Help Please!

[Skydive]

My fish keep dying from diseases. I started a 10gal tank with 3 Glowlight Tetras a  couple of months ago. I've been doing large water changes (60% or more) at least every week, and I've tested ammonia and such. Oxygen levels should be more than sufficient, since I have the filter, a large bubbler and a small bubbler in the tank, this should be plenty for 3 small tetras, no?  I have also been adding a starter culture that I bought from the store with each water change as instructed (and of course I've been adding water conditioner)...could this be a source of a bacterial infection? Should I stop adding the culture? What about placing my hands in the water without washing, though I didn't touch anything "dirty" beforehand could contamination be coming from there, still? A few weeks ago one of the fish appeared to lose control of half of her body before dying. Now, a second one's body is severely inflamed. Just earlier today though she appeared to be fine, I only noticed something was off when she wasn't eating, and now she is all swollen and her eyes are bulging. The third one appears to be just fine. Should I isolate the sick one? I don't have another tank, but I could put her in the bucket. I don't know what's causing them to become ill. Please help...

 

[the_lock_man]

When you say you've "tested ammonia and such", what have you used to do the tests (ie liquid kit, paper strips, taking water to a fish shop?), and what have you tested for (eg ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH?). Oh, and how often were you testing?
 
What were the results of a typical test?
 
The reason I ask is that normally, issues with brand new tanks are very often related to ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning. You say you've been doing 60% changes per week, but it's usual, in a fish-in cycling process to do that every day.

 

[Skydive]

I tested it just yesterday. The last water change was last week. Ammonia levels were fine but I don't have a master test kit. I will go get one later today. I've had this tank for a couple of months now, though, shouldn't cycling be complete already? Especially since I've been adding the starter culture with each water change. I once had a 10gal back at my apartment when I was in college, and I was a lot worse with that one, not cycling it at all and rarely ever changing the water. Plus I had a lot more fish in there. Those fish actually lived longer than these guys, which doesn't make sense at all. Additionally, if I change the filter, does that mean I have to cycle again? How do I know when to change the filter? Should it be done monthly as per manufacturer's instructions, even if it doesn't look like it's full? 

 

[Lolly123]

To help you more, we are going to need to see numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH, otherwise we have no idea what's going on in your tank. A liquid test kit for these from API are generally quite good.

You shouldn't change the media from your filter, unless its falling apart. When you remove the media, you are removing the bacteria colony that has built up in your sponges and ceramic etc, so essentially if you're taking it all out, you are doing yourself no favours and returning to almost square one again.

I clean my external about once every 2 months, as I had a lot of fish. I change my filter floss about once every 6 months, if not even longer. To clean I lightly rinse in old tank water to remove some of the sludge to stop the filter from losing flow and put it all back in.

You need to find out about your water parameters and do the best you can for the remaining fish. If they do die, I recommend you do a fishless cycle. I'm under the impression you have only got 1or 2 left?

What filter are you running?

 

[Skydive]

I'm confused on the filter part...what do you mean the filter floss? External? Like you just rinse off the sludge? The filter I use is a Penguin Filter Wheel 100. I have the results of the tests. Nitrite is 0. Nitrate is also 0. Ammonia is 0. pH....I suspect this is where the problem is. pH is way high, like 8.4 but I've read online that glowlight tetras are ok in pH ranges of 6-8. But now I'm confused, if all my N compounds are 0, what's making pH so freakin' high? Again, is it the starter culture I've been adding? Am I adding it too often? 

 

[Skydive]

I think I've figured out the pH problem. I asked an acquaintance of mine who is an expert on these things. I had seashells and a lot of bubblers in my tank with only the three small tetras. He said that excessive aeration causes CO2 to be purged from the water, raising the pH and also that seashells slowly dissolve in the water--this also raises the pH. He also said most fish can handle high pH so long as it's stable but every time I'm doing those large water changes, the stuff in the tank was causing the pH to rack up from the normal tap pH which is about 7.4. I've removed the seashells and disconnected one of the bubblers, and will be testing the pH every day for a bit to see if it still goes up. 

 

[the_lock_man]

Nitrite is 0. Nitrate is also 0. Ammonia is 0.

 
SOmething isn't right. Nitrate should not be 0ppm. Unless you have an incredibly heavily planted tank, nitrate should be up around 20-60ppm, somewhere like that, depending upon what level comes out of your tap water. Did you get the API kit? If so, the chances are that this 0 nitrate reading is false.
 

 I've had this tank for a couple of months now, though, shouldn't cycling be complete already?

 
It may be that it is, certainly with ammo and nitrite at 0, it tends to indicate that your are cycled. But you have been suffering ongoing problems, according to your original post, the first fish died a few weeks ago. That would almost definitely be down to ammonia and nitrite poisoning.
 
Ammonia poisoning can be like smoking in humans, it can take time for the symptoms to show.