crud water

[laylacast]

Quick question: My sister decided to over feed the tank by a huge amount. I
mean huge. (like, way). I've vacuumed and scooped out as much as I could,
but there still is a lot of food decaying on the bottom. Is there any quick
way to get it out without killing my neons? I don't have another tank to
move them too temporarily, and in another life I killed a bunch of them
inadvertently because of stressing them with large a water change. Too much
stress. I don't want to do it again. Fish killing isn't fun.

Mike.

[laylacast]

"laylacast" > wrote in message
...
> Fish killing isn't fun.
>
> Mike.


Sister killing, on the other hand, is guaranteed.

[Geezer From Freezer]

laylacast wrote:
>
> Quick question: My sister decided to over feed the tank by a huge amount. I
> mean huge. (like, way). I've vacuumed and scooped out as much as I could,
> but there still is a lot of food decaying on the bottom. Is there any quick
> way to get it out without killing my neons? I don't have another tank to
> move them too temporarily, and in another life I killed a bunch of them
> inadvertently because of stressing them with large a water change. Too much
> stress. I don't want to do it again. Fish killing isn't fun.
>
> Mike.

Sway the water whilst vacuuming to disolodge the food.
Why would a large water change stress the fish, if the PH and temp etc
are same??

[laylacast]

"Geezer From Freezer" > wrote in message
...

> Why would a large water change stress the fish, if the PH and temp etc
> are same??

All I know is this: In the morning I had five neons looking healthy as can
be. I did a water change, around 50%. In the afternoon two had died, one was
taking his final breath, and two were swimming vertical and struggling to
try get back horizontal. Within 30 minutes, all were dead. PH and Temp were
the same. I chalked it up to too large a water change because I have five
other neons from the same shop bought at the same time in a larger tank that
are doing fine today. I also did a water change in that tank at the same
time other. I believe one tank is 25 liters, the other is pushing the 50
mark.

In any case. I'll keep vacuuming 'till all the tiny little decaying food
particles go away. Which will be never. But I'll do it anyway. Two vacuums a
day? Three? My concern is that too much new water will stress the fish. I
wish I had a way to rig my vacuum through my filter. But I sprung for a
cheap in tank made in china model and so it wont fly. Not only am I worried
about the fish, I'm worried about the parents water bill. Any suggestions?

I really appreciate the help.


And the sympathy.

[Toni]

"laylacast" > wrote in message
...
> Quick question: My sister decided to over feed the tank by a huge amount.
I
> mean huge. (like, way). I've vacuumed and scooped out as much as I could,
> but there still is a lot of food decaying on the bottom. Is there any
quick
> way to get it out without killing my neons? I don't have another tank to
> move them too temporarily, and in another life I killed a bunch of them
> inadvertently because of stressing them with large a water change. Too
much
> stress. I don't want to do it again. Fish killing isn't fun.



Perfect time for a diatom filter- there's a thread going around here
somewhere...


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm

[Geezer From Freezer]

laylacast wrote:
>
> "Geezer From Freezer" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > Why would a large water change stress the fish, if the PH and temp etc
> > are same??
>
> All I know is this: In the morning I had five neons looking healthy as can
> be. I did a water change, around 50%. In the afternoon two had died, one was
> taking his final breath, and two were swimming vertical and struggling to
> try get back horizontal. Within 30 minutes, all were dead.

hmm weird! do you treat you water for Chlorine and Chloramines ?

[Nemo]

"laylacast" > wrote in message
...

> I wish I had a way to rig my vacuum through my filter

Here is a thought: get yourself a power filter with a large enough intake 1"
diameter or so (the kind that is designed to drive an under gravel filter
should do). Attach a flexible 1" flexible pipe/hose to it, stuff some water
floss in the hose and vacuum away.

[laylacast]

"Dr. Know" > wrote in message
...

>I DO premix my water in a 35 gallon drum and dechlor and
> airate for a hour or so along with matching temp, pH, gH and kH.

I did treat for chorine and chloramines. If it wasn't the water change,
which it's not looking like any more, the only thing I can think of is that
the PH was too high for those neons. 7.5-8. But my "control" neons in the
other tank have the same water conditions and are doing fine with the higher
PH. My understanding is that they prefer a PH of somewhere in the 6-7 range.
But these little guys are thriving at the higher range. I chalked it up to
conditioning and inbreeding the fish.

SO, unrelated, yet slightly related question: let's say that I should lower
the PH. What is the best way to do this and keep it that way. My
understanding is that it's a pain in the ass to keep the PH constant with
buffers and powders and every water change is a new deal. Any advice?

[Jim Morcombe]

Don't panic. My four year old son and his three year old girl friend have
fed my fish a few times.

The food will be broken down eventually and all you have to worry about is
that it doesn't start growing white fuzzy stuff all over it.

Just get into the habit of doind a small water change daily for the next few
weeks.
Fill up tomorrow's buchet today and leave it beside the aquarium to remind
yourself tomorrow.
You won't need to use a de-chlorinator this way.

Don't bother trying to clean up all the mess. Just suck up any bits that
looks white and fuzzy.

The excess food will change so that it looks like dead plant leaves lying on
the bottom.

IMHO, the rotting food on the bottom builds up the bacteria to help deal
with the next overdose of food.

The only real drawback is that everytime a fish stirs up the gravel, he
creates a little cloud of crud. But this settles back quickly.

Jim



laylacast > wrote in message
...
> Quick question: My sister decided to over feed the tank by a huge amount.
I
> mean huge. (like, way). I've vacuumed and scooped out as much as I could,
> but there still is a lot of food decaying on the bottom. Is there any
quick
> way to get it out without killing my neons? I don't have another tank to
> move them too temporarily, and in another life I killed a bunch of them
> inadvertently because of stressing them with large a water change. Too
much
> stress. I don't want to do it again. Fish killing isn't fun.
>
> Mike.
>
>

[laylacast]

"Dr. Know" > wrote in message
...

> Tetras, like neons, are from waters which are acidic because they are
> fairly soft, and because they are filled with humic acids from
> decaying vegetation. Sometimes known as 'blackwater'.

Well, they've plenty of decay going on, so they should be happy. :)

I'll look into peat filtering. That's an obvious choice, I don't know why I
didn't think about that. However, I suspect that the LFS I bought the little
guys from didn't do too much in the way of water treatment insofar as pH and
Kh and CO2 and all that. In fact, when I first started out a couple of years
ago, the guy recomended plain tap water (no treatment) for the water changes
(although he stocks the conditioner and apparently uses it for his tanks.
Let's just say I learned how to cycle a tank the hard way. Too bad theres
not a better place just a little closer.

Anyway, thanks much.