New here and new to fish: Any ideas?

[JMuth]

So I’m pretty new to this whole fish keeping thing, and I’m trying to do my best for my little guys. I rescued these from a friend who had me feeding them while he traveled. Once he got back he said he didn’t really want them any more so I could keep them or he would use them as fish bait. Obviously, I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I’ve kept them as best I can using what he gave me and what I’ve bought.

A little info on their tank:
* 5 gal. Basic tank with LED’s in the lid
* Whisper 2-10i filter
* A whisper 3 watt air pump w/ distributor and check valve. Currently only used for a treasure chest, but I want to do a bubble wall eventually.
* Gravel for substrate
* Plastic plants for Decor and Hiding spots
* Fake decor items for hiding spots.

Some info on the tank mates:
* 5-6 Marimo Balls
* 3 ghost shrimp
* 1 Mystery Snail
* 3 Pink GloFish
* 1 medium blue fish (not sure of breed, see pictures)
* 1 medium orange fish (Goldfish?)

Some info on their food:
* Defrosted Peas fed every day or two. They are peeled and chopped so they can swallow them
* Omega Freeze Dried Blood Worms (An occasional treat or used instead of regular food for variety)
* Wardley’s Small Floating Goldfish Pellets (I try to soak them before feeding so they are easier to digest)
* TetraMin Tropical Flakes (crushed with fingers before fed, seem to be loved by all especially the glow fish)

How I care for them:
* Small feedings 2-3 times a day
* LED’s on from when I wake up to whenever I sleep
* Every Friday I vacuum half of the gravel (removing about 50% of the water) and replace the water that was removed
* I treat all tap water with 8 drops of Tetra AquaSafe per gallon before adding
* Every week or two replace the carbon inside of the filter
* API Master Water Test every Friday.

Water Parameters:

Date	Type	Temp	PH	Ammonia	Nitrites	Nitrates
7-26-19	Aquarium	80F	7.8	.25ppm	.5ppm	40-80ppm
7-26-19	Tap Water	N/A	7.2	.50ppm	0ppm	0ppm

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

I know the nitrite and nitrates aren’t at the optimal levels but I’m not sure how far I should go to try and bring those down.

I just got the ghost shrimp, the snail, and the 2 additional GlowFish today. I had been thinking about the shrimp and snail for a while to help with aquarium cleanliness, but the two GlowFish were got to be friends to the one remaining GloFish after todays tragedy. Everybody seemed to be doing fine today, I did my gravel vacuum on half the tank ( pushed everything to the other side and then repositioned everything afterwards) and then added back about 2 gallons of water. I didn’t check temperature on the new water and that could be part of the problem. After all was said and done with cleaning I fed the fish as a “Sorry I just messed up your whole world” gift. A few minutes later one of the GlowFish was upside down on the surface occasionally twitching and swimming just to return to the top. I really hoped it would recover, but sadly I ended up having to bury it today . I think some real plants would also be a good addition to this tank in place of the plastic ones.

Two weeks ago I also did a pretty aggressive cleaning because the water looked terrible and the fish were losing their vibrancy. This was while I was still just pet sitting and I don’t think anything had been cleaned in that tank for quite some time. I replaced the filter, scrubbed the filter body, scrubbed all decor and aquarium walls, vacuumed all the gravel and did about a 75% water change. Everybody did fine afterwards, I just wonder if I might have screwed up the nitrogen cycle.

Any who, I though I would introduce myself and my little guys and see what tips y’all have for me.

An overview:

And the orange one:

And lastly the blue one:

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

blue fish is a coral blue dwarf gourami, probably a female.
orange fish is a common goldfish.

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Don't add any more fish, shrimp or snails until the water is good.

You want 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and as little nitrate as possible (less than 20ppm). Any ammonia or nitrite will cause problems to fish and ammonia is much more toxic when the pH s above 7.0.

