Help Please

[ITZBOB]

I'm new to the fish world. I have a ten gallon tank with a marineland penguin 100 filter. I did a fishless cycle it took like a month then everything read 0. I got three white tetras and two died over a couple of days. So I waited and the last one was fine so I got a giant danio and a fancy guppy daughters choice. The danio died over night the guppy a about 4 days later. The whole time everything still read good. Talked to the local fish store he said to change water, told him it was well water. He said use spring water something must be wrong with the well water. Thought I would try 3 black tetras before i changed the water, dumb move two died real quick. I finally change to the spring water and still have the a white tetra and a black and they are doing fine. I thought the tank would cycle again but the ammonia and nitrite went up a little and that was all. Everything read 0 and the 2 tetras are doing fine so I thought I would get a corey catfish. He did real well for the first two days then he died, found him in a in a barrel decoration. Does anybody have any idea what I'm doing wrong? Thanks

 

[BethK]

what are you using to test the water? do you have a heater in the tank?

 

[ITZBOB]

i use API freshwater master kit and yes there is a heater that I try to keep at 78 or so but with the hot air temps it has rose into the high eighties.

 

[zophie]

i use API freshwater master kit and yes there is a heater that I try to keep at 78 or so but with the hot air temps it has rose into the high eighties.

Watch out, your heater may heat up the tank to muck. Note that it is not just Ammonia and Nitrite you are watching, also you must moniter the pH, water hardness, and Nitrate. When you said all of the things were "down to zero", I presume that you mean Ammonia and Nitrite? Nitrate should not be down to zero. Also, I did notice three thing's about your fish selecton's.
1. All the fish you chose prefer (tetra's especially) to live in a shoal. One mistake that people often make is to get many species in small groups. It is much more advisable to get a large group of one or two spechies.
2. Giant Danio's do not get very big, but they do require a lot of swimming space. One Giant may do in a 10 gallon tank, but watch out for getting more, and try and clear up your tank a little so there's more space for you'r giant to zoom around
3. Guppy's like fairly hard water, while the others like soft water. If your pH is 7.0 that's fine, but watch out for anything to hard/soft.

Cheers, and good luck wih your fish!!

ZOphie

 

[OldMan47]

A seldom recognized hazard of some well water is that it is free of all gasses. That means there is no oxygen in the water for the fish. Try setting aside a bucket of water change water the night before a change and circulate the water in it with a power head or an air stone. That should prevent you adding fish to lifeless oxygen deprived water. I had never heard of this until a few months ago when our fish club president brought up that he kept a large water container in his fish room for that very purpose. In his case he is storing enough water to serve for water changes on a large number of tanks. He stumbled across the need for oxygenating by losing lots of fish before he caught on to what was happening.

 

[ITZBOB]

Thanks everyone for your replies the heater had been turned all the way done because of the hot weather. The readings of the water are
PH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.5
I hope this helps. Thanks

 

[OldMan47]

There is no need to turn heaters down in the summer, they shut themselves off at a specified temperature as it is. Your numbers indicate that you do not have a build up of nitrogen poisons in your tank but also look suspiciously like a tank that has yet to start cycling. You say you did a fishless cycle for about a month but what did you use as your ammonia source? If you did not supply nitrogen in the form of ammonia before adding fish, you have merely circulated water in the tank, you have not cycled it.

 

[TimNorwich]

Is your water well oxygenated? If you can try to set your filter outlet so it creates a ripple on the water surface. If you aren't already, use an air pump also, I personally reccomend the TetraTec APS50 air pump, its quiet and efficient.

 

[karin]

I second the above. With temps in the high eighties and sometimes in new tanks there is an oxygen problem. Put in an airstone and use a air pump for awhile especially with the high temps. But listen to OLDMAN47 too, he is a master.

 

[ITZBOB]

ok when I did the fishless cycle I used ammonia. The ammonia went up to between 4 and 8 ppm then went to 0 then the nitrite went to 2 ppm then back to 0. That was with the well water, then I drained the tank and switched to spring water because of the problem i had, it did appear that it was low oxygen because the fish would go to the top for air. I didn't do anything to the filter when i did the water change still the same cartridge and bio wheel. I do have the filter so it makes bubbles and I always had a air stone in the tank. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm glad there are people like you out there who can help me.Thanks

 

[OldMan47]

If you only added enough ammonia to your tank to get the levels to 5 ppm once, you do not have a cycled tank but may have a tank with a small bacterial colony in the filter that you can now grow to support your tank. If you maintained levels far above 5 ppm for much of the time you were trying to cycle the tank, you have grown bacteria that cannot survive in the low levels we want in our tanks. At 8 ppm, the entirely wrong bacteria will dominate your bacterial culture. The "spring water" if it is the typical bottled stuff I find around here, is not suitable for any fish. It is far too low in minerals for most fish. You really do want to use the impure tap water after you give it a nice infusion of atmospheric air. Please reconsider using spring water for your fish. A nice fresh water change of well oxygenated well water will likely do a world of good for your fish. It is always tempting to use a purified product like the "spring water" but what seems good at face value is not always the best choice for our fish.

 

[ITZBOB]

I don't know what to do then my well water is bad, the fish acted like they couldn't breath with the water from the well. I wonder if the water is mixed with salt water, because I live right on the bay. Tell you the truth my dog will not drink the well water. What can I do? The two tetras are doing well in the spring water. Why are there no minerals in spring water if it comes from a spring? I guess they filter it. I don't know what to do.

 

[ITZBOB]

I was just rereading your post oldman. If you sit water out over night with a air stone in it it will oxygenate? I wonder how I can try this and not put this fish in jeopardy. I don't want to kill any more fish.

 

[OldMan47]

An air stone will make sure that no water in a bucket is allowed to just sit. Instead it will make the water move around and that means it will be exposed to the water surface. That is really all it takes to ensure there is adequate oxygen in your water.

 

[karin]

Itzbob,
I'm confused. When you said your dog won't drink the well water that got me concerned. Do you drink the water? Maybe you use bottled water as well? Do you think that salt water has leached into your well? Who else uses the well water? I just ask because I suppose there could be a problem with the water. I wonder if anyone like a county water department or public works department could tell you anything more about the well water in your area? Just some ideas.

If two tetras are doing well though, you are on to something. You could go out, have a bunch of spring water on hand and do a water change with well water and see how it goes. Then switch it back to spring water if the fish start acting weird again.

Also it is not unusual for people to lose some fish in the first months of a new tank. There is just this adjustment period. It seems that after a few months things just mature and stabilize.

Anyway, good luck and don't take it too hard. You will get it, sometimes just all takes some find tuning.