Dirty Tanks

[Miss Wiggle]

getting a tank off a work mate in the next few weeks, it's been pretty much neglected the last few months, the fish all look healthy enough but the tank is filthy waters quite murky, bit of algae, not been gravel vacc'd or the filter cleaned for quite sometime, were going to take the whole lot off her and set it up in my house, want to give the tank a really good scrub out but I'm a bit concerned about the sudden change in water quality etc, could it upset the fish?

We'd planned on bagging up the fish, then moving the tank, floating the fish in another tank in they're bags but with the top open so they've plenty of air, setting it back up at mine with the mature filter running, put in new water with dechlorinator with a bit of hot so it gets up to temparature sooner, then testing the water and if all's OK putting the fish straight in. Then over the next few days taking out the naff decor, giving it a good gravel vac and algae scrub and sticking some plants in, cleaning the filter once the aquarium water's been in there a few days so we don't kill off all the bacteria. Then just leaving the fish as they are in there for the time being, they're being re-homed eventually but I want to quarantine them a bit first and get that tank ready for it's new inhabitants.

Does that sound about right to anyone? anything else I should bear in mind. I heard someone say that a rapid change from poor conditions to good ones could upset the fish? Is that right?

 

[shaunza2010]

What I think is you should try and keep some of the dirty water (50%) and add this to the new water then gradually over a couple of days do some small water changes remembering to do water test too so that you know when everything is ok

Best bet is to buying a couple of buckets (2-3)

1- some for the fish (depending on how many there are) and having a lid and being a dark colour (so the fish don't escape and the darkness will keep the stress down)
2- for the original water ( remembering that the other bucket should have the original water too)
3- Wash the substrate, decor, heater and filter throughly till clean

So when you get to your own home clean the tank with some of the original water (so the the bacteria will still be there when you've finished washing) then empty the water out

Add the original water to the tank then add your decholirnated water to the correct level, add your substrate, decor, heater and filter

Wait till the correct temperature and then bag you fish and add them to the water (still bagged)
When you,ve had them in the water for 20-30mins slowly add some of the tank water to the bag
then once you got the bag almost filled slowly release them to the tank

Now each day do small water changes about 20% or that till when your water readings are fine (doing water tests)

I hope this has help a little but don't rely on it as I might have missed things out or got some thing wrong, but this what i did when my girlfriends dad gave me his tank with fish too, and all my fish survived.

 

[Marcos]

A sudden change in water quality may upset them but if the tank is in as bad condition as it sounds they may welcome the freshen up. The filter's not going to be doing it's job properly if it's jammed up and if the water's not been changed for a while nitrates may be quite high. If I was you I'd put the fish together with the filter, heater and majority of the water in a large container (I've used an 80 litre plastic dustbin for this) so you can dismantle the tank and give it a good clean and give the gravel a good clean if you're planning on re-using it. I'd then add around 30% of clean water to the new tank and bring it up to the same temp as the water in the bin then add the rest of the water from the bin together with the fish. If the filter is really filthy I'd give the sponges a very gentle squeeze in some tank water (in another container) just to remove some of the surface gunk. It's not going to do much if the sponges are jammed solid. Put the hardware back in the tank and it's up and running!

Just typed that at the same time, sorry!

 

[shaunza2010]

saw this

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?act=Se...moving+%2Bhouse

 

[SamUK]

yea i think you need a big bucket like marcos says.

ive got an 80 litre clear bin that was about £7 and it comes in handy all the time.


my oscar and a few other fish lived in it for 24 hours so anything smaller will be fine.


also handy for doing water changes.

 

[shaunza2010]

A sudden change in water quality may upset them but if the tank is in as bad condition as it sounds they may welcome the freshen up. The filter's not going to be doing it's job properly if it's jammed up and if the water's not been changed for a while nitrates may be quite high. If I was you I'd put the fish together with the filter, heater and majority of the water in a large container (I've used an 80 litre plastic dustbin for this) so you can dismantle the tank and give it a good clean and give the gravel a good clean if you're planning on re-using it. I'd then add around 30% of clean water to the new tank and bring it up to the same temp as the water in the bin then add the rest of the water from the bin together with the fish. If the filter is really filthy I'd give the sponges a very gentle squeeze in some tank water (in another container) just to remove some of the surface gunk. It's not going to do much if the sponges are jammed solid. Put the hardware back in the tank and it's up and running!

Just typed that at the same time, sorry!

no probs, well i did know what i was talking about

 

[Miss Wiggle]

cool thanks for all the advice, keep it coming peeps, always like 2nd and 3rd and 4th etc opinions!