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New 29 Gallon Tank, Mistakes were Made.


GoldenGardner
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Originally posted this in the introductions, but I'm not sure if that's the right place to put it. 

HI! From near Fall City in Washington! I found your video's last night. I thought the video on ammonia buildup was great! I explained it to my kids this morning using a similar method. Really easy to understand. I got a "new to us"  29 Gallon tank last Monday. Monday the 11th. I tested the tank to make sure it didn't leak on Tuesday and then filled it up in the house Wednesday. We live off a pristine well. I let the water sit in the tank until Saturday when we received fish as a gift. 6 Guppies, 6 Neon Tetra's, 2 Cory Catfish, and 1 mystery snail. Also we received NEW filter parts and I changed everything out in the filter. NOW, I know this was all a mistake, but it's a little late to undo everything. The first fish died right away and we got a replacement fish from Denny's before we knew what was happening. That fish also died by Monday the 18th. We went back to Denny's, and they said they would not replace the fish because the tank needed to fully cycle. At that point I bought a test kit, and Stability additive. It says to put three capfuls in based on the size of the tank for the first day then one capful each day after. I fed the fish Monday.  Tuesday no fish died. I fed the fish Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday a neon tetra died. (Also missing, another Neon Tetra, and one of the catfish.) So I started watching videos last night and watched Cory's video. I tested the water last night at 11pm and the ammonia was between .5 and 1ppm I put more of the stability in because I could not change the water at that point. This morning I changed out 50% of the water, careful to make sure that the water temp was ok. I put in 3 more capfuls of stability in. I did not feed the fish this morning.


Now when I changed the water out, there was a lot of particulates that were floating in the water after. A LOT. Am I supposed to try and capture those particulates. Or will they get pulled into the filter? I finished the water change 10 minutes to 10 and going to do another test after an hour. Do I do another water change today? The fish are clearly stressed. One of the male guppies is swimming at the top and just looks so stressed out. I feel terrible. I'd love to know if there's anything else I can add to help the fish. I've learned a lot the last few days and know that adding the fish in right away was not right. If I add live plants would that help? Here is a picture of our set up.

29 Gallon tank.
Fluval 206 Filter
Aqueaon Heater
Bubble LED thing (Not on in picture) 
Really Cool LED light bar on top. 

 

Update: Tested the water after an hour and still in the .5ppm range. 
Update 2: Spoke to my dad, and he said to pull out the large formations in the tank and find the missing catfish. Did that and found the decomposing catfish. Removed the catfish. Also removed the Guppy that was clearly struggling, he was bloated and had been near the top of the tank, but was now at the bottom on the rocks, still alive but not moving. 
Update: Tested the water after the removal and still at or between .25 and .5 for the ammonia. 

Last Question: Should I perform another water change TODAY??? 

Pic of Tank before removing the large rock and chest.

141633986_2834581903424707_8255400256085527588_n.jpg

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Seachem stability will take time to work what you should do is small water changes daily till your ammonia and nitrite reading are zero doing large daily water changes can affect the  beneficial bacterial and  take longer to cycle your aquarium

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Additional help: you are doing a "fish in cycle" in case you want to search more info.

Stability is bacteria that takes time to grow. It may speed your cycle process but it doesn't help your fish right now.

Prime is a dechlorinator--on a well you don't regularly need it.

BUT.

Prime will also bind up the ammonia in a way that makes it less harmful to your fish while the bacteria get established. It will still show on your test kit, so you will add the prime daily until the test kit reads 0 for ammonia and nitrite. I have had very good luck with this method and tend to use this method when I don't have a used filter handy to jumpstart a tank and have an emergency fish situation--like they all had to move to a bucket suddenly.

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If you keep watching that ammonia, making sure you don't have any dead fish in the tank (good call dad), you should be on the right track. Once it cycles you will likely not need to do as many water changes. Keep up the good work, most people here have gone through similar situations at one point.

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I would suggest to use Fritz Zyme, this will help speed up the cycle. No you dont need to remove the particles they will find there way back to the filter or substrate. I had that same problem with the particles after a waterchange in my first aquarium. Give it an hour or so and you wont see them in the water.

