Tank question?

Question

I recently changed my filter system and water in my tank (55 gallon) about a week ago.Of course all the fish died off due to the ammonia levels but my algae eater survived and is doing well.My question is, what can I buy or should I buy to treat the water so it is safe for new fish? And does the algae eater make bacteria colonies necessary for the tank? Thank you.

Answer 1

Changing your filter removed all of the bacteria. There are products to lower ammonia levels, but these are only temporary solutions. You should have put some media from your old filter in the new one so you don't lose bacteria. Too late now. An algea eater makes the bacteria colony even more necessary, because most algae eaters are big producers of waste.(what kind do you have, there is no fish called "algae eater") Youare going to have to cycle your tank again. Since your "algae eater" is still there, just leave him in there alone and monitor your levels closely to keep ammonia and nitrite below .25. In a week or 2 you will be able to start slowly introducing new fish.


KING BUNNY: I don't think the asker needs to add "fish" to the title, considering this is the FISH section. lol

Answer 2

The bacteria in your tank are to convert toxic substances (ammonia and nitrite) to nitrate. These usually live in the gravel as well as the filter. They aren't what your algae eater is going to eat.

The algae eater will provide bacteria to your tank in his "poop", but this will take a while to completely cycle your tank again. The exact amount of time can't be predicted, but will fall between 2 weeks and 2 months. You can add a product called "Cycle", which can help things along. The only way to know for certain that the tank has completely cycled is to do water tests for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. One your ammonia and nitrites are both 0 and your nitrates start to rise, the cycling process isn't complete. To keep the algae eater healthy (ammonia and nitrites are both toxic), you'll need to do periodic water changes. See this website for the process: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm - you have to scroll down the page a little!

In the future, you could run both filter systems on the tank for a while (adjust the flow so it's not too much current for your fish) so the old filter's bacteria can continue to their job while the new filter builds its own bacterial population.

Answer 3

You can buy chemicals at pet store to adjust ammonia level, apply chemicals and wait few days before adding fish,The algae eater is fine the bacteria levels in the tank are reset by bacteria on glass and in gravel along with "poop" from algae eater, but all will take a little time for the environment to replenish itself.

Answer 4

Thats a shame and totally avoidable.
what you should do , (and im assuming this is a freswater tank),
you should have dipped out enough water into a bowl to hold the fish til your done, first thing.

after you refill the tank with water you need to add a chemical called Start Right, it can be found at any pet shop or wal-mart, one drop per 10 gallons of water, you also need to add what is called aquarium salt (1 tsp. per 10 gallons of water, this is for freshwater tanks, it helps with the gills of the fish , you should heat it in a pan of water over the stove until it disolves and add it and turn on your circulatory pumps before you return the fish to the tank. It was the chlorine in the water that killed your fish and the start right will take care of that, the algae eater is a much more hardy fish and able to withstand greater environmental changes, all he does is keep the tank clean. check the temperature of the water before returning fish to the tank, adjust accordingly, when its time to return the fish you should always place the fish in a large water proof plastic bag with the original water that you had them in the bowl with and set bag and all into the tank for about 30 minutes before releasing the fish, this works every time for me. Good luck next time

P.S. I am also assuming that these are small species tropical fish i.e. guppies, swordtails and so forth.

Answer 5

Perhaps you should add the word "Fish" to your question. I assumed this was about the kind of tanks that kill things.