very newb plz bare with me ty

silas313 · 02-28-2008, 05:12 AM

Okay sorry but this may be long and it may not make alot of sense but suggestions and help and names of medicines and etc would help. Ive been doing research on many diseases and stuff on my fish or what may be in the tank. But a few things have same symptoms as another thing and yet its different medicine for that treatment. So instead of going out and buying 100 bucks of all medcine i can find in the fish world ill ask for help and advice. I ll be honest and tell ya about my tanks not being cycled properly. It ****ed up when i added fish. But i got a 29 gal tank from walmart stardard stuff that comes with it for filter and stuff. Also I put this tank together and added fish (which i think they are.. red zebra cichlid, and 2 yellow labs, and a jeweled cichlid i think. I dunno names for them i think its african. Well then later i put in 3 more fish (i dunno the names of them but few pics ive seen and names people called em are a blue Mbuna strips down side head towards tail with it on top fin, also got black something some wat same but very dark, and i think i got another small red zebra. well i added those after waiting some time. Then recently i added 1 more fish i thought it was a kyni or something its yellow black strip kinda fish like a bee . Its small too and two frogs. Well i added them all in some weeks. Also i dont have test strips and i had to pay big fine so i havnt had money to buy test strips. So i dunno the water numbers. Anyways Heres my problem. i did research on why there acting weird. I never seen this, so i dunno. But anyways i ve been watching my fish and after i added the last fish which is the yellow bee fish think its kanyi or something is when the symptoms i seen kicked in but i dunno. I dont truly watch the tank all day and night. But anyways i thought i might have ich... because the it said that they rub on stuff like decos, fake plants, and walls, and also has white spots! Well my fish does everything except the white spots.. And i turned up heat to 78 to try to get the spots to pop up quicker if it was ich like ive read but i still see nothing for spots. So therefor i dunno if its itch but also the fish do seem to go towards the filter and stay under it latly which is unusual for them. So then i also looked around for this "flashing" i seen in the tank as well and it said that it could be parasites of some sort.. now i dunno wat it is nor do i know where to look for. Because ich didnt say that they hit the wall and jump to top of the tank like there crazy and also there breathing heavy. So i didnt wanna get ich medicine and also some sort of medicine for flashing and do it at once.. because i dunno wat it is and i dont wanna try alot of meds in which everything could just be 1 thing.. but also i seen where it could be normal of the flashing and the rubbing and hitting the walls and staying under the filter was said that it was normal from some other people saying it was aggresion towards other fish showing there territories. But anyways heres diff i see in fish. They use to sit at bottom and be normal and bright. And they did chase once in while. Now there alot of times at top like oxygen is out and there at top chillin alot. And some fish go and hide under filter all day and nite which is totally diff. And also the flashing like a spaz and rubbing on decos and hitting wall with head and jumpin to top.. SO all those things are symptoms but no white spots... so any help would be great ty and sorry for the big paragraph iam new

RoxiesMom · 02-28-2008, 07:10 AM

If you could give us the water parameters on your tank it would help.
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate & pH would be a great start.

tropical1 · 02-28-2008, 07:55 PM

man i think you might have wasy too many fish for that tank. way over crowded. plus those cichlids you have need to be in a 55 gallon at least. they are too aggressive for your tank size.

silas313 · 02-29-2008, 06:57 AM

Now this is long but its all my info I am posting then reading your guyest replys afterwards. But for help here is my info on everything. Sorry for it being SO big.

Tank- 29 gal standard walmart tank, heater(100watt cheap that keeps shutting off cause probably old)and a HOB aquatech filter. temp is 72-74 F it lowered over nite cause heater stop workin for while.

Deco's 4 fake plants, 2 tall trees, and log with few plants on it , and small building. Rocks are normal gravel rocks from store.

Here are few items i got today for hell of it. Any suggestions and weather or not there good as API kind is good help too i know its diff brand so is it same quality as in working? And suggestons help on filters heaters airstone(even tho i cant find 1 at store) , or lighting will help. But items i got are - Tetra whisper heater - 30-60 gal why is it able to go underwater? cant the top function twist thingy get wet inside and stop working?
- Air pump with hoses to go under water(is this good to make oxygen in water? i was just planning on setting em on side of tank to make bubbles. (30-60 gal)

Next are meds or chemicals are these all good and do they work as good as API kind? and when should i added em and how.
- Jungle brand test kit for PH, nitrates, nitrites, hardness, and alkality (quick drips on these in tube)
- Jungle brand test kit for amonia same thing quick drip.

I bought these just to have and are they good and work? And i use em as fish are in tank or before i put em in while iam cycling my new tank.
- Tetra algae control
- Tetra aqua - aqua safe does this take chlorene out of tap water? or no
-Tetra easy balance
- API stress coat - does this take chlorene out of tap water?
- Melafix drip-
- AP crystal clear
- Spyon hose i read how to use it. But adding water back into tank it says it helps take out chloren is that true or should i just keep using 5 gal bucket and use some sort of chemical to take chloren out with .

Now iam using jungle brand test drip strips.

These strips are gay and says go by color and get as close as you can but i dont get how to use em so can you explain.

For my amonia kit it says ... 0 ideal .5 stress .25 safe 3.0 harmful 6.0 pretty bad
well harmful is color light green and 6.0 was dark green but it was sorta in middle so how i get to figure number out? I thought there be numbers lol

but anyways how i use em ) my color was in middle of bad and harmful.

