If Anyone's Out There Please Read ASAP

[Sirius]

Heres the situation :

I recently moved into a house and I inherited 2 tanks. In the 55 gallon is an Oscar. In the 30 gallon are 3 Silver Dollars. The oscar tank I havent had problems with water conditions (0 Amm, 0 Nitr, 6.6 - 7.2 PH). With the other I have had up and down problems with Ammonia and Nitrite. I have tried to control it with Ammo-Lock (detoxifies Ammonia) and it has worked ok.

Recently I have not been able to lower the ammonia. Today I think I found the source. As I was vacuuming the gravel, I uncovered a massive ammount of "crap" underneath a plant. I pulled out the plant and swept. It seemed to be the source because my water really started to stink after I got it out.

I've tested the water now (after 4 hours) and the nitrites are back to 0 and the Ammonia is coming down. However one of the fish is in trouble. My smallest Silver Dollar was flailing around and I thought he was about to die. I figured the change in water was too much for him in 1 day.

For evasive actions I siphoned water out of my Oscar's tank into a bucket and put him in it, figuring he looked like he was definitely going to die where he was. At first I thought I killed him but he seems to have rebounded and is at least calmer in the bucket. (I considered putting him in there with the Oscar but i thought he may become a snack as he is rather small)

(I should add that the small one has been acting weird for the last 2 days, spending time hanging out in a skull I have at the bottom, a behavior I hadn't seen him do before.)

So ....

1. Should I not have done this?
2. If I should have how long should I keep him in there?
3. Should I take the other 2 out and put them in the bucket for now, just to be safe?

Thank you, any help is appreciated, As you can see I don't know what I'm doing yet.

 

[Sirius]

I just went to check on them and one of the bigger dollars was now flailing. I took all 3 out of the tank and put them in the bucket.

 

[missyintx_99]

Its sounds to me like your doing the right things.
What I would do now, if it was me
I would take some of the water out of the 30 and replace it with the water you took out of the Oscars tank. Go ahead and put the fish back in and just keep an eye on things. Let us know how its going.

 

[missyintx_99]

Can you transfer more water out of the Oscars tank into the 30?
That might be what you need to do before you put the other fish back in the 30

 

[Sirius]

I will do that. Thanks!

I also have an old ten gallon tank here, I am going to siphon some of oscars water into it so I can at least have a filtered "hospital" if they don't take to going back in the tank immediately.

 

[missyintx_99]

Oh! Thats great! I would definately put them in the 10 gallon with the Oscars water. Don't forget to stick an airstone in there.
Let me know how its going ok?

 

[Sirius]

Just an update, they are all in the bucket and Im about to put them into the hospital. They look much better in the bucket so far. They are all calm and moving. Much preferrable to spasms.

What do you think I did? Maybe when I was vacuuming I released a pocket of gas or something? If so do you think the tank will filter itslef out in a few days?

 

[smb]

Glad to hear they are doing better. I've never heard of it happening with plants and since I can't ever keep plants I don't know much about them but the way you described it, it sounds like it could have been.

If you've done a small wc then I think you should be ok.

 

[Sirius]

I don't think it was the plant per se, I think it was my inferior cleaning. I had been doing gravel vacuums once a week but I didnt take the plants out (they're plastic). Today I pulled noticed this stuff under the plant so I pulled out the plant to inspect and voila, lots of stink came rushing to the top. It was unbelievable, within 3 minutes it went from no or nearly no smell to well.... you can imagine. I am going to do a 25% wc in their tank.

They are all in the "hospital" tank now and seem much better. I will be keeping an eye on them for a while tonight.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[smb]

Do you use sand as a substrate?

 

[Sirius]

Honestly I am not sure. I don't think so. At the risk of sounding real dumb, how can I tell?

 

[smb]

Honestly  I am not sure.  I don't think so.  At the risk of sounding real dumb, how can I tell?

Don't feel dumb about not knowing or asking.

There's gravel which is rocks and then sand just like sand outside.

 

[Sirius]

funny, that's what I would have guessed.

Its gravel, not sand.

 

[smb]

Oh ok, I was thinking if it was sand that it might have had an anaerobic pocket in it or something.

 

[Sirius]

It appears that the problem is Hydrogen Sulfite (it stinks like rotten eggs). Does anyone know the best way to deal with this? I have already done a 25% wc but i am wondering if I need to do more.