Help! Fish dropping like flies!

[rich815]

Hello all, I am a re-born newbie. Had tropical fish when I was a kid but not for years now. Bought a new 5-gallon set-up this last week and within 4 days have lost a few too many fish. Perhaps too many in the tank in the first place? We started with 4 neon tertras, 6 tiger barbs (real small ones), two guppies, 2 zebras (at least that's what we called them when I was a kid), a single molly, a betta (which came free with the tank) and a chinese algae eater. I bought a small outside filter that hangs on the back, a decent, fully submergable heater to keep the water at 82 F, have a lid with a small light. I treated the water with those drops to de-chlorinate and put the fish in last Sunday. Monday 2 tertras died. Next day one of the zerbras and the betta. Yesterday another tetra. Today the Chinese algae eater and another tetra, and I just pulled the last zebra out of these as his tail was nimbled to almost nothing and he was looking really poorly. I've been feeding them 2 x a day. The water had gotten a little cloudy and the guys at the local aquarium store sold me some Cycle for my possible fish loss problems and two small live plants to add some oxygen to the water too. That was yesterday. The water has cleared up nicely now but I worry over how many fish I'll lose tomorrow! One thing I remember from my young days was a bubbler of some kind to add O2 to the water. I do not have one of those now. Will that help? The tiger barbs seem active and healthy still as do the guppies, and the molly. The last tertra looks like he'll go any time. Any suggestions for a new novice?

 

[dixaisy930]

Well, I think you probably have two problems with the tank...

The first is you do have too many fish in the tank. A good rule of thumb is one inch of fish to one gallon of water. You need to use the fishes final length for this (for example, guppys and platys usually get to between 2 and three inches, so one would need about two gallons of water).

The other problem is a common one...your tank has not cycled. There are alot of good posts and articles about this, but basically is means you need to let your tank run for about 3 to 5 weeks so it goes through it's natural ammonia and nitrite/nitrate spykes that can kill some fish.

Hope this helps. I'm sure it'll all work out.

 

[Lithril]

Ok first things first go back to the lfs and punch the guys hard. If you bought a 5 gal tank last week there is no way on this planet that it will be ready for fish yet.

Ok heres what I'd do
1 - take the fish back to the shop until you can get the tank ready.
2 - Read the pinned articles in the beginners section there is a lot of information and the one that is especially suitable is the article on new tank syndrome. Your fish are producing a lot of ammonia and there won't be enough bacteria to deal with it.
3 - You need to get your tank cycling whether its with a few fish or the fishless way (info in beginners section).
4 - Think very carefully what fish you're going to put into the tank, reseach the diff types of fish, thats entirely too many fish to go in a 5gal tank.

You're also going need to get some test kits and measure the ammonia and NitrIte levels.

A bubbler will help but I don't think you'll have any fish alive after a few more days at this rate.

Sorry the above sounds so harsh but you've been given some duff information, keeping fish isn't as easy as just buying fish and adding them to water as a lot of lfs try to tell people.

If you need any more help just yell

Matt

 

[Eelzor]

Several people come up with this problem. Alien Anna is probably the best to help in this subject. This is her sig - AA's Sig on "New Tank Syndrome"

HTH

 

[platypus]

Hi,

Just to add to the excellent advice you've already been given, have a read of this article on newbie no-nos too, as it sounds like it might be too late to save any of your existing fish and you could be starting again from scratch anyway, you'll probably find it useful. Hope it helps!

 

[rich815]

Well, thanks for all the excellent advice all and for pointing me to some very good articles. You folks are great. What a nice site. Looks like I may indeed be starting over soon. I sincerely doubt my lfs will take back or even "hold" my fish for me while the tank cycles but I will aks them today. Otherwise as a last ditch effort I'll continue to use this additive they gave me called "Cycle" which supposedly adds and helps create that beneficial bacteria to the water, hopefully those two live plants will help, and based on one of the articles I read maybe I can get the lfs to atleast give me a handful of gravel from one of their already steadily running tanks to add to mine to help that bacteria grow while my ammonia and bad nitrate cycles run (would you listen to that? I'm talking like some kind of expert already! ) In the meantime wish me luck. Thanks again.

