How do you clean a 2.5 gallon fish tank?

Question

I have a fantail goldfish in a 2.5 gallon tank. What is the proper way to clean the tank? I tried to clean it tonight but I think I messed up because I'm pretty sure my fish is dying... =( Please help.

I have a fantail goldfish in a 2.5 gallon tank. What is the proper way to clean the tank? I tried to clean it tonight but I think I messed up because I'm pretty sure my fish is dying... =( Please help.

[EDIT]
My fish did die. I know everybody keeps saying I need a bigger tank..I didn't know. When I bought it, the guy said you need 1 gallon for every inch of fish and the fish was only 2 inches, if that. So he said the tank would be fine. And yes, the tank does have a filter. Thank you all for helping.

Answer 1

To keep that fish properly you need a 30 gallon tank or larger. Fantails can grow up to 8 inches long. Please upgrade the tank.

As for cleaning, if it's filtered, you will need to do water weekly water changes of about 50%. That means emptying out half of the water every week, with a gravel vacuum, and replacing it with fresh water treated with dechlorinator. The water needs to be the same temperature.

If it's not filtered (which it needs to be- goldfish create lots of waste very quickly.) then you need to be changing all of the water every single day.

That's all I can suggest with the amount of information given, many different things could have gone wrong for you. But if you want to keep fancy goldfish, please get a larger tank. They will not live long at all in a tank that small. Good luck :)

Answer 2

Like everyone else has said, that is way too small a tank for a goldfish. The typical rule of thumb is for every inch of fish, you should have three gallons, and that's counting the adult size of your fish. When you added the new water, did you put dechlorinator or water conditioner in it. Chlorine is very toxic to fish and will kill them very quickly. Do you have a filter on your tank. Goldfish are notoriously dirty fish and having a filter will help keep your water cleaner and prevent ammonia build up. You should have a gravel vacuum for cleaning to gravel and performing partial water changes, at least weekly if you are going to have such a small tank. For more information, just search the internet, there are a lot of helpful sites out there. Hope your fish makes it.

Answer 3

if its a square tank, i use a credit card or similar type card, and i scrape the sides off, whut u could do is get a small fountain pump, and construct a wet\dry filter, i made mine from an old plastic coffee can, 3 dollars worth of sponges, and carbon filter packs, look into the basic concept and design of a wet\dry filter, it is 2 sources of bactieria, and bactieria is needed for a clean healthy tank, if u replace too much water, u will disrupt the bactieria,u can change the water up to a max 50% a day (average 30%) untill the cloudiness discipates. To de-chlorinate the water, simply fill a bucket and let it sit for 24 hours, chlorine is a gas and evaporates naturaly, if u aided ur tank and messed up big time, i would recommend methalyne blue, just a few drops, take out any carbon as it absorbs the methalyne blue, simply replace 30% of water daily untill the blue is gone, or u put ur carbon back in. Another thing u could do is get plants and put them in the tank, the plant would provide oxygen and beneficial bactieria, whlie the fish's waste would fee the plant, therefore being less maintinence to the tank. Just remember the bacteria culture in the tank, as it is most crucial, if u destroy the bactierial culture, u destroy the tanks eco system. On yet another note, there is a natural remedy for Ick and other surface disorders, u can mix in some salt with a 30% water replace, just put in a teaspoon of salt in a bucket of water that has been sitting for 24 hours, and pour the water in, i suspect the tank being short, so it would be a good idea to use ur hand as a screen to break teh current of pouring water entering the tank, stirring up the bottom of a gravel tank can unbalance the bactierial culture, just place ur hand below the waters surface, and pour the water on ur hand, BE SURE TO WASH UR HANDS before putting ur hands in any tank, i should have noted this before but i as im too lazy to go back up and find a place to put it in. A penny in the tank would kill off any parasites, the copper releases something that kills them off, i dunno how it works, but it works well, once the copper penny starts to be easten, remove it and dont put a fresh one in, ive seen bactieria culture put holes in pennies, thats a good sign of healthy bactieria, u need that healty bactieria, it eats away at the waste from the fish, as well as any food the fish didnt eat, a sign of a healthy tank is the fish seem more active and are almost as if they are always hungry. any sign of foam buildup on the side walls or cloudyness just replace water, and ull be fine.

