Fix

Question
QUESTION: So, I had a problem with the foggy water and two of my goldfish dying ( I have 7 goldfish, 2 iridescent sharks, 2 kisser fish, and one catfish for cleaning). I got some advice, and it helped but now I want to know if the temporary move will work for at most a week. We put our goldfish in a glass bowl ( a pretty good sized one) and let our kissers, sharks and catfish stay in the 10 gallon after we cleaned it. Will that be ok for a bit only about a week or so?

ANSWER: Hi Olivia;

The bowl is not adequate at all for your goldfish, even for a week.  They just make too much waste and their gills will be burning and the oxygen will be gone from that small space within the first day. If you see them sucking air at the top, change the water and get some bubbles going in there. Hopefully you have another plan for them. Goldfish need at least 10 gallons per fish for long term housing and good filtration for their massive wastes. What you could try to temporarily keep them until you can get them a large tank is filling a large plastic tub with conditioned water. You will want one that would hold at least ten gallons. Make a daily water change of 50% and hook up an air pump with air stone for bubbles, or a filter if you have one.

The 10 gallon tank might work for a few days for the tropicals (sharks, kissing gouramis, and catfish) but only if you change 25% to 50% of the water daily. Ammonia will build up to intolerable levels otherwise in there too. If it was recently cleaned out, it will go through the break-in period and it is very hard on the fish. Whatever new tank you will be getting needs to go through the break-in period too. Here is a link to my article about it;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

You should know that irridescent sharks grow to be over 3 feet long. They really are not a good fish for a home aquarium. They will get bigger and bigger and eat your other ones as they grow, as well as being nervous and banging themselves on things and being injured when they get startled. In my opinion they should not be sold at all, but they are and many customers aren't told of their potential size. It's a shame...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So we finally got our 90 gallon. And we were wondering, is it possible to just use like regular sand at the bottom of the tank? Or even rocks from a driveway if we cleaned them? If so how can we clean them efficiently?
And we got a bubbler, and we would like further instructions then what is on the box beacause it very confusing! It is called a PENN-PLAX (the bubbler) (aquarium bottom filter), the instructions say, 1. assemble parts 2. Place carbon in green tray (I don't know what carbon its talking about was I supposed to get something to go with it?) 3. Fill remaining space with loosely packed filter wool (again was I supposed to get that?) 4. Connect air line 5. Place at bottom 6. If it floats add stones in with carbon for ballast (what is ballast?) If you could answer this please as soon as possible!! Thanks a ton!

ANSWER: Hi Olivia;

That's great! A 90 gallon is a nice size.

Hopefully you have another filter besides the little bubbler, if it's for the 90 gallon. The filter you are describing is not going to be enough to keep that size tank clean. You need a "Power Filter" or a "Canister Filter". A filter is much more than a place to collect fish wastes. It has to have enough surface area inside for beneficial bacteria colonies to grow.

Don't use any gravel, sand or rocks from a driveway, side of the road, from your yard, etc. The potential for contaminants, oils, poisons and pesticides is just too great. You can't just rinse that stuff off. Rocks are porous, which means they have teeny microscopic holes that things get trapped in. Only get rocks and gravel from a fish store to be sure it's safe. Avoid fine sand like you see at the beach. It gets compacted in the bottom of your tank and wastes get trapped there. It can also plug up filters and make the water cloudy as the fish swim around. Just use aquarium gravel for good results.

Assembling a bubbler is quite simple. "Ballast" is what we call just a little bit of weight to keep them down in the water. Rocks or pebbles make good ballast in bubbler filters that like to float and not stay down where they belong. You may not need it but just some aquarium pebbles will work.

You will also need filter floss (looks like cotton) and black carbon. Rinse out a small amount of the carbon until the water runs clear. I would say about 1/2 cup or so. The floss needs no rinsing. Take the lid off the little box and leave the bottom "tray" with the tubes sticking in it inside. I don't like the carbon layer to be right on the tray. Sometimes little bits of it escape that way. What I like to do is essentially make a "sandwich" inside the little box on top of the tray and around the tubes using the floss as the "bread" and the wet rinsed carbon as the inside of the sandwich.

Pull out a little bit of floss from the package and push it down inside the box. Tuck it in around the tubes that stick out and all the way to all sides to make a layer on the green tray. This layer is going to keep the smaller bits of carbon from falling under the tray.

Once it's all tucked in, using more little tufts of floss if needed, put the carbon on top of it. Spread the carbon out over the floss in an even layer.

Then, on top of the carbon, gently stuff as much floss as it takes to fill the box. You can use little tufts or big chunks, whatever. Push it down gently and snap the lid in place, poking the tubes through the holes in the lid.

Both tubes should now be sticking out the top now. The smaller tube is where you connect the air pump hose. Submerge the filter into the tank and hold it down until it fills with water. You might have to hold the lid down so it doesn't open up while the bubbles all come out. Shake it or tap it gently to get as much air out as you can. Connect the air pump to it and adjust the air so it just puts out a steady chain of bubbles out the larger tube. You don't want it bubbling so hard that it turns upside down or the top flies off. If you don't have a way to adjust the air, get a valve from your fish store.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So everything is going very well now. But we want to know what our iridescent sharks would eat the best. They really don't eat much and when they do I am sure they don't like the flakes much, but we want to know what exactly they like the most so we can get it for them !!! Thanks!

Answer
Hi Olivia;

Iridescent sharks as juveniles are mostly carnivores. Offer them catfish pellets, shrimp, and worms. As they get older they become more vegetarian. Feed them veggie pellets and cucumbers, romaine lettuce, green beans, peas, etc. Here are some web pages about them;

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=172

http://www.fishforums.net/content/Catfish/136530/Iridescent-Shark/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Iridescent-Sharks

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins