Help!

[ash90]

Hey guy i going to start a fresh with my tank i have no idea whats goin on it i have had nothing but problems with it since i set it up to be used as proper tank nt jst for fry. i set it up in august and had no problems raiseing oscar fry in it no problems at all used it for 3 yrs and now stoped breeding oscars fullstop so i moved it to living room in to an alcove so its out of the sun and can been seen better fine so i emptyed it all out left it few weeks while i got new gravel etc and refilled it left it 2 weeks to cycle that was all fine did a water change left it a few more days and went and got the fish all looked like i wanted it to lots of plants nice bright fish tiny bn to eat the alggie that was fine then about 6/7 weeks ago female guppies went funny all died no problems with water then few days later pair of gbr both died within hrs of each other still no problem with water plants are growing niceley by now then all seemed to settle down the bout 2 weeks ago male fighter died so tested water no problems so just put it down to females bullying him the last week 4 platies were dead in the morrning still no problems with water then the pair of gbr's left are dull as hell female it black dunno why then when i got in from work tonight about 4 cardinals were dead.

I have no idea whats goin on nor do any of the specialist aquatic centers i have rang the tank gets cleaned 2-3 a week never get over fed filter gets cleaned ever few days in the tank water in a bucket what have i done wrong when setting it up and the shop were i get all my fish from is 5* rated by pfk mag and a number of awards for standards and quality so i dnt think its the fish. so what i going to do is move every 1 of the fish that are left in to my nans tank as she has all the same fish i have.

what should i do bin the tank and buy a new 1 or leave it longer to cycle as it have been set up 5yrs and been run 24/7 for the past 5 yrs.

what could i put in to the tank if i just leave the fish in my nans
its a planted fluvel roma 125 125ltr what cichlid could i keep or what normal bright fish could i keep

thanks ash

 

[snowflake311]

Welcom to the forum.

" i emptyed it all out left it few weeks while i got new gravel etc and refilled it left it 2 weeks to cycle that was all fine did a water change left it a few more days and went and got the fish all looked like i wanted it to lots of plants nice bright fish tiny bn ..."

This looks like the problem. 2 weeks is in no way fully cycled.

When you say waters good what are you checking? There are 3 things you need to test for.

 

[BethK]

no tank cycles in 2 weeks; if you let the original filter sponge dry out, it would have killed the good bacteria. So, to start off, as said above, that is your issue.


When you say your water is fine, can you elaborate plrase;

pH
nitrite
ammonia
nitrate

 

[ash90]

ph is ok its 7.0
nitrites 35 ppm
ammonia 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm

The filter was but in my other tank as i kno about the bacteria you need but i have never had a problem befor with the tank it just since i set it up to be used for a show tank rater than for fry what is going on and plus my female ram has vanished all together

 

[snowflake311]

Ok you should have said you used a mature filter. I would do more water changes the nitrates in my tank I keep under 15ppm. I know they say 40ppm is ok but less is best.

Where are you getting the fish from? Are they all the same sorce?
Do the fish do anything strange before they die?
You just let the tank dry out right? you did not use cleaners of any kind?
Any way something could have gotten in the tank?

I had lots of issuse with Cory cats a year ago. They would always die on me with little to not warning. Now I have Cory cats from another place and they have spawned I even raise some fry. So I was thinking it was a bad batch of fish I was getting. it was Weird.

 

[ash90]

all the fish except the female fighters are from the same place but i have alway bought from him and so did my dad when he kept them the tank was empty 24hrs while i got gravel etc so not exactly inuff time to dry out surely.
I dont usualy cycle my tanks and have never ever had a problem with the fish dying as wen i bought the tank i got it home and set it up and left it 24hrs to settle down then added a the fish i bought and that was 5 yrs ago so i was in no hurry this time i left it 2 weeks to cycle and only things that get added to the tank is plant food,safe water/safe guard they only get added when the waters been changed