Newb

[silas313]

Okay sorry but this may be long and it may not make alot of sense but suggestions and help and names of medicines and etc would help. Ive been doing research on many diseases and stuff on my fish or what may be in the tank. But a few things have same symptoms as another thing and yet its different medicine for that treatment. So instead of going out and buying 100 bucks of all medcine i can find in the fish world ill ask for help and advice. I ll be honest and tell ya about my tanks not being cycled properly. It ####ed up when i added fish. But i got a 29 gal tank from walmart stardard stuff that comes with it for filter and stuff. Also I put this tank together and added fish (which i think they are.. red zebra cichlid, and 2 yellow labs, and a jeweled cichlid i think. I dunno names for them i think its african. Well then later i put in 3 more fish (i dunno the names of them but few pics ive seen and names people called em are a blue Mbuna strips down side head towards tail with it on top fin, also got black something some wat same but very dark, and i think i got another small red zebra. well i added those after waiting some time. Then recently i added 1 more fish i thought it was a kyni or something its yellow black strip kinda fish like a bee . Its small too and two frogs. Well i added them all in some weeks. Also i dont have test strips and i had to pay big fine so i havnt had money to buy test strips. So i dunno the water numbers. Anyways Heres my problem. i did research on why there acting weird. I never seen this, so i dunno. But anyways i ve been watching my fish and after i added the last fish which is the yellow bee fish think its kanyi or something is when the symptoms i seen kicked in but i dunno. I dont truly watch the tank all day and night. But anyways i thought i might have ich... because the it said that they rub on stuff like decos, fake plants, and walls, and also has white spots! Well my fish does everything except the white spots.. And i turned up heat to 78 to try to get the spots to pop up quicker if it was ich like ive read but i still see nothing for spots. So therefor i dunno if its itch but also the fish do seem to go towards the filter and stay under it latly which is unusual for them. So then i also looked around for this "flashing" i seen in the tank as well and it said that it could be parasites of some sort.. now i dunno wat it is nor do i know where to look for. Because ich didnt say that they hit the wall and jump to top of the tank like there crazy and also there breathing heavy. So i didnt wanna get ich medicine and also some sort of medicine for flashing and do it at once.. because i dunno wat it is and i dont wanna try alot of meds in which everything could just be 1 thing.. but also i seen where it could be normal of the flashing and the rubbing and hitting the walls and staying under the filter was said that it was normal from some other people saying it was aggresion towards other fish showing there territories. But anyways heres diff i see in fish. They use to sit at bottom and be normal and bright. And they did chase once in while. Now there alot of times at top like oxygen is out and there at top chillin alot. And some fish go and hide under filter all day and nite which is totally diff. And also the flashing like a spaz and rubbing on decos and hitting wall with head and jumpin to top.. SO all those things are symptoms but no white spots... so any help would be great ty and sorry for the big paragraph iam new

 

[Cooper2085]

Sorry mate i cant read that, please split it up a bit and make it easier to read >.>

 

[Ace Of Spades]

red zebra cichlid, and 2 yellow labs, and a jeweled cichlid + 3 fish + 2 other african cichlids from what I could read, IM not a expert but arnt Jewel Cichlid EXTREMELY aggressive, and isnt your tank a bit too small and im guessing under filtered for cichlids, they grow quite big, also It could be due to poor water quality. You really cant spare £10 on a water testing kit?

Meh I dno

 

[waterdrop]

Silas,

If you don't have a test kit and haven't researched the filter topic then its a pretty safe bet that your fish are "gasping for breath" so to speak up there under the filter edge. I suspect the experts (who will be along in a bit probably!) will say you need to take emergency action.

If I'm right and your water is toxic (with ammonia, nitrites and nitrates) then that is what you need to worry about first. You may also need to worry about disease and meds but others will have to help you there. I think they will tell you (and you need to go ahead and do if you don't hear otherwise) you need to do a 50% water change right away.

