Very Weird, New Method...

This is going to sound so off the wall that I'm sure you will likely scoff at the idea. I swear this is working.....

A few weeks ago I picked up a freebie 15g from someone at work. I got it all setup with gravel and a couple of rocks, heater and power filter. Then let it run for a week until I had the next weekend off to pick out fish.

They didn't have what I wanted [both Silver Angels and Neons] so a friend offered to pick me up some while out of town. He delivered alright, three juvenile angels and ten neons. For a non-cycled 15g!!

Reluctantly I acclimated them and added them to the tank.

Before I go any further.... I have always kept community tanks. I only recently got out of the hobby a couple of years ago.

So anyway, by nightfall the water started becoming fouled/cloudy. By the next day I didn't even have to lift the hood to smell the ammonia. The fish were at the top gasping, it looked like the end was near.

I then had an epiphany.... The ammonia isn't being converted because there is not enough anerobic bacteria present yet to break it down. I had to think fast. Now here is the weird part.

The truth is out... I have "smelly" feet caused by an anerobic bacteria. No athlete's foot, just an odour. So don't gag now... I took my "dirty" bacteria laden socks off and commenced to putting some squeezings into the tank.

That was two days ago... I performed a 25% water change this morning because the water is still a little cloudy. But get this.... I have not lost a single fish and two of the angels have already paired up. The Neon Tetras are schooling and feeding together as a group. The water has the "earthy" smell of a tank that's been cycling for months. The fish are happy and energetic and acting quite normally.

I really need to get a test kit and check this out scientifically with another tank. This is amazing!!!

The fish were added Tuesday and the dirty socks were added Thursday.

Both are doing much better now.

:soda:

Hey if this works maybe I can start a soiled sock-of-the-month club. LOL

An Update

Since my Angels had paired up I decided to move the extra Angel to my daughters empty 10 gallon. There was also a neon that seemed to be "out of ranks" with the rest. So I sent him to the 10 gallon as well for observation.

Within a few days both the Angel and neon were dead... No visible signs of disease. It's possible that the tank was poisoned before I set it up, (long story). I'll have to break it down for a good cleaning before setting it up again.

Anyhoo,

The Neons and the Angel pair were doing well until Ick struck. First noticed it with the neons scraping and the angels flashing. Saw the telltale spots on and near the neons dorsal and tailfins. The male angel had it the worst....

Started saltwater treatment but it was too late for the male angel. The ick went away but he got a secondary finrot infection and had to be euthanized.

It's been a week since starting the saltwater treatment. The survivors are doing well. The Female Angel is a trip. She will come up to side of the tank and scold me and/or my wife when it's feeding time with body language.

Tonight before bed I will start with a 25% water change to rid the tank of salt.

P.S. Almost forgot, my in-laws brought me a 30g/h from a family members house that went for sale yesterday. This thing is practically brand new. It has a dual resovoir power filter that looks like it couldn't have run more than a month. Either that or they had the softest water I've ever seen.

I have a jar of very fine gravel that looks like it has been tumbled. It is dark brown. I've never seen media this fine before. Any ideas?