# I Did Something Stupid, What Do I Do Now?



## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

I set up and cycled my a ten gallon tank. I researched fish and everything I had read said that a group of 5-6 neon tetras would be an acceptable option, as well as a few shrimp. 

Once I finally cycled my tank, I got excited and bought some fish. The stupid part is that I bought them from Petco and there were some dead fish in the store tank they came from. I brought them home and drip acclimated them. 

Very shortly after that, I had an outbreak of ich. I was hesitant to use medication because I know that both tetras and shrimp are very sensitive to them. I started by slowly raising my temperature to about 82 and adding aeration, but the fish kept dying. I tried adding some salt, but that didn't work either. So I bought some Kordon's Malachite Green and gave it at 1/2 dose for 4 days, with 25% water changes prior to each dose. When I started the treatment, only two fish remained and one was in very poor condition. Now only the stronger of the two has survived. 

It's been about a week since I stopped treatment and there are no longer any signs of ich in the one survivor. I've have so far done two 20% water changes and have added the carbon back to my filter. 

So my questions are as follows: 

1) How soon can I begin to restock my tank? 

2) On another forum I was told that a ten gallon tank is not suitable for neons. Is this true? If so, what do I do with the one I have left and what do I stock with instead? 

3) I have not yet put any shrimp in the tank, but I plan to do so later on. I've read conflicting information on whether or not malachite green is toxic to shrimp (amano and RCS). Will my use of this product prevent me from successfully keeping shrimp in the future?


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## markao (Aug 21, 2012)

If I lost everything due to an outbreak of Ich I would leave the tank unoccupied for a while and just let it cycle.As to your question of Neons,I never buy fish from a store if I see one belly up.Might mean trouble is coming.

Here is a good site to see about your stocking question.

aqadvisor.com

*w2


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Need to keep the temp up to about 85 for 10 days to get rid of all the ich, Just keep an airstone in there, won't hurt the neon as they prefer higher temps.


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## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

Markao - I can't just leave the tank unoccupied. Like I said, _I didn't lose everything_. There's still one fish left - one lonely little freaked out tetra who needs companions. 

I know not to buy from tanks with dead fish. I already said that was the stupid move I made. Telling me not to do that doesn't tell me what to do _now_. I have already located a good source of fish (a reputable LFS rather than a chain store). So, again, I ask: How soon can I start restocking?

As to my question of whether or not a ten is suitable for neons: I already checked Aqadvisor. The information I got from that is part of the reason why I chose neons, since they come up as an option when I entered in the info for my tank and clicked "Display only species suitable for your tank." So are you saying then that what I was told on the other forum was wrong? 

susankat - I had my tank temp in the 80s for about 5 days before I dosed with malachite, continued to keep the temps up during the 4 day treatment, and only began lowering the temp about 2 days after the last dose. There are no spots left on the fish and its previously damaged fins have regrown. Do I still need to raise the tank to 85 for ten days? 

And what about the shrimp? Do I need to be worried about any residual malachite green that might affect them?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

No it should be fine now then, Just do water changes to get the meds out. Just make sure the fish you get aren't sick and should be fine.


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## PC1 (May 25, 2011)

You should be fine, one thing you have to remember is neons by the time they make it to petco are so stressed out from their ordeal that half usually die within a few days. I don't buy from petco or petsmart anymore. If it is all you have access to I would refrain buying fish on the day they get them.


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## Tralyn (Dec 2, 2011)

Your Petco sounds like the walmart in my area. The Petco's here take excellent care of their fish. I've never had a problem with them.


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## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

Tralyn said:


> Your Petco sounds like the walmart in my area. The Petco's here take excellent care of their fish. I've never had a problem with them.


Thankfully our Walmart doesn't carry fish anymore. When they did they were even worse than our Petco. The only other place in town to buy fish is Petsmart, but they were sold out of neons and their cardinals had visible fin/tail rot. 

I managed to find an aquarium store in the next town over and I've heard good things about them, so I'm going to buy my next fish from them.


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## dtn23 (Jul 9, 2012)

I also have to get a little off topic and disagree with the hate being aimed at Petco and PetSmart. There isn't a single LFS within a half hour of my house and the ones that do exist aren't that great. There is a Petco about 5 minutes away and a PetSmart about 10. Both of these stores keep their tanks very well and the Petco has very competent staff. All of my 40 or so fish are from these chains and the only casualties I ever had was a dwarf gourami and one guppy. I have a school of 6 neons from Petco who actively school and are very healthy.


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## markao (Aug 21, 2012)

I am not aiming things at PetCo or PetSmart but just like local pet stores it depends who is running it.For the last couple weeks I have gotten 6 Ghost Shrimps from a PetSmart near whee I live in Sacramento,Ca.First thing I did was look at some of their tanks and did not see any dead fish.Yesterday when I went back and got 3 more Ghost Shrimps I ask the girl helping me about some things before I saw their,dead fish,mislabeled tanks and just no good help.She told me they fired the store manager and the new one really revamped the fish area.So it is just like finding a good place to eat,you are just going to try it and see how it goes.

