Disaster Management ~ All help appreciated!

[Jen2]

Three weeks ago my husband and I took over a 75G tank from one of his co-workers after doing tons of waffling back and forth (and research) on what sort of tank we wanted or if we really wanted one. We came across an amazing deal on a fantastic setup and decided there was no time like the present.

We were very aware of what a major move might do to the fish; we took as many precautions as we could to keep the biological filter/cycling in place... kept water, gravel, etc., and successfully moved the tank over 35 miles from one home to another with no ill effects to the fish.

Everyone settled in very well (the Spotted Catfish/Plechs) took awhile to come out of their hidey holes, but everyone else was great from the start.

We have:
1- Red-tailed Shark appx 4"
2- Bala Shark, 6" and 4"
2- Parrothead Cichlids, 6" and 4"
2- Tiger Barbs, 1.5" or so
1- female Molly, 2"
2- male Mollies, 1.5"
2- Spotted Catfish/Plech, 7" and 4"

UNTIL YESTERDAY.

While I was showering/dressing yesterday morning our little girl dumped an entire large canister of TetraMin Tropical Crisps (2.4 oz... I had JUST refilled it) into the tank.

I flipped out and went into crisis management... By the time I was able to set up a temporary home for them and transfer them over, most of the fish looked terrible and I was sure we were going to lose them all. The Red-Tail was totally white, the cichlids were gasping and very pale...

I worked all morning (well all day...) in a fit of high blood pressure to try to save them and once I moved them into their temporary home they immediately perked up. But they were obviously incredibly stressed and very aggressive with each other and my husband and I decided there was no way we'd be able to keep them in such small quarters ~ we were almost sure they'd not make it through the night anyway.

So we spent all afternoon cleaning the tank decor, and filtering, filtering, filtering, washing, washing, washing, the gravel until we were able to come up with clear water. We cleaned out the filter but kept the pads (its a Rena Filstar 2) and refilled and treated the tank water with StressZyme, StressCoat and Aquarium Salt.

And we put our guys back in... and I watched in heartbreak and waited until I couldn't watch anymore and went to bed.

So far we've only lost one fish, our small Bala Shark.

We HAD to change the water... there was no choice. But what can we do now to help the rest of them? We realize the cycling time will be weeks... So far everyone seems to be back at home in the tank, the cichlids are hiding out a little more than usual but that seems expected.

I tested our water a little while ago and we're sitting here:

pH 7.5
gH 120
kH 180
Ammonia .25
NO2 .5
NO3 20

Advice? Suggestions? Anxiety pills?

Thanks in advance!

 

[lauraf]

Booze will work too.
No, seriously, you are just going to have to do a fish-in cycle. Meaning daily water changes and tests. It sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable about fish, so you should be okay. Maybe you can introduce some good bacteria right away by adding some gunk from a healthy tank at your local fish store to help things along?

 

[anshuman]

first of all chill. what happened happened.

You already know cycling with happen. So you will not get another shot of surprise for the next month.


Do you have prime? kept buckets of water ready and make 30-50% water change every other day, if nitrite spike as cycling goes, make more than 50% w.c.

I think there were no plants in tank, otherwise, silent-cycle would have cleared your tank within a week , rather than the now 3-4 weeks of cycle.


again chill. .

 

[Jen2]

Thanks, guys, for the anxiety check.

Unfortunately, no, we didn't have live plants. The old owners didn't have any and we hadn't added any ~ it's something we wanted to do but hadn't because we didn't want to make large changes too soon. *add hysterical laughter here* We had just passed the three-week mark and the day before what will now be referred to as "The Dump" my husband and I did a weekly PWC/gravel vacuum and replaced all the filter pads for new ones. We had just sat back the night before and congratulated ourselves for how fantastic everything was looking. *realizes now what a mistake that was, LOL*

Is it worth adding live plants at this point? If it will help things along and make things easier on the fish I would happily jet over to the pet shop and plant the thing up and see what happens.

 

[anshuman]

try to get some bunch of javamoss if you can, the more the better, you can tie this to decorations etc. the fish with LOOOVEEE it.


BTW the javamoss acts like sponge for nitrate/nitrite spikes that are going to happen, it wont simply absorb all nitrite spikes but will soak up good amount (if there is good amount out light, i.e 2 watt/per/gallon, you might even see pearling of oxygen bubbles, this is fantastic sign).

Javamoss can be start if you want to add plants later (if the fish allow you , i.e).

EDIT:

I had absolutely no knowledge of cycling tanks some 6 months ago, i raised goldfish in bowl for 2+yrs and when i put them in brand new tank, i was confused on their gasping and avoiding food for days after being perky for 1 week in new tank, i stumbled on mft and opened a thread, I then learned i didnt cycle tank and I am basically seeing my goldfish die slowly. I was absolutely mortified , because the fish were raised by them literally, not bought for pennies from shop (I might have cared less which is sad too).

I soon learned plants will help them calm down and destress faster, I bought amazon swords and it saved me, I don't think it helped that much in cycling water (the filter media and changes of water did) but the fish relaxed under the amazons instead of dashing on glass in stress/anger and sitting down literally dying. There is epic there here how i was literally counting days/hours till they die.

BTW those same pair have breeded like bulls on viagra and they are doing beautiful. (the pair in my avatar, male is now 10"+ long female around 6"+ long. fancy reddish golden goldfish.

My attempt to cheer u up.