Are algae wafers bad?

How big is the tank? It's 10 gallons

How many goldfish and what types of goldfish do you have? Comet goldfish, young, small ones

How long have you had the tank? about 2 months - but 3 weeks ago - totally emptied and restarted with new water after the fish got very sick (one died) from an algae fix product. I've been using "Cycle" to try and restore the good bacteria.

How often to you do a water change? Once a week

How much of a water change do you do? I take out at least 25% with a gravel suction device. If the water still has lots dirt particles in it - I will take out 50% total.

Is the tank planted? Just artificial

What kind and how much light does the tank get? I have a timer set - about 4 hours in the morning, then it goes off for about 3 - and then about 4 more in the eve
 
"Tank is waay overstocked. Goldfish are poop machines, let alone yours grow to be a foot in length or longer. Do you have plans for a tank upgrade?"

The plan is that they will probably go to my friend's pond this summer. I had been able to keep the levels ok until I added the algae eater - and algae wafers. That seems to have thrown everything off somehow.
 
How big is your friend's pond? You might need to upgrade the tank even before summer or your running the risk of stunting the fish's growth..

The addition of the new fish and pollution of overfeeding can strain your tank's bacteria. I recommend returning the garra fish as it grows to large for a 10 gallon anyway.
 
Fish are never needed as algae cleaners. That they are is a petstore lie. Being able to keep ammonia and nitrites at 0 and nitrate under 40 is impressive in that small of a tank, but the fish still may face stunting.

Edit: no, will most likely be stunted by the time they are ready to be moved.
 
Millersmom,

Lots of us started out this way, poor goldfish usually get the short end of the stick. First off they may be tiny now but with proper care those little guys will reach 4-7" in a year. A ten gallon with this many fish is very difficult to take care of and if left in too long will kill the fish. More than a few months can lead to "stunting" which makes the fish grow in unhealthy ways and leads to a early death. I'm very happy that you are planning on putting them in a pond in the spring. As long as it is over 150 gallons it is definitely the right thing to do.

Now what has been happening in your tank.

You probably didn't lose the fish from the algae killing chemical. It was probably because of ammonia or nitrite poisoning. When your first establish a tank it takes some time for two major groups of bacteria to become established in the filter and gravel (Nitrosomas & Nitrobacter). These bacteria break down the waste (ammonia) from the fish and other bacterial metabolisms. The process that occurs as these bacteria grow is what is referred to as "cycling a tank".

In the early stages of the "cycle" ammonia builds up and becomes toxic. Very frequent water changes and using Prime does help to alleviate this. The Nitrosomas species increase in number and convert the ammonia to nitrite. Then the nitrite starts to build up. This is a more toxic than ammonia and normally peaks during the 3rd to 5th week of establishing a tank. Nitrite poisoning is probably what killed your fish. when the nitrite becomes available the Nitrobacter species begin to covert it into a mostly benign form of nitrate. Once you cannot detect ammonia or nitrite in the tank but can detect nitrate the tank is considered established.

Now ammonia is a waste product of organisms digesting protiens. If you look at the packaging on your fish food you will see that the majority of the goldifish food and algae disks are made of protien. Any food that the fish don't eat microorganism do. This means that by overfeeding you can greatly increase the amount of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the tank.

Here are some basic suggestions that will help for the short term. Feed the goldfish a small pelletized food. Feed them twice a day and give them enough that they finish it in 5 minutes. Break up the algae disk into 1/8th and see how long it takes to disappear. If it takes more than an hour remove any remainder and feed less the next day.

Increase your water changes. Use a siphon and a gravel cleaner to remove 75% of the water twice a week. Be sure to treat the water with Prime to remove the chlorine. Don't follow the directions on the box and change the filter pads. Just rinse them off every month in used tank water to keep the water flowing.

If you can take all of the fish back to the petstore. They are not suited for the size of the tank that you have. There are many options for stocking a beautiful 10 gallon that many people here would be happy to assist you with.

And finally... THANK YOU for look for help instead of just letting them die.
 
(WOW, thanks for all of that detailed information. There is so much I didn't know when I was given these fish - and I've been doing my best to keep them alive and healthy. I love having the tank - but you might be right. I need a different sort of fish to live there. I might have to get something bigger for these guys - or find someone that has something larger, until they can move to the pond.)

