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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 10:47:02 GMT -5
Post by emsy26 on Sept 25, 2008 10:47:02 GMT -5
Hi everyone, my name is Emma. I have no experience with aquarium fish at all . Me and my partner moved in together, he bought along his aquarium and decided he couldn't be bothered anymore Therefore it is up to me to look after what i now call MY Pets! Will need lots of help, hopefully you guys can help me. Thankyou
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 10:54:21 GMT -5
Post by demfish on Sept 25, 2008 10:54:21 GMT -5
Hi there! My names Darlene, and you came to a great place to learn! Lots of helpful people here. So just ask and they will help.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 12:39:53 GMT -5
Post by eve on Sept 25, 2008 12:39:53 GMT -5
welcome to the board emma just ask away
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 12:46:28 GMT -5
Post by murdock6701 on Sept 25, 2008 12:46:28 GMT -5
howdy Emma! welcome aboard! what kind of fish do you have? if you don't know, send pics! we'll all help you figure it out so you can become addicted like all of us! ;D
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 13:24:49 GMT -5
Post by brenda on Sept 25, 2008 13:24:49 GMT -5
Welcome...You've come to the right place for help. Lot's of very knowledgeable people here!!
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 14:38:09 GMT -5
Post by emsy26 on Sept 25, 2008 14:38:09 GMT -5
Well I was given misleading info on how many fish i could keep in my tank. So i have 16 fish in a 60l tank, which is way too much, i know that now, but don't have the resources to rehome any. I have no idea what they all are, I know i have 8 tetra (asstd), 1 clown lloach, 1 rainbow shark, 1 silver dollar, 1 white shark with orange fins (name??), 2 golden gouramis, a pleco and a frog. I know its alot but as i say I am a beginner and had misleading info, no doubt just to get money from me. I'm having a very bad ammonia problem at mo and worried my fish are going to die.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 14:53:34 GMT -5
Post by jonv on Sept 25, 2008 14:53:34 GMT -5
That's ok Emma, there are some ways to work around this until a better solution comes open. Keeping in mind your time difference too, where here is 3:45 PM I believe it's now 9:45 PM where you are at, so if you don't catch this post now, I'll look for that tomorrow.
With an over bio load, there are ways to make this work, without directly looking at the fish compatibility first. My first question is, have you been monitoring your ammonia and nitrite levels? Even with a mature filter bed of bacteria, if your fish are outputting more ammonia and waste then the bacteria bed can cope with, you'll show some signs of that in your water. That would be the first thing I'd want to look at and make sure.
Solution to this if you show ammonia but your tank is mature, would be two fold, in my opinion. The first thing I'd do is increase your filtration, but when or if you add on a bigger filter, get a filter in which you can use the same media inside your current filter, in the new one. Most of your bacteria bed will reside in your sponge or mechanical filtration. Transferring the old sponge means you keep the same bacteria colony and won't star the cycle over. But the added space in the new filter should allow you some additional space to grow a proper sized bacteria colony to help.
Secondly I'd try to get some Prime that's in your area or you can also order it off the main site as well. I personally use Prime as it will de-chlorinate at a better effeciency then most typical de-chlorinators, 1 capful for 50 US gallons. It will also help ionize any of that ammonia and nitrite in your water keeping your current bioload safe from those effects.
Now assuming there is no nitrogen compound issues, or you've taken actions to prevent that, the next thing I'd look is to find out what your LFS's will take back or even trade. If they won't take a trade, then the best thing to do at this point is to treat for your ammonia/nitrogen compound issues so that doesn't kill them, and save until you can replace the current tank with a larger tank. The best choice here though would be for your LFS to take some of that stock back and that would solve a large number of things.
It's hard to say if you have complete incompatiblity here or not. Some of what appears to be in the tank does appear to be incompatible, but if you could take and post some pictures or videos of the tank, that would be a huge help to figure out just what is essential to rehome and what might work out with some changes in enviroment.
