Please Help Urgent!

[lozzamum]

I have a 5gal tank with filter and heater, also a small live plant. I have done everything that the pet shop man said but have lost 3 zebra danios and the betta is looking funny hides in plant and his fins are stringy looking, and clumped together.
I did 25% water change as i thought this might help but nothing has changed also he hasnt eaten a thing in 2 days since i got him. He is pale in colour he has black looking gills and spots on his head they were there when i got him not sure if they are normal coloring. please help I am feeling very sad about killing these fish and dont know what else to do.

 

[KittyKat]

Firstly, a 5 gallon aquarium is NOT big enough for zebra danios.

How did you cycle the filter? All the details you can, please. What are the water parameters?

If you do not have liquid water tests, the best thing you can do is a 50% water change with warm, dechlorinated water right now (using a dechlorinator which deals with ammonia, like Stress Coat or Prime), then do another 50% water change every 12 hours from now until you can at least get the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings of your water with a liquid test. It's probably better to NOT feed at all, until you can get the water readings or tell us how you cycled.

 

[lozzamum]

The pet shop man recomended the danios, i feel terrible. I got everything from him and he told me to just set up the tank fill with dechlorinated water the stuff i got gets rid on ammonia also heavy metals and chlorine. put recommended amount of bottled good bacteria and 5g salt per liter in and float fish on top for 15 mins then scoop out and add to water also told me i only need to check ph levels which i did and they were about 7.1 also i set up tank 24hrs before adding fish.. I followed all his directions. The danio died overnight. The water is 25degree celsius (sorry for metric system I am in Oz.) on the themometer but it is set at 26 on the heater. i did a 50% change today. still no change to the poor little guy.

 

[Louiseness]

The pet shop man recomended the danios, i feel terrible. I got everything from him and he told me to just set up the tank fill with dechlorinated water the stuff i got gets rid on ammonia also heavy metals and chlorine. put recommended amount of bottled good bacteria and 5g salt per liter in and float fish on top for 15 mins then scoop out and add to water also told me i only need to check ph levels which i did and they were about 7.1 also i set up tank 24hrs before adding fish.. I followed all his directions. The danio died overnight. The water is 25degree celsius (sorry for metric system I am in Oz.) on the themometer but it is set at 26 on the heater. i did a 50% change today. still no change to the poor little guy.

Leaving the tank for 24 hours does NOTHING. Unfortunately, you're now in a fish-in cycle, which means you need to get yourself some testing kits (preferably liquid dropper type) for ammonia and nitrites and be changing LOTS of water every day.

At least in a tiny tank your water changes will be easy I suppose!

Oh and you really don't need any salt at all.

 

[lozzamum]

I feel so terrible this man said he has owned his shop for over 20 years and told me to begin with what i bought was overkill and that i didnt need to cycle because the good bacteria in the bottle i bought would do the job. why do ppl have so liitle care for poor animals and give incorrect advise especially those in a trusted position such as the owner of a shop.
How do I help this little guy survive now what steps should i take??

 

[sausagewinkle]

Its not your fault lozzamum, your not the first and wont be the last to be wrongly advised from the pet shop

As mentioned above your now in a fish in cycle so you need to test your water regulary and keep your reading of ammonia and nitrite at 0 by performing water changes and more than likely lots of them... you'll need a test kit as also mentioned.

 

[marieukxx]

You need to do a 75% water change. Syphon out the water then put in fresh water that is roughly the same temp as the tank water. You must add declorinator to the water before you put it in the tank.

Once you've done that get yourself an API freshwater master test kit. They are expensive but you'll need it to test your water daily. You can get them for £20 on ebay or about £37 in the shops.

You will need to test your water for amonia and nitrite every day and if the results are NOT 0ppm you will need to do a 75% water change each time. This will reduce the amonia and nitrite. Then immediately test again to see if that got it down to 0ppm and if not water change again. If it has then wait and test again hours later and again in the morning.