THE V said:
Millersmom,

Lots of us started out this way, poor goldfish usually get the short end of the stick. First off they may be tiny now but with proper care those little guys will reach 4-7" in a year. A ten gallon with this many fish is very difficult to take care of and if left in too long will kill the fish. More than a few months can lead to "stunting" which makes the fish grow in unhealthy ways and leads to a early death. I'm very happy that you are planning on putting them in a pond in the spring. As long as it is over 150 gallons it is definitely the right thing to do.

Now what has been happening in your tank.

You probably didn't lose the fish from the algae killing chemical. It was probably because of ammonia or nitrite poisoning. When your first establish a tank it takes some time for two major groups of bacteria to become established in the filter and gravel (Nitrosomas & Nitrobacter). These bacteria break down the waste (ammonia) from the fish and other bacterial metabolisms. The process that occurs as these bacteria grow is what is referred to as "cycling a tank".

In the early stages of the "cycle" ammonia builds up and becomes toxic. Very frequent water changes and using Prime does help to alleviate this. The Nitrosomas species increase in number and convert the ammonia to nitrite. Then the nitrite starts to build up. This is a more toxic than ammonia and normally peaks during the 3rd to 5th week of establishing a tank. Nitrite poisoning is probably what killed your fish. when the nitrite becomes available the Nitrobacter species begin to covert it into a mostly benign form of nitrate. Once you cannot detect ammonia or nitrite in the tank but can detect nitrate the tank is considered established.

Now ammonia is a waste product of organisms digesting protiens. If you look at the packaging on your fish food you will see that the majority of the goldifish food and algae disks are made of protien. Any food that the fish don't eat microorganism do. This means that by overfeeding you can greatly increase the amount of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the tank.

Here are some basic suggestions that will help for the short term. Feed the goldfish a small pelletized food. Feed them twice a day and give them enough that they finish it in 5 minutes. Break up the algae disk into 1/8th and see how long it takes to disappear. If it takes more than an hour remove any remainder and feed less the next day.

Increase your water changes. Use a siphon and a gravel cleaner to remove 75% of the water twice a week. Be sure to treat the water with Prime to remove the chlorine. Don't follow the directions on the box and change the filter pads. Just rinse them off every month in used tank water to keep the water flowing.

If you can take all of the fish back to the petstore. They are not suited for the size of the tank that you have. There are many options for stocking a beautiful 10 gallon that many people here would be happy to assist you with.

And finally... THANK YOU for look for help instead of just letting them die.
Click to expand...
 
Millersmom said:
(WOW, thanks for all of that detailed information. There is so much I didn't know when I was given these fish - and I've been doing my best to keep them alive and healthy. I love having the tank - but you might be right. I need a different sort of fish to live there. I might have to get something bigger for these guys - or find someone that has something larger, until they can move to the pond.)
Click to expand...

We all start out this way. I started out with goldfish I won at the county fair.

You can temporarily house them in a large rubbermaid/sterilite/etc. container. This will give them double to triple the water volume and are inexpensive. Just transfer the gravel and filter to the new container to keep the good bacteria.

If you want to restock the 10 gallon with more appropriate fish there are several threads and articles on this site. You can also post a "What should I do with my 10 gallon" thread and you'll get a lot of answers. Some of the pictures of 10 gallon tanks I've seen are works of living art.

BTW : Welcome to the hobby.
 
Hey V I hear you. My son called me when he was at great-grandma's house and said, " Hey Mom guess what I won at the fair?" I told him that It better not have been a goldfish and he asked I how I knew. I had been telling people all week at work that they could not be kept in a bowl. His one goldfish got a 10 gal and this summer it will have a 38 gal. People I talk to think I'm nuts but already Spot has grown. It's at great-grandma's house and she likes to over feed everything. The 10 gallon has a filter that is rated for 30 gallon tank, 200gph and I switched the food from flakes to pellets. She had food suck to the filter and just tons in the gravel, then she would complain that the tank was cloudy.

At work I have people come in all the time for plecos, either to control algae before it starts or to try and correct a problem. I don't recommend them in small tanks for one thing since our is the common pleco that gets huge. I try and work with them to find out what is causing the problem and have them to things to the tank to correct the problem. I agree that you don't need an algae eater and I don't recommend any chemicals. I've had my 125 gallon tank up and running for almost 11 years and I tell people I never add anything except water conditioner.

Millersmom, at least you came here and asked questions. You are better then most of the people I deal with. Good Luck.
 
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