Hello everyone! I joined this site to learn more about responsible fish-keeping and building aquariums. To be honest, I'm in desperate need of advice right now.
I fell into a trap about two weeks ago when I got some terrible advice from the pet shop and ended up buying my son a small 12L beginner fish tank set with 6 white cloud mountain minnows (3 are white and 3 are black I think?). I was told to just set up the tank (clean the gravel and ornaments, dechlorinate water and run the filter for 24 hours) and then put the fish in. I got all my advice from my dad who used to own fish and the guy at the pet shop which now looking back was absolutely awful and I've been having numerous problems but I want to save these fish so could really use some help (I'm an absolute noob).
After a few days from putting the fish in, I noticed the water clouded up which I associated with bacterial bloom, but I also had an overfeeding problem (kids fed too much food) and the filter got really clogged so I had to do a partial water change and then got some debris out of the filter (rinsed the filter medium in old tank water). The following week, I noticed some fish darkening their colour and some losing their colour, but they were eating fine and swimming around okay but hanging around the filter a lot. I got some water testing strips and saw the ammonia was high but all other parameters were fine, so I've done daily water changes (20%) skipped a day on feeding and cleaned a LOT of leftover food from the gravel and bottom of the tank. I've done my best to not touch the filter media or move the fish, and their colours are normalizing now after the ammonia levels dropped but am still proceeding with daily water changes until it gets to safe levels, minimal feeding and removal of leftover food and I've also added a small airstone just in case.
I know I screwed up not cycling the tank and stressing these poor fish, so I researched and I've bought: a 42 Litre tank, black gravel-sand for the substrate, java moss + a driftwood ornament to strap it to (I mistakenly bought an ornament instead of actual driftwood ), java fern, a new filter for the tank size. My plan is to cycle this new tank setup as soon as it arrives and move the fish over as soon as possible while constantly maintaining the fish in their original tank.
I don't exactly know how to setup the new tank so would really appreciate any advice on how to set up the new tank properly and if I can make it easier on the fish in the tank at the moment. I was considering washing and quarantining the java moss for a week and adding it to the tank to help control the ammonia levels, but the tank hasn't cycled yet so I'm unsure. I do notice what I think are ammonia burns around the gills so that's my main reason for wanting to get a plant in asap.
Any help is greatly appreciated thank you so much
I fell into a trap about two weeks ago when I got some terrible advice from the pet shop and ended up buying my son a small 12L beginner fish tank set with 6 white cloud mountain minnows (3 are white and 3 are black I think?). I was told to just set up the tank (clean the gravel and ornaments, dechlorinate water and run the filter for 24 hours) and then put the fish in. I got all my advice from my dad who used to own fish and the guy at the pet shop which now looking back was absolutely awful and I've been having numerous problems but I want to save these fish so could really use some help (I'm an absolute noob).
After a few days from putting the fish in, I noticed the water clouded up which I associated with bacterial bloom, but I also had an overfeeding problem (kids fed too much food) and the filter got really clogged so I had to do a partial water change and then got some debris out of the filter (rinsed the filter medium in old tank water). The following week, I noticed some fish darkening their colour and some losing their colour, but they were eating fine and swimming around okay but hanging around the filter a lot. I got some water testing strips and saw the ammonia was high but all other parameters were fine, so I've done daily water changes (20%) skipped a day on feeding and cleaned a LOT of leftover food from the gravel and bottom of the tank. I've done my best to not touch the filter media or move the fish, and their colours are normalizing now after the ammonia levels dropped but am still proceeding with daily water changes until it gets to safe levels, minimal feeding and removal of leftover food and I've also added a small airstone just in case.
I know I screwed up not cycling the tank and stressing these poor fish, so I researched and I've bought: a 42 Litre tank, black gravel-sand for the substrate, java moss + a driftwood ornament to strap it to (I mistakenly bought an ornament instead of actual driftwood ), java fern, a new filter for the tank size. My plan is to cycle this new tank setup as soon as it arrives and move the fish over as soon as possible while constantly maintaining the fish in their original tank.
I don't exactly know how to setup the new tank so would really appreciate any advice on how to set up the new tank properly and if I can make it easier on the fish in the tank at the moment. I was considering washing and quarantining the java moss for a week and adding it to the tank to help control the ammonia levels, but the tank hasn't cycled yet so I'm unsure. I do notice what I think are ammonia burns around the gills so that's my main reason for wanting to get a plant in asap.
Any help is greatly appreciated thank you so much