Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
tbh if your nitrite is really at 3 (don't trust the test strips so i doubt thats the case) then the fish would be dying left right and centre regardless of the water changes, it could just be a coincidence.
the maximum you should let ammonia and nitrite get to is 0.25ppm so do a big water change,m then wait 1 hr and re-test the water, if it's still above this level the do another big water change, wait and hr and re-test and keep doing this until you get below 0.25ppm...... you'll need to do this every single day. If you had less fish you'd just have to do less water changes but you'd still need to do some.
do you think you'd be able to return any of the fish at some point, maybe not right away but a few weeks down the line?
because the tank you have just isn't big enough for all of them, what I would do is this
- get the largest tank you can find space for and afford and the filter and heater to go with it, don't worry over lighting for now but if you can get it then do.
- transfer your filter to the new tank but get everything else new if you can afford it (substrate, decor etc), fill it up with brand new dechlorinated water, wait for it to come up to temperature and then move the fish across to it.
- go to the fish shop and ask your cousin for one of the sponges from the fish shop's filters, get them to bag this up like they would a fish (so with water in) and take it home, put it into the filter for the larger tank immediately.
- from this point the cycle should either complete instantly or will complete within a few days to a week (you're looking at 4-6 weeks without it), keeping monitoring the water and doing water changes if needs be. get a good white spot medication and treat the new tank with it, if you do a water change then top up the medication for the water you removed.
this way, fingers crossed in a week or so you'll be out of the woods to some extent, with the filter cycled and ich cleared up you shouldn't have any more significant problems. You will still need to consider your stocking as a lot of the fish you have need to be in groups of their own kind or in specific water conditions which conflict with each other, but this is secondary to the ich and to the cycle so just deal with the worst problems now and you can sort the rest later.
on the 10 gal tank you should then throw away the substrate, clean out all the decor, tank, filter etc in a weak bleach solution (the cheap thin bleach you get mixed up 1 part bleach to 20 parts water) then rinse the hell out of it. After that allow it all to dry out completely and then do the same thing again. This will ensure you kill off any ich parasites lurking in the tank and you'll make it safe to use again.
You can then set it up and either do a fishless cycle or take some media from the larger tank ocne it is cycled, you can then use it to seperate the fish which need different water conditions so that they can each have a safe and happy environment.
Hope that helps!
the maximum you should let ammonia and nitrite get to is 0.25ppm so do a big water change,m then wait 1 hr and re-test the water, if it's still above this level the do another big water change, wait and hr and re-test and keep doing this until you get below 0.25ppm...... you'll need to do this every single day. If you had less fish you'd just have to do less water changes but you'd still need to do some.
do you think you'd be able to return any of the fish at some point, maybe not right away but a few weeks down the line?
because the tank you have just isn't big enough for all of them, what I would do is this
- get the largest tank you can find space for and afford and the filter and heater to go with it, don't worry over lighting for now but if you can get it then do.
- transfer your filter to the new tank but get everything else new if you can afford it (substrate, decor etc), fill it up with brand new dechlorinated water, wait for it to come up to temperature and then move the fish across to it.
- go to the fish shop and ask your cousin for one of the sponges from the fish shop's filters, get them to bag this up like they would a fish (so with water in) and take it home, put it into the filter for the larger tank immediately.
- from this point the cycle should either complete instantly or will complete within a few days to a week (you're looking at 4-6 weeks without it), keeping monitoring the water and doing water changes if needs be. get a good white spot medication and treat the new tank with it, if you do a water change then top up the medication for the water you removed.
this way, fingers crossed in a week or so you'll be out of the woods to some extent, with the filter cycled and ich cleared up you shouldn't have any more significant problems. You will still need to consider your stocking as a lot of the fish you have need to be in groups of their own kind or in specific water conditions which conflict with each other, but this is secondary to the ich and to the cycle so just deal with the worst problems now and you can sort the rest later.
on the 10 gal tank you should then throw away the substrate, clean out all the decor, tank, filter etc in a weak bleach solution (the cheap thin bleach you get mixed up 1 part bleach to 20 parts water) then rinse the hell out of it. After that allow it all to dry out completely and then do the same thing again. This will ensure you kill off any ich parasites lurking in the tank and you'll make it safe to use again.
You can then set it up and either do a fishless cycle or take some media from the larger tank ocne it is cycled, you can then use it to seperate the fish which need different water conditions so that they can each have a safe and happy environment.
Hope that helps!