I'll be around most of today so I'll check back to see if this helps or not. Welcome to one of the more professionally run forums in the fish hobby!! We are very happy to have you with us.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 15:04:51 GMT -5
Post by emsy26 on Sept 25, 2008 15:04:51 GMT -5
The pet store recommended Amquel plus, some of that has been added to the water already, unfortunately we lost all bacteria as everything was cleaned big time. I know i have made a huge mistake by not cleaning it with the aquarium water, so basically the cycle has had to start from scratch. My water was tested at a petstore today, all the levels are fine apart from the ammonia. They told me not to feed the fish for a week and also not to do water changes. When i purchased my fish, i told the assistant what fish i already had in the tank. They said things would be fine. I am looking to buy a new tank, a bigger one. My filter isn't the best and ardon me for saying, but i don't really understand the whole aquarium thing, all the different filters and whats inside them :/. Sorry, maybe I'm not cut out to look after such beautiful things
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 15:21:19 GMT -5
Post by jonv on Sept 25, 2008 15:21:19 GMT -5
Emma,
I got your message from YA so I'll just answer in here so in case anyone else has this problem, they can read this over too. AmQuel Plus should help you to some degree with that ammonia issue. As you pointed out, the cleaning with the tap water did kill off the bacteria. You will have a small amount of that in the gravel, and cleaning in there probably has done what you said, caused the ammonia spike.
There is some risk with that ammonia in the tank even with the Amquel, but the Amquel will ionize that and keep it much less harmful then if you had nothing. What you can do, is do some daily partial water changes to help reduce the total ppm of the ammonia. At this point, you're not going to be able to prevent it, so I'd use small like 10-15% daily changes, which will help lower, but not eliminate the stress from it being there. It will provide some temporary relief in this case.
If you can find Prime, made by SeaChem, that would serve you better, but if all you have is the AmQuel, that's what I'd stick with. It'll take a few weeks to re-establish that bacteria bed, but I think using the AmQuel should help keep your stock safe enough to ride this out.
I don't agree with the pet store telling you don't feed your fish at all. I'd feed them maybe once a day and cut the food down to about half the normal amount you give and just leave it at that. You can also just not feed the fish for a few days at a time and you won't run any risk of harm from that. Fish very rarely die from stravation. I would feed some though. In my stock, and I'm not sure if this applies to all fish, but at least with my tank being mostly African Cichilds, lack of food for a day or two drastically increases aggression, and increased aggression translates into more activity, which also translates into more ammonia going back into the tank. I'd feed them but reduce the amount given.
If you could get some pictures Emma, that would be a big help to find and prioritize who should go and who could stay in that tank. I'm happy to help as will many others on here too. It seems to me you'd like to keep fish but need some help. Don't give up, you can do it, just this will take a little work at first. Once this is done, and your bacteria bed is back up, we re-work the stock in there, you'll find keeping them much less stressful and fun.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 15:36:45 GMT -5
Post by emsy26 on Sept 25, 2008 15:36:45 GMT -5
Thankyou for your help. How do i get the pictures on here and some of my fish hide so will be very difficult to take a pic of them all together. I have 3 kids and the fish get more attention. lol.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 15:47:11 GMT -5
Post by jonv on Sept 25, 2008 15:47:11 GMT -5
Well if you have a digital camera, you can upload those into Photobucket or YouTube. If you use Photobucket, you select under the listings, the IMG CODE and copy that and just paste it in a reply. The image will replace the IMG CODE. If you use YouTube, you just copy the link to the video clip in reply.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 15:53:58 GMT -5
Post by emsy26 on Sept 25, 2008 15:53:58 GMT -5
ok, thankyou. will deal with ammonia first, then sort out the guys. lol. they aren't aggressive towards each other and actually get on quite well. i will sort the pics out and get them on after the weekend. thanks
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 15:57:31 GMT -5
Post by jonv on Sept 25, 2008 15:57:31 GMT -5
That's ok Emma, I'll be off and on. Looks like we going to get hammered with some bad storms this weekend here (NJ) so I'll try to be on so long as the power stays going. Take care of your family and stuff. I think you'll have the ammonia under control with the Amquel, but I'd really opt for Prime if you can find it at all.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 16:23:26 GMT -5
Post by goldenpuon on Sept 25, 2008 16:23:26 GMT -5
Welcome Emma! Feel free to ask as many questions as you need.
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Hi All
Sept 25, 2008 19:05:03 GMT -5
Post by bikeguy33 on Sept 25, 2008 19:05:03 GMT -5
welcome emma. when the ammonia is under control, i as well will help with the compatibility issue. not in a lecturing way,but in a helpful way....
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Hi All
Sept 26, 2008 20:04:52 GMT -5
Post by Carl on Sept 26, 2008 20:04:52 GMT -5
Glad you joined us here Emma!! ;D
Sorry I was not able to answer your questions by email in more depth, but I was literally trying to get out the door for the business trip I am currently on.
But as you can see, you have aleady received excellent help ;)Carl
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Hi All
Sept 30, 2008 13:35:54 GMT -5
Post by cashay on Sept 30, 2008 13:35:54 GMT -5
This is becoming one BIG happy Family! Welcome Emma
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