Tank Frustration!! Part II

[windgirl]

Guys I wanted to thank you all for the great help and update ya all.

The whole tank situation got worse regardless of my daily water changes ... and well, I couldn't stop feeding those fish (although I did cut back to only dropping in two tiny parts of a hikari algea waffer (basicly a half a waffer). It was sad watching all the fish try to eat the bits, the bushynose pl*co hogging one whole part and the three cories and group of guppies go at the other part.

Worse came to worse one of the male guppies passed away, the cories started making occational trips to the surface (for air I guess), waching the pl*co real close I noticed him taking deep breaths now and then (well at least it looked like his gills ... more like hair moving out from the side of his head, for a moment). All but the cories seemed to be itchy (pl*co would jump now and then and the guppies would bounce off the glass or the rock) ... it was horrible so basicly I had it!

I forced the filter from the 20G to fit on the 10G with the help of some books and tape ... all seems to be holding ok. Theres alot of current but heck the up side is its a astablished filter with all the media (includeing on for helping rid the tank of ammonia). Everyone seems happy so far ... I've got a close I on em tho.

I do have a question yet. I spend two days cleaning, scrapping and siliconeing (with aquarium stuff) the 20G. I'm sure I got it sealed up good. Testing it tomorrow night (24 hours for silicone to dry). I fully intend on placing the male guppies, busynose and the cories back in the 20G. That would mean I'd have to move the filter back ... Sigh, I can't afford to buy another filter for the 10G for a long long time and I was hoping to make it work with that sponge filter. I plan on keeping the two female guppies in the 10G and using it for raising fry ... I'd also like to add a small pl*co or 3 cories to the 10G. My questions are below.

-Once the 20G is all dry, how should I go about putting the fish back in?
-Would the 10G with only the sponge filter work if I keep the fish and extra filter on for a amount of time? if so how long?
-With only the females and temporarly their fry (when that happens) in the 10G was is a good algae eater (very small pl*co / group of three cories) I could get?

Basicly how do I make this work so I can use the 20G with its filter for all but the two female guppies, and the 10G with only its sponge fliter with a hardy catfish of some sort (3 if they are cories) I don't already have and the female guppies??

Any help will be just as appricated as I (and my fish) appricate your other replys.
Thanks, Beck.

[Crazie.Eddie]

Just make sure the tanks are cycled before placing any fish in there. It takes AT LEAST 3 weeks for a tank to cycle. Since your budget is a problem, then a sponge filter should work, but make sure you perform your cleanings/water changes.

I'm sorry about your fish deaths, but I was wondering exactly how much water were you changing? Do you test your water for ammonia, nitrites/nitrates, chlorine, etc? With the fish gasping, it appears as though you don't have enough DO (dissolved oxygen). Usually good water movement will take care of this.

[windgirl]

Thanks for answering that post ... didn't get anything out of it then ... Anyway the 20G is fixed, cycled (for a month), and fish added. The 10G is fully cycled now for sure. ammoia and nitrite are 0 in both and have been for a while.

One female guppy got sick ... not sure how, but the others are happy and the new male is happy. I also have two guppy fry. Corys are still good, got 3 more dumped on me (peppers, used to be 4 one was killed on the way here, the other 3 were heading for the potty when I said I'd take them). Thats in the 10G. The 20G has the bushynose, 6 zebra danios and a guppy. Will be moving the peppers to that tank as well as next week 2 dwarf gouramis and 3-4 bloodfins.

25% water changes on all the tanks (30G, 10G, & 20Ghigh) weekly. Diet changed too; live brine shrimp and cucumers (sp) weekly, dry food daily (breakfast), bloodworm (freeze-dried) three times weekly, algae waffers daily, and not to forget the live fry some fish are eating (setting up a new 10G breeding tank for both the guppies and danios ... maybe the albino cories if I can figure that out - not all at once).