A water change means dechlorinating the tap water and matching the water temperature up (within a degree or two especially in your case with weakened fish) of the water that goes back in the tank to replace the half you have taken out. Changing all the water might cause too much of a pH shock, but other than that, water changes are your friend.

The experienced folks will then probably tell you to do 20% or 25% or 50% water changes on a daily or even twice a day basis. Pay attention to what they say.

You probably have too many fish and fish that grow too large for your tank size. You definately are going to have to learn about filter size, maintenance, and cycling whether or not these fish make it through alive.

Good Luck!

 

[Ace Of Spades]

red zebra cichlid, and 2 yellow labs, and a jeweled cichlid + 3 fish + 2 other african cichlids from what I could read, IM not a expert but arnt Jewel Cichlid EXTREMELY aggressive, and isnt your tank a bit too small and im guessing under filtered for cichlids, they grow quite big, also It could be due to poor water quality. You really cant spare £10 on a water testing kit?

Meh I dno

Erm and I wouldnt go out and buy random fish you dont even know the name of, have you even cycled your tank? Im not being nasty just asking, as waterdrop said the Pro's will be along soon and they will help you alot more...

 

[silas313]

Now this is long but its all my info I am posting then reading your guyest replys afterwards. But for help here is my info on everything. Sorry for it being SO big.

Tank- 29 gal standard walmart tank, heater(100watt cheap that keeps shutting off cause probably old)and a HOB aquatech filter. temp is 72-74 F it lowered over nite cause heater stop workin for while.

Deco's 4 fake plants, 2 tall trees, and log with few plants on it , and small building. Rocks are normal gravel rocks from store.

Here are few items i got today for hell of it. Any suggestions and weather or not there good as API kind is good help too i know its diff brand so is it same quality as in working? And suggestons help on filters heaters airstone(even tho i cant find 1 at store) , or lighting will help. But items i got are - Tetra whisper heater - 30-60 gal why is it able to go underwater? cant the top function twist thingy get wet inside and stop working?
- Air pump with hoses to go under water(is this good to make oxygen in water? i was just planning on setting em on side of tank to make bubbles. (30-60 gal)

Next are meds or chemicals are these all good and do they work as good as API kind? and when should i added em and how.
- Jungle brand test kit for PH, nitrates, nitrites, hardness, and alkality (quick drips on these in tube)
- Jungle brand test kit for amonia same thing quick drip.

I bought these just to have and are they good and work? And i use em as fish are in tank or before i put em in while iam cycling my new tank.
- Tetra algae control
- Tetra aqua - aqua safe does this take chlorene out of tap water? or no
-Tetra easy balance
- API stress coat - does this take chlorene out of tap water?
- Melafix drip-
- AP crystal clear
- Spyon hose i read how to use it. But adding water back into tank it says it helps take out chloren is that true or should i just keep using 5 gal bucket and use some sort of chemical to take chloren out with .

Now iam using jungle brand test drip strips.

These strips are gay and says go by color and get as close as you can but i dont get how to use em so can you explain.

For my amonia kit it says ... 0 ideal .5 stress .25 safe 3.0 harmful 6.0 pretty bad
well harmful is color light green and 6.0 was dark green but it was sorta in middle so how i get to figure number out? I thought there be numbers lol but anyways how i use em ) my color was in middle of bad and harmful.

Now for my jungle kit of everything else it same way just colors but it dont say darker the color worst or better or the lighter the color is the higher or lower it is... is just says compare and my colors are diff from the ones on answer sheet. anyways here lil description and u help tell me results number wise or watever .

