Newbie With 2 Quick Questions?

[PDB-89]

helllooo wright...

1st ? what temp to set my tank at will be keeping cichlid's like rainbow's and a pleco its set at 27 on the heater and the tank reads 26 27 28???

plus i went to take some water and squeeze the filter sponge from my old man's tank and there was a dead platty stuck to the side of the filter housing! so i fort i better not take anything from the tank just yet what i want to no is how long do i wait?

thanks for reading

Paul.

 

[PDB-89]

anyone?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you're right in a good temperature range for those fish.

If his tank is a mature tank (say, more than 6 months old) and not an extremely small tank then a dead platy that was removed (I assume you removed it) might cause a short, even undetectable, ammonia spike or mini-cycle, depending on the size of the filtration system. So giving it a day or two should be more than enough and if you otherwise consider his tant to be disease free, it should be fine to take up to 1/3 of his biomedia (leaving him 2/3 will ensure his tank will be fine) to seed your new tank either for a fishless cycle or to help you in the effort of a fish-in cycling situation. Make sense?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Johng89]

what are you using to measure temp ?
i prefer a glass thermometer instead of a stick on job as im not sure if i trust the stickers

good site for ref re tank mates and temps etc is aquaticlifedirect.co.uk

i have used this to assist with stocking a few times

re q2
what the fish die of ?

if no other issues with this tank with dying fish......


in theory you could take some of the sponge ( no more than 1/3rd) from your dad and using this in your filter to assist a start as well as some water.if you mixed 50/50 fresh and old water you could wait a day or two and if tests ok add some fish


thats my 2p worth but its up to you what you do re tank and filter

to be safe fishless cycle will always be best


hope this helps

 

[Johng89]

sorry waterdrop didnt realise you had replied as i typed

 

[PDB-89]

thanks for your help fellas! the fish is out but there is 3 more platty's in the tank and they are all hanging around the top of the tank by the filter so im a little worried about useing stuff from his tank as the behavour of the fish is not natural!

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds like you need a good liquid-based test kit and some info on how to interpret what you get!

 

[PDB-89]

hmmmmm i think ill let him sort his tank out and ill wait a little longer befor i put fish in! dont want to risk anything!