# Seriously Don't know what I'm doing



## Vector-SS (Apr 22, 2006)

Hello everyone. This is my first post, so i hope you people won't start shouting at me because im really lost and not sure what to do.

Here is the scenario:

I have a 10G fish tank for about 4-5 weeks now. The tank was looking good, nice, and clear until the 3rd week were hell broke loose. algae started filling the walls, until they were completely covered. So i got a scraper and scraped it until everything started floating in the water (yes i know i have no idea what to do). The water then turned green, and became cloudy to a point were i couldnt see my fish anymore. Tried a lot of water changes per day for a few days (25%), but to no avail. 

I really got pissed today and decided to throw everything out, which i eventually did. The whole tank was emptied out including the fish. I cleaned the whole thing, and put the fish back in it. Right now the tank looks nice and clean, and the fish seem confused like crazy and 2 died already(severe environment change i assume). Anyways i need to know what i can do to prevent this from happening again.


-I currently have 15 fish in it (not sure what they are: 
6 orange ones around an inch each
4 beige ones with vertical black stripes and a small orange fin- 1 inch each
4 small flourescent fish
And i just bought 1 fish that sucks on the walls
-I used to feed them the flakes food (moved to frozen bloodworms now?)(when i emptied out everything, the pebbles on the bottom were filled with food and rubbish)
-Light was sometimes forgotten overnight (there are 2 x 40W bulbs)
-My filter is an AquaClear 50

Thanks


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

wow. I dont really know where to start.. 
You need to learn about cycling a tank for one, second-florescent ones, beige ones and orange ones dont tell us anything.. I know several people who have orange fish and not one is the same. I really think it would be best if you could take the fish back to the fish store, and learn about cycling and all first.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2006)

and one of the most important things to do in order to keep fish properly is research the fish you want first and make sure you can give it the proper care....for example tank size, water parameters, etc. it would help if you knew the names of the fish...


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## Vector-SS (Apr 22, 2006)

*heres a pic*

Not really sure if its clear enough for u guys to see the fish, but here it is anyways...i never really wanted a tank but my friend just threw his at my house, and now im quite interested in setting up a nice tank


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2006)

it looks like mickey mouse platties, tiger barbs, a pleco, and neon tetras. The barbs can be aggressive and nippy, so i'd watch how they behave. i assume that is a common plecostomous, so it will outgrow a ten gallon tank. they can reach 12+ inches. the tetras would probably feel more comfortable in a larger group, and the barbs probably would too. however, that size tank will not support all of those fish.
also, your tank is not cycled and the bio load is way too large. im sure most of the fish will die from high ammonia levels, so i would consider returning most or all of them until you have researched more and understand about cycling a tank properly.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

definately look at Ron V's post in the freshwater general forum (its a sticky at the top of the page) its called cycling "the basics"

I would highly suggest taking back all but one or two of the fish until you've got the water cycled.


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## Jojo (Apr 11, 2006)

Scuba Kid said:


> it looks like mickey mouse platties, tiger barbs, a pleco, and neon tetras. The barbs can be aggressive and nippy, so i'd watch how they behave. i assume that is a common plecostomous, so it will outgrow a ten gallon tank. they can reach 12+ inches. the tetras would probably feel more comfortable in a larger group, and the barbs probably would too. however, that size tank will not support all of those fish.
> also, your tank is not cycled and the bio load is way too large. im sure most of the fish will die from high ammonia levels, so i would consider returning most or all of them until you have researched more and understand about cycling a tank properly.


What she said.

EDIT:There we go I fixed it.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2006)

Read the sticky mentioned above. Take the tiger barbs (striped ones), the neons (fluorescent ones), the pleco (sucker fish), and all but 3 platies (orange ones) back to the fish/pet store. Explain that your tank is too small and they will die if you can't return them. Keep 3 platies in there to cycle the tank. 

The reason you have algae is because you have 80 watts of light on that tank. That is an incredible amount of light. I would either replace it with 2 10w bulbs or 2 20w bulbs. With the 20w bulbs, you will still have algae, as that is 4 watts per gallon.

You should be gravel vac'ing the tank every week or every other week. Get yourself a good gravel cleaner that also takes water out. Change out about 30% of the water every week. While the tank is cycling, you need a test kit. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes a good master test kit that contains everything you will need. As you will see in the sticky, you should monitor ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Don't do water changes during the cycle, unless the numbers get too high.

