:( Fish Died

[Alien Anna]

Well my tanks a 20 gallon long and its been running for 3 weeks the first two weeks there was no fish I added all 7 fish the past week. All the fish where of small size not very big at all. I guess I just did not allow for a complete cycle from what everyone is saying. I will test the water soon and give you the results.

Hi Plasmah,
hopefully having read my article you now realise that for the first 2 weeks you weren't cycling your tank, just checking for leaks. So your tank has been cycling with fish for a week - the prime time for an ammonia spike.

The ich is almost certainly a side-effect, but provided you get an ick medication that does not affect filters (i.e. not methylene blue) you should start treating it right away. The medication does work, but you should continue it a little longer than it says on the bottle to make absolutely certain.

Also, because you need to continue partial water changes of 10-15% to keep the ammonia within safer limits, you will need to ignore the advice about not doing a water change until the end of the treatment, instead add the appropriate amount of medication according to the amount you changed. Ick is eminently treatable but left untreated it could kill your fish.

Please don't feel that we are criticising you or thinking "stupid newbie". Most of us learnt this stuff the hard way - often by losing all of our first fish. We're just trying to stop other people having the same miserable experience. Stick with us and we'll try to help you through this difficult phase. Soon you'll be giving advice with the rest of us! ;o)

 

[Plasmah]

Oh... Anna not at all

Like I said I appreciate all your help and input. The first thing i need to do is like you said get meds then I also need a water test kit. This weekend I will go and start the treatment.

Thanks again

 

[Zak Ursulo]

I agree with the AquaNut. My first tank was a 10galon tank that i had spent alot of time thinking about, the first fish were a couple *like 2* neon tetras that were in there for almost a month before i added 3 more tetras.. just sounds like you went to fast in a hobby that is really fun and can be really compicated..

 

[Alien Anna]

I agree with the AquaNut. My first tank was a 10galon tank that i had spent alot of time thinking about, the first fish were a couple *like 2* neon tetras that were in there for almost a month before i added 3 more tetras.. just sounds like you went to fast in a hobby that is really fun and can be really compicated..

OTOH, I recently cycled a 10 gal tank using Fishless Cycling techniques (learned from this site) and after 3 weeks added 8 black neons and a betta, with absolutely no problems, no nitrite and no ammonia. It would have taken less than 3 weeks, but I mis-measured my ammonia.