Need Help/Advice

[McFreeze]

Hi, everyone.  If you don't recognize the name, it's because I'm new here.

I used to have a 20 gallon tank in my childhood, but eventually for numerous reasons we had to get rid of it.  Well recently I've gotten a little 5.5 gallon tank for my room because I really enjoyed having an aquarium before.

I did everything that I thought I was supposed to.  I got the aquarium, a filter (don't know the exact name), heater, gravel etc.  I thoroughly washed everything and filled the tank with water.  Oh yeah, there's also an air stone (air curtain) and another decorative airstone.  

Anyway, I let the tank sit for over 24 hours (this was probably too short) and stabilized the temperature.

I went out and got 2 tiger barbs, 2 green tiger barbs and an algae eater...dont' know the actual name, but it's long and a beige colour.

Well everything seemed to be going fine (I got the fish on Friday...it's now Monday night).  However, I was told the temperature should be stabilized somewhere around 25 degrees, which seemed low.  After looking at various resources on the internet, it does seem too low.

Anyway, the fish, except the algae eater, are not active at all and seem to be just staying still, with their face pointed towards the gravel, as if they were feeding off it.  To me, from my experience, they look to be ill.

I'm obviously very new to having an aquarium and there's probably a ton of things that I've missed.

If anyone could suggest anything that I've done wrong, could improve on etc. or perhaps reasons for the fish not being that active, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ronrca]

One of the first questions that comes to my mind is have you cycled your tank prior to getting your fish? Following your sequence of events, I would gather that it would be your problem at the moment. Have you taken water condition measurements such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? That would be a good start. If your tank is cycling, you can buy products that help relieve ammonia and nitrite levels slightly by 'locking' them (some kind of chemical thingy). Worth looking into. Another recommend step is doing small water changes to lessen the amounts of poison (ammonia/nitrite).

Hope that helps!

 

[equinom]

When I started my tank, some of the promotional material that came in the AP test kits advised getting "Ammo-Lock" to help with ammonia.  Being a newbie, I marched off to the LFS to pick up my "Ammo-Lock"  (I figured if it was in print, it had to be correct... NOT!)

The LFS stocked it, but when I got to the checkout the employee said they did not recommend using that product.  They suggested fishless cycle, and then only adding small loads over several weeks.  Being that I had blown it and had already had fish in the tank, they said to do frequent water changes and to be careful not to over feed.
I decided to trust him, because he was losing a sale in order to provide valuable information.  So  I took him seriously.  It all worked out, but it did take time.

As far jump starting (or shortening) the cycle, the most effective thing I did was add some gravel from an established tank.  It may have been coincidence, but it seemed that once I added the gravel with the established bacteria, everything clicked in very short order.  Ammonia and nitrite levels went to zero in what felt to be a very short time, but as I said, it may just have been a coincidence between adding the gravel and the cycle completing.

You might want to check the articles section of the site, there's a good article on the nitrogen cycle...

Good luck and welcome.  I have found that most of the folks here are very helpful.