After you read the sticky, take the fish mentioned back, and get a test kit, we can all help you on here to cycle the tank.
If you have access to some live plants, it may be a good idea to get some. Does your fish/pet store sell live plants? If not then I would get more fake plants. The fish would appreciate hiding places.

You need to feed them something besides frozen bloodworms. That is a good food, but usually used a treat. You can feed them that and some flakes (small pinch) or granules. Only feed what your fish can eat in 2 minutes. When you take the other fish back, you can only feed once a day and that will minimize food waste.

The neons probably won't make it through cycling. They are pretty sensitive when it comes to ammonia and nitrites. The common pleco gets about 12 inches as mentioned above, so it definitely needs to go back. Having that many platies will be too much for a 10g tank. I suggest keeping 3. You can possibly add a small school of fish later, but please cycle the tank before adding more. And research before going to the pet store so you will know what works and what doesn't.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2006)

Jojo said:


> What he said.


*She. lol :razz:


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

Scuba Kid said:


> *She. lol :razz:



Lol you should just have a sticky in all forums saying your a girl.  I've noticed a lot of people making that error.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Buy a test kit, so you can know whats going on with your water.


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## Vector-SS (Apr 22, 2006)

Thanks for all your help guys AND girls (or girl i presume in this case  ). Anyways i have decided to keep the tank. Im going to change the lights asap and see what Im going to do with the rest of the overstocked fish. The fish seem to be quite happy in there. They are eating, and looks like the stress level went down drastically from yesterday and the death rate stopped. Im going to a pet shop soon to figure out the next step for a healthy tank.

I also have to go and buy a test kit to monitor the water and see whats going on. Any more opinions and ideas are always welcome. Thanks once again.


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

Are you sure that their are 2 40w bulbs in that hood??? I find that hard to believe.


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

Ownager2004 said:


> Are you sure that their are 2 40w bulbs in that hood??? I find that hard to believe.


I agree.

If you still have problems with the algae, you could always do a blackout to kill it all. Just make sure you change out a lot of the water afterwards so that all the dead algae still isn't in the water. It will feed other algae and give you the problem all over again.


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## Vector-SS (Apr 22, 2006)

Ownager2004 said:


> Are you sure that their are 2 40w bulbs in that hood??? I find that hard to believe.


Yup two tubular bulbs. If you look in the pic i posted above, you can see that there is much more lighting on the left side. This is due to me removing the other bulb from the right side as ppl here said it was a lot. Still, it was a lot therefore I'm going to get 2 x 10W tubular bulbs.


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

If you don't plan on getting any live plants I wouldn't suggest getting two of those bulbs. One 10W bulb should be enough for a 10 gallon tank. The more light you have will only add to your algae problem, especially if you forget to turn off the light sometimes. BTW, have you thought of using a timer on it just in case?


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

still has too many fish I gather. he did not say he returned any did he?


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2006)

^^no.
Also, you said you are going to talk with your fish store about your tank to get advice....it'd be better if you didnt. Fish stores and pet stores are more in it for the money, so the advice they give may not be right. It may not be the case with all fish stores, but if you ask many people here including me, we have all been given wrong advice on fish keeping that sometimes may have lead to something bad. Everyone here on fishforums would be more than happy to answer any questions you have.


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

What kind of hood is that? Im interested in getting one, lol


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

Scuba Kid said:


> It may not be the case with all fish stores, but if you ask many people here including me, we have all been given wrong advice on fish keeping that sometimes may have lead to something bad.


Lol... I asked for a Gold Nugget Pleco at the Walmart by me and they sold me a Upside-down Lace Catfish instead. I knew something was wrong when he said he was doing me a favor by selling it to me for a dollar each...


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2006)

I don't recommend talking it over with the pet store either. They will do anything to sell their fish. They may even offer you more fish to add to the overstocked tank. I would take back the fish I recommended soon. I am sure they look fine and eat fine, but when they get full grown, the tank will be crowded. Especially if you have male and female platies. The tank will soon be extremely overstocked when they start reproducing.

The tetras would like to have a larger school, but you don't have room. Tiger barbs are too active for that size tank. Please think about the fish and their needs.


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