Hi I've Just Joined And Need Some Help

[snowfairy]

Hi everyone

We have our first tropical tank, have only had goldfish and the like before.

We have followed everything we have been told. We had our tank running fish free for a week and water tested before we had any fish. First four fish we put in seemed fine then we introduced four more. Again, we introduced them first in their bag before putting them in the aquarium and they seemed happy enough to start with, however, we have had the tank for less than three weeks and two have died already and another (a black mollie) now looks to be poorly. He seems to be just sitting on the bottom of the tank now and hardly moving around.

Could anyone make any suggestions as to what I could try please. The temp is right and as I said tank is less than three weeks old. We changed the filter at the weekend

Thanks

Toni

 

[Dan81192]

Hi everyone

We have our first tropical tank, have only had goldfish and the like before.

We have followed everything we have been told. We had our tank running fish free for a week and water tested before we had any fish. First four fish we put in seemed fine then we introduced four more. Again, we introduced them first in their bag before putting them in the aquarium and they seemed happy enough to start with, however, we have had the tank for less than three weeks and two have died already and another (a black mollie) now looks to be poorly. He seems to be just sitting on the bottom of the tank now and hardly moving around.

Could anyone make any suggestions as to what I could try please. The temp is right and as I said tank is less than three weeks old. We changed the filter at the weekend

Thanks

Toni

the tank could not have had any chance to cycle in a week, usualy takes between 3-4 weeks, did you declornate the watern is it at the correct temptreutre? give us more details, tank size, all fish, how hot /codl is it, what you feed them, what did you test for water etc, and results,

 

[emmsy]

Adding fish in quick succession is never a good thing, but that may not be the problem. We need to know what your aquarium water is like, but this cant be acheived just by looking at the water. It has to be tested. Do you have a test kit?

Emma

Edit: Oh and welcome to the forum

 

[Davo86]

We changed the filter at the weekend

if the tanks only just been set up, regardless of whether it was initially cycled or not, then the filter wouldn't have needed changing?
This has removed the bacteria (if there was any to begin with) and so without the bacteria in the filter the fish are suffering,

 

[snowfairy]

I'm not sure of size I will check on that as my husband bought the tank.

We were told by the pet shop to leave the tank without fish for one week then get the water tested which we did and they said it was exactly right and that we could start to put fish in so to start with with just bought a mollie, some silver fish (sorry not sure on the names of those, again I didnt pick) and just left them in there for the week and they were more than happy.

We went back to the pet shop and they said because of the size of tank we could have four more, so we went for a couple of guppys, a japanese fighter I think it was called and a female mollie. Unfortunately the Japanese fighter died within a couple of days and now a guppy has died two days after that and our black male mollie is looking poorly and mainly sitting on the bottom of the tank.

All I am feeding at the moment is a tropical fish food, the tank is definitely the correct temperature as we have a heater in there and the thermometer to check its at the right temperature.

At the moment we are testing the water weekly by taking it back to the pet shop which is just down the road. What would you recommend to use to test yourself? We were told and as per the instructions with the filter we have that it should be changed every three weeks.

Thanks for your help.

 

[stang1]

Hi Snowfairy and welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear you are having problems but you haven't been given good advice by your lfs.
It would be worth investing in a liquid test kit so you can test the water yourself, they are worth having with newly set up tanks. If the shop test your water for you, then ask them to write down your readings.
Ammonia and Nitrite should always be 0 as they are toxic to fish. Nitrates usually balance out between 5-40 which is fine, although it is better when it is at the lower end. PH of about 7-7.5 is classed as neutral and suitable for a lot of fish.
Siamese fighters are best kept in a tank on their own and don't do well in a community setting. Guppies are quite sensitive and prefer a mature tank that has been set up for at least 3-4 months.
Your filter sponge only needs replacing when it is no longer doing its job, usually good for 6-12 months although can be a lot longer. Your sponge holds all the bacteria in it and changing it will mean that your tank will go through a cycle again. The sponge should be cleaned in dirty tank water about every 4 weeks, never use tap water to clean it as it will kill off the bacteria. Only give the sponge a quick rinse in the water to prevent it from clogging. I usually squeeze mine in the water 3-4 times and then put back in your filter.
If you can get a test kit or get the lfs to write down your readings, then we should be able to help point you in the right direction.

 

[Mystil]

First of all to the forum.

On this forum somewhere is a list of people who are more than happy to send some used filter medium to kick start your cycling...they are absolutely amazing people (If you go to the section "new to the hobby" inside this section at the top is a topic "List Of Members Willing To Donate Mature Filter Media To Newbies". This could help you.)

Thats how I got mine going.... I would be tempted to ask the LFS (local fish shop) to take the fish back just until your tanks cycles. They may or they may not. It sounds like youlocal pet shop have not a clue what they are doing.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you might loose more fish and dont be surprised if the LSF says they dont believe in cycling tanks....thats what one of my local LFS said to me on the phone.

How often are you feeding the fish?

