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Post by alicat on Jun 3, 2008 22:25:41 GMT 1
Hi Keith and The witch and thank you so much for your help. Blinking heck what have I let myself in for.  The witch the Aquatic centre told R to leave it a couple of days before adding fish  They also said to wash the filter with the tank water but not why.  Keith I will go out tomorrow and get a water testing kit. Do you have a recommendation for one ? However the shop have offered me a free test in a weeks time. What should I do ? I have 5 live plants in the tank at the mo - no idea what they are ( think I better google again.) and a piece of wood soaking in a bucket that should be ready by tomorrow to add to the tank. The fish look fine, but are darting about alot so it is difficult to see if they have any white spots or anything that looks vaguely wrong with them. I do however have a green film developing on some of the shells and gravel - not much at the moment though - is this dangerous Thanks again for your help. |
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Post by madonplants on Jun 4, 2008 0:05:26 GMT 1
Hi Keith and The witch and thank you so much for your help. Blinking heck what have I let myself in for. The witch the Aquatic centre told R to leave it a couple of days before adding fish They also said to wash the filter with the tank water but not why. Keith I will go out tomorrow and get a water testing kit. Do you have a recommendation for one ? However the shop have offered me a free test in a weeks time. What should I do ? I have 5 live plants in the tank at the mo - no idea what they are ( think I better google again.) and a piece of wood soaking in a bucket that should be ready by tomorrow to add to the tank. The fish look fine, but are darting about alot so it is difficult to see if they have any white spots or anything that looks vaguely wrong with them. I do however have a green film developing on some of the shells and gravel - not much at the moment though - is this dangerous Thanks again for your help. I would invest in a cheap ammonia testkit asap, something like Tetra, which will tell you how the tank water is doing, now. In the olden days, you would leave your tank, with filter running for about two weeks, before adding fish. The filter bacteria will need waste to work on, so you would either, sprinkle a little food in the water, which then decomposes or worse, you would pee in the water, to simulate the fishes excretia. I have never done the latter, by the way, though I know people who have. You can have a filter running in fresh water for years, but won't be ready for fish straight away, as the filter is not working biologically. To help in this process, you could buy something called beneficial bacteria, there are lots of brands on the market but again Tetra do one called Safestart. Some people think it doesn't work, but believe me, I have moved house lots of times and with a Redtailed Catfish, products like this, have helped get me out of a bind. If the fish are darting about, this 'could be' effects of the ammonia, so stop feeding the fish for a few days (they won't die from starvation) and do that partial water change. Danios are quite hardy fish, so don't worry too much. Zebra danios in particular, have been used in new tank setups for years as they can cope with higher ammonia levels than most other fish. Once you have got through this New Tank Syndrome, which usually lasts about three weeks, if done correctly, fishkeeping is great fun, honest. Don't overfeed in these first few weeks and all will be fine. Oh that green film, its just an algal bloom and tbh, it will be helping you with dealing with the ammonia and subsequent nitrite. I'll add to this tomorrow/today, as I want a bath before I go to bed. Take care Ali. |
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Post by alicat on Jun 4, 2008 0:31:22 GMT 1
Hi Keith and The witch and thank you so much for your help. Blinking heck what have I let myself in for. The witch the Aquatic centre told R to leave it a couple of days before adding fish They also said to wash the filter with the tank water but not why. Keith I will go out tomorrow and get a water testing kit. Do you have a recommendation for one ? However the shop have offered me a free test in a weeks time. What should I do ? I have 5 live plants in the tank at the mo - no idea what they are ( think I better google again.) and a piece of wood soaking in a bucket that should be ready by tomorrow to add to the tank. The fish look fine, but are darting about alot so it is difficult to see if they have any white spots or anything that looks vaguely wrong with them. I do however have a green film developing on some of the shells and gravel - not much at the moment though - is this dangerous Thanks again for your help. I would invest in a cheap ammonia testkit asap, something like Tetra, which will tell you how the tank water is doing, now. In the olden days, you would leave your tank, with filter running for about two weeks, before adding fish. The filter bacteria will need waste to work on, so you would either, sprinkle a little food in the water, which then decomposes or worse, you would pee in the water, to simulate the fishes excretia. I have never done the latter, by the way, though I know people who have. You can have a filter running in fresh water for years, but won't be ready for fish straight away, as the filter is not working biologically. To help in this process, you could buy something called beneficial bacteria, there are lots of brands on the market but again Tetra do one called Safestart. Some people think it doesn't work, but believe me, I have moved house lots of times and with a Redtailed Catfish, products like this, have helped get me out of a bind. If the fish are darting about, this 'could be' effects of the ammonia, so stop feeding the fish for a few days (they won't die from starvation) and do that partial water change. Danios are quite hardy fish, so don't worry too much. Zebra danios in particular, have been used in new tank setups for years as they can cope with higher ammonia levels than most other fish. Once you have got through this New Tank Syndrome, which usually lasts about three weeks, if done correctly, fishkeeping is great fun, honest. Don't overfeed in these first few weeks and all will be fine. Oh that green film, its just an algal bloom and tbh, it will be helping you with dealing with the ammonia and subsequent nitrite. I'll add to this tomorrow/today, as I want a bath before I go to bed. Take care Ali. Thanks Keith I don't think I will be peeing in it. but will get a kit and do a partial water change if needs be. We did put some tapsafe stuff in the water when we set up the tank is that similar to benificial bacteria. we also have some Bacterlife to add when we do a water change. As you can see I am a total novice at this.  Thank you again for all your help. Take care too. x |