Answer color on tube to compare too Says this pmm thing Color i got on that square
Pink Nitrite below 40pmm Big Red
Light tan Nitrates .5pmm or below Little Tan diff tan tho...
Darker brown Hardness 50 - 15pmm More stand out bright B but still dark brown
Light orange- Alkalinity 120pmm-300pmm dark green/bluish
dark bright orange - PH 6.8 7.2 Bright red big red

How the hell i compare colors? To the chart and the pmm it only gives me those options. iam confused;(

Luckly i get some responses from you guys on info on this and compare it to wat is happening

Also for my fish i have 2 red zebra 1 1'' and one 2'' 2 yellow labs 2'' each 1.5 '' jewled
2 small 1'' fish undefined i 1 is black with stripes from head to tail and other is bluish with stripes like a bee (vertical) and redish fins and i also got yellow bee lookin black strip guy think its keyni of some sort or something and i also seen mmbuna someone told me on those two others.

 

[Cooper2085]

Your tank isnt even nearly cycled from the look of it. It would be best to give the fish away while you let the tank cycle.

Do you have a pic of the tank?

 

[Faythee]

The colors on the strips are way off because your water is BAD. I am surprised no fish have died yet.

Do a 50% water change, use the siphon. To refill tank put tap water in bucket and add the Stress Coat To remove chlorine, etc. Do not add any of those other chemicals. I think you can add a double dose of the stress coat. Look on back and it will tell you how much to add to heal fins.

Do not feed the fish. This will make matters worse. They can go days without food. After doing this test the water again and come back and let us know the results.

Also, a good idea would be to put a test strip in your tap water and see if anything is off there.

Look up the fish you have and see what PH and TEMP they prefer.

DO NOT add anymore fish. Actually you need to return some and maybe all of them if you can't get the water right rather quickly !

 

[Davo86]

Now this is long but its all my info I am posting then reading your guyest replys afterwards. But for help here is my info on everything. Sorry for it being SO big.

Tank- 29 gal standard walmart tank, heater(100watt cheap that keeps shutting off cause probably old)and a HOB aquatech filter. temp is 72-74 F it lowered over nite cause heater stop workin for while.

Ok unfortunately the first problem that you have is the tank size. The fish that you keep are african cichlids and you have two types mbuna and juwels, which can't go together, regardless of that though with the amount of fish you have you really need a 4 foot tank of around 70G. Your temp is also too low

Here are few items i got today for hell of it. Any suggestions and weather or not there good as API kind is good help too i know its diff brand so is it same quality as in working? And suggestons help on filters heaters airstone(even tho i cant find 1 at store) , or lighting will help. But items i got are - Tetra whisper heater - 30-60 gal why is it able to go underwater? cant the top function twist thingy get wet inside and stop working?

Your heater should be fully submerged or it will likely crack

- Air pump with hoses to go under water(is this good to make oxygen in water? i was just planning on setting em on side of tank to make bubbles. (30-60 gal)

This is mainly for decoration, a filter outlet above the waterline will produce far more o2



I bought these just to have and are they good and work? And i use em as fish are in tank or before i put em in while iam cycling my new tank.
- Tetra algae control - not something i'd recommend, but if you have an algae issue in the future it may help
- Tetra aqua - aqua safe does this take chlorene out of tap water? or no This is the same as the stress coat below
-Tetra easy balance This is a product that supposedly helps to prevent high levels of nitrates, it is something that i have used in the past and i recommend using this alongside your water changes
- API stress coat - does this take chlorene out of tap water? Yes but same as aqua safe
- Melafix drip- This is a treatment for wounds and cuts, not needed unless they are injured
- AP crystal clear presume this is just to keep water clear, not needed imo
- Spyon hose i read how to use it. But adding water back into tank it says it helps take out chloren is that true or should i just keep using 5 gal bucket and use some sort of chemical to take chloren out with . This will clean through you gravel clean, when done you can easily top up with dechlorinated water

For my amonia kit it says ... 0 ideal .5 stress .25 safe 3.0 harmful 6.0 pretty bad
well harmful is color light green and 6.0 was dark green but it was sorta in middle so how i get to figure number out? I thought there be numbers lol but anyways how i use em ) my color was in middle of bad and harmful.
Ok basicly if the ammonia isn't 0 that is very bad, any ammonia is harmful to fish

Now for my jungle kit of everything else it same way just colors but it dont say darker the color worst or better or the lighter the color is the higher or lower it is... is just says compare and my colors are diff from the ones on answer sheet. anyways here lil description and u help tell me results number wise or watever .

