huge problem with Aquarium setup

blkhawkz

I got an Aquarium tank and complete setup as a present from a friend. He's been using that tank for almost a year. There's a 1/2 inches layer of stones at the bottom of the tank.

As soon as I brought it from his home, I washed (without using detergent) and set it up. After filling tap water and some salts, I instantly put some fresh water fishes. It's unusual that there're a lot of bubbles coming out on the surface of water. After a few hours, fishes kept on dying one after another.

I don't know what I did wrong but it's really sad to see the fishes buying which might be because of wrong set up. Thanks for ur help in advance.

(PS. I live in Singapore and it's believed that tap water is highly chlorinated)

JohnnyD44

First of all, welcome to the Forum!!!

When you got this tank from a friend....was it being used up until the minute you got it from him? Or was it dormant(broken down in the basement)?? If the later of two is the case, then chances are your beneficial bacteria which you friend would have built up over the year, is now dead. If the filter were to sit, all the good beneficial would have dried out.....which means you're starting from scratch....which can be a good thing.

At the same time, all of that could be meaning less if you did not use a water conditioner. Water conditioners are critcial when it comes to water in aquarium. They remove a killer to fish....which would be chlorine, and if you said you have high chlorine in your water in singapore....your fish would be dead regardless of what has/had happened with the filter from your friend....

A Few questions
1- Above, was the filter being used in the tank until the day you broke it down and moved it?
2- What size tank is it?
3- What kind of filter are you running on your tank?
4-What kind of fish have you bought?
5-Can you get a test of your water? nitrite,ammonia,nitrate and ph?
6- Are you using any kind of water conditioner to remove chlorine before you added it to your tank?

Give us the answer to those questions, and we'll go from there....

and again Welcome!!!

Johnny

Twistersmom

Hello and welcome to the forum!
All great questions from Johnny. Try to answer them and hopefully we can figure out whats going wrong.

blkhawkz

hi Johnny and Twistersmon, what a warm welcome from the forum! thx.

Johnny, actually I'm a quite a starter to aquarium fishes and I'm not sure how to do water testing. Do i need to use some sort of litmus paper for this?

And yes, my friend's been using it until the day I got from him and he told me there are still those beneficial bacteria at the bottom of the tank. Unfortunately though i was hopeless of what to do and wipe-clean the whole tank after fishes died. I removed everything including stones.

Answering to questions you asked,
1. filter is the old one and being used until the day i got from my friend
2. it is a 90liter tank
3. filter used is some sort of sponge ( is there any better type?)
4. fishes are Lionheads and Red head Angels
6. i used aquarium salt hoping that it will de-chlorinate the water. But soon after i put salts, I didn't wait any longer and put the fishes.

Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate that.
Looking to hear from you!

MoneyMitch

sounds like you being impatient killed the fish. you say the water over there is highly chlorinated and that you added fish right after you filled it up. the issue is simple,

1. add water
2. add water conditioner
3. WAIT 48HRS UNTIL YOU ADD FISH.


by the way all the bac in the tank is dead since you rinsed it with tap water and yes even in ur filter. goodluck and read into things a little more before you go rushing in. Money

Twistersmom

Salt will not dechlorinate water. Its best not to use salt in the aquarium at all, unless treating for ick or disease.

You did kill all the good cycle bacteria with the tear down. I would go buy a good water conditioner such as Prime. Prime is great for new tanks, because it not only dechlorinates, but helps detoxify ammonia and nitrites that will develop while the tank goes through the cycling stage. All new water needs to be treated.

New tanks, best only to start out with only couple fish. You are going to need a water testing kit, sold for aquarium use. The API liquid freshwater testing kit is a good one.
Test daily, preform water changes to keep both ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm.

The best way to acclimate new fish, is to either put the bag in the tank or place the fish and water in a bucket. You want to slowly add your water to the water they came with. No more than a quarter cup every 15 minutes. Keep doing this till more than 1/2 the water they are in is your own tank water.
This will help the fish to adapt to the changes in your water. Sudden changes can throw the fish into shock.