 

[platypus]

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[ChrisP]

Remember to change your water daily by about 25% or more to give your fish a good chance, I believe this is stated in one of the articles but it is one of the most important things you need to do right now! And dont forget the water conditioner!!

 

[Lithril]

Yup good luck mate, try and get a couple of test kits while your in the shop for ammonia and NitrITE, you'll need to test the water at least daily and as Zaphan said do the water changes (if you need to do more frequently then do so). If you can change LFS then thats probably a good idea, anyone that will sell you that many fish in a new tank of that size isn't worth shopping at IMHO

Good luck again though

 

[ostrow]

One more thing, at a minimum get rid of that Chinese "Algae Eater". One, it does not eat algae. Two, it does attack other fish. Three, it needs far more than such a small tank. It really has no value in this hobby, outside of that rare person who might find it aesthetically pleasing.

Recommended: the much harder to find Siamese Algae Eater. Sometimes called Siamese Flying Fox (but NOT Flying Fox), or Siamese Algae Eating Shark. Peaceful and eats all sorts of algae.

Or a dwarf bristlenose pleco.

 

[FanOFish]

One more little piece of advice...don't mix tiger barbs with tetras or even guppies for that matter. Even the little ones are constant nippers. Keep barbs with barbs, tetras with tetras, live bearers with live bearers in a tank this small.

 

[suemack]

hi rich815

firstly GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR TANK

my first tank was a 5 gall and I bought the tank and fish on the same day - not good!!! - didn't know where to go for advice when my fish kept dying (thought that the lfs were experts!) When I got my water tested the ammonia was off the scale.

ended up doing about 25% water changes daily -- sometimes adding an extra 10% water change in the morning - it's not too bad in a 5 gall though and I did manage to keep one fish alive (Blossum - a cory) Because of the way I started (fish and tank together) and all the water changes I needed to do - it did take longer to establish the biological cycle, but was the only way if I didn't want to kill my last fish

tank has been up and running now for 3 years (and has breed! have 3 more now) it still takes more maintenance than a bigger tank as the water fouls very quickly and I am limited to what I keep in there - it's ideal for me as a guppy breeding tank........and Blossum

regards - sue

 

[bgraber]

Ok, you're gonna have 2 options really.. Maybe 3.. 1 is get the remaining fishout of there.. let the tank sit for a few weeks while checking ammonia levels(which is probably killing the fish) and wait till there is no ammonia.. You very violently kicked the natural cycle into gear and the tank needs to straighten itself out.. ie; Good Bacteria growth. Option 2 is leave the fish in and let them die only to wait a few weeks to add more(much less). And 3 would be to get some Bio-Spira and start doing 25 - 50% water changes with gravel vac'ing daily until the water is no longer toxic.. Bio-Spira introduces billions of helpful bacteria into your tank to take care of the nitrites and ammonia problem. But if they are overwhelmed, as the fish are with the high levels of toxicity(poop) in the water tehn they won't thrive either. And the 3rd would be to take everything out and start over using one of the mentioned "cycling" methods to "get the tank ready" for the fish. And then maybe re-stock with Half the fish you originally put it. The bacteria are key..

 

[Sea_Monster87]

ok, your tank was VERY overcrowded, what you should do is
1. take out the survivors and put them in a different tank
2. take all the water out of the tank and clean it with warm water, do the same with decorations and gravel
3. put a new cartridge/ bubble stone in the filter (clean it well first)
4. let the tank cycle for AT LEAST 5 hours then get your water checked
5. if the water is ok, move your fish back in
6. don't keep more than 5 fish in a 5 gallon tank
Hope this helps 8)

 

[Gunnie]

I agree with the bio spira option at this point. When the fever gets you, and you contract MTS (multiple tank syndrome), you can learn to cycle properly. Since you have an emergency situation, I agree with Sea Monster's recommendations. Try and find the bio spira locally, and if you can't find it, you can order it from Bernie at The Fish Store. I have ordered from him 3 times for bio spira and Omega One fish foods with great customer service. His prices are also comparable with local LFS even with shipping!