Fish death

[Amy.anne]

Hi everyone,
We are new fish owners and have currently had a tank. My brother is a massive "tropical fish" person and helped us set up the tank ensuring it was safe, water, heater and pump. We left the tank to settle and then had some neon tetras as was advised by my brother that these were a good starting fish as they are quite hardy. After a week they were all fine so we added a betta, which again after a week was fine and my brother said we would be okay to add some more (got advice about size of tank and how many fish it could have). Now my brother said this was the mistake as we went to pets at home and bought some penguin tetras and 2 gouramis which my brother said shouldn't be put with the betta but the member of staff said they were fine fish to put together. We watched them closely and they were fine, still eating etc. A week later we go away for 2 nights so buy a block that was recommended. We returned tonight and all of the fish have died apart from my betta and all of the fish had "solidified" with like a white film on them. My brother can not understand what's happened as the betta is the more difficult fish to keep but that's the only one that survived.
As a new fish owner I'm worried its something we have done. Any advice pleaseeeeee.
Thank you

 

[FishGuest5123]

Welcome! Gouramis definitely should never be placed with a betta. Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? What are your parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

 

[Metalhead88]

Yeah.... seems like you haven't cycled your tank at all. Read this. https://fishlab.com/nitrogen-cycle/ definitely test your water asap. Any amount of ammonia is deadly... this seems to be the culprit.


What size tank are you working with?

 

[seangee]

For future refence do not use feeding blocks when you go away. Fish will be fine without food for 2-3 weeks and feeding blocks are notorious for dumping their entire contents with the results you have seen.

This does not negate what others have said about cycling or compatibility.

 

[Naughts]

Sorry you lost your fish.
I agree with Seanagee, holiday feeding blocks SAY they release food a bit at a time, but depending on the tank pH level, they can dissolve all at once and pollute the water. The white film you saw is probably the disintegrated block.
The betta may have coped better by breathing at the surface but he will have suffered from the polluted water too so you will need to take extra care whilst it recovers. If you didn't Cycle your Tank, ask your brother for some filter sponge from a mature fish tank and put it in your tank. Any questions, please ask. Good luck.

 

[Metalhead88]

Those feeding blocks are horrible. I didn't see that when I first read your post

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[Colin_T]

Holiday Feeder Blocks are made from layers of calcium and flake food. If they are put in an aquarium with a neutral pH (7.0), they dissolve slowly at the rate it says on the packaging.

However, if they are put in a tank with a pH below 7.0, they dissolve faster and can release all the food in a matter of hours. The lower the pH, the faster the calcium dissolves and the faster the food is released.

If the Feeder Blocks are put in water with a high pH (8.0+), they don't dissolve very quickly, if at all, and the food does not get released.

----------------------
As a general rule, Holiday Feeder Blocks are not really very good and if you are going away for a couple of weeks, most adult fish will be fine without any food during that time.