an uphill battle and im losing!

[diskboy]

Ok, death. It's a part of nature right? Well in my tank I think it's a daily occurance. It all started when I had to move into our new house and all 75 gallons of fish tanks. We didn't have any running water persay in the house yet so I had to carry buckets, upon buckets, upon buckets of water from my grandmothers house to the new house in order to fill the 55 and 20 gal.. Well I did all i could for the 55 (about 1/4 full) for the night as I knew we would have water the next day; my dad was hooking it up.
I finally got it filled up the next day; the "old fashioned way" buckets and more buckets because our new faucets were screw outs not ins and I couldn't get my python to attach to any of them. I get it filled and start the filter again, and everything settles down and is nice. About a week latter the pair of mollies kicked the bucket, then two of my brichardi, a couple flamebacks, then the rest of the brichardi stock(4). I added salt for a couple days thinking it was ich to everything calming down again. Then the next day i dicided to make a percation and add a couple ich tabs in. Now everything is going ok, all I have left is my three discus, a blue ahli, BN plec, and a red eye tetra. The filter needs to be replaced badly and i don't think the deeper sand bed was such a good idea. I need to fully clean this baby out and get a new filter ASAP and add some fresh sand maybe even regular gravel. Since the new year in high school my academics have been coming first and I have barely had time to do weekly 50-60% WC. my fish are bigger now and the smallest little runt dosn't seem to be fairing to well the the perdicament. I have so many things to do and try to keep my grade up. What is any easier way to do the daily task without forking over an arm and a leg? What else should I get new for my tank when I strip it down CLEAN? Any suggestions on how to juggle this habit and work please let me know?

Thanks for any help, which i hope there is alot of because I know there are alot of good hearted people in here.

Kevin (in a perdicument) Bullis

[fishmama]

Well Kevin...I can certainly say you are a hard worker!!!

My first thought is that your tanks are recycling. Did you have any seeded material (e.g. sponges) in the new tanks to keep the nitrifying bacteria in process? Have you tested your Ammonia and Nitrite?

What are the general water parameters in your tank (e.g. pH and temp). Do they match the previous aquariums. And what type of water conditioner are you using? Are you using tap water, if so what is the quality coming out of the tap?

HTH
Fishmama

[marilyn1998]

My thoughts exactly. You are virtually starting over, even if you seeded the tanks upon move. You probably had hours where the tanks were not running. Your fish are reacting to ammonia and nitrite poisoning. Have you checked with test kits?

THe best way to get through the recycling is WATER CHANGES. I know, you dont have alot of time, but drain and fill. Use your prime or amquel each day.

Dont worry about lighting, filters, depth of sand and such for now. Let that tank settle and the fish settle in from the move.

You can do the filter later.


While you are doing the drain and fill, study next to the tank. Your python should help you there. You can get a piece for it to work with your new faucets.


HTH and Good Luck

[diskboy]

Yes, I did add a seeded sponge filter to the new "cleaner" water. I never really gave it a thought on the perameters but we are getting it from the same water supply. We have a well and all water that comes from that is pure and has no addatives (I checked the straight taps perameters), the tank now for perameters has

ph. 8.2
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrate 2.0ppm

[diskboy]

i took a handful of sand out of the bottom just now and it smelled fould i think this might be the culprit besides nitrate and ammonia poisoning. I am taking the sand out as we speak. I want to have a BB for a couple more months to save some money then get some more fish and let everybody settle down. I really do need a filter though because the one now is going to kick the bucket any day now.

thanks for the advice though you guys.