Newbi Here

[04davina]

hi all

i had many tank but recently bought a second hand one from my local tropical fish shop it came with a heater & filter
it was a 45L tank. i had it running for a few days got some

fish i got
neons X2 (both died)
plecs X2 (both died) different times weeks apart
molly's X2 (both died)
gold fish X1 (still alive)
gold fish X1 (still alive)
red tail shark X4 (all died) i bought all one at a time not all the same time.

all ph/nitrate/ammonia
all were fine

can any give me some advise on what to do
ill finsh off later

 

[BackToTheFishes]

Maybe the goldfish which are not tropical carried some disease that the others weren't able to fight off,if you want tropical then rehome them and start over.Also you added MUCH too many fish at once.
Welcome btw

 

[mattlee]

hi all

i had many tank but recently bought a second hand one from my local tropical fish shop it came with a heater & filter
it was a 45L tank. i had it running for a few days got some

fish i got
neons X2 (both died) these prefer mature tanks and can be very fragile
plecs X2 (both died) different times weeks apart what types as most sold at lfs will grow too big for this tank anyway
molly's X2 (both died) possibly tank too small
gold fish X1 (still alive) not tropical and tank size way too small
gold fish X1 (still alive) not tropical and tank size way too small
red tail shark X4 (all died) i bought all one at a time not all the same time. tank size way too small and unless kept in a huge tank only 1 should be kept as very teritorial

all ph/nitrate/ammonia
all were fine

can any give me some advise on what to do
ill finsh off later

was the tank cycled first? can you post results for tests done, did you test for nitrite?

 

[Assaye]

You say nitrate, pH and ammonia are fine? What exactly are they? And what is your nitrite reading?

A lot of people will say fine when ammonia/nirite are low but not zero. We need exact numbers.

The only fish you had suitable for that tank were the neon tetras and they need to be added to fully matured and cycled tanks because they are very fragile. For this reason we tend to recommend they are only added to 3-6 month old tanks. The other fish will all get far too big. Even mollys require 24" (2 foot) tanks as they reach 4 inches as adults.

As you have had a lot of deaths, water quality is a big contender for the cause. Another contender is the shop - they have given you some awful recommendations for fish for a very small tank and this leads me to suspect they know very little about their stock and may not have good quality stock.

Did you test the water after each death? What were the results?

Essential Reading

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum 04davina.
The "essential reading" link that Assaye has given you may help you understand what is going on in your tank. You are in what we call a fish-in cycle with two goldfish in a tank that is far too small for them. Until you are able to test the water for yourself using a liquid type testing kit, you must assume that a daily water change of 50% is barely enough for your present fish stock to stay alive.

 

[04davina]

i also use a thing called (tank safe)

the nitrat was very very low i cant remember the reading

 

[mattlee]

can you retest your tank water and post the results so we can try to eliminate issues with the water first? nitrates arent much to worry about unless they are really high, its the ammonia and nitrite levels that are the important results

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, Welcome to the beginners section 04davina! I think you'll like TFF!

I agree with our other members up there, you will greatly benefit from some beginner learning in two broad areas: what a "cycle" is, and the fundamentals of stocking guidelines!

The stocking choices in your first attempt were almost a textbook case of what to -not- put together in a tank and we suspect the water chemistry may have also needed (and still probably needs) attention.

You are now in a Fish-In cycling situation, but with two goldfish which will quickly need to go back to the fish shop (or be rehomed to someone's pond or elsewhere) as not even one of the goldfish would find the 45L/11G tank near big enough. I know that could be unpleasant to hear but of course you are here because you've already experienced plenty of unpleasant things in your new tank and have decided its time to learn how to do it right.

Until you can re-home the goldfish, they will need frequent large water changes, as oldman47 has described. When doing large water changes its good to use good technique by always adding "conditioner" (your chemical to remove chlorine/chloramines) and to roughly temperature match the water (your hand is good enough for this.)

Slightly less urgent, but still a high priority will be to obtain a good liquid-reagen based test kit. Many of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. These type of test kits contain tests for ammonia, nitrite(NO2), pH and nitrate(NO3), to help us in various ways with the water chemistry. But how to interpret test results is a learning thing and the members will be glad to help.

~~waterdrop~~