Aggression Issue

[mrudow]

ok so i went to the pet store bought 1 angelfish 1black molly 1platy and 1 pink glofish. i put them in the tank which was perfectly fine for the fish according to the sales manager. within 7 hours the angel fish died. the next morning the black molly died. later that night the pink glofish died. all had the same behavior before the died. first they would float around the tank not in a normal way because they wouldnt use their fins to move they would float. next the would go to the surface of the water and gulp for air. thirdly theywould rest on the bottom breathing heavily. after they died the platy was left and was perfectly fine. the next day we went to the pet store and talked to the sales manager he told us to buy a relaxant for the surviving fish. we did and the platy look sort of more entergetic. the next day ,which is the 4th day, we went to the pet store and bought 3 more platys. while we were their we noticed all of the angel fish were dead in the tank at the petstore. when we got home we put the bag in the tank for 30 minutes then opened the bag and let them swim out. now i have 2 orange and black platies. 1 of those is the survivor "marley". the other is the new one without a name at the time.we also have 2 different platys both are bigger shinnier and more red than orange. one was bullying marley. he hits marley with his tail and knocks marley into the corner and starts nudging him. now i dont know if he is picking on marley because marley is weaker or if its because fish like to make ranks. please post answers or suggestions for me everything helps.
ok so i just looked in the tank to see which ones are female and male all look like female but marley has part of her fins missing i really dont want her to die please help!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Colin_T]

If you lose fish within a short time of going into the tank then there is usually something wrong with the tank water.
How long has the tank been set up for?
How long after the tank was set up before the fish were put in?

The angelfish might have died from a problem related to the shop but it would have been unlikely to pass the disease onto the other fish and kill them that quickly.
I would also think about finding another petshop as the glofish sounds like a tetra or danio and if it is then it should be kept in a group not on its own. Also if the tank is new, (been set up for less than a month) then an angelfish should not have been added until after the filters had established.

As for the other platy being picked on, it could be Marley is a female the others are males trying to breed with her. Male platies get pretty fixated when it comes to sex and will continuously chase and harass females.

If you go to the following link and scroll down the page,

http/www.perthaquarium.com.au/fish/tropi...ater_fish.phtml

then click on the picture or heading titled "Mollies, Swords, Guppies & Platies" then that will open a window with some info on sexing livebearers.

 

[Efren]

sorry to hear about your fish -
how did you cycle your tank -
and IMO you introduced to much
fish in one Go.

Did you test the water chem (ph,ammonia,nitrates,nitrites)
before putting your fish -



i'm still a newbie in this field but i'm
very sure that members here will
be more than welcome to give their thoughts.

 

[waterdrop]

Fish stores are not known for explaining filters very well. This is a pretty good forum for learning how they work and how to prepare them for fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mrudow]

thanks but how do i stop the aggression they keep on hurting my marley but their supposedly non-aggressive fish

so all of the fish in the tank have a fin on their lower body so i think that means their all female why would they be harrassing another female?

 

[mrudow]

by the way the tank was running for a day before we put the fish in. its a new tank and im going to buy testing strips for the tank and see if theirs something in the water, but when i went to the petstore and told them three of our fish died, he said bring in the dead fish or bring in the water in the tank so it can be tested. we brought in the water and they tested it and the water was in perfect condition. so i think its something to do with the fish not the water but i could be wrong

 

[Wrams]

I'm a newbie myself but if your fish are floating to the top then gulping for air i would say that you have a chemical problem that needs sorting before these fish die. Chemicals from fish waste are dangerous to fish. Not sure which chemical it is but either Ammonia or Nitrite burns and the other suficates i can't remember which does which. Thats probably why they go to the top looking for air. As for your larger molly bullying Marley thats just a dominance thing that ALL creatures do on the planet, hes tried his luck with your tanks oldest resident and Marley allowed him to take over. Thats my oppinion! Not sure if i'm right but sounds like that to me. I'll soon know if im wrong won't i?


Test strips aren't what you need, try these:

API Master Test Kit

Did you see the guy do the water test?

 

[vinylman]

by the way the tank was running for a day before we put the fish in. its a new tank and im going to buy testing strips for the tank and see if theirs something in the water, but when i went to the petstore and told them three of our fish died, he said bring in the dead fish or bring in the water in the tank so it can be tested. we brought in the water and they tested it and the water was in perfect condition. so i think its something to do with the fish not the water but i could be wrong

Tanks, or rather filters need to be cycled. They need to build up a colony of bacteria that can deal with Ammonia (which your fish breathe out and excrete). Lots of shops give awful advice about this and you've found one. Please take the fish back to the shop and start reading the pinned threads on cycling on this site. There's a lot to learn, but once you've got your head around it, it saves so much trouble and fish loss. Any fish kept in an uncycled tank will suffer from burned gills, which is irreversible and will shorten their lives.

 

[Efren]

i agree 101% mrudow to TFF people -
first -they know what they're talking about
unlike "some" LFS - who'll give rubbish advise -
a filter/tank runnin for only a day is not cycled at all.

read this: very important

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

and look around the forum you'll learn a lot from here

good luck!!!

 

[mrudow]

I'm a newbie myself but if your fish are floating to the top then gulping for air i would say that you have a chemical problem that needs sorting before these fish die. Chemicals from fish waste are dangerous to fish. Not sure which chemical it is but either Ammonia or Nitrite burns and the other suficates i can't remember which does which. Thats probably why they go to the top looking for air. As for your larger molly bullying Marley thats just a dominance thing that ALL creatures do on the planet, hes tried his luck with your tanks oldest resident and Marley allowed him to take over. Thats my oppinion! Not sure if i'm right but sounds like that to me. I'll soon know if im wrong won't i?


Test strips aren't what you need, try these:

API Master Test Kit

Did you see the guy do the water test?

well um marley just died because the other fish beat him to death. and 3of my fish already died before that and there was no waste in there at all when i put the fish in ive never had fish before and it was a new tank

 

[gaz gun man]

I'm a newbie myself but if your fish are floating to the top then gulping for air i would say that you have a chemical problem that needs sorting before these fish die. Chemicals from fish waste are dangerous to fish. Not sure which chemical it is but either Ammonia or Nitrite burns and the other suficates i can't remember which does which. Thats probably why they go to the top looking for air. As for your larger molly bullying Marley thats just a dominance thing that ALL creatures do on the planet, hes tried his luck with your tanks oldest resident and Marley allowed him to take over. Thats my oppinion! Not sure if i'm right but sounds like that to me. I'll soon know if im wrong won't i?


Test strips aren't what you need, try these:

API Master Test Kit

Did you see the guy do the water test?

well um marley just died because the other fish beat him to death. and 3of my fish already died before that and there was no waste in there at all when i put the fish in ive never had fish before and it was a new tank

yes but the waste your fish, and any left over fish food decomposes and contaminates the water - a fishless cycle replicates fish in the water by the addition of ammonia by you, which causes the growth of bacteria that eats Ammonia and Nitrites.

At the minute all your filter is doing is sucking up the ammonia and dumping it straight into the tank again.

Take back what fish you have left to the shop, buy a liquid test kit, then go to Homebase get yourself a bottle of household ammonia. Then read the Fishless Cycling post on the top of this forum.