Dying Fish

[chaticon1]

I haven't had a chance to get my water tested yet (I'm hoping sometime this week!), but I know the pH is at the low end of the acceptable scale.
I have a 10 gallon tank.
The temp is around 72 degrees F.

At the moment, I have two mixed fruit tetras, one male guppy, two neon tetras, and one glo-light tetra. I had several more, but that's all that is left now.

My tank is about two weeks old. The only chemicals I have added are two that came with the kit to fix the water during set-up and water changes.

Now, the problem: My fish keep dying. I have lost four guppies (two females and two males), two glo-light tetras, and two black-striped neon tetras over the past few weeks. They did not all inhabit the tank at once, I kept replacing the ones I lost with new fish. I have tested the pH and, while it's a little low, it's still in the acceptable range according to the strip. Also, the temperature is acceptable for the types of fish I have. Still, the fish keep dying.
My theory is that the mixed fruit tetras are picking on the other fish and therefore killing them. I am thinking of buying a smaller tank for those two so I can fill my 10 gallon tank again. Does this seem like a vaild idea?

Thank you!

 

[Blubble37]

i guess so and i hope that stops them dying!

Good luck

Rob

 

[fluttermoth]

The problem is that your tank isn't 'cycled' (ie; has no good bacteria living in the filter to eat the toxic ammonia that your fish produce) and so your fish are poisoning themselves.

Have a read of the articles in 'fish-in cycling' and the 'nitrogen cycle' in the beginner's resource centre (the link is in my sig).

Do at least a 50% water change (with warm, dechlorinated water, of course) every day until you can buy yourself a test kit for ammonia.
Then you can test every day, and if you get any reading for ammonia change enough water to get the level down to as near zero as possible.

Please don't buy anymore fish until you have had a full week with no ammonia showing at all, or you'll just put more strain on the bacterial colony.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

And keep in mind that getting your ammonia to 0 may take several more weeks. What you're doing now is a "fish-in" cycle, using the ammonia from their waste to cycle your tank instead of adding the ammonia yourself to cycle the tank.

Also, once you get your tank cycled (I also have a good link in my sig below), if you keep tetras, they really need to be in larger groups. They're schooling fish and don't do as well and aren't as happy with just a couple.

Glad you've joined us. I hope you'll do lots of research while you're on the forum. The information you can glean from this site is priceless. I've learned an incredible amount from some great, helpful people.