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Update today, all fish that were alive last night are alive today! Ammonia is still at .5ppm but I did add the Prime yesterday, so hoping that helps protect the fish. Will add it again after 24 hours. 

I also did add two small live plants to the tank.  1 Dwarf Hairgrass and 1 Rotala Indica. I was originally thinking that they would help produce Nitrates and reduce the ammonia, but now realize they could die in there and increase the ammonia. I do see there's a leave that fell off the Rotala and it's stuck in the side of the filter. 

 

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3 minutes ago, GoldenGardner said:

Update today, all fish that were alive last night are alive today! Ammonia is still at .5ppm but I did add the Prime yesterday, so hoping that helps protect the fish. Will add it again after 24 hours. 

I also did add two small live plants to the tank.  1 Dwarf Hairgrass and 1 Rotala Indica. I was originally thinking that they would help produce Nitrates and reduce the ammonia, but now realize they could die in there and increase the ammonia. I do see there's a leave that fell off the Rotala and it's stuck in the side of the filter. 

 

The plants may die off a bit as they grow accustomed to your water, and if they need to convert to fully aquatic (most plants sold at pet stores are grown out of water, and need a little time to adjust). The rotala, being a stem plant, should grow pretty quickly, which will help with your water quality. 

Prime will certainly help in a fish-in cycle. Good luck! A lot of us have been where you are!

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I could not find Duckweed at either of the two pet stores I went to. I was going to order some, but the shipping from where I found was 3 times the cost of buying it. 

Should I drive up to Aquarium Co-op and see if they have it there to add it? 

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2 hours ago, GoldenGardner said:

I could not find Duckweed at either of the two pet stores I went to. I was going to order some, but the shipping from where I found was 3 times the cost of buying it. 

Should I drive up to Aquarium Co-op and see if they have it there to add it? 

If I were you, I'd stick to doing the small daily water changes. Adding plants isn't going to hurt your cycling process, so if it's convenient go nuts with the plants, haha. You probably won't see a huge change as a result, but more plants will be beneficial for the tank's long-term health. 

 

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Just stick to the coarse you are on. Water changes daily and dosing prime at the increased rate and the stability. You will go nuts if you keep trying to add something that will instantly fix a problem that can only be fixed with time a patience. It will be okay in the end.

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Update this morning, yesterday I did a smaller water change and the the ammonia really didn't change. So today I figured out how to use the Vacuum hose with the sink hook up that came with the tank. It worked GREAT! I changed out about 1/3 of the water. But really got in deep into the rocks. There was a lot that came up from the rocks. I added the Prime, and Stability in after and fed the fish. We still have the same number of fish that we had yesterday. So things are looking up. 

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Update today, everyone is still alive in the tank. I changed out 25% of the water. Today is day 7 of adding the Stability into the tank. It says on the bottle to add it for 7 days. It also says to add 3 capfuls the first day and then 1 each day after, but I watched a video in which a guy said he added a ton in to help out his fish, so I've been adding 3 capfuls each day. The bottle I got maybe has 2 more days of the Stability left in it. I've also been adding the Prime since Thursday. The Ammonia levels seem to have gotten a little better but it's to a degree that is hard to tell if it's perception and hope or actually getting better. Still no Nitrite or Nitrates showing up on tests. 

My female guppies had dark pouches towards that seem to be gone now. I thought maybe they were pregnant but I don't see any babies in the tank. I also think based on research that there was no way for them to be pregnant and giving birth this soon after getting added into a tank with male guppies. (Today is Day 9.) 

Questions:
Should I go get more Stability and keep adding it daily? 
Should I keep going with the 25% water change daily? (I've got the vacuum hose with the sink filler attachment so it's not a big deal to do this.) 
I add the Prime/Stability/Feed after the water change. Is that correct? 

 

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I have the API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

My husband mentioned that our water heater was old and that using warm water from the water heater may impact the minerals in the tank. But I don't think that would increase the ammonia. I tested the water prior to adding it to the tank and it registered at 0 for Ammonia. 

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