Fish Dead

[steve_b21]

Tank took me 3 months to cycle. I got fish last sunday...

12 Neon Tetra
6 Guppies
3 Widow Tetra

6 days later, i am down to ...

6 Neon Tetra (Dont know where they have gone unless they have been eaten?)
5 Guppies (One was at the bottom dead this morning, another seems to be just lyin at the bottom now)
3 Widow Tetra (These look fine, chasing each other around)

I have tested water....

Ammonia = 0
Nitirits = 0
Nitrate = 40/50ish

I have the airstone working, and the filter creating a lot of water movement on the surface of the tank.

How oftern should i be feeding them?

Any one know whats goin on?

 

[calderfisher]

Don't think you are doing anything wrong.
Hats off to you for doing a 3 month fishless cycle.
Neons can be a bit delicate when introduced to a new tank especially if they are really small.
Guppy can be delicate too due to inbreeding I believe.
Your nitrates sound a little high but shouldn't have caused any deaths. I would do a 30% water change with dechlorinated tapwater to bring them down a bit.
Feed a little once a day intially, you can increase this later on if you want.
Any pictures??

CraigM

 

[Larissa]

Neon tetras are not very hardy (despite what most LFS tell us) and are best added to a mature system. I believe the same can be said for most guppies and due to inbreeding they are not as tough as they once were. If anything, I would do some water changes to get your nitrates down as the guppies and neons might be sensitive to this in a recently cycled tank.
In terms of feeding, keep in mind that the size of a fish's stomach is about the same as its eye so you don't need to feed them very much. Many people have different feeding routines. I tend to feed my fish a little twice a day on nice quality flake food.
Other than that, keep a close eye on your fish - observe them for any out of the ordinary behaviour and keep us notified HTH.
-Larissa

Edit: you're too fast calderfisher!

 

[steve_b21]

I will have to get some picture sorted out for later.

Tank is in a wall, and it not fully 'finished' yet as i have some one coming to fix a picture frame around it so it will hide all the wires etc.

Do you think the Neons have got sucked in to the filter? as they were pretty tiny.

Also the Widow Tetra's seems fine to me, swim in the middle of the tank....

The guppies however appear to be top swimmers.... shoot up and down now and then.... i dont think they are swimming at top for air.... well i hope not.... They seem to like swimming towards the filter and then letting themselfs be pushed back towards the other side of tank....

 

[jennybugs]

Did you add all 12 fish at once?

It may be (as well as neons preferring a mature set up) that your good bacteria hasn't been able to multiply fast enough to cope with the extra volume of waste in your new tank and your delicate fish have suffered as a result.

 

[steve_b21]

Yes i added all the following at once...

12 Neon Tetra
6 Guppies
3 Widow Tetra

I cycled my tank (fishless) for 3 months, when i had finished the filter was processing 5 ammonia and Nitrite within 12 hours..... i kept adding ammonia for 1 week to make sure.

Surely if i added less fish, the bacteria i built up would have just died off?

 

[rabbut]

I think Jenny bugs thought you had fish-in cycled, and then 12 fish would have been too much. After a fishless cycle.you can fully stock strait away

I would put it down to adding fish too sencitive for the new tank. Small neons are especialy delicate, and the adults aren't exactly hardy. There was little you could have done about it though. Mebe leave the tank for a few months, then try to build up the neon's numbers again with larger specimins.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[steve_b21]

Right, few days on....

Came home from work today.... and 3 guppies dead... , 1 looking normal, and 1 sittin at bottom of tank.

Leaving me with ...

3 Widow Tetra
4 Neon Tetra
2 Guppies

Tested water...

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 70/80

I have just done a 50% water change... bit annoyed to be honest, whole reason i did the 3 month fishless cycle was because i thought no fish would die.

 

[steve_b21]

Any one?

 

[Faythee]

I am wondering why the nitrate is so high. Have you tested the tap water ?

 

[Ashcow]

hi the same sort of thing has happend to me just not as serious i cycled my tank for 2 months befor adding fish not all at once though and one od my black neon tetras died soon follwoed ny a clown loach. i saw on a website that occasionaly blck widow tetras can nipp other fish so altough i am quite new to this that you buy a breeding net and sperate the blck widow tetras from the others for a few days just to be sure it isnt them hope this info helps you on your problem.

 

[rabbut]

It sounds like an internal bacterial infection to me. I would treat with Interpet Anti-internal Bacteria

Sorry about the slow reply, it's just that I have been snowed under with work the last few days.

All the best of luck sorting this out
Rabbut

 

[TammyLiz]

You must be overfeeding for the nitrates to be so high. Those levels will affect the fish and weaken their immune systems. Try cleaning out your filter. Have you done that yet? Make sure you don't replace all of the filter media at once--only half of it. Or if you have just a sponge rinse it in old tank water.

Have you observed any spots on the fish? Like ich? Bloating? Loss of color? Anything?

I hate medicating without a reason but an antibiotic might help if it is a bacterial infection. It could be anything, though, and maybe parasites if you're not seeing anything and feeding a ton. However, although they can get them, I don't think neons and guppies are the usual suspects for parasites. Usually with them it is bacterial.

HTH.

 

[rabbut]

Nitrate at 70/80 is fine. There is good evidence that it only becomes problematic above 100, and fatal past 400. Going on the information to hand, I'd say that the problem is deffinately internal bacteria. Non-specific sysmptoms and un-explained deaths are almost always this problem. The only other thing to caurse this is trace poisoning. Unless you can offer something else? Don't get me wrong, I don't have an encyclopedic knowlage of desease, like member such as Wilder, but I have dealt with internal bacteria often enough to reconise it's symptoms.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[backtotropical]

You must be overfeeding for the nitrates to be so high. Those levels will affect the fish and weaken their immune systems.

Not so i'm afraid as Rabbut has pointed out. Some areas of the country can have water with that level of nitrate coming from the tap, London for instance.

Nitrate at 70/80 is fine. There is good evidence that it only becomes problematic above 100, and fatal past 400. Going on the information to hand, I'd say that the problem is deffinately internal bacteria.

Couldn't have put it better myself!