Glofish died! Please help!

[JoshMason37]

Ok so I have a 5.5 gal tank with one dwarf gourami and 2 (now 1 glofish). I came up to feed them and I can’t find one of the glofish. I finally left up a log ornament I have and bang he floats up dead. Rip glofish. I know gouramis can be aggressive but there was no sign of harm on the dead fish. He was just plain dead. Now comes the worst part. I still had my 30 warranty with him from petco but before my stupid self could remember that I flushed the dead fish. I’m literally cringing so hard at my stupidity. Right now my main priority is figuring out what happened and what to do next. P.S. this is my first tank and I’m planning on getting a bigger one don’t worry! Please go easy on me I know I’m stupid!

 

[Essjay]

Did you cycle the tank before putting the fish in? And by cycle I mean adding ammonia to the tank not just leaving it to run for a few days.
What are the ammonia and nitrite readings currently?

If you did not cycle the tank there is probably ammonia in the water which is the most likely cause of the fish death.
You are aware that the tank is too small for these fish, and being in a tank that is too small stresses fish - and stress is the major cause of fish problems. The glofish are also stressed because they need to be in a group of at least 6.. There are several species of glofish, but all of them are shoaling fish. And the shoal should be all of the same species of glofish.


Until you can get the bigger tank, you need to to daily water changes to remove the ammonia made by the fish. Or even better, return the fish to the shop, do a fishless cycle (see method in How To Tips above) and get a single betta for this tank.

 

[King puff]

A good way to add ammonia to the tank is adding fish food. This is basically like waste and will produce ammonia which bacteria can consume. The bacteria produce waste which is called nirtite. Then, bacteria consume that and produce nitrate. Nitrate cant be consumed by anything except plants and thats why planted tanks are "easier" to maintain and you need to do water changes. I would read up on the nitrogen cycle. I made the mistake of not cycling my first tank long enough and all of my fish passed away until finally, a month later, I got more fish and they survived. Instead of spending more money on more fish, let the tank cycle first. It can be annoying sometimes waiting that long to get fish, but it will be a better decision in the long run.