Help With First Water Change?

[Heather Millington]

My tank is just up and running, and without my knowledge (until Sunday), I'm cycling with fish! Fish have been in for 5 days. (2 platies, 5 tetras (there were 6), 5 balck tetras and 4 cherry barbs) now realise they weren't the best fish to start with and should have fishless cycled but want to try my best to keep fish as happy as poss, unfotunatley things arent going great.

Ordered a test kit and should be here soon, but was wondering if a water change would help now? Fish have white spot too and not sure how to treat. Read a water change may also help this too. I have ordered Interpret no 6 forumla for white spot but read a topic on here that says when initaially cycling with fish that I shouldnt add the treatment as it will kill off the good bacteria I want and that good water quality is the most important. Have read about adding salt but not sure how. Is ordinary table salt ok? And how much? My tank is 2ft by 1ft by 1.5ft.

Also how much water should I change if I go ahead? 15%-ish? I have sera toxivec, sera aquatan and sera nitrivec. The Sera aquatan is for de-chlorination. Does anyone know if I cant just treat the tap water with this and then add the water to tank when changing it? Dont know if these are just UK products. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Heather

 

[smmetz]

Wow, Im surprised a fish store sold you that many fish at once for your new tank! The places where I don't like to sell more than 3-4 fish at a time without asking questions about where I am putting them. Guess I'm lucky.

I agree that a water change would probalby help. It would take out some of the toxins, but not remove any good bacteria that started, since that grows in the filter mainly. I would also vacume the gravel a bit while you're swapping the water, since extra food and stuff rotting can also add to amonia.

I think that just de-chlorinating the water and making sure it is about the same temp as your tank water will be fine. I am still new also, but most people here seem to suggest daily smaller water changes instead of 1 big water change. So, following that train of though, I would not change more than like 20% of the water at once. Maybe it would be good to do that daily until you get your test kit, then you can do it as needed.

BTW - don't rinse the filter media in tap water, people say that kills a lot of bacteria, if you have any in there yet. Perhaps it would be best to just leave the filter media alone?

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

BTW - don't rinse the filter media in tap water, people say that kills a lot of bacteria, if you have any in there yet. Perhaps it would be best to just leave the filter media alone?

i agree dont touch the filter media leave it alone for now however if you do decide to rinse the media do it in the bucket of tank water

im guessing this is your first water change so make sure the bucket is new and has never been used for anything else. it may help to mark it "fish only"

 

[Heather Millington]

Thanks alot! Yeh it is first water change. Quite dissappointed in fish shop too. Told them I was new at it and she said it would be fine, so now learnt my lesson about finding out for myself! Just want to give the fish the best chance I can. Will get a fish only bucket, good advice. Just keeping fingers crossed test kit comes tomorrow! Whats the best way to get the water up to temp if its not in tank? In bucket next to radiator perhaps? So clueless, feal bad now that the fish are having to go through this, but gona try and do best!

Any advice on white spot?

Thanks again!

Heather

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

go to your local fish shop ask politly for the medication for white spot theres alot of it out there also use the hot tqap to half fill the bucket then add cold untill it feels the right temp also dont forget to add tapsafe

edit: and shout at the clerk who told you it would be ok

 

[Dorkhedeos]

you should put some carbon in your filter to get rid of the "impurities". adding cold water into the tank is fine, as long as it isnt more than 1/3 of the water. when you go out for some test kits, dont buy the ph kit, as this is pretty much useless.

 

[dwarfgourami]

you should put some carbon in your filter to get rid of the "impurities". adding cold water into the tank is fine, as long as it isnt more than 1/3 of the water. when you go out for some test kits, dont buy the ph kit, as this is pretty much useless.

Don't put carbon in while you're medicating.

 

[kev_kb]

dont buy the ph kit, as this is pretty much useless.

Why do you think this?

Heather, I would change 20% daily as your cycling with fish, and feed them very little every few days. Just let the water settle to room temperature and use water conditioner, there is no need to use hot water. When you have a whitespot treatment I would do the water change just before you dose the tank.

It will also help if you up the tank temperature very slowly to 30C, as this will spead up the lifecycle of the whitespot and make them leave the fish and become free swimming, this is the only time the treatment can go to work on them.

I wouldn't bother with the test kits for now, just change water daily until the fish are healthy.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

you should put some carbon in your filter to get rid of the "impurities". adding cold water into the tank is fine, as long as it isnt more than 1/3 of the water. when you go out for some test kits, dont buy the ph kit, as this is pretty much useless.

Don't put carbon in while you're medicating.

oh, didnt see that the tank had medication in it. i just thought that the tank wasnt cycled yet and it was stocked.

Why do you think this?

well, it is pretty useless because theres not much you can do about ph. as long as the ph is stable, the fish will be fine. its nice to have to check once in a while just for fun, but it isnt needed.

 

[kev_kb]

well, it is pretty useless because theres not much you can do about ph. as long as the ph is stable, the fish will be fine. its nice to have to check once in a while just for fun, but it isnt needed.

For a lot of community fish that is indeed true I guess. However some prefer a certain pH and some require it, and you should know what pH your tank is at in order to be able to stock it. Also the pH can be changed if required, for example by using RO water to lower it. There are also methods to harden it and bring the pH up.