Just Got Some Fish And A Few Questions

[cegha]

actually i did look at that topic, and noone is even remotly near me.

What exactly would i need to ask petsmart for, like a piece of there filter or some of there gravel, to get some media?

I don't really know anyone that actually has a fish tank.

Did another partial water change today, it was still near the 1ppm mark.

Guess later tonight, i will test again, and do another change.

On a side note, i stuck my hand in the water and it felt cold, well last night i turned off the lights and all, and when i woke up this morning, the water was nice and warm. Is there any chance that the light bulbs could actually be heating up the heater, making it not turn on, because there was a difference in water temperature from when the lights are on in the day to when there off at night, and i woke up today.

 

[TammyLiz]

Is the light incandescent or flourescent? Flourescent lights can heat the water but usually not noticably. Incandescent lights can make it too hot. It may be that you have your heater on too low and it is getting too cold at night, or that your light is overheating the water during the day, or both.

 

[cegha]

i believe it's incandescent. There are 2 light bulbs, i WANT to say that i remember them being like 20 watts each or so. They arn't heating up the water, because during the day i almost never see the heater on, and the water feels cold, like pool water.

Today when i woke up after the lights being off all night, the water felt nice and warm, kinda like a warm bath water you would bath a baby in.

I would guess that the temperature at night is higher at like 80-83F vs in the day where its probably 70-72F. I was just thinking this might not be very good for the fish. The temperature changes that is.

The only thing i could come up with is that under the hood, it is warm like where the lights are, that air is very warm, and it's causeing the heater to think that the water is actually that warm, and doesn't need to be heated, when in reality the water is cold and does need to be heated.

The heater is set on like 75F or so i believe. I will check it again when i get home.

The sooner i get back to petsmart and get a REAL thermometer, and stuff that happier i will be knowing, what the temperature in that tank actually is.

Edit: The light bulbs look like a small typed lightbulb you might use for a lava lamp or something, but there the same type of bulbs you use for house lights, so i assume thats incandescent.

 

[TammyLiz]

Yes, sounds like incandescent. I guess I misread because I thought you were saying it was warmer during the day, which would make more sense.

Uhm...I guess your theory is as good as any. The thermostat on the heater should be under the surface, not above, so it would be a faulty heater if that is actually what is happening. It should be on more if the air temperature is cooler, not less.

When the water feels overly warm, as long as the fish are not hanging out near the surface as if they can't get enough oxygen, then they are probably OK. If you're convinced the light is causing issues with the heater and you're afraid they are getting too cold, you may want to just leave it off until you get that thermometer and find out.

 

[cegha]

I don't know if its natural behavior or what, but like 3 of them, are seeming to float still in like the same spot near the top of the water, like there in a trance. There just pointing straight foward, not tilted down or up. There just floating there, is this how they sleep or something?

The other one, seems to be in the same trance to but at the bottom of the tank.

My mom said her camera is at work, so i can't take a picture, but i can sorta make one

-- --
..--

The dashes are the fishes, and there kinda in that formation, the one on the bottom in that drawing, isn't really below hes kind of more to the right of the other 2 (assuming your looking at them from there backsides.)

I notice that sometimes, they do tend to point there noses downwards, which i read on here means "climbing nitrite levels".

I notice they mainly do the nose pointing near plants, they seem to angle themselves parallel to plant stems and hang there.

But my main question is, is that how they sleep is by floating in the same spot like next to each other?

Edit: the drawing messed up, so i had to add dots so it would display right, but they don't mean anything.

 

[TammyLiz]

Its not normal for them to be floating still in a trance like that unless it is the middle of the night and the room is dark. Tiger barbs especially would not sleep during the day--they are very active.

If it is because of water quality then water changes are the only thing you can do.

You may want to post in the tropical fish emergency section and see what they'd have to say about it. Wilder would probably let you know what she thinks. However, unless they are showing more symptoms than just being lethargic I would not medicate no matter what she says! Likely she'll just tell you to do water changes unless they begin to show fungus or red streaks or something. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse but a cycling tank is very hard on fish.

 

[cegha]

guess i should have mentioned, this was last night, probably around 11. I had there light turned off, and the light in my room was dimmed and i was playing a game when i was watching them do this.

During the day they seem very active.

 

[TammyLiz]

They must have been asleep. My barbs usually go to sleep around 10:00. Of course we're in a different part of the world so your results may vary. I've heard fish have very accurate biological clocks. They will go to sleep (or try to) even if you leave the light on, for example if you do a late night cleaning.

 

[cegha]

yea, i think they were, its about 11 now, i turned the light off half hour ago, and i can see them starting to calm down and go into that trance like state.

 

[QuotheRaven]

just to show it's normal my tiger barbs do the same thing

 

[cegha]

bad news, just got home, and one is belly up, stuck to the filter thing.

I do at least 1 partial water change per day, and the ammonia is still constantly high.

I REALLY have no idea why the fish suddenly died.

I fear that the others may die and i don't want that.

One is zipping around the tank chasing the other two.

What is my problem, what do i need to do to fix it.

 

[TammyLiz]

bad news, just got home, and one is belly up, stuck to the filter thing.

I do at least 1 partial water change per day, and the ammonia is still constantly high.

I REALLY have no idea why the fish suddenly died.

I fear that the others may die and i don't want that.

One is zipping around the tank chasing the other two.

What is my problem, what do i need to do to fix it.

You said "constantly high", but how high do you mean?

Just the stress of bad water quality is enough of an explanation as to why he would die. When you ask what your problem is its probably just that your tank is not cycled. It could be that the nitrite portion of the cycle is beginning, which would be good because the cycle would be progressing, but bad because it would cause additional stress on already stressed fish.

Have you tried getting some mature media yet? It will really speed up the process which is very important. As I said before, you may even lose all of them. An uncycled tank is very hard on fish, and barbs are not the best at handling it.

I'm sorry. It would have been best if you had found out about cycling ahead of time but you're not alone. A lot of people start off like this, or worse.

 

[cegha]

high would be about .5ppm or 1ppm to around 1.5ppm.

 

[TammyLiz]

It is impressive that you're able to keep it that low.

Here's hoping the others make it.