new tank and it smells need suggestion

[firefish]

I bought a tank, filled it, and added fish 28 hours later.Two days later it smells like i guess amonia.Did I screw up and sentence my fish to death?I did about a 25-30% water change like I read here.Iread all this after the tank was in motion.What can I do to salvage it if it's in trouble?All fish seem active and fine.Cuurent ph is 7.6 but thats as far as the tester goes.I added the ph down solution.

 

[amosf]

This can be a difficult situation, but you can salvage it. You have probably read the posts on cycling the tank and realise that you need to do this different next time But that's okay.

Some helpful info would be the size of tank and number of fish.

To save the day you need to do a 25-30% water change 3-5 times per week - maybe even every day - for about a month or so until the good bacteria build up and they will take care of the ammonia and nitrite eventually. Then you will only need to do weekly water changes and such.

Get a good test for ammonia and nitrite so you can see how bad things are. This will also let you check your tap water to see if that's okay. Also if it's town water you will need something to get rid of the chlorine in the water...

I would not even worry about the pH for the moment since you will be changing the water so much. Looks like your water is on the hard side and you will have trouble changing the pH anyway. In any case a stable high pH is better for the fish than a fluctuating pH which you will get if you try and change it every day...

Main thing at the moment is to keep up the water changes and we'll see how things go from there... Search the forum for extra info... Others will also jump in with more advice.

 

[sdb]

Well, you need at least an ammonia test kit to see what the ammonia reading is. You need to test daily, and probably do water changes daily. Ammonia poisoning can be fatal, and those that survive will have unrepairable gill damage, which will shorten their lives. Water changes are your best bet.

You should also have nitrite and nitrate test kits as well, since eventually the ammonia will be converted into nitrites, which are also deadly, and then to nitrates, which at low levels are safe. So, you need these test kits. And again, the water changes will keep the nitrite down, when it does show up.

I wouldn't mess with the PH, it's a losing battle, and yours isn't that high. Better to let the fish adjust to that then try to change it and have it constantly fluxuating.

It would be nice to know your tank size, filters, temperature, and how many fish/what kind. Makes it easier to help out.
Good luck.

 

[firefish]

Thanks for the reply.Ihave a29g tank.2 tiger barb,2green barb,2albino barb,2bala shark and ared finned shark.Top fin 30 filter.Plan to get bigger like penguin or something?Temp is about 76-78.any info helps.

 

[christopher1260]

If you know someone with an established tank that is free of diseases, see if you can steal some used filter media from them. This will contain many of the necessary bacteria and might help your tank along more quickly. Best of luck...

 

[ryknier]

what are some recommeded nitrate/nitrite testing kits? the liquid kind, or the all in one test kit?
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[chunksofpoooo]

They're both ok i guess, its all down to personal preference/experience. I like the liquid kind because with the all-in-one sometimes water from one test square will run down onto another causing incorrect readings.