I am trying to prepare an aquarium, but everything is going wrong...?

Question

My betta Bow died today, so I am now trying to prepare an aquarium for a new family member, and try to avoid all the mistakes I made with Bow. I set up my 2.5 gallon tank with tap water, put a bowl buddy in it and let it sit for about 3 hours. I just tested the water, and that's when I found out what kind of poison soup Bow must've been swimming in. Hardness of the water was at 300ppm, Alkalinity at 300ppm, PH was at 8.4, and even though there's nothing living in there yet, the nitrite is between .5 and 1ppm. What is going on? How can I fix all that stuff? I don't want to start dumping chemicals in there, because that'll be hard on a fish, plus be a real bear when I have to change water! Does anyone have any advice?

Answer 1

Your tank is going through what's called a cycle process. I'm assuming it has a filter on it? If so, you'll want it to complete this process. Here's a link that explains it, click on how an aquarium cycles:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/startupcycle/Step_5_The_Cycle.htm

Now, you need to have an ammonia source in the tank. I'd recommend doing a fishless cycle, so you don't harm or kill the fish. I would pick up a salad or cocktail shrimp(frozen food section of the store), put it in a pair of nylons/pantyhose with the leg cut off. Knot it, and toss it in the tank and let it rot. That's your ammonia source. With nitrites showing up in the tank, it's about 1/2 done cycling, should take a few more weeks. You want your ammonia and nitrite to be at 0 ppm, and some nitrates showing. When those levels are reached, remove the shrimp, and do a water change to get the nitrates under 20 ppm. Then add your fish soon after that.

Then, you'll need to do weekly water changes of about 25% to keep the water quality good.

If there's no filter in the tank, dump all the water out, add new water, and when you add the fish, you'll need to do about a 50% water change every 3 days or so to keep the water quality good. With no filter, you do not want your tank to start cycling.

Now, your ph is a bit high, what kind of substrate do you have in the tank? Any sea shells, corals, rocks? Those could be raising the ph. If so, remove them. Another test you can do, get a glass of water from your tap. Test the ph. Leave it out, and test it about 12 hours later and see if changes. If so, then that's your problem, and you'll probably be best off using bottled spring water for your water changes. Stay away from the chemicals like ph up/ph down/ph neutral etc. They don't work unless you buffer your water, and you really need to know what you're doing. Otherwise, the ph will crash or rise dramatically, thus stressing/killing your fish.

You're smart trying to stay away from using chemicals as much as possible. They're not good for the fish overall, and usually all they do is mask problems, not solve them.

Answer 2

Try this: Run some tap water and test it right out of the tap. I've heard that some cities' water supplies contain nitrites before the fish even have at 'em. Test it again after it's sat overnight.

If you add a good water conditioner it will neutralize not only chlorine and chloramine, but ammonia and nitrites as well. I recommend Seachem Prime. Read the bottles though. Most of the common ones only do chlorine but there are several that are good.

Test the pH too. I don't trust any of those betta products at all; so many pet stores sell bettas as the most disposable fish ever. They don't expect them to live more than a few months. You might find that the pH of your tap water is alright but that it shifts radically after the Bowl Buddy tablets -- I don't know.

Also, ask your petstore what the pH of their water is. If it's just as high as yours, then it's not a huge problem for the bettas because they're already living in it. PLEASE DON'T buy chemicals to try and change it. They only work for a few hoursl at a time, and so your fish will be in constantly shifting ph, which is much more stressful than a stable, if unideal, pH.

I hope all that makes sense. If you'd like to chat with a lot of experienced, helpful betta owners I love the Aquahobby.com website's chat forum. There a lot of us betta addicts in there. ;)

Good luck!