If the fish goes berserk every time u open the freezer to get frozen brine shrimp, u knoe ur doing a good job.

Answer 4

i keep bettas in 2 1/2 gallons and here is how i clean most of the time --

1) take all the decorations out and put them in the sink and wash them off with hot water

2)wipe down the inside of the tank with paper towels or a sponge made just for your aquarium (you don't want a regular sponge -- they are packaged with chemicals in them to keep them from getting dry and stinky)

3) with a gravel vacuum clean the gravel and empty all the water until there is just enough for the fish on the bottom.

4) refill the tank with fresh water that has a water conditioner in it to take care of the chlorines and stuff. oh and put back the decorations too.

not that hard -- every once in a while you will want to take your fish out (i put them in plastic food containers with lids) and clean the gravel with some hot water and slosh it around in the bottom of the tank some. a 2 1/2 gallon with a goldfish can get pretty messy down there so you probably want to clean every 5 to 7 days.

never use soap -- if for some reason you feel like you have to use soap use dish soap and NEVER a spray, floorcleaner, anything but a little dish soap and rinse it really well after.

how do you think you messed up?

Answer 5

Well on a regular basis, when the glass of the tank gets to get a little cloudy/dirty, take a clean dishrag or sponge (that hasn't been used) and just wipe down all the sides. Don't ever clean in the water with cleaning chemicals as this can poison your fish.

Also you don't want to always totally empty out the tank and clean it every time it looks diry.. you want to often just wipe down the glass (which you can do with the water in there, just use no chemicles) and then ever few months or so empty out untill there is about an inche left of water, wipe it down with a warm washer and wash the tank decorations , and then fill it back up and declorize the tank with a fish product made to take chlorine out of the water as this can poison fish too. You also dont want to alywas totally empty the tank out also because the water has special nutrients and such for fish that you don't always want to get rid of.

But first in formost is making sure you are not using strong chemicals to clean the tank as they can be left on the tank and hurt fish and 2nd of all is dechlorine the water everytime you put new tap water in there (with the fish out to make it safe beforehand)

Answer 6

first and foremost, fantails get to be 6 to 8 inches. they need 10gallons to themselves when young and 20gallons to themselves as adults. get your goldfish a proper tank and you won't need to (and shouldn't) clean it beyond weekly 20%water changes which is simply sucking 20% of the water from he bottom of the tank and replacing it with clean conditioned water.

but, to clean a 2.5 gallon tank depends on the set up. if it has a filter, suck up 20% of the water weekly and replace it with clean conditioned water. if it does not have a filter change the water once or twice a week (although once a day if you're trying to keep a goldfish in it, they're little poop machines). put the fish in a cup full of the tank water, then dump the tank water out and put the stone in a colander. rinse the tank and wipe down (you can rinse with a bit of white vinegar too just rinse off with water afterwards). then rinse the gravel. put the gravel back in and fill up with new conditioned water that's the same temp as the water the fish is in currently. then put the fish in the tank.

Answer 7

sorry to hear that your fish died
only do a 25% water change every 2 weeks as you stated you hsve a filter this should help the water DONOT USE CHEMICALS ever! even if you clean the outside of the glass with a cleaner this can get into the water so please be careful up grade your tank and maybe get some mollies as they are easy to keep so are tiger barbs and neons they like to be kept in a colony but u will find that shops sell them in colonies also i would advise you to buy a device that looks like the famouse p***s enlarger on austin powers (lol) but this cleans the gravel or sand on the bottom of your tank (it can be shown working to you in the shop hope this helps and good luck with your new tank

Answer 8

I have a 20 gallon aquarium and the easiest way by far is using a Gravel Vacuum (Syphon). This way you don't have to remove everything and upset the fish any more than nescessary. It sucks everything out of the gravel. To clean ornaments, I usually take them out and rinse/scrub down with tap water even though this is frowned upon due to chemicals and minerals in the water. I have never had any problems with it though.

Answer 9

Sorry they will tell you anything to make a sale. Goldfish actually need 10 gallons per fish. Clean it out and you will have a perfect home for a beautiful Betta!

Answer 10

tsk tsk tsk.........fish needs lots of room.....that guy who said that crap about space is wrong......get a ten gallon and ur fish should b fine