The ammonia in the tap water is probably from chloramine in your water supply. You can check this by contacting your water supply company and asking them if they add chlorine or chloramine. Chloramine is a mixture of chlorine and ammonia, and it kills stuff in water for longer than chlorine does.

You need to do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, and the nitrate is less than 20ppm.

Reduce your feeding to once a day or once every couple of days until the filter has recovered and the ammonia and nitrite levels remain on 0.

-----------------------
How did you clean the filter?

 

[Naughts]

Hi and welcome.
In addition to Colin's advice, I strongly recommend that you find the goldfish a new home. Sorry, a five gallon tank is not suitable for it, a pond would be far better.

 

[Essjay]

So you have some information on the fish you have:

Dwarf gourami http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trichogaster-lalius/
Goldfish https://www.fishforums.net/threads/goldfish-for-beginners.417799/

The glofish could be one of several species. I can see a tail in a couple of your photos, and it looks most like a glo zebra danio. Photos of the glofish will confirm what they are. If they are glo zebra danios - http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/danio-rerio/

Those links will tell you about the needs of the fish. You may need to convert some figures into units you are familiar with, and there is a calculator in the drop down menu under How To Tips at the top of the page.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Is it just me, or is that tank over stocked? Glowfish should be kept in groups of 6 or more. Here is a good website for Glowfish care. https://www.themandaringarden.com/glofish-care-guide.html

(Please go vote for the July POTM contest!)

 

[JMuth]

Colin:
Will these large water changes be too stressful? Should I remove the fish from the tank, or keep them in while cleaning gravel?
Is there anything special I need to do for chloramine in the water, or is my Tetra AquaSafe enough?

To clean the filter I used my shower head as a water source and i scrubbed it with a toothbrush.

Hi and welcome.
In addition to Colin's advice, I strongly recommend that you find the goldfish a new home. Sorry, a five gallon tank is not suitable for it, a pond would be far better.

I’ll be honest and just say that I really like him, so I would be reluctant to rehome hime. If its in the best interest of the fish, then I guess I would. I don’t know of anyone that keeps an aquarium pond anywhere near me (middle of nowhere in Texas), and I assume I should never release them into the wild or non maintained ponds.

Thanks essjay, I really apriciate that info! Here’s a picture of the GloFish, but it looks just like the ones on the website you sent me.

PheonixKingZ:
I would definitely agree that I feel like the tank is a little crowded, but I haven’t had a chance to buy a new one yet. Would a 20 gallon be sufficient for all these guys (plus the new GloFish since they are schoolers) or should I go big and get a fifty?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I’m not @Colin_T, but your AquaSafe is perfectly fine your the job! (I use the same stuff, and it’s worked for me! )

Yes, your GlowFish does look like a GlowFish Danio. Do the others look the same?

 

[JMuth]

Yes, your GlowFish does look like a GlowFish Danio. Do the others look the same?

Yes I got the other ones specifically because they looked the same as him, except they are slightly smaller. He was just so sad after his buddy died yesterday. Normally, they would be chasing each other around the tank and playing, but he was just being docile on the gravel after the other one died.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

That’s sad, well I’m sorry for your loss....

 

[Essjay]

I'm afraid you tank is overstocked. Don't believe PhoenixKingZ's link on glofish as zebra danios, both normal and glofish, need a much longer tank than the link says. They also need to be in a group of at least 6, but not in a 5 gallon tank.
Zebra danios are very fast swimming fish, and this behaviour stressed slow swimming fish like gouramis. The two should not really be kept together.


The fish should be left in the tank during a water change. Just keep an eye out for where they are. Moving them can damage them and is more stressful then leaving them in the tank.

Filter media (the stuff inside the filter) should not be washed in tap water. it should be washed in the old water that you take out during a water change. The water company adds chlorine/chloramine to mains water to kill bacteria and it will kill the filter bacteria in the media. Wasing the casing in tap water is fine, just not the media.

