia / Zero Nitrite and we have a Nitrate reading of 20-40 ppm. You are almost there.

You need to do a 50% waterchange with de-chlorinated water and adjust your temperature. Now is the time to get your fish. Acclimate them and get them in your properly cycled tank...enjoy them as they will be enjoying your correct water parameters...

i took al of your guys edvice im restarting what i did is had some crapy stuff and a 10 gal tank put all the nasty watter into the 10 gal then put fish in there then i took my gravel and washed it good cleened the glass no saop put all the stuff back in and they are still in the crapyy water i did a small water change thow for them so now im going to wait wish my fish luck they should be fine in the 10 gal they are not that big yet and its only a week

Do you know what you were doing wrong in the first place??

You added some alge removing chemical right?? Sometimes fish can have a problem with it if you dont do it exactly as directed... or if the fish are really young.... did you check water parameters?? how was nitrite ammonia, etc?

sidekicking wrote:Do you know what you were doing wrong in the first place??

i think i added to much alge killers stuff and a lil over feed becouse they wouldnt eat the only food i had left
and yes sand i checked it it was fine

baglel10 wrote:

sidekicking wrote:Do you know what you were doing wrong in the first place??

i think i added to much alge killers stuff and a lil over feed becouse they wouldnt eat the only food i had left
and yes sand i checked it it was fine

and the alge remover didnt have a dereations so i kinda had to gess so i added a lil but i gess it was to much

Bagel, are you going to do the fishless cycling method?

How many fish do you have in the 10 gallon? What kind of fish? Do you have an established filter on that 10 gallon?

This is why I fight algae with Nerite snails only. No chemicals.

nerites dont work for me, my apples on teh other hand go crazy!

iceburg... I immediatly posted after you it was ok to use chemicals... lol.... so he did follow advice. Just not yours. Especially if your telling him to do water changes on a not so established tank. The trick with using some of those chemicals in your tank especially small tanks 20gal and under, is you have to barely add drops at a time... then wait a day.

Live and learn.... think you need a bigger tank though.... I had a heck of a time with a 10gal tank, and I would consider myself a moderate to advanced fish keeper too.

I still have to strongly disagree with your advice to use chemicals. I think as an administrator you have a responsible to tell the kid not to use chemicals. He simply didn’t' need to use them. He could have easily solved his problem without using chemicals and following everyone’s (non-chemical using) advice. 99% of problems not including diseases can be solved without chemicals. We can all agree that he needs to learn better husbandry skills.

Bagel, I highly recommend that you start over from scratch and pick up The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums (Second Edition) by David E. Boruchowitz. This is your new bible, follow the book to the letter T! Get yourself either a 29gal or a 55gal and follow his advice. It's full proof and guarantees success! You will thank me later.

IceBerg wrote:

baglel10 wrote:
i think i added to much alge killers stuff

Obviously you are not reading our advice! I remember posting, "whatever you do don't use chemicals". Where you went wrong is using an algae killing "wonder" product. What you should have done is reduce feeding, cut your lights, and water changes, water changes, and water changes! NO CHEMICALS DUDE!

i did all of them i cut down on feeding i turn the lights off for whole days and did water changes and it barly help
and betty my fish add up to be 11 icnhes in 4 fish so they should be fine its not that long
ill try to get the cammra from my bro to show you what the botle says it said nothing of how much to put in

iceberg.... Everyone has different tech. for there aquariums.... Some are complete naturalist, will not add a fake plant to there tank.... do not use carbon.... do not use any good filter media out there.... wont use chlorine removers (rather let there water age in a giant drum)..... simply because they feel it can all be done naturally.

Now, Some (like myself) have used chemicals for tanks in the past, and would use them again if I have tried everything else possible to fix a problem... rather than keep doing the same thing for weeks or months on end to find no resolution, and possibly loose fish. Example: I purchased some african cichlid sand at the pet shop, this sand is known to cloud up even after bein washed repeatedly, they give you a small packet of water clarifier (some kind of magnet that pulls sand down)..... I didnt use it for two days, to see if the cloudiness would go by itself.... after getting sick of waiting I dropped in the stuff, worked like a charm... Seriously, within 3 hours my water sparkled, and I did not loose one fish. I wish i knew the name of the stuff they gave me, I would recommend it to everyone, but unfortunely I dont.

I applaud you and your more natural tech. But if someone asks for everyones opinion on what they should do to fix a problem, that means we offer our tech to the person, not demand they "not use chemicals". And I am glad you disagree with my tech. but I will recommend products that have worked for me being an admin or not, I just recommend extreme caution when using chemicals in your tank.

In my opinion all people need is a little more patience and not jump to using chemicals. Come on Sandman, you lost your patience after only 48hrs? You could have easily gave it a week to let gravity do all the work for you. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good applications for chemicals in our hobby. But the kid having an “algae bloom” problem isn’t one of them. I'm absolutely positive if he would have kept with the program for only a month his fish would still be alive today.

The word for the day Bagel is PATIENCE!!!

It's good that you guys have your own opinions. And in my book, BOTH are personal opinions and preferences, so they can be used individually. If I can avoid using chemicals, I prefer to. Sometimes, however, I don't have the patience to, so I use them in moderation.

Keep us updated Bagel, we'd love to help you start out on the right foot.

Love the passion and the fact that everyone is touting their solutions, not just bashing each other. Cheers to all!

(PS - I'm with Ice - for algae bloom or overfeeding I would let time solve my problem. I take the same approach for things like ich - salt and heat. But for injuries or parasites I'm not above using medications either - but I use a hospital tank so as not to disrupt the balance in the tank).

larry.beck wrote:Love the passion and the fact that everyone is touting their solutions, not just bashing each other. Cheers to all!

We have a great group of people on this site, I love it.

OKAY, back on topic

baglel10 wrote:i did all of them i cut down on feeding i turn the lights off for whole days and did water changes and it barly help

Days? LOL! You should have kept up with the program for weeks! Just the fact that you called it two WHOLE DAYS means you need to learn some patience. Remember only bad things happen quickly in a fish tank. Fixing problems take time. You can do it Bagle10! We are all routing for you!

Iceberg..... you keep referring to him as a kid.... he is 15, probably has already entered man hood..... So you can start referrin to him with his name (people can be offended by that).... your gettin too old buddy.

sandnuka wrote:Iceberg..... your gettin too old buddy.

*chuckles* You're both young'uns - and the same age, I notice.

LOL! Yeah to Larry we are still kids. Bagel is still a 15 year old kid in my opinion. I mean you are basically ***** until you reach the age of 18. And don’t worry Sandman only women can get offended!

I say your a man when you been with a women.... sure bagel has been there ...... maybe iceburg hasnt yet... lol j/k... anyway, this is gettin waaaay off what bagel intended this thread to be, so back on topic.... bagel, set your tank up away from any natural sunlight.... the sun always sparks huge alge blooms for me.... Since your emptyin' it out and startin from scratch anyway! good luck man, let us know on your progress.

and betty my fish add up to be 11 icnhes in 4 fish so they should be fine its not that long

I looked through your other topics -- are these the fish from your 29 gallon tank that was clouded up? They look like African cichlids and at that size they can be quite aggressive. Are they doing okay for now?

I asked earlier if you had an established (used and dirty) filter on the temporary 10 gallon because if you used a clean new one, you will have to keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrite readings.

Cycling new tanks and working out stocklists can be complicated stuff.

teddyzaper wrote:nerites dont work for me, my apples on teh other hand go crazy!

Dude, 40 Nerites cleaned all the algae out of my 180 (with 130 pounds of TH Rock) in less than a week.