Sponge From Coldwater Tank

[Maxta]

Hey.

I just realised my girlfriend has a similar sized tank to me and has had it for over a year now.

Originally she had 2 small goldfish and 2 koi, one of the koi's died straight away, and the other 3 happily lived for months, when one day we came in and one of the goldfish had disappeared - maybe the koi ate it i dont know.

Anyways the koi and goldfish have been getting on nicely for months now.

Will i be able to take some of the sponge/filter out of hers and cut it to the shape of mine? Remember its a coldwater tank, but near a radiator so its not very cold, just reasonably.

Thanks

Ian

 

[lotlot]

I would think it would be ok!!

 

[Maxta]

Damnit just found out she cleaned her tank two weeks ago and rinsed the filter/sponge with tap water.

Can i still use a bit and put some in my filter, then add fish?

 

[lotlot]

The chances are that washing it in tap water would have killed alot of the beneficial bacteria. You could still try it, or add some of the gravel from her tank to yours, as that should work just as well.

 

[Tessla]

I really wouldn't, not because it's a coldwater tank but because you only want to borrow filter media from a healthy tank and that doesn't sound healthy to me.

Goldfish can live for months, sometimes even years in a ten gallon tank, but they will be stunted and their lives will be shortened drastically: a healthy goldfish should live for at least 30 years and will require a tank of at least 30 gallons for a single goldfish plus at least 10 more gallons for each additional fish. If those are comet goldfish, I wouldn't keep a single fish in anything less than 55 gallons. As for koi, a 40 year lifespan is short, some have been reported to live for 200 years. These guys need massive amounts of water and can only really be kept in large ponds as they'll get well over a meter. And no, it isn't a good idea to keep young ones in smaller tanks for short periods of time, they're fast growers and can get stunted very quickly. (Sorry if I'm getting rantish, I've got a major soft spot for goldfish and koi and see so many kept in really bad conditions.)

Adding filter media from a tank like this would likely bring all sorts of disease into your tank, I'd encourage your girlfriend to rehome all of her fish and get fish of a suitable size for her tank as well. White cloud minnows are small coldwater fish, or she could get a heater and some small tropicals.