New dumb question

[ebola]

Hi,

You have all been great. The new tank is shimmed (with pennies inside the little rubber footers. Seems pretty stable, and I don't have to worry about shims splitting) and tied in to the wall. I did buy a used filter and ran it through the dishwasher. Now I'm hearing this was a bad idea? Anyone ever have problems with this before?

 

[b.greene]

How did you attach it to the wall? I saw your last post and my tank is leaning as well....

 

[ebola]

I used four four inch L-brackets, bolted them together in pairs to make U's, and then bolted one side to the stand and used sheetrock screws to attach the other side to the wall. Make sure it's level the first time.

 

[ebola]

OK, to be honest, I lost patience and put two feeder goldfish in to move the cycling along. I didn't expect them to last, but one went belly up within three hours, and the other has very rapid gill movement and is not moving much otherwise. I do not know where to put him. If it's because I washed the filter in the dishwasher, putting him in a bowl isn't going to help. He's kinda slimey, like he's covered in a fine white gauze. But the rapidity makes me think something more than lack of cycling is off with the tank. Could residue from a dishwasher do somethign this quickly?

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

Did you use soap in the dishwasher when you did this? If so, it could def. be poisoning. For future reference, if you're going to do a fishy cycle, it's a good idea to buy fish that can either stay in your tank or that you can house afterwards. Did you dechlorinate the water? Fishy cycles can take slightly shorter, but are a lot more work and much more stressful.

 

[The Zigman]

What detergent did you use in the dishwasher?
I would triple rinse that thing, be sure no soap is left in there...

Is yout tank stand that is screwed to the wall, sitting solidly on the floor?

 

[ebola]

Yeah, I did condition the water, floated the bags, everything. The tank stand is tied into the wall. I washed the little foam insert in the filter, the one that goes between the filter cartridge and the output. I'm wondering if that acted like a sponge. You say I could just triple rinse everything in the dishwasher and be OK?

Any chemicals in the detergent I should look out for?

 

[TKOS]

If you washed that sponge in anything other than clean water (ie soap of any sort) then get rid of it. They are cheap to buy a new one. If you also ran the rest of the filter through the dishwasher then I would rinse that a few more times a well. Also if you use Jet Dry in your dishwasher that may leave a residue.

Floating the bags does nothing but match temps. If the water in your tank is drastically different than the water the fish have been living in then it may kill them off with shock. The best idea if you don't know all the water params is to pour them and the fish store water into a clean bucket and every 15 minutes or so for at least 1 hour if not 2 add a cup of tank water. Then scoop them out and place into the tank.

 

[ebola]

So I'm taking it I should also change out the water? I'm just wondering how far the contamination has gone. Should I replace the substrate?

 

[jenratico]

I suggest you put the remaining goldfish temporarily in a bucket or other large container with clean, declorinated water that is as close to the tank temperature as you can make it. Make sure it is a clean bucket - preferably not one used for household cleaning so that is doesn't have any soapy residue of its own. Then empty your tank and give it a good rinse as well. You can rinse your substrate in a colander under running water. Make sure the filter is well rinsed and replace the sponge. This should get all the soap out of your system. If you run things through the dishwasher to sanitize, do it without soap or a rinse agent.

I don't know if the goldfish can recover, but clean water can't hurt.

Do 1/2 water changes in the in the bucket throughout the day so that ammonia doesn't build up until you can get the goldfish back into a clean, filtered tank.

From my perspective, a feeder fish is still a fish and just as valuable as any other fishy life in your care. I feel bad for him, so I hope you will do everything you can to make him comfortable.