*pc


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## Bigolo (Aug 19, 2012)

The real answer to your question starts with a question for you? How did you cycle your tank? Was it a fishless cycle? If so, can you please tell us the exact procedure you followed? Fishless cycles are hardest for a beginner. I personally would never introduce more than 2 fish for a new ten gallon set up. You see, to properally "cycle" your tank, to get the benificial bacteria needed to sustain life in a tank, you need, well, you need fish! With proper weekly water changes (20-30% for this size tank) , 2 hardy fish to start, and a months time, you have a proper TRUELY cycled tank. Then I would add 2 or 3 more fish of your liking and go from there!

Now to help you with your current dilemna. I would immediately do a 20% water change. after one week, I would add 2 more fish from your new trusty supplier. Then continue with a 30% weekly water change for 5 weeks! invest in a good testing kit to measure nitrites, nitrates and ammonia! Don't worry about the ph level as you are not a chemist and will probably kill the fish messing with the ph anyways! (fish are very sensitive to changes in ph and you really need to know what you are doing!!!!) If all is good and your fish are thriving, then i would add a couple more small companions and call it a day!

Just a word of caution, small tanks are very high maintenance and you MUST keep up with the weekly water changes! Cant stress this enough! good luck!


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## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

dtn23 said:


> I also have to get a little off topic and disagree with the hate being aimed at Petco and PetSmart. There isn't a single LFS within a half hour of my house and the ones that do exist aren't that great. There is a Petco about 5 minutes away and a PetSmart about 10. Both of these stores keep their tanks very well and the Petco has very competent staff. All of my 40 or so fish are from these chains and the only casualties I ever had was a dwarf gourami and one guppy. I have a school of 6 neons from Petco who actively school and are very healthy.


I'm not taking aim at chain stores in general, but the Petco and PetSmart in my town are terrible. They routinely sell sick animals (and not just fish, but also sick birds, sick reptiles and sick rodents) and their staff know virtually nothing about pet care. But all of the small mom and pop type stores in my town have gone out of business because of them, with the exception of one feed store store - which carries some fish, herps, birds, rodents, hermit crabs, and some larger livestock (goats, chickens, etc) and keeps them all in deplorable conditions. 




Bigolo said:


> The real answer to your question starts with a question for you? How did you cycle your tank? Was it a fishless cycle? If so, can you please tell us the exact procedure you followed?


I looked into doing a fishless cycle, but couldn't seem to find the proper ammonia so I did a fish-in cycle with a male betta (who is back in his original 3 gal tank). It took approx. 5 weeks. 

During the malachite treatment, I did daily water changes. Then waited a couple of days and since then have been doing PWCs every other day to try to get the medicine out. The most recent PWC (20%) was yesterday. 

I have the API master test kit, but have somehow managed to misplace the chart (and I think a housemate may have thrown it out). I tried calling API to see about getting a replacement, but couldn't get through to anybody. I don't suppose anybody on the forum has a spare they could mail me?



> Just a word of caution, small tanks are very high maintenance and you MUST keep up with the weekly water changes! Cant stress this enough! good luck!


Weekly water changes are not a problem. Every pet I have requires some sort of weekly maintenance, so I just added it to the list (replace the litter and scrub out the cat box, replace the bedding and scrub out the rat cages, change the water and rinse everything out in the firebelly toad tank and do a water change on the aquarium). Besides, with such a small tank, water changes only take a few minutes so I really have no excuse not to do it.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Cardinals/Neons are pretty sensitive and I always buy a few more than what I may have wanted because I always expect a few to die within the first week. This is the only fish that I do this. I have about 60 Cards in a 125g tank.

Competent staff at a Petsmart and Petco? I'd say you were lucky. I haven't found that and have 2 Petcos and 1 Petsmart within a few miles of me. I'll put it this way, I am just glad that I know more than any of them I have ever talked to. I would hate to be someone with beginning or medium knowledge on what I want to do and have to rely on any of them. Most of them don't have tank keeping experience beyond the store. Some say they have but I have heard stuff from even some of them that they had to have been lying to me. Maybe to make me feel comfortable with their recommendation or something, not sure. I ask a few questions just to hear the responses sometimes. 

They definitely are not created equal. If the info sounds a little off, it probably is. You're better off already knowing what it is you need to know and not have to depend on them. They are only there to sell you something.

What method did you use to cycle your tank?


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

that is good advice from the members. neons I have 2 and thay do great with my other fish.


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## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> What method did you use to cycle your tank?


If this question was directed at me, I did a fish-in cycle with a betta. It took approx. 5 weeks. 

NEW PROBLEM: I bought my surviving neon some companions on Sunday and the old neon keeps chasing and biting the newcomers. I'm worried that the new fish are going to be too stressed out between the new environment and the apparent tank bully. Is there anything I can do to make this behavior stop or will I just have to ride it out until a hierarchy is established? (Do neons even establish a hierarchy? I thought they were supposed to be peaceful!)


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