Dying Fish

[konky911]

Hello everyone,

I have recently set up my aquarium about 9 weeks ago. i have been following along with instructions on how to maintain the fish and everything, but it seems like every week i have a fish that dies. i do leave on weekends a lot, but i bought one of those timing feeders that dumps food in twice a day and i tested in o make sure it was working. after all the steps, i still come back nearly every weekend and at least one fish is dead.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!

ALex

 

[littlest]

Hi

what size is your tank?
What fish do you have (and did you have) and how many of each?
Did you do a fishless cycle?
Do you test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? If so, what are the levels?
What symptoms did the fish display before dying?
How often do you do water changes and how often?

At a guess, I think you didn't cycle the tank before adding fish and it is bad water quality that is killing your fish. If you haven't already, get tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.


The more info you give about your tank and how you set it up, the easier it will be for people to help.

if you don't know what cycling is read here

 

[wolfwolf]

We need more info.

Tank Size, pH, nitrite, kh, gh, nitrate, what type of fish, water temp, filter, what chemicals are being used, did I miss any?



Darn Littlest beat me to the punch!

 

[konky911]

i have a total of five fish right now. two swordtails and 3 neon tetras.


my tank is ten gallons.


i havent ran a cycle because i use fresh spring water every time i change the tank. my friend who is a biology student advised this.


i have yet to check any of the pH or nitrite and such.


i have used no chemicals.



the temperature is between 72 to 75 degrees at all times.

water changes gave been done every 4 weeks.

 

[unannon]

do what the above people said, also make sure the temperatures are in correct range for the fish you are trying to keep.

 

[WILDER]

Take s sample of your tank water to the lfs and tell them to write the readings down for you.
First thing to investigate is water quality.
Should be doing a water change and gravel vac once a week.
Tanks not overstocked, neons don't produce much waste.
Think we need to look at full water stats.

 

[littlest]

using spring water does nothing to help the cycle. You still need to cycle the tank. You need to get tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Get liquid tests not strips. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and if they are present in the water that may be what has been killing your fish. They would have been present at some point, and probably in large, toxic levels since your water changes are only every four weeks.

Your water changes are not enough either. You should do water changes every week, more often if the tank is still cycling (which it may be).

how many fish and what type died? and when did they die? You should read that link I gave about cycling. It's about fishless cycling, and I realise you already have fish, but it will explain why it is important.

what filter do you use and what media does it have?

 

[konky911]

ok. thanks for the tips. i will do a test of the chemicals asap. i had two sword tails die, a barb and 3 neon tetras all together.

i have just a normal filter that uses charcol.

is there any possible way to do a cycle without killing the fish that i currently have?

 

[TylerFerretLord]

ok. thanks for the tips. i will do a test of the chemicals asap. i had two sword tails die, a barb and 3 neon tetras all together.

i have just a normal filter that uses charcol.

is there any possible way to do a cycle without killing the fish that i currently have?

You could try and find some Bio-Spira, it's the only bacterial product known to work. It's called Bactinettes in the UK.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Or you could try to get hold of some established filter media. There is a pinned thread with members happy to donate, see if you can find somebody near you.

Another problem could be that you were overstocked initially. While 2 swordtails and 3 neons may not be overstocking for a cycled 10 gallon tank, they are more than you would recommend for cycling the tank. And it seems you had 4 swordtails, 6 neons and a barb initially, which would have been overstocked.

Swordtails also need a bigger tank, they grow to about 4 inches and are fast swimmers.

It is also likely that the automatic feeder dumps too much food in the tank. I had that problem when I first started my tanks and have never used one since. If you only go away for a few days there is no need to feed the fish, they'll be fine until you get back.

So a good idea would be testing the water, frequent water changes, discontinue use of automatic feeder and ... maybe see if you can exchange the swords for some platies.

 

[konky911]

i never had that many fish intially in the tank. at most, i only had a total of 7. then when a few of them died, i bought more.

so, even if i am gone for 4 days at some times it would be ok to leave the fish with no food?

 

[dwarfgourami]

i never had that many fish intially in the tank. at most, i only had a total of 7. then when a few of them died, i bought more.

so, even if i am gone for 4 days at some times it would be ok to leave the fish with no food?

7 is too many for a new tank that size.

And yes, leaving them for 4 days without food is absolutely fine.