You're gonna need to do this until your tank is cycled. Depending on where you live someone here may be able to donate some mature media which will almost instantly cycle your tank for you. Mature media is a piece of sponge with all the bacteria established on it from a persons filter and you would just pop it in your filter. These bottled bacs don't really work. Ask on these forums if anyone can donate you some media.

 

[KittyKat]

20-24 C is best for danios, and lower temperature might actually help now, because the oxygen content of the water will be higher, which may encourage the bacteria to multiply faster.

+1, you're fish-in cycling. Start doing 90% water changes now (with warm, dechlorinated water), every 12 hours, until you can get a liquid test kit set. Stop feeding as well. If possible, toss in some undemanding stem plants, they'll use up some of the ammonia (http/www.tropica.com/plants/difficulty/easy.aspx).

 

[lozzamum]

I just did a 50% water change with dechlorinated water will try and get a test kit tomorrow. I will ask around if anyone has a already cycled tank other wise how do I cycle a tank correctly I did a bit of searching and apparently the water conditioner I have that eliminates chlorine and heavy metals and also amonia will break the cycle each time I add it is this correct? I thank everyone so much for their help it can be hard to find advise that is not contradictory or incorrect so I really do appreciate everyones help here!!!!

 

[KittyKat]

No, that is not correct. Dechlorinators which "deal" with ammonia change NH[sub]3[/sub] into the less harmful NH[sub]4[/sub][sup]+[/sup], both are used by the bacteria.

To do a fish-in cycle which does not harm the fish, you must do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite well below 0.25 (this is a rule of thumb, not perfect accuracy), the cycle will happen regardless of whether those are 0.1 ppm or 1 ppm, so your aim is to not allow the possibility of them harming the fish.

So, until you can test, I do recommend 90% water changes with dechlorinated, temperature matched water every 12 hours.

You can "ease" the cycle by adding undemanding stem plants (which use up ammonia) and tannin rich bogwood (which will dye the water tea coloured and release tannic acid, lowering the pH in the process — more of the ammonia will be NH[sub]4[/sub][sup]+[/sup] at lower pHs).

 

[lozzamum]

did lots of water changes but the poor little guy didnt make it. i will be purchasing a full master test kit today I am worried though that it may be my cheap filter aswell so will check out other filters.
I am going to ask the pet shop if i can have some of their mature media, but how do i know if their tanks are cycled properly as when i mentioned cycling they told me it was unneccesarry? Thanks again everyone for your help!!!!

 

[Symo420]

did lots of water changes but the poor little guy didnt make it. i will be purchasing a full master test kit today I am worried though that it may be my cheap filter aswell so will check out other filters.
I am going to ask the pet shop if i can have some of their mature media, but how do i know if their tanks are cycled properly as when i mentioned cycling they told me it was unneccesarry? Thanks again everyone for your help!!!!

That is tragic, sorry for your loss mate!

 

[KittyKat]

I am worried though that it may be my cheap filter aswell so will check out other filters.

Most filters are fine, regardless of the price.. what is yours?

I am going to ask the pet shop if i can have some of their mature media, but how do i know if their tanks are cycled properly as when i mentioned cycling they told me it was unneccesarry? Thanks again everyone for your help!!!!

<sarcasm>Of course they told you it's unnecessary, they want you to spend lots of money on bacteria in a bottle and replacement fish. How are they ever going to make anything if you do things properly?</sarcasm> Oh wait.. by giving good advice to earn the customers' loyalty.

Basically, any tank which has been set up for over two months is probably cycled or almost there. Filters which have been established for a few years, can usually take a lot of abuse (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, NEVER EVER) like surviving washing in tap water, sitting in an ammonia-free environment, being off for long periods of time.. so they can probably survive the stupidity of the type of LFS employee who doesn't know anything.

If they won't give you media, ask them for to give you the water that they clean the sponges in (with all the muck).