Help For Newbie An Poor Little Fishies!

[Druid McGrew]

Hi

I have bought my first tank. Its beautiful. It is 100 UK litres, it has several plants, a broken galleon at the bottom with bubble wall inside.

My friend who got me into fish said to fill it and leave my fluval 4 plus filter on low for about a day. He then gave me his 8 month old koi angel fish, 5 baby zebra danios and one baby golden sucking cat.

No he said they would be ok and to be fair they are. They have been in about 2 days and the tanks been running about 4. I did a PH check and it came out 7.5

I then proceeded to lower the level with some chemical i was given. I checked again an its sill the same. What do I do now? Is it ok if it stays at that level? I have no idea an just want the fishies to be happy!! Please help

Thank you

 

[divegirl]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
When your mate gave you the fish did he also give you some sponges to put in your filter?
If not it's not the Ph you need to worry about it's the ammonia! It doesn't sound like your tank has been cycled.If you don't know what cycling is have a read here.........

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Good luck

Lisa x

 

[Druid McGrew]

Hi yes my pump had sponges in it that were cleaned out. Basically the whole tank was cleaned out then set up again all new. The inside of the filter looks great. My friend that gave the fish just said drop them in an they will be fine as they are hardy fish. I understand this is true but still. 7.5 is alot! I just hope they stay ok. I understand maybe a water change may help but the current water has only been in there 4 days and the water in my area is very very very hard.

 

[Assaye]

Ph is the least of your worries!

For a start, koi have no place in a 100 litre fish tank, neither has a "golden sucking cat" which sounds like a chinese algae eater (google it). The koi needs a huge pond, no exceptions or negotiation, and the sucker will need a 4 foot tank (minimum) as it grows.

Secondly - your friend has given you the worst advice ever for setting up a new tank. He's not told you about ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, water testing, cycling, biological filtration or how to mature a tank.

I don't want to be rude or sound snappy but your fish are in a bad situation. They may not be suffering yet but if you don't act very soon, they'll end up in a very bad situation because their poo and wee will build up in the tank and poison them.

Read the articles on Cycling (esp. Fish-In and Fishless Cycling) and the articles on setting up a new tank in the Beginner's Resource Centre that divegirl linked for you.

Don't worry about your pH and definitely do NOT use chemicals to lower the pH at this stage, especially as you don't know much about pH! Out of interest, why do you think your pH needs lowering? It really, really doesn't. For the fish you have, it is fine where it is.

 

[Druid McGrew]

Ph is the least of your worries!

For a start, koi have no place in a 100 litre fish tank, neither has a "golden sucking cat" which sounds like a chinese algae eater (google it). The koi needs a huge pond, no exceptions or negotiation, and the sucker will need a 4 foot tank (minimum) as it grows.

Secondly - your friend has given you the worst advice ever for setting up a new tank. He's not told you about ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, water testing, cycling, biological filtration or how to mature a tank.

I don't want to be rude or sound snappy but your fish are in a bad situation. They may not be suffering yet but if you don't act very soon, they'll end up in a very bad situation because their poo and wee will build up in the tank and poison them.

Read the articles on Cycling (esp. Fish-In and Fishless Cycling) and the articles on setting up a new tank in the Beginner's Resource Centre that divegirl linked for you.

Don't worry about your pH and definitely do NOT use chemicals to lower the pH at this stage, especially as you don't know much about pH! Out of interest, why do you think your pH needs lowering? It really, really doesn't. For the fish you have, it is fine where it is.

thank you for your reply. I thought I might have had some wrong info. The ph in the tank is at 7.5 as i tested it last night. I will be reading those articles right now to see what to do thank you for your advise!

 

[divegirl]

Hi, I think you'll find that 'koi' refers to colour of the OP's Angel.

You are now in what we call a fish in cycle hun! This is going to mean lots of water changes for you for a fair while to come.If you are going to do this seriously you will need a API master test kit so that you can keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrITE levels.
It's a lot of hard work but can be done.

Lisa x

 

[Druid McGrew]

Im on it. Will be changing the water as much as needed. I want a beautiful looking tank with happy little fishies!

 

[divegirl]

Good on you! Any questions just ask

 

[Assaye]

Hi, I think you'll find that 'koi' refers to colour of the OP's Angel.

You are now in what we call a fish in cycle hun! This is going to mean lots of water changes for you for a fair while to come.If you are going to do this seriously you will need a API master test kit so that you can keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrITE levels.
It's a lot of hard work but can be done.

Lisa x

Ah, OK. I'd assumed there was a koi and an angel fish. Even an angel fish shouldn't really be in 100 litres unless is is at least 36" long and 18" high.

 

[nigsy]

Speak to your freind who got you into fish (I assume they have an established aquarium?) and ask them for 1/2 their filter media.
Do not wash it/ do not let it dry out and get it into your filter ASAP, this will speed up any cycle you now find yourself in and will reduce the stress levels on the fish.

Follow the excellent advice on her for fish-in cycles and you will be ok.

By the way as other poeple have said you Ph level is fine. Don't waste money on that..test your Ph level in your tap water you may be suprised!

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with all the members above - first order of business is a very large water change each day until you can make your shopping trip. Take out as much water as you can, leaving barely enough room for the fish. The return water should be treated with a "conditioner".. any product which will remove chlorine and/or chloramines and you should use your hand to roughly match the conditioned return tap water.

As the others have said, the most important things on your shopping trip will be a good liquid-reagent based test kit (most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit) and a bottle of Seachem Prime (as a conditioner if you don't already have a lot.) If you don't have a gravel-cleaning siphon (a clear cylinder on one end of a clear hose, used to dig in the gravel, stirring up debris and then siphoning the debris and water out into a catch bucket (don't forget to grab some of this catchbucket water for your temperature comparison when drawing the new water.))

You don't need any pH adjusters or medicines or bottled cycling products, so don't let anyone sell you other things than we've said. The Fish-In Cycling article that you've read by now discusses directly what you have to do and the members will keep helping.

~~waterdrop~~