Regenerating A Old, Dying Fish Tank.

[ChrisChrisChris]

Hi guys,

I used to have fish, got bored and my dad took over and then gave up and the fish tank has remained half full with filthy water and a fluval pump which hasn't been cleaned for 100years which contains a sponge, charcol and these white hulahoop type things if i recall correctly. 3 Fish currently survive in there, 2 guppys and 1 plec/alge eating thing which has grown to around 8".


I turned off the fluval external filter(which hasn't been changed for years!), siponed out all of the dirt from the top of the gravel and changed the vast majority of the water, replacing it with water straight from my bathroom tap.
I failed to remember that it must be dechlorinated and do not currently have any water test kits yet. The filter seems to have cleared the water up quite nicely but having read this forum i'm woried about a few things.


Problem list for my 48" wide, 13" height(where the water goes up to anyhow) and 14" Depth fish tank containing driftwood, multicoloured gravel and a few algae stained rocks & fluval 403 external filter.
1) Limescale build up on glass.
2) 2 female guppies(Fins seem to be frayed/eaten?)
3) 1 Plec(Around 8") with blotchy white gluey/patchy stuff on his body.
4) Filter hasn't been cleaned for years, should i clean it and buy new charcoal and the other stuff that goes inside it( although I've read about bacteria/cycling so maybe this is a good thing?)
5) May i have killed all the bacteria in my tank by using tap water and cleaning gravel?

Appreciate your guidance as the final goal is to have a bright tank full of pretty plants, good mix of colourful fish (Including guppies, tetras and any others that will create a multi layered happy tank) all on a small budget(so live plants may not be wise? but do plastic ones look real enough??).

Thanks

 

[jmkgreen]

Don't replace the "hulahoop" things - at least not all at once. Rinse in old tank water instead, it'll preserve the good bacteria.

Replacing the tank water with tap water can indeed kill the good bacteria, but hopefully enough will survive. I have done it myself on a few occassions (deliberately) without ill effect.

Getting that test kit should be first priority to confirm whether you have damaged the filter. Also pick up a good book on fish disease or post some pics of you fish for diagnosis - I very rarely see problems so I'm not the one to identify what's wrong precisely.

 

[ChrisChrisChris]

Ill try to get a picture ASAP.

Should i rinse the sponge and get new carbon also?

I really dislike the colour gravel in the tank aswell, i assume i should wait a while before considering replacing it due to bacteria living on it?

Good news is the water has cleared up nicely, i guess my fluval is still doing its job.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Rinse the sponge with tank water, I don't see a problem (some-one will correct me if I'm wrong) in taking out the gravel and replacing it with new (well washed) gravel of your choice. I hope all goes well, your fish will appreciate all the care and attention you put in. Oh and for the water marks, vinegar is worth a try.

 

[drobbyb]

You have to be careful with that tank. I'm sure you've heard about new tank syndrome. What you may not have heard of is old tank syndrome. Basicailly whan a tank gets neglected, the fish become used to the filthy water and bad conditions. If you change the water and clean the tank too quickly, the fish may not make it.

The remedy for this is to clean the tank and change the water gradually, in small incriments. Ten percent waterchanges over the course of 10 days would work.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Good point Drobby

 

[waterdrop]

Chances are that filter is so old and robust with bacteria that a round of tap water won't have much effect on it. I agree however that getting a good test kit is a priority (most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit) so that you can get baseline readings of your tank and tap water stats and post them up here are record them in your aquarium notebook. Then you'll be able to proceed with changes and use tests to confirm that the changes are not causing what we call "mini-cycles" (short periods where the bacteria are under-performing and water must be changed to keep things safe for the fish.)

I'd recommend that you might want to leave the gravel for now (since, yes, it may be contributing some bacterial support and we want to be in a position to test, right?) and enjoy watching it get better and better as you practice performing gravel-cleans on it and refining the details of how you will get that maintenance process to be well-known to you and efficient so you won't shy away from doing it weekly. The other change we'd like to make and watch with tests will be to at some point exchange the carbon (aka charcoal) that's in one of the filter layers for some other biological media like more ceramic rings or ceramic gravel or sponge. Carbon is best at being a "chemical filtration media," not a biological media (although it -will- contain bacteria, thus our testing caution when we make the change.) Carbon is a great thing for the hobbyist to have on the shelf but is not needed in the day to day operation of a filter. Its used for removing medications after they are finished and for removing yellow tannins from new wood being put in prior to being completely ready and also sometimes for removing odors that one cannot find a reason for. The carbon only lasts about 3 days and then is ready to be taken out and tossed in the trash, that's why we don't usually use it on a regular basis.

Its possible that as you hang out here in the beginner section and learn some things and continue to gravel clean and seek answers to your Plec's health and begin learning to use your test kit and interpret the results, you could be formulating a plan something like this: After you know the filter is still performing well (or after you've fish-in cycled it if it is not) and have revised the various media in it to be more optimal, perhaps there could be a another big cleaning project. The plan would be to obtain a new and different gravel or other substrate you liked and have it all cleaned and rinsed. Then you would temporarily re-house the fish in a big container or buckets in the present tank water. Then you would remove the old gravel entirely and work on cleaning the tank glass. A good thing for limestone deposits is... well... Lime! Just used it myself the other day. I took a quarter of a fresh green lime out of the kitchen fridge and used the juice and inside pulp to rub and rub and rub on the limescale deposits on my top glass (which I had removed to a surface in a different room.) The citric acid needs plenty of time to work and do its thing but the rubbing with the pulp side of the lime seems to help and gives you an activity while you are giving the acid some time to work. There are other stronger acids that may work better but this is an easy and pleasant thing that works pretty well. In addition you can use a single edged razor blade very carefully (it -will- scratch the glass, so be warned!) to help work on the limescale. And of course the usual tropical fish store rough sponge or a pot scrubber of plastic that doesn't have soap can be used to also apply scrubbing power to the job.