Now for my jungle kit of everything else it same way just colors but it dont say darker the color worst or better or the lighter the color is the higher or lower it is... is just says compare and my colors are diff from the ones on answer sheet. anyways here lil description and u help tell me results number wise or watever .

Answer color on tube to compare too Says this pmm thing Color i got on that square
Pink Nitrite below 40pmm Big Red
Light tan Nitrates .5pmm or below Little Tan diff tan tho...
Darker brown Hardness 50 - 15pmm More stand out bright B but still dark brown
Light orange- Alkalinity 120pmm-300pmm dark green/bluish
dark bright orange - PH 6.8 7.2 Bright red big red

How the hell i compare colors? To the chart and the pmm it only gives me those options. iam confused;(

Luckly i get some responses from you guys on info on this and compare it to wat is happening

Also for my fish i have 2 red zebra 1 1'' and one 2'' 2 yellow labs 2'' each 1.5 '' jewled
2 small 1'' fish undefined i 1 is black with stripes from head to tail and other is bluish with stripes like a bee (vertical) and redish fins and i also got yellow bee lookin black strip guy think its keyni of some sort or something and i also seen mmbuna someone told me on those two others.

OneEyedTetra · 02-29-2008, 11:52 AM

I use the same test strips, but only for ballpark ranges, not for exact numbers. It can be nearly impossible to get a specific reading in ppm from the strips. For the 6-in-1, I let everything develop 30 seconds (except nitrate which needs 60 seconds) and compare to the chart. If a color doesn't exactly match, try to figure out which 2 it is between to give an idea of a range. If that range is acceptable for the kind of tank you have, it can be a good indicator that things are ok. However, if it is in a range that's not good, that's when I haul out the API Master Kit to give me specific readings that I can record. I use the master kit every week anyway just to be sure in case the strips have gotten moisture on them and give false readings.

So basically what I'm saying is don't rely on the strips to give you numbers you can be 100% sure about. You're better off using them for estimates.

silas313 · 02-29-2008, 05:38 PM

are there kits that gives u numbers? Also wats best i hear API but when i look at em there drips too.. so how are they better. also any suggestions add new filter clean tank so much tonite and add so much new? maybe some stress coat i dunno?

OneEyedTetra · 03-01-2008, 12:58 AM

The API Master Test Kit is based upon higher level chemistry. It relies on very specific color changes to indicate levels within 5 ppm ranges. Test strips, for example, say "not 20 ppm nitrate, but not 40 ppm." API Master Test, as well as other "test tube" tests, can tell you "5 ppm" or "10 ppm." If you want ranged guesses, strips are fine. If you want to record data, get a master test kit that used test tubes and developing chemicals.

silas313 · 03-01-2008, 01:52 AM

kk thanks on suggestions any medicine or water changes how much and how often till i get amonia down? can i use stress coat to put into tap water to dechlorize it ?

Is this Ammonia good to do the cycling. I did the "shake and bubble=no* But also i dunno the incrediates weather or not its good to use. Says. Clear ammonia as title its from walmart. Ot says incredients ammonium hydroxide and surfactant.

OneEyedTetra · 03-01-2008, 08:35 AM

If you have fish in a tank with a spike in ammonia, I'd suggest daily or every-other-day water changes to minimize the stress on the fish. You won't be able to completely get rid of the ammonia until the tank is cycled.

You can use an ammonia neutralizer if you are serious about getting rid of ammonia, but be forewarned that it doesn't remove ammonia, it just converts it to a non-toxic form. This will throw off any tests for ammonia that you do, because the tests don't differentiate between the two forms. You will get readings for crazy high levels for ammonia even though your fish might seem fine...

And you can use Stress Coat to remove chlorine and chloramine from your water- it has the API neutralizer in there. I think it is more costly though, so for frequent or large-volume water changes, consider getting a basic conditioner.

silas313 · 03-02-2008, 01:59 AM

thanks for help help on my stress coat and the ammonia i didnt quite get if i had that ammonia for cycling a new tank that i will buy soon it isnt gonna work? Cause wat iam tring to do is buy a new tank soon cycle it but iam tring to find out if my ammonia with the incredents saying no phosphorus that i bought from walmart is good for cycling? cause if i use ones with dyes and other stuff it wont work... so is this good ammona ? also on the test stripes i aint getting the range thing that good .. any link to read about using test stripes and understanding the pmm and numbers? and also for saying api is better for more specific ranges... and its a "tube" so its better then stripes. i wanted to say that my kit is a "tube" too tho.. u dip strip into water thats in the tube then pull it out for the results.. and my other kit is dip into tank itself . From wat i thought api was like a tube u feel with ur tank water and u poor something into it and it chagnes color.. watever that color is is the number range on that item.. But i guess not.. ty for help and more stuff.. also any suggestions on thermoter to watch my 5 gal buckets when cycling i bought few and they sucked.. Also i got a aurpump with hose going into water for oxygen. Is this a really good thing or half azz? also when i stuck it in the fish are going nuts now like swimming faster and all around the tank like there so happy.. i was told that there happier.. and another thing i added melafix cause a yellow lab has a tore fin but i read that u gotta take carbon out or it just useless so that mean i take filter out and put medcine in and let medcine get into water then put filter back on hour or so later or wat? cause iam confused about medcine and taking filter out. ty