25 gallon 7/8 fish dead

[Greener]

I set up my 25 gallon tank about a month ago, put in rocks from another tank, it has and undergravel filter, put in an airstone and left it for about a week, then I put in 3 tiger barbs and one pleco and they seemed fine after a week, so one day after work I decided to go and buy 4 more fish 2 green tiger barbs and 2 angel fish and when I came home to put them in the tank the pleco and one of the tiger barbs was dead, well I had no where else for my new fish so I put them in the tank and took me dead fish back to the pet store to get a refund and was told my ammonia levels were too high and when I asked how to fix this they told me my tank was cycling and that fish would die, well after an angel fish and another tiger barb died I decided to go to a different pet store and I bought a penguin bio wheel filter, a tester kit, and some rocks to get rid of the ammonia. Well my ammonia levels haven't gone down and I've just lost 2 green tiger barbs and my last tiger barb, leaving me with 1 angel fish who I have now moved to a make shift tank hoping that I won't kill him in there and now I have taken apart my tank and am looking to start over again because I want to put my angel fish back into the tank and also some black red tailed sharks I have in a smaller tank. So now time for my questions: how do I keep my ammonia levels down? should I just get rid of the undergravel filter? How often should water changes be done? how often should the gravel be cleaned? how do I clean the gravel? should I get rid of the gravel and go for larger marble type rocks? I think that is all the questions I have so I'm going to go continue to clean out my tank. Thanks a bunch

 

[dwarfgourami]

Well, basically, your first shop was right: your ammonia shot up because you added too many fish too quickly. Fish excrete ammonia which unfortunately is poisonous to them. If you add fish very slowly to a new tank it gives time for friendly bacteria to grow which will turn the ammonia into nitrites. Nitrites are also poisonous to fish but if you give your tank time other friendly bacteria will turn them into nitrates which are less harmful (though even they should not be allowed to go skyhigh). The only way of getting rid of ammonia is by frequent partial water changes (don't forget to dechlorinate the water). Leave the gravel as some bacteria will grow there, which you need. Taking the tank apart is probably a bad move as it will kill off any bacteria you already have growing.

Do not add any more fish until the cycling is done (and then you will need to think of stocking levels- as angels grow big in time), that is until your test kit shows no ammonia and no nitrites.

Gravel cleaning is done with a gravel vac, a syphon type thing that sucks the water and small particles up, so you combine it with a water change. Once the tank is settled, a 15-20% water change once a week should be enough.

Am a bit concerned about this makeshift tank you keep your angel in, also the sharks who are in a smaller tank (they need lots of room and should not really be kept together as they are often very territorial). Could you give us any details?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How many fish do you have in total remaining and what types?
What are your recent ammonia, nitrate and nitrite stats?
Doing water changes as before mentioned is realy the only safe way to bring the ammonia down- what were these rocks you added to the tank, were they sandstones or limestone?

 

[rdd1952]

I think dwarfgourami has given you good advice. One thing I might add is that once your tank is cycled, don't add more than about 2 or maybe 3 fish at a time. Once you add more fish, start checking the ammonia and nitrite just as before until they are both back to zero before you add any more. Every time you add fish, you will create a mini cycle as the bacteria colony will have to grow a little more to handle the extra waste. Adding any more than 2 or 3 in a 25 gallon tank may create too much of a load again. Adding the extra filter will definitely help though. I wouldn't bother the undergravel filter. You can't ever have too much filtration unless the current gets too strong for the fish.

 

[Greener]

I've already taken the tank apart, there was small debris floating around that wasn't getting sucked up from the filters I think it was from the rocks that were supposed to get rid of the ammonia, and then I'm going to add different decorations and then some marble styled rocks to the gravel, and I'm going to go buy some real plants and then start a fresh.

I have 2 black red tailed sharks in a 3 gallon tank with a filter, now that they have two rock decorations they are fine before they use to chase each other and now they don't and are a nice black and red unless I turn my light on too quickly then they get scared and go grey. They are about an inch long and I feed them frozen brine shrimp and or some tropical flake food. Then they will be going into the bigger tank once it's ready, even if it's just them.

I put the angel fish into about a 5-10 gallon container, put some gravel down for him, not sure what kind of gravel the pet store was selling the gravel from their tanks and said it would be useful in starting healthy bacteria in a new tank, put a rock decoration in, put in a filter and an air stone.

The last readings on my tank was ammonia between 1 and 2, N03 was at 20, no2 between 0-0.5, hardness at 120, and alkalinity at 300.

I won 2 male bettas at a wedding, they are each in their own vase and were used as the centerpieces and I'm thinking of putting one of them in the 25 G tank to cycle it. Would this be a good idea or should I get a different fish to cycle with?

 

[Torrean]

Can you take back one of the red-tailed black sharks? They will eventually kill eachother unless they have a large (bigger than 25) tank to share. look at the fish index under cyprinids. It may be under rainbow shark but they are very simialir. Red tails are more agressive and a bit smaller. It is not right that the lfs sold you two red tails and didn't tell you they needed to be kept seperate you should complain. I also find it funny that NOW they tell you about cycling when you already have dead fish. Convenient don't you think. Oh BTW look into BIO-spira. it'll cycle your tank in under a week.

 

[rdd1952]

If you use Bio Spira, make sure you get it from a trusted source. I have never used it but understand that it must be refrigerated constantly or it will go bad (all the bacteria will die). There is a place in TN that supposedly sells it and handles it properly. Unfortunately, I read about that place on another forum and don't remember where it was. I personally wouldn't use the betta to cycle. Even if you do, you will only be cycled for one fish (tank only cycles for the amount of waste being produced by the inhabitants) so when you add more, you will start the mini cycle all over again.