Now if the limescale is hopeless, as sometimes happens, another possibility that should be considered is to simply buy a new... Tank!... as sometimes people sort of forget that tanks themselves are not necessarily all that expensive, its the filters and heaters and all that are the greater expense. So that's something to think about and to investigate if it becomes a necessary consideration.

Finally, don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to be thinking about and discussing what new fish will work in your tank. I would take plenty of time with that, drag it out, as the advice and your ideas will slowly get better and better and you'll be very pleased in the end to have been patient with it. Choosing fish stock is an involved process and there's lots of good lore to be learned here on TFF about it. Oh, and please finalize those inch measurements of the actual tank so the members will know the actual tank volume.

Really fun to watch a "restoration project," especially when there are some grateful fish in there who have survived!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

If you can remove the fish from your 40 long, you could put the gravel in a bucket and scrub the water marks off the tank's glass. Some things that will help is almost any acid that can be easily rinsed out after you are done cleaning. I have used vinegar as my acid for such a cleaning on a 60 gallon recently. The way I attacked it was to start by using a razor blade scraper to get off the bulk of the hard water deposits off and only leave a thin tough layer behind. I followed that by putting a small amount of vinegar right onto the deposits and gave it a few minutes to eat away at the remaining mark. After those few minutes I scrubbed the spot with a Scotch bite, the kind that say they are non-scratching. Until the spot was gone, I repeated these last couple of steps. Once clean I used some plain water to rinse off the vinegar, which came away quite easily. If you can get the tank itself clean that way, you could then put your gravel back and return the fish to a clean home. It sounds like you have already done a major water change so water stability will probably not be a consideration any more. Saving your remaining bio-filter is a priority so don't remove the gravel and filter media all at once.

 

[ChrisChrisChris]

Hi all thanks for your time and detailed responses.

Quite alot of the limescale has been removed but a faded white line remains across the front of the tank where the water level remained.

I assume if i'm going to medicate my Plec, i should do this first?

I also wondered how expensive is keeping fish as all these water kits sound expensive and i had previously wasted alot on plants which died and don't want to be burning a hole through my student wallet!

I had originally planned to get some plants which grow rapidly (so i can take cuttings etc) or buy plastic as a one off, Buy a few easily bred fish to populate the tank and avoid expensive chemicals/tests as much as possible whilst maintaining a good clean tank.

However if its an expensive hobby perhaps I shouldn't begin. So are all these tests, chemicals etc necessary?

 

[Curiosity101]

The tests kits aren't...neccesary per say. But they are a vital tool for diagnosing so many issues and getting a heads up on issues that may crop up in the future. You can get the API Master kit for £18 from ebay. It lasts for well over a year and it actually quite cheap if you think about it longterm.

Also, the only other chemical you NEED is water dechlorinator.

That's the end of the costs for 'chemicals and tests' from what I can think of.

 

[m00se]

Also, the only other chemical you NEED is water dechlorinator.

And money saving experts say buy the big bottles of pond dechlor - it's much more concentrated and you use far less. Big money saver!

 

[Curiosity101]

Agreed, so a small bottle of pond dechlor and a liquid test kit. Both will last over a year and combined wont be much over £30 I wouldn't have thought.

So what's that...£2.50 a month. (In student bars that's 2 1/2 pints of lager...but I'd happily go without 2 1/2 pints a month for my fish)

Unless the OP isn't that kind of student. In which case scratch the above remark!
It's the same as almost 18 freddo's a month

 

[VespertineStar]

I recently cleaned out a 10g tank in much the same condition as yours (albeit without fish in it) and I found that a brand new razor blade for a stanley knife or similar(trapezium shaped) worked really well and got it off in one sweep. The API test kits last ages unlike the test tubes you get with them that seem to teleport underneath things that are about to crush them. Oh and IIRC you have to be careful with meds and plecs. Good job on the restoration and hope it all goes well.

 

[ChrisChrisChris]

Ok seems reasonable then. Rather than testing water daily and wasting alot of tester solution shouldn't i just wait 2-3 weeks then have it tested for ammonia and nitrite(and PH i suppose)?

Also with regaurds to my end goal (Planted community tank of guppies/tetras/other multilevel fish) how easy are plants to grow in "normal gravel". My past experiences we're they just always died, but ive only ever had gravel and 1 tube light Aqua Glo if i recall correctly.

Thanks

 

[ChrisChrisChris]

Picture of my fish tank so far....
Ugly gravel, no plants, dirty wood(furry stuff on it?) and 3 rather ill looking fish.


Infact you can slightly see the blotchy white patches on the plec at the back. Old medicines and food below, i assume medication expires?


Picture of the annoying limescale...