Help for a friend

Blossom112

Blossom112

AC Members
Feb 25, 2008
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Toronto
OK long story ill try and be clear .
My friends hubby came home today with a (what looks to me like) 20 gl tank ,he says its 30gl .
about 10 fish (or more even)and water from the LPS,he set it up with water and fish ,the mandrian goby to me does not look good .
Dont you have to cycle a brand new tank?
This does not seem right to me and i have a feeling he will loose all his fish except the damsels.
No live rock no skimmer and not proper food , thats ok tho what they dont have i have .
What would be the best way for me to help thm out ?
First thing i think thats way too many fish for a 20 gl
2nd i think it was wrong not to cycle the tank .
I could let them use my 20 gl split up the tanks but then their is still the problem with a non cycled tank .
what i suggested is that i do a large water change and give them the LR in my sump and maybe this would help .
IM new and just need advice on how to help them .
note i will let him read responses .
should i help with his fish in my tank? how would my clowns react?
Tough call for me .
thanks in advanced
 
Wow. That's a tough situation. It's great that your friend is open to your gracious offer of help. I'm new too but I'll give it a go. I'm just going to address one issue per post to keep things clear.

1. The mandarin goby WILL NOT survive in a brand new uncycled tank. They rarely survive in cycled new tanks...the tank needs to be established at least a year. Minimum. Otherwise, there is not enough of their primary food source to sustain them. They only eat copepods. Advice on the mandarin is to get it to another home asap. It will starve. In the meantime, he is going to have to buy copepods to keep it alive. This will not work over the long term but may work long enough to get it a new home.
 
When you say water from the LPS, do you mean water from an established tank or salt water mixed from an RO/DI filter?
 
2. Yes, you have to cycle a brand new tank. Otherwise the ammonia from the fish poo is going to crash the tank and kill the inhabitants. (The cycling introduces bacteria, etc that can break down those toxic ammonia chemicals). If he got water from an established tank rather than newly mixed salt water, others should weigh in...I'm not sure about the cycling in that case.

This is a bad situation so the answers to it aren't ideal. First and best bet is to return all merchandise and start over...especially return the fish.

If this can't/won't happen, perhaps a two prong approach: 1. Start a new tank with one of your loaners. Do a rapid cycle with a chemical cycler (can be down in 48 hours with the right product). This is not ideal for many reasons but your in a jam so. In the meantime, continue to do massive and frequent water changes in the existing tank. Regardless, some of those fish have to go back. There are too many. Anyway, once quick cycle is done, move fish to loaner tank and start quick cycle on existing tank. Once that is complete, use both tanks to decrease fish per gallon.

Yikes. Scary situation.
 
Is there any type of filtration at all right now? Is there anything to oxygenate the water? Is there anything to control the temperature? Does he have water test kit? What are params?
 
That is defiantly too many fish, even for a cycled tank. Slow is the key! If at all possible, return ALL the fish, and follow the cycling stickies in the forums. If you can't return the fish, then adding some live rock from your sump would help, but a LOT of water changes will be in order, and a bigger tank would be a help.

Splitting the fish into 2 tanks will help too, but I fear it's still too much, especially since neither would be cycled.
 
no my 20gl was cycled but i emptied it lol a week ago .
HE has nothing ,no salt not proper food,no hydrometer ,not sure on heater , their is a small pad like thing in top with a few ceramic tube like thingys , name escapes me .
basically just tank waater and fish ,they gave them dead coral lol i havent a clue why seems odd to me
 
forget about the mandrian goby, it is already dead.

Concentrate on saving 2 or 3 healthy fish, at most. The rest are either going to LFS or fish purgatory.
 
The live rock will help some but not enough without a filter...plus I don't know that I would do anything that might sabotage my tank for what might be a shot in the dark at helping his.
 
I've just got to say...what in the heck was the LFS doing??? They are supposed to help people new to the hobby...how could they let your friend walk out of there with all this stuff and no chance of supporting it. That makes me so made.
 
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