Major tank cleaning and problems

[AquaNewby182]

After a period of about 9 months of neglect where my tank was overrun with brown algae and very infrequent water changes , I'm attempting to get my 29G tank back into top shape. Last weekend,

-I drained about 35% of the water to temporary containers and added the fish (3 zebra danios, 1 lamp eye tetra, 1 otocinclus, 1 upside down catfish)
- After draining the tank and removing the gravel, I then scrubbed the tank with an algae brush and a safe cleaning spray from the LFS.
- Thoroughly cleaned the filter, replaced the carbon, retaining the old foam (and its bacteria)
- Thoroughly rinsed the original tank, added fresh gravel (that was rinsed well)
- Added fresh conditioned water and the 35% original water, new decorations, air hose, a stocking containing a few handfuls of the original gravel, etc.
-Then added the fish

Now it has been 1 week,

PH = 7.4 ppm
ammonia = 0ppm
nitrite = 0ppm

I discovered the lamp eye tetra floating at the top of the tank this morning
I suspect I replaced too much water during the process. It's unclear to me whether the tank will recycle or whether it already cycled due to the foam and original gravel.. The Upside down catfish seemed to be flapping his fins (in his hiding spot) a whole lot more than he ever has done during the last few years. Not sure what to do, water change?, no water change?, in the past folks here have discouraged adding any PH leveling powder..

Any thoughts on what if anything needs to be done? Remove the catfish to a temporary tank?

Will the tank have to recycle?

Thanks
AquaNewby182

 

[Pure]

After a weeks time...what's done is done. It sounds like everything you did was ok. If the tank was going to mini cycle you would have some ammonia readings by now, so i don't think that is going to happen.

As for your fish..well you didn't say how you acclimated them to the new tank water, so improper acclimation is the only thing i can guess happened to the tetra. every one else could just be stressed form the ordeal as well as getting used to the new tank surroundings.

 

[AquaNewby182]

Thanks for the quick response!

And just to be clear, I removed all of the original gravel retaining just a few handfuls in a stocking.. Guess that doesn't necessarily require a mini-cycle since the water/foam and bits of old gravel have the proper bacteria??
BTW, do test chemicals have any sort of expiration date? Don't see it on the bottles but they are about three years old.. Just wondering if my readings are accurate.

As far as acclimation, that is probably where I screwed up.. I was thinking that since I had 35% of the original water and the new water was near the correct temperature that no acclimation was needed. Should I have gradually mixed old and new water in a container for 30 minutes or so? Can bad acclimation cause a dead fish after a week?

Thanks
AquaNewby182

 

[Pure]

Test chems should be replaced every yr. Yes they do expire and loose their accuracy.

If bad acclimation was going to kill a fish it is normally within the 1st 24 hrs or much sooner like minutes after they have been added. since they were already in a bucket, you should have drip acclimated them...That would have been the easiest way anyhow, to get them used to the tanks PH as well as the temp.

Inaccurate readings could be the cause of the fish death as well as the hard breathing, both are indicative of ammonia/nitrite poisoning. So get a new test set just to double check your levels.

Other than that it's really hard to say and trying to do so would only be guessing.

Also...sometimes fish just die.