Finally...

[1MileCrash]

alight. i'm sure many have seen my woes about my tetras. many advised moving the lobster. i was hesitant to since he was doing well in the 55 gallon and i didn't have any solid proof that he had eaten any of the fish...until today.

last nite i picked up 6 tiger barbs. today i'm down to 4. i literally caught the little shnit-head eating a carcass of a tiger barb that was too big to finish in one meal.

so i dug out the 10 gallon tank out of storage and set it up filling it 3/4 full with water for the 55 gallon to speed up the cycling process as well as put in a couple of plants and a small decoration in case they had good algae on them, and shoved the lil turd into the 10 gallon tank.

now my 5 remaining rummynose tetras, 1 neon tetra, 4 tiger barbs, and 1 japanese snail can live in peace. i'll add to their numbers in the coming days and get the schools back up to around 6 each...well...maybe not the neon tetras...i'll just get something else.

anyway. just thought i'd go ahead and update everyone of my progress...or recession...or whatever you want to call it.

[YaYgoldFish]

Adding your old tanks water to the new one does nothing but carry the chemicals. Their is no bacteria on it. So basicly your tank isn't cycled and your lobster is in danger. You probably should do 100% waterchanges for a week and then every 3 days for another week and one 25% every week.

Glad to know you caught the bad guy tho.

[1MileCrash]

Adding your old tanks water to the new one does nothing but carry the chemicals. Their is no bacteria on it. So basicly your tank isn't cycled and your lobster is in danger. You probably should do 100% waterchanges for a week and then every 3 days for another week and one 25% every week.

Glad to know you caught the bad guy tho.

ugggghhhhh...arg...fudge...*whine piss and moan*...crud

[gm72]

the P has it at least partly correct. Old water does nothing but introduce a higher-than-desired level of nitrAte, among other things that you generally don't want. Not clear about the 100% water changes though. Doing that large of a water change will eliminate any beneficial bacteria that is trying to colonize the tank.

You added established plants, etc. but stated you are hoping to introduce "good algae on them." However, there is no good algae. You want beneficial bacteria, not algae. By introducing established decorations, you have attempted, hopefully successfully, to "seed" the new tank.

It is recommended that you stay absolutely on top of your water parameters. Perform partial water changes as would be indicated dependent upon your water parameters.

I strongly suggest you read the free aquarium Ebook located on the menu to your left. It contains a great deal of information that you need. I further recommend then that you research the cycling process so that you more clearly understand the process.

Hope all goes well, and please do keep us posted.

[freshwaterfishlover]

Your Crayfish must go in a 20g. look how big it is and how can it move in a 10g. It is recomanded 20g. Also the plants will be gone in a week or two. Crayfish will chow down on them like he did your Fish. Never saw my Crayfish eat plants since I don't have any in the tank, I have put fish in the tank and have seen it gramb them with in minutes even seconds. It almost killed a pleco once I had to gramb his claws off it. The Crayfish is by himself.

[1MileCrash]

Not clear about the 100% water changes though. Doing that large of a water change will eliminate any beneficial bacteria that is trying to colonize the tank.

that's what i was thinking as well.


You added established plants, etc. but stated you are hoping to introduce "good algae on them." However, there is no good algae. You want beneficial bacteria, not algae. By introducing established decorations, you have attempted, hopefully successfully, to "seed" the new tank.



bacteria...that's the word i was looking for. yes that's what i'm trying to do.

i've done something similar to this before with good results but i will definitely keep a close eye on the tank.

he's been in there for around an hour now. he's been hiding in his little temple...probably prayin that i don't kick his shelled butt. either way. he has shown good signs of activity and hasn't lost his blue coloration so at least he isn't stressed. i made the transfer fast.

[1MileCrash]

one other positive thing is that this allowed me to do about a 10 gallon water change on the 55 gallon tank.

[gm72]

That is indeed a positive. You will still experience a cycle, so stay right on top of it and you should be in good shape.

[YaYgoldFish]

the P has it at least partly correct. Old water does nothing but introduce a higher-than-desired level of nitrAte, among other things that you generally don't want. Not clear about the 100% water changes though. Doing that large of a water change will eliminate any beneficial bacteria that is trying to colonize the tank.

You added established plants, etc. but stated you are hoping to introduce "good algae on them." However, there is no good algae. You want beneficial bacteria, not algae. By introducing established decorations, you have attempted, hopefully successfully, to "seed" the new tank.

It is recommended that you stay absolutely on top of your water parameters. Perform partial water changes as would be indicated dependent upon your water parameters.

I strongly suggest you read the free aquarium Ebook located on the menu to your left. It contains a great deal of information that you need. I further recommend then that you research the cycling process so that you more clearly understand the process.

Hope all goes well, and please do keep us posted.

Thanks for the correction:9:

[gm72]

No problem, we are here to help each other! :c3:

[1MileCrash]

Your Crayfish must go in a 20g. look how big it is and how can it move in a 10g. It is recomanded 20g. Also the plants will be gone in a week or two. Crayfish will chow down on them like he did your Fish. Never saw my Crayfish eat plants since I don't have any in the tank, I have put fish in the tank and have seen it gramb them with in minutes even seconds. It almost killed a pleco once I had to gramb his claws off it. The Crayfish is by himself.

oh i know. i literally saw one minute him chowin down on a fish and the next minute i was in the shed digging out the 10 gallon tank. it's the only other tank that i have...i do have an octagon 30 gallon...but it's an octagon and it has a crack. anyway. i don't have the cash for a 20...it'll actually probably end up being a 29 gallon since i don't see any 20 gallons in my area...but i should have enough in the next couple of months. i don't think that he's going to outgrow the 10 gallon in a couple of months.

the plants are all plastic so i'm not really worried about that. if he wants to be an idiot and chew on them more power to him...but he'll be constipated for a week.

anyway. i got home around 1:45am and he's sittin in his little temple. he looks pissed at me but screw him. he won't come out of there either...but he's probably just scared and not used to his surroundings. perhaps he will move around a bit tonite while the lights are off.

[1MileCrash]

the lobster is up and moving around the tank today. he ate as soon as i dropped the pellets in to him so he must be doing at least fairly well.

the fish in the 55 gallon are doing extremely well. they are more colorful than ever and the snail is moving along the gravel substrate...something he didn't do before.

[RobbieG]

Glad to hear it - I wasn't sure if there would be any left:c3:

[gm72]

Glad to hear it is working out for you, 1Mile!

[1MileCrash]

i really have to learn to be quiet for a few days or something.

i watched another one of the tiger barbs die about 20 minutes ago...so i decided to check the water. i didn't bother checking nitrates cause i already know that there is algae in the tank.

ammonia came back at 0.00

nitrite came back at between 0.00 and 0.25...not bad

pH came in at 6.4

is that far enough off with the pH to warrant adding chemical to try and correct up to 7.0. would 6.4 potentially cause a fish to die while the rest are swimming around fine?

the barb was fine this morning but started the upside-down twitch swim thing and respiring poorly before he sank to the bottom and died. he didn't lose his coloration though which seemed odd to me.

any advice?