Answer 3

Hi,
first of all empty the tank out wash everything in plain tap water then re-set up the tank. In the future i reccommend a partial water change twice a week, leave your fish in the tank and take no more than half the water out (quarter is better), add the required chemicals (detailed below) to the new water only.
as for chemicals, the water is different everywhere but basically you probably want to be using a chlorine and chloramine neutraliser(chlorine and chloromine basically burn the fish) and depending on the hardness of your tap water also a mineral salt. These chemicals are really easy to use and important for your fish's health.
Aim for a water hardness of 120ppm
a Neutral PH reading and no ammonia!
Only put a Betta in the tank as it is too small to house most other fish types.
Oh and another thing be careful not to over feed! fish only need a portion of food the size of their eye anymore will tend to quickly pollute the water causing unwanted ammonia spikes.
good luck :)

Answer 4

Test your tap water. the law allows nitrites to be around 7ppm that could be the start of your problems so it isn't anything you have done or not done. You have harder water with a higher ph which isn't always a bad thing. Your PH is going to be what it is and it is always best to LEAVE IT ALONE. Most fish do fine in elevated and lower PH the key is to keep it at one number.

There is an easy fix, let your tank cycle. You have been given a number of links to understand what is going on in the tank. You water needs to sit with no fish for about a week or two. this allows the beneficial bacteria to build in the tank. the ammonia and Nitrites will work hand in had feeding each other to produce nitrates which is a much less toxic form. Using a water conditioner dechlor is all you need no additional chemicals.

Answer 5

***disregard this post for the most part, you got other more knowledgeble answers here, but I still suggest a 10 gallon with a filter... then you would only have to change the water once a month with one or two fish in it***


I'm not so sure about rain water, could bring in all kinds of bugs and stuff. That's a very small tank and I know that Betta's can survive in little places...but will it be happy? Nitrates are caused by the breakdown of poop and you need to have a well-cycled aquarium to take care of the nitrates.

Cycling the tank allows beneficial bacteria to colonize, but I am not sure where they would live since a tank that size probably has no filtration. A filter would also move the water a bit adding necessary oxygen. I gotta suggest you get a 10 gallon tank with a filter that sits on the lip and has a "bio-course" for the bacteria to colonize. You could set the whole thing up pretty cheaply, under 50 bux if you look for a sale on a starter kit or something.

If your milk carton...ahem...I mean fish tank has a filter, you could cycle it with a "disposable" fish... AKA 50 cent feeder fish (I know, it's sad but he woulda gotten eaten anyway), just put him in the tank for a few weeks and if he doesn't croak, bring him back to the pet store.

Most people start with a small tank... and end up with a huge tank. I have a ten gallon with two goldfish (pond fishies temporarily displaced for pond renovations) and a 29 gallon with a few neons, a catfish, and various tetras. The guy who got me started with this has a 180 gallon (he can lay down in it if he wanted to), a 90, a 50 and a 20 gallon hospital tank... he's partial to cichlids because they match his attitude(obnoxious).

Just keep in mind that just because it's still moving does NOT mean it is healthy and happy.

Good Luck.... fishkeeping is awesome

Answer 6

sounds like your tap water is very hard. Did u use a water conditioner other than the bowl buddies, personally i like stress coat,

But also u might not have any other choice but to use chemicals. Most chemicals arent that badfor fish, or they wont make it. Try looking into jungle buddies, my personal favorite.

They make a product like perfect water or something, point is it is a water buffer that will lower your ph to a 7.something range, and lower your hardness.

the ammonia will go away or level out after a WC. Do you have a filter on the tank? this will also help lower ammonia.

Answer 7

Use bottled water. A one gallon jug at the grocery store costs about $1.00

No chemicals needed. I've been doing this with my bettas for years and it works great.

Answer 8

here is another link regards cycling a tank
http://www.firsttankguide.net/

You will know when your tank is cycled when your ammonia and nitrite levels are at "0" and your nitrate levels start to show


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 9

one advice is never give them tap water. I did it with my second Betta and died the very next day. u'll also need fish drops to maintain the water clean

Answer 10

If your tap water is so bad then I suggest that you buy bottled water or use rain water. Poor little Bow :(