Advice Welcome

[jeyhay]

Hi All,

I am new to fishkeeping and bought a 48 litre tank to start.After leaving my tank to settle for a couple of weeks I bought 7 neons to mature it.I lost one but all the others were doing well so after 3 weeks I decided to add to it.At the shop I quizzed the staff as to what I could add with the neons and chose to go with 6 rummy nose tetras.All doing well for the first week then disaster hit.I noticed a few white spots on the new fish.Went back to the shop and got some whitespot treatment and followed the insrtuctions.Funnily the neons dont seem to have any spots at all,but within 24 hour one of he neons died.I carried on with the treatment for 4 days but the rummy nose look even worse they are now covered in spots.I also did a 20% water change as instructed by shop.can anyone help?please

 

[fatheadminnow]

to TFF!

It seems the Fish store got the best of you, fortunately you have stumbled into the right place.

First off, you are/were/most likely still in what is known as a fish-in cycle. You see, one cannot fully set up a fish tank (filter and all) and then add fish and expect everything to run smoothly.

There is something called cycling a tank, and leaving the tank sit for a couple weeks before getting fish did absolutely nothing.

First off, instead of writing paragraphs of a response, I will give you a couple links to read:
Nitrgen cycle
What is cycling
Fish-in cycling

Read these, please, as this is the foundation to a healthy tank.

Also, you NEED to get a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH! The test kit must be a LIQUID test kit as strip test kits are very inaccurate!

-FHM

 

[jeyhay]

to TFF!

It seems the Fish store got the best of you, fortunately you have stumbled into the right place.

First off, you are/were/most likely still in what is known as a fish-in cycle. You see, one cannot fully set up a fish tank (filter and all) and then add fish and expect everything to run smoothly.

There is something called cycling a tank, and leaving the tank sit for a couple weeks before getting fish did absolutely nothing.

First off, instead of writing paragraphs of a response, I will give you a couple links to read:
Nitrgen cycle
What is cycling
Fish-in cycling

Read these, please, as this is the foundation to a healthy tank.

Also, you NEED to get a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH! The test kit must be a LIQUID test kit as strip test kits are very inaccurate!

-FHM

to TFF!

It seems the Fish store got the best of you, fortunately you have stumbled into the right place.

First off, you are/were/most likely still in what is known as a fish-in cycle. You see, one cannot fully set up a fish tank (filter and all) and then add fish and expect everything to run smoothly.

There is something called cycling a tank, and leaving the tank sit for a couple weeks before getting fish did absolutely nothing.

First off, instead of writing paragraphs of a response, I will give you a couple links to read:
Nitrgen cycle
What is cycling
Fish-in cycling

Read these, please, as this is the foundation to a healthy tank.

Also, you NEED to get a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH! The test kit must be a LIQUID test kit as strip test kits are very inaccurate!

-FHM

 

[jeyhay]

Thankyou for the links.I will be purchasing a test kit tomorrow. I have been using something called filter start when i recently changed the filter as it says on the box.guess i have a lot to learn.i have become quite attatched to the fish and hate to see them suffer.i wont want to trust pet shop staff again.

to TFF!

It seems the Fish store got the best of you, fortunately you have stumbled into the right place.

First off, you are/were/most likely still in what is known as a fish-in cycle. You see, one cannot fully set up a fish tank (filter and all) and then add fish and expect everything to run smoothly.

There is something called cycling a tank, and leaving the tank sit for a couple weeks before getting fish did absolutely nothing.

First off, instead of writing paragraphs of a response, I will give you a couple links to read:
Nitrgen cycle
What is cycling
Fish-in cycling

Read these, please, as this is the foundation to a healthy tank.

Also, you NEED to get a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH! The test kit must be a LIQUID test kit as strip test kits are very inaccurate!

-FHM

to TFF!

It seems the Fish store got the best of you, fortunately you have stumbled into the right place.

First off, you are/were/most likely still in what is known as a fish-in cycle. You see, one cannot fully set up a fish tank (filter and all) and then add fish and expect everything to run smoothly.

There is something called cycling a tank, and leaving the tank sit for a couple weeks before getting fish did absolutely nothing.

First off, instead of writing paragraphs of a response, I will give you a couple links to read:
Nitrgen cycle
What is cycling
Fish-in cycling

Read these, please, as this is the foundation to a healthy tank.

Also, you NEED to get a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH! The test kit must be a LIQUID test kit as strip test kits are very inaccurate!

-FHM

 

[fatheadminnow]

LFS (local fish shops) function from a financial stand point and not for the well being of the fish. The more fish they sell, the more money they make. It is very hard and rare to find a good LFS that actually knows what they are talking about.

Anyways, the test kit, like I said above, needs to be a LIQUID test kit, such as the API master test kit, or the Nutrafin mini master test kit. The test kit must test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH. The two previous test kits I listed off test for the four parameters I listed.

-FHM

 

[jeyhay]

purchased a test kit yesterday and also took sample of water to shop for testing.Water was spot on no problems there. lost 2 more fish today.and ick treatment was used again today after a water change and.What else can I try.I only have 7 little tetras left from 14.fish look like they are going to explode they are so full spots.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Have you purchased a liquid test kit?

At fish stores, they will most likely use strip test kits because they are cheap, however, extremely inaccurate! If they did use a liquid test kit, ask to see the results; numbers. To be spot on ammonia and nitrite must be 0 ppm, and nitrate would obviously be anything but 0 ppm.

If you got a liquid test kit yourself, then I would go ahead and test the water yourself. Never trust a LFS to test water unless you know for sure they are using a good liquid test kit, and will show you the results.

The most common cause of ick is stress. ick is always present in any tank, but if the fish strong and stress-free, then they will not/should not get ick at all. However, since your fish have gotten ick, then that means they must be really stressed out somehow, and the biggest stresser in a tank is bad water parameters. Make sure you know for a fact what your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH levels are before you move ahead

We need to see numbers, that way wewill be able to aid you further.

-FHM