Do you mean siamese fighter fish?? They must have mature tank water to survive, cannot really be put into a tank that is new as they can be very sensative (from what i have gathered)..Mollies also prefer water abit brackish...but dont add salt as it could adversly affect you other fish..

I would be temped to buy your own test kits...you can buy a master test kit for tropical tanks for £19.99 and it will save they trip to the pet shop and the cost of getting them to do pretty much nothing for your money.

 

[OldMan47]

Snowfairy you are getting some good advice already but let me add in my bit. The only test kits worth spending the money on use liquid reagents to test the water. Test strips are almost worthless so don't waste money on them. As others have already said, there is no reason to replace any filter media unless it falls apart or can't be unlpugged by swishing it around in old tank water then re-using it. I have not bought guppies in years but always thought of them as tough, I do hate to go against Stang though because she is so often right. I do know that my endlers, a very closely related species, are very tough and can be kept in a brand new barely cycled tank without problems. ( see my avatar for an example of one) I have always kept betta splendens in tanks without worrying about how old the water is as long as its cycled. They seem to thrive in almost anything but each of us has our own experiences to draw on so it may not apply to all bettas. I do know that the newer lines of fancy bettas are being produced in asia where many poor quality fish are bred for the hobby worldwide. I have heard horror stories of how poor platies, swords, guppies and mollies have become since the the main source of fish has become foreign imports.

 

[stang1]

Thanks OldMan.
How's the tank coming along Snowfairy?

 

[snowfairy]

Hi

Still having problems to be honest. We have had the water tested and everything is as it should be, the temperature is set as it should be (have a thermostat and thermometer to check) and yet still our fish are dying. I am completely stumped. We seem to have a lot of snails in the tank at the moment, presumably from the fresh plants, could they be causing a problem?

Our tank is now over 3 weeks old and only one of our original four fish is alive and also a baby is still alive.

First of all to the forum.

On this forum somewhere is a list of people who are more than happy to send some used filter medium to kick start your cycling...they are absolutely amazing people (If you go to the section "new to the hobby" inside this section at the top is a topic "List Of Members Willing To Donate Mature Filter Media To Newbies". This could help you.)

Thats how I got mine going.... I would be tempted to ask the LFS (local fish shop) to take the fish back just until your tanks cycles. They may or they may not. It sounds like youlocal pet shop have not a clue what they are doing.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you might loose more fish and dont be surprised if the LSF says they dont believe in cycling tanks....thats what one of my local LFS said to me on the phone.

How often are you feeding the fish?

Do you mean siamese fighter fish?? They must have mature tank water to survive, cannot really be put into a tank that is new as they can be very sensative (from what i have gathered)..Mollies also prefer water abit brackish...but dont add salt as it could adversly affect you other fish..

I would be temped to buy your own test kits...you can buy a master test kit for tropical tanks for £19.99 and it will save they trip to the pet shop and the cost of getting them to do pretty much nothing for your money.

I have been feeding small amounts twice a day. I have a testing kit now and we have also been taking water to our pet shop where they have tested and told us everything is fine.

Sorry another question I meant to ask, how long do you leave your light on for?

 

[Davo86]

Sorry another question I meant to ask, how long do you leave your light on for?

If you have live plants then your looking at around 8-12 hours per day but if you don't have plants then its upto you, the light doesn't benefit the fish and encourages algae growth so its best to only keep it on when your going to be around the tank

 

[smillietweety]

Sorry another question I meant to ask, how long do you leave your light on for?

If you have live plants then your looking at around 8-12 hours per day but if you don't have plants then its upto you, the light doesn't benefit the fish and encourages algae growth so its best to only keep it on when your going to be around the tank

do the fish have any white spots on the fins or on the body - flacky scales ( white) . if so this could do some damage . if they do it could be white spot which once it gets in to the fish's gills it is hard for them to breath. Are the fish eating _ well the ones that are poorly?

Did you change the full filter and the water? if so it is better to only do 1/4 of the tank on the first change of the filther (if the entire filter has been changed) fish servive on bacteria in the filter so changeing the intire fulter and water could cause a problem.. alternate when you do the filter . ie 1/4 water change to an intire filter then rince the old filter in the water you are going to change when doing a water change this way there will be bacteria in the filter at all times.

good luck

 

[snowfairy]

No spots on the fish.

We only did a 1/4 change of the water.

Thanks for your replies

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hi Snowfairy, what's going on is your tank is cycling, it's a process all tanks have to go through at the start of their life. This can either be done with fish in the tank of fishlessly by simulating the fish waste production by adding ammonia.

the fish shop have advised you to do a fish-in cycle but they seem to have not given you all the facts about it. you're certainly not the first person for this to happen to and you won't be the last. But don't be disheartened because you're in the right place now asking for help and we'll get you through this.

First thing you need to know is to understand the basics of water chemistry and the cycling proces,s this link should help you

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

it explains what all the different levels are that you need to test for and how they can affect your tank and fish, it also tells you what you need to do from here on in to give your fish the best hope of surviving the cycle.

have a good read through that and then post back with any questions you have.