Tetra Aquasafe removes chlorine and metals, which is waht you need, but it also contains "a natural plant extract to protect fish gills and mucus membranes" This sounds suspiciously like aloe vera which is now known to be bad for fish as it coats their gills. Once you have finished the bottle, replace it with something like API Tap Water Conditioner which contains fewer chemicals. Everything we add to a tank end up inside the fish so the less we add the better.

 

[JMuth]

Thanks for all that info essjay. I do plan on getting a bigger tank in the future, I’m just not sure what size. I only washed everything in the filter the one time where it got really bad ( because their previous owner had not cleaned anything including water changes for over a month). Most recently all I did was empty the charcoal from the sac (I don’t know what else to call it) and added new charcoal in.
I will definitely look into other options for water conditioner.

On the Zebra Danios and gourami living together; I haven’t seen any issues but I don’t know what to look for. They don’t really seem to pay attention to each other honestly. The goldfish and the gourami hang out and the zebra danios hang out, but they never seem to really intermingle. I haven’t noticed the blue fish acting stressed, he swims around, is moderately active, has a good appetite, etc.

 

[FishGuest5123]

These are my goldfish. Less than 2 years ago my largest was about the size of yours. It is now over 10” and I had to build a pond. The other 2 are over 8” now and only 17 months. Please find a pond for the goldfish.

 

[Naughts]

Colin:
Will these large water changes be too stressful? Should I remove the fish from the tank, or keep them in while cleaning gravel?
Is there anything special I need to do for chloramine in the water, or is my Tetra AquaSafe enough?

To clean the filter I used my shower head as a water source and i scrubbed it with a toothbrush.



I’ll be honest and just say that I really like him, so I would be reluctant to rehome hime. If its in the best interest of the fish, then I guess I would. I don’t know of anyone that keeps an aquarium pond anywhere near me (middle of nowhere in Texas), and I assume I should never release them into the wild or non maintained ponds.

Thanks essjay, I really apriciate that info! Here’s a picture of the GloFish, but it looks just like the ones on the website you sent me.
View attachment 92745

PheonixKingZ:
I would definitely agree that I feel like the tank is a little crowded, but I haven’t had a chance to buy a new one yet. Would a 20 gallon be sufficient for all these guys (plus the new GloFish since they are schoolers) or should I go big and get a fifty?

If you are getting a big tank the goldfish will be "rehomed". I can see why you're attached, he's lovely.

 

[JMuth]

If the goldfish keeps growing, I’ll keep his tanks growing (even if I have to move him to a pond).

I’m trying to follow Colins advice:

You need to do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, and the nitrate is less than 20ppm.

Reduce your feeding to once a day or once every couple of days until the filter has recovered and the ammonia and nitrite levels remain on 0.

I went ahead and did a little over a 50% water change this morning with vacuuming the other half of the gravel (I vacuumed the other half yesterday). I took pictures of how I do the whole process to see if there’s anything I can tweak to make it better for the fish.

First I moved all decoration to the other side of the tank just by picking up or netting everything from the submarine to the Marimos.

Then I start the gravel siphon and just stick it into the rocks till the vacuum hits the bottom of the tank then I lift and let all the gravel fall out of the vacuum. I repeat this on that half of the tank until my bucket is full. I could really hold my camera while vacuuming but here is the full bucket so you can see what I’m pulling out.

After it settled, this is what I had:

Then I reposition everything by hand, and bury the bottoms of the fake plants. This is what It looks like after all that is done.

Then I used ice too cool my tap water down to 81F (tank is 80F) and treated it with AquaSafe. Then I siphoned it into the tank. I put the hose to feed into the filters output just so it would mix and distribute in the tank better to make the water more uniform.

Everyone seemed happy before I left for work, so I’m hoping doing this will help. I’ll test the water when I get home and post the results.

 

[Naughts]

It's not "if" he keeps growing. If he's healthy he'll grow. If his tank is too small you may not see the growth but his internal organs keep growing. So he needs a lot more room, sooner not later.