I've got a BIG problem.

FishySuzy

Well the other day, I changed my 10 gallon over to sand. Everything was fine.
No problems. Today, I did my 25 gallon. Did about a 60% change and almost left everyone in because they're kinda too big for my 10 gallon to hold while I'm waiting for everything to settle. I had one cory, 2 gold, my kissing gourami, and my clown pleco in a net to keep them separate from everyone else. This apparently was a bad idea. I had my 2 other golds, one cory, and my 2 angels in the water while I was taking the gravel and cleaning the water. I put the sand in about 5 and about 8:30, my golds were looking very miserable and my angels were pretty lethargic as well.
This may be due to my lack of any levels which I don't understand. My filter had water in it the whole time and I even left about a table spoon of the original gravel in the water while I poured the sand in.
Nothing was clearing up so I put some clarify in but that didn't do anything.
I took EVERYONE out (Which I wish I could have gotten video of because we had to use the colander. My angels are too big for my net.) and I put them in my 10 gallon. Everyone looks fine now and I've got the angels in with the guppies but everyone else is in a breeders net. EVERYONE is in my 10 gallon and like I said, doing GREAT, but my family is worried about what I'm gonna do.
I need to get this fixed fast.
HELP.

xrayjeeper83

so is the water just cloudy?

When i added sand to my 5g it took 2 days for the water to start clearing up. it was just sand that was floating

FishySuzy

Nein. I tested my water and everything is at zero. When I did my 10 gallon, the water didn't get cloudy or anything.

Mikaila31

I would put them back in the main tank. It sounds more like stress then anything. Its best to leave the fish free in the tank when changing substrate. If you have to remove them a rubbermaid container would of been fine for the time you needed. Your 10 gal is overloaded now and if the fish remain in their then water quality is going to go bad fast. Adding sand will leave your tank cloudy for a few days their is nothing you can do about that. If you have access to spare filter you can pack it with filter floss to speed things up.

FishySuzy

Mmm. Thanks Mikaila. I'm going to fill the tank back up tonight/in the morning.

I just can't... I don't wan't to put them in mirky water. You know?

FishySuzy

(Ugh, I feel like I'm spamming my own thread now)
It's just, I don't want to risk what happened again. The golds were swimming on their side/back and that's just a BAD sign, you know?

rsn48

Basic question, did you treat the new water your tank to take out the nasties like chlorine, etc. You are really starting a tank from scratch which means your fish could be in trouble and you'll start loosing them. If what I'm saying is true, get stuff like Prime or Aqua + to treat your new water. Purchase (small bottle) some Seachem Stability to add to your tank, follow the directions exactly, and don't miss a day when dosing. Start the Seachem as soon as you can (translation: tomorrow).

FishySuzy

RSN, I did treat the water. I know better.

Byron

A warning: you mentioned using water clarifier in the first post. Do NOT put any fish in this tank until you do a major water change, 3/4 of the tank, and condition the water (regular water conditioner). The clarifier chemicals work (when they work) by binding small particulate matter into larger particles that the filter can then trap. Unfortunately, they also do this to the fish's gills. If the fish are absolutely healthy, they can usually withstand this though it stresses them considerably which weakens them. But if they are already stressed, as they clearly are, this could well kill them.

I wouldn't be surprised if this may not have been the initial issue anyway. I speak from experience, years ago I used one of these and quickly regretted it; a major water change saved my fish. Never use clarifiers; the sand will clear, and if it were something else, the source needs to be identified and handled.

Byron.

FishySuzy

Thanks so much Byron. I think you just cracked the case of the sideways siamese golds! (I some times call them Hamsters.)