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Post by madonplants on Jun 4, 2008 10:17:42 GMT 1
I would invest in a cheap ammonia testkit asap, something like Tetra, which will tell you how the tank water is doing, now. In the olden days, you would leave your tank, with filter running for about two weeks, before adding fish. The filter bacteria will need waste to work on, so you would either, sprinkle a little food in the water, which then decomposes or worse, you would pee in the water, to simulate the fishes excretia. I have never done the latter, by the way, though I know people who have. You can have a filter running in fresh water for years, but won't be ready for fish straight away, as the filter is not working biologically. To help in this process, you could buy something called beneficial bacteria, there are lots of brands on the market but again Tetra do one called Safestart. Some people think it doesn't work, but believe me, I have moved house lots of times and with a Redtailed Catfish, products like this, have helped get me out of a bind. If the fish are darting about, this 'could be' effects of the ammonia, so stop feeding the fish for a few days (they won't die from starvation) and do that partial water change. Danios are quite hardy fish, so don't worry too much. Zebra danios in particular, have been used in new tank setups for years as they can cope with higher ammonia levels than most other fish. Once you have got through this New Tank Syndrome, which usually lasts about three weeks, if done correctly, fishkeeping is great fun, honest. Don't overfeed in these first few weeks and all will be fine. Oh that green film, its just an algal bloom and tbh, it will be helping you with dealing with the ammonia and subsequent nitrite. I'll add to this tomorrow/today, as I want a bath before I go to bed. Take care Ali. Thanks Keith I don't think I will be peeing in it. but will get a kit and do a partial water change if needs be. We did put some tapsafe stuff in the water when we set up the tank is that similar to benificial bacteria. we also have some Bacterlife to add when we do a water change. As you can see I am a total novice at this. Thank you again for all your help. Take care too. x Perfect. That is a Waterlife product and I use their Haloex as a dechlorinator. I only mentioned the Tetrasafe, as I would have thought that would be more widely sold. Did you put some of that in at the start, after the Tapsafe, which is your dechlorinator? It also eliminates Chloramine and some heavy metals. It will also contain Aloe Vera, which is very good for protecting the fish. Just checked as I haven't used this one and it (if it's the Bioactive one) includes beneficial bacteria as well. I am surprised they have combined the two, but I suppose they are the experts. Adding a beneficial bacteria product to raw tap water, before the chlorine has been taken out, seems weird to me, as chlorine would kill off the bacteria, before it was neutralised!  I would also add the Bacterlife, every time you add new fish as well, as the filter will get used to the waste from the number of fish you have. I use Nutrafin Cycle for my beneficial bacteria, but only needed it when we have moved house. Actually, maybe you could start a new thread on this, what is your setup, i.e. size of tank, what filter do you have, etc? Then maybe we could help further, regarding maintenance. I have to stop watching programmes, while writing on a thread! It's taken me about 40 minutes to write this little bit!! |
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Post by alicat on Jun 4, 2008 19:41:56 GMT 1
Sorry Keith I made a mistake, we put Bacterlife in the tank not 'tapsafe' to help with the bacteria and setting up the tank. I bought the tap safe afterwards for when I do water changes. Btw. Yes It is 'Bioactive Tapsafe' with Aloe Vera in it. - now learning a little more about it, I probably didn't need both. Anyway I went down to Wilson's Pet Store to look for the tester kits. I only found 2, one for ammonia only and one which was a five in one. Both £9.99 each. Feeling a little bit uncertain I asked a member of staff which to choose after explaining, like I have to you and The witch what has been happening. The girl was very helpful and suggested that I take a water sample down and they would check it for me free of charge. So I did.  I was very relieved to hear that everything is fine with just a slight raise in the nitrite and nitrate levels, nothing to worry about as it is a new tank. - phew. The lady did say that a 10% water change would be good as I have now had the fish for a week. ( The water is getting to temperature now.) She also said that the fish were probably finding their own hierarchy and that was why one was chasing off the others. : (it's got to be a male) ;D As for setting up a new thread I was thinking about doing that too. If I can I will copy and paste some of this thread and post some pictures ( have taken some just need to photobucket them.) tonight. Thanks again for your help. A.x |
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They also said to wash the filter with the tank water but not why. 
