P151

Ok so Hi im new here. Um, my fiance and I won 6 goldfish at the county fair and bought them a 10 gallon tank tank. I have a filter and food and lights. They gave me a sample of this aqua safe tank cleaner. I used our well water knowing its pretty rusty dirty water, but once it was in the tank i had no idea how dirty our water is. We couldnt even see the backdrop we got. So the tank cleared up ok. It was still reddish. but the fish got ick. It sucked but what can you do. they were fair fish. of course they are gonna die. and if you cant tell ive never had a tank before in my life. so i have no clue whats going on. So after all the gold fish died off slowly i cleaned the tank out yesterday, filtered the rocks and all decor from the tank and rinsed everything in Hot water. I put the tank back in my room and set it all up for the next batch of fish. i went and got 3 calico fintails and a betta. I also got an african dwarf frog. lol. the filled the tank up with gallons of spring water. the tank was pretty. crystal clear. i floated the critters and waited. I used some salt to keep ick away and i used some solution to keep the water clear. i finally put the fish in the tank. it was very nice. my buddy gave me a heater and thermometer. I went to bed last night to a pretty crystal clear tank...I wake up and its slightly murky. I have no idea what happened. Does anyone know what might be happening? Im really trying to make this fish tank work. its seems so fun even tho its been alot of work already. please give me some advice

orb4me

P151, you sound so much like me 10 months ago. I have learned so much since then.

Im long winded, so Ill do my best to keep this short.

the fish you got from the fair were probably not taken care of to begin with, and may have had the ick before you could actually see it.

A fish tank must be what is called "cycled" to establish good bacteria. I can tell by your post that you have tried so hard and have good entenions, just like I did before I became addicted to fish.. Only one member here actually read all he needed to know about fish keeping before he got fish, as far as I know anyway. (I may get in trouble for saying that)

Up in the left hand corner of this page is Articles, there you will find how to do 'cycling with fish'

Read, read and ask all the questions you want, read and read and ask even more questions. You can quickly become addicted like the rest of us.

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If all is not lost, where is it?

RJRofFL

Hello P151,

It looks as if you've hit a "few bumps in the road" so far. We all have, but you've taken the right step in coming to this forum. You will find a great deal of "excellent" advice and more importantly, we will stand by you every step of the way.

As Orb pointed out, it will be necessary to "cycle" your tank in order to maintain a successful aquarium. We have a number of great articles in our (appropriately named) Article section and I urge you to review and research them before going further.

However, I'm afraid it's going to be necessary for you to make another decision, and that is your fantails are goldfish that are "cold water fish" requiring temperatures 65-75 degrees and the Betta is a tropical fish which requires temperatures 75-85 degrees. Perhaps you might consider homing the Betta in a separate tank. Also, too, bear in mind the fantails will eventually grow to 8" and a larger tank should be considered down the road. Sorry to have rained on your parade, but it's better to know now than face disasters going forward.

Please do a little reading of the articles and by all means ask as many questions as you wish. As mentioned, we will help you all the way through this.

Best of luck,

Bob

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P151

Wow I forgot that i posted this. I had no idea those fantails were gonna get so big. I know the puffer is tropical too. The heater i have doesnt work right that why Im getting a new One tuesday. Do you think that the Betta and the Puffer could Share a tank? Im not sure myself. If I get that 75 g tank Im not gonna want to put those fantails into it. I wanted to get something different thats long lasting and pretty to look at. I was thinking of starting it as a saltwater tank. If I Took the BEtta and Puffer outta the tank and gave them a separate tank could I Leave the Fantails and Barbs in the 10 G.?

orb4me

P151, let me warn you ahead of time. Saltwater tanks are so much more addicting than fresh water.

There are others here that will tell you its way more expensive or not near as expensive as fresh water, but Ive done my best to stay middle of the road.

I can set and watch a rock for hours lol

P151

Lol Im excited. Im ready to get addicted to fish. I cant wait to start the salt water tank. Its gonna be a project. But Im gonna try to do it the right way. Research and slowly add the creatures.Im ready. I dont really care about the expense at the moment. Its gonna be cool