For now just concentrate on the nitrite reading as this is also toxic, I'm not sure on what the colour should be as this varies from kit to kit but the level should also be 0

Luckly i get some responses from you guys on info on this and compare it to wat is happening

Also for my fish i have 2 red zebra 1 1'' and one 2'' 2 yellow labs 2'' each 1.5 '' jewled
2 small 1'' fish undefined i 1 is black with stripes from head to tail and other is bluish with stripes like a bee (vertical) and redish fins and i also got yellow bee lookin black strip guy think its keyni of some sort or something and i also seen mmbuna someone told me on those two others.
As said above these fish need a bigger home, but more importantly they need a cycled tank and your isn't, The fish need to be rehomed or else they are really going to suffer, with high ammonia and nitrite levels they could quite easily all die and that wouldn't be fair on the fish, untill they can be rehomed you will need to undertake daily water changes to keep the levels as low as possible

 

[Ace Of Spades]

The Minimum Malawai Cichlid tank is 55 gallon I think and you have ALOT of fis, those 1" fish may be small now but they will grow big and will out grow your tank very quickly

 

[silas313]

Yeah I know i messed up. Waiting for store to get a 55 or 29 in to seperate em . Iam tring to get my fish heathy before i cycle the tank id be getting so they wont die and just to get them prepare. any way to tell me how to read my stripes? cause color is weird compare to answer..ill be doing water change tho and stress coat and raising temp up.

 

[Faythee]

A liquid test kit will work better for more accurate readings.

Get the 55 gal. You will be happier with that. Research the fish. If you need to identify them upload some pics and others will help you out. I am not positive but I don't think the frogs belong at all. You could keep them in this smaller tank.

There is somthing called Bio-Spira that helps cycle tanks. Ask the store if they have it. It is kept refridgerated. It is pricey though. The other bottled products for cycling do not work that well.

 

[silas313]

Is this Ammonia good to do the cycling. I did the "shake and bubble=no* But also i dunno the incrediates weather or not its good to use. Says. Clear ammonia as title its from walmart. Ot says incredients ammonium hydroxide and surfactant. can i use this for cycling new tank?

 

[silas313]

and is stress coat good to declorize my water all opionions opon and wanted.. and tell me yes and no on wat i ask ty

 

[OldMan47]

Do not add any ammonia to a tank with fish in it unless you are holding the net in your hand to remove all the fish that it kills instantly.

Ammonia is the stuff you are trying to get rid of by cycling a tank. the fish produce ammonia by eating the food they get and then eliminating their wastes. That is why the advice you got to hold back on feeding somewhat but don't let the fish starve. Ammonia is useful in an empty tank to simulate having fish in there, the bacteria won't know the difference.
Where you are right now means big and frequent water changes just to try to keep some of your fish alive. When you get a good technique going on water testing you may be able to do only daily water changes. Until you start reading safe levels I would do at least twice daily water changes of at least 25% of the water. The test kit will be easier to read when you are closer to reasonable levels of pollutants in the water. After you get that going, you can start to look around for a way to rehome some of the surplus fish. As others have said, you are not just overstocked but have incompatible fish.
A sumersible heater should be under the water, adjusting thingy and all. It will probably have a water line on the outer tube that should always be below the water line, even during water changes unless you unplug it.
I have used the Jungle Start Right product. It is a decent dechlorinator. Right now I am using the seachem Prime because although its slightly more expensive per bottle, it treats many times more water so its much cheaper to use. You use drops of it instead of capfuls for small quantities of water like 10 gallons. It takes a capful to treat 50 gallons instead. For me, 50 gallons is not an unusually large amount for a normal Saturday but I have more than one tank.