livelifelow
Mostly New Member
Just starting off by saying today is the first time I've heard of fish-less cycling and I do see how it is way better than what I did.
History:
I got a new 10g at the end of May, grabbed some gravel from my family's cycled tank and a snail, and let it sit for a week while giving a pinch of food each day. After 1 week I got a bristle-nosed pleco and a red capped-oranda, both of which were about 1''.
The tank cycled within under 2 months while routinely doing a 10% daily w/c.
At the end of July I finally caved in to my parents who are incapable of grasping that you do roughly 1g/1'', 2g/1'' for goldfish, solely in the hopes that they would finally shut up about me being stupid following that rule (go figure) and got 2 more red capped-orandas (about 1'' each).
After a few days 1 of the new orandas wasn't eating and died. It was afterwards that I learned that the red streak in its tail was not markings but a sign of illness. This fish was then replaced with another red-capped of the same size.
Labor day weekend I set up the 23g that my boyfriend found for me and moved all of the fish in along with all of the gravel, on top of new gravel. Tank was doing fine in terms of its cycle
A little while after I also added an air pump with two LED bubble hoses.
Then October hit.
Two of my orandas (The Brain and Pharfignewton) got red streaks in their tail so I treated with Pimafix/Melafix for 2 weeks (didn't want to go longer in case of overdose). Then suddenly my ammonia was spiking (4ppm), large water changes immediately followed to get it back down to 0.
The the third oranda (Snowball) had some white spots on his body, so I treated with Jungle Ick cure for 3 days, ran out and went to the fish store who didn't have that so I got Jungle Lifeguard instead, and treated for 5 days with that (removed pleco, plants, and snails).
Last week I found out my tank is secretly a 33g (did the math by hand originally, found an online calculator last week), so increased the dosage to the appropriate amount and treated for 5 more days after doing a 25% water change.
Snowball's white spots disappeared, but then he started floating tail-up, then became listless, then was at the bottom of the tank on his side. I gave him peas the second day he was floating tail-up and he ate them. After he was on the bottom of the tank I did a salt dip then dilluted it to a salt bath and he died a few days later this past weekend.
This entire time my tank has had high ammonia (in the 4ppm area) and whenever I've been able to (meds allowing) I've been doing large water changes to get the ammonia back down to 0. I'm still having this problem and need help.
Last night ammonia was 4ppm so I did 2 80% water changes on the tank and moved the snails, pleco, and plants back into my main tank. The fish appear healthy except for the red streaks in their tails which I can't seem to get to go away (likely due to the poor water conditions).
The filter is whatever came with the 10g (don't remember the name, can check when I get home) and it said it was ok for a 20g so since I thought mine was a 23 I figured it was ok. The air pump is also for a 20g, as is the heater (I keep it at 76F). I cannot afford a new filter for a few months.
What do you guys recommend I do to correct this situation? The tank that I initially got my bacteria from hasn't had a load on it in months so probably no longer had anything useful, which means mine is the only (un)cycled tank in the house, other than our turtle tank. I do not have a friend with freshwater fish who could take them, I'm in NY so the garden pond is not an option this time of year, and the lfs are miserable (dead, stepped on fish on the floor, one lfs actually made the news a couple years ago for leaving the animals inside when the area flooded. High quality, aren't they?). I have class late two nights, but I'm available for water changes Tuesday and Thursday-Sunday if that's what it takes.
Thank you for any help you can give. If you would like current water parameters I can get them to you tonight after I get home.
History:
I got a new 10g at the end of May, grabbed some gravel from my family's cycled tank and a snail, and let it sit for a week while giving a pinch of food each day. After 1 week I got a bristle-nosed pleco and a red capped-oranda, both of which were about 1''.
The tank cycled within under 2 months while routinely doing a 10% daily w/c.
At the end of July I finally caved in to my parents who are incapable of grasping that you do roughly 1g/1'', 2g/1'' for goldfish, solely in the hopes that they would finally shut up about me being stupid following that rule (go figure) and got 2 more red capped-orandas (about 1'' each).
After a few days 1 of the new orandas wasn't eating and died. It was afterwards that I learned that the red streak in its tail was not markings but a sign of illness. This fish was then replaced with another red-capped of the same size.
Labor day weekend I set up the 23g that my boyfriend found for me and moved all of the fish in along with all of the gravel, on top of new gravel. Tank was doing fine in terms of its cycle
A little while after I also added an air pump with two LED bubble hoses.
Then October hit.
Two of my orandas (The Brain and Pharfignewton) got red streaks in their tail so I treated with Pimafix/Melafix for 2 weeks (didn't want to go longer in case of overdose). Then suddenly my ammonia was spiking (4ppm), large water changes immediately followed to get it back down to 0.
The the third oranda (Snowball) had some white spots on his body, so I treated with Jungle Ick cure for 3 days, ran out and went to the fish store who didn't have that so I got Jungle Lifeguard instead, and treated for 5 days with that (removed pleco, plants, and snails).
Last week I found out my tank is secretly a 33g (did the math by hand originally, found an online calculator last week), so increased the dosage to the appropriate amount and treated for 5 more days after doing a 25% water change.
Snowball's white spots disappeared, but then he started floating tail-up, then became listless, then was at the bottom of the tank on his side. I gave him peas the second day he was floating tail-up and he ate them. After he was on the bottom of the tank I did a salt dip then dilluted it to a salt bath and he died a few days later this past weekend.
This entire time my tank has had high ammonia (in the 4ppm area) and whenever I've been able to (meds allowing) I've been doing large water changes to get the ammonia back down to 0. I'm still having this problem and need help.
Last night ammonia was 4ppm so I did 2 80% water changes on the tank and moved the snails, pleco, and plants back into my main tank. The fish appear healthy except for the red streaks in their tails which I can't seem to get to go away (likely due to the poor water conditions).
The filter is whatever came with the 10g (don't remember the name, can check when I get home) and it said it was ok for a 20g so since I thought mine was a 23 I figured it was ok. The air pump is also for a 20g, as is the heater (I keep it at 76F). I cannot afford a new filter for a few months.
What do you guys recommend I do to correct this situation? The tank that I initially got my bacteria from hasn't had a load on it in months so probably no longer had anything useful, which means mine is the only (un)cycled tank in the house, other than our turtle tank. I do not have a friend with freshwater fish who could take them, I'm in NY so the garden pond is not an option this time of year, and the lfs are miserable (dead, stepped on fish on the floor, one lfs actually made the news a couple years ago for leaving the animals inside when the area flooded. High quality, aren't they?). I have class late two nights, but I'm available for water changes Tuesday and Thursday-Sunday if that's what it takes.
Thank you for any help you can give. If you would like current water parameters I can get them to you tonight after I get home.
/www.drtimsaquatics.com/setting-up-your-aquarium
