I Have A New Tank And All Of My Fish Keep Dying!

[Krystal]

Hello all, I really need some help as the aquarium has not been helpful at all.
Here's my story.

A few months ago I bought a betta fish in one of those little bowl that they sell with them. He did perfectly fine in there for a few months, then I got him a bigger tank. The tank I got is 28L with a gravel filter and a heater. I put silk plants and stones in the bottom. I was not aware of the cycling process when I put my poor fish in the tank the day I set it up. He obviously passed a couple days later. As sad as I was I didn;t want to give up. I educated myself in the cycle process and found a good aquarium in the area to help out with other question. So..... I cleaned my tank completely and started again. I filled my tank with tap water put in conditioner (2 drops/L) and Salt (2 tablespoons). As per instructions from the local pet shop the tap water has enough Amonia in it to cycle the tank fishless. I let my tank run for 1 week. I then took a sample of the water to the aquarium shop to have it tested before I got any fish. They advised me the water was fine to put some guppies in. I bought 5 guppies and slowly put them in the tank. The first day they were LOVING it, swimming around playing in the filter stream. I was really happy. Near the end of the first day I noticed they were all hanging about the surface of the water in a little group. The next day they were doing the same thing. When I arrived home from work on day 2 one of the fish had died. I removed the died fish and did a 1/3 water change as per directions from the aquarium (who I called right away) I then took another sample of the water in to be tested and they said the water was fine. They couldn't explain why one of the guppies died and the rest are dying. So as it stands now, I am on day to with 2 fish dead and the rest clinging to life at the top of the tank. another symptom is their back fin is no longer spread out, it is almost like they are having a hard time swimming. I really need some help here as I feel ready bad for killing these fish. If it is too late for these little guys I need some advise on how to start over and what to do so this doesnt happen again!!!

 

[Tolak]

You are right now doing a traditional cycle with fish, also known as a fish in cycle. You'll need to do 50% water changes daily, as well as pick up your own test kit, liquid are the way to go with that. You want to continue with the water changes until ammonia & nitrite are zero, and you are seeing some nitrates.

The info you have been given is typical for many shops; wrong. Have a look at this link, especially the one concerning fish in cycling; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[Krystal]

Thanks for your response. I will continue to do 50% water changes daily. Will I see a different in my remaining fish when the levels are at 0?? Do you think they will survive? I really dont want to lose these fishes....

 

[the_lock_man]

Thanks for your response. I will continue to do 50% water changes daily. Will I see a different in my remaining fish when the levels are at 0?? Do you think they will survive? I really dont want to lose these fishes....

Yes you will see a difference.

At the moment, you just don't know how much ammonia and nitrite is in the water. As well as doing the water changes daily, you need, as Tolak says, to get a liquid-based test kit. Don't get the paper strips, they're notoriously inaccurate. If you don't feel you can afford a full master kit (with all the tests), just get the ammonia and nitrite ones (then save up for pH and nitrate).

As soon as you get those tests, test for ammonia and nitrite. If either of those is over 0.25ppm, change more water, and change enough to get those levels down under that 0.25ppm target. That may mean doing more than one water change in a day. There is no problem with that, just make sure that you use the dechlorinator every time, and that you roughly match the temperature of the water going back in.

It will be a lot of work initially, but as your filter grows bacteria, that workload will diminish such that you can go a week without doing any water changes, because your test will show 0ppm on both amm and nitrite. At that point, you just change, say, 30% of the water weekly.

I'm sure you'll have lots more questions, feel free to ask whatever you want - the only stupid question is one that isn't asked. Good luck!

Edit: One other thing - forget the salt. It can be helpful in the treatment of whitespot, it doesn't really help long-term - guppies are freshwater fish, not saltwater.

 

[Krystal]

Thanks a lot, I already did a 1/3 water change, but havent seen any changes in my fish. The aquarium shop is closed now, so I will have to wait for tomorrow to get the tests. I'm going to do another water change and hope my fish last until tomorrow. What should I do if these fish dont survive? Should I just leave the tank as it is, or should I start over and take all the water out?

 

[the_lock_man]

It may well be that your ammonia levels are quite high, so a 1/3 change hasn't made a huge difference to the toxicity levels. You'll only know that when you get those tests.

If the worst happens, and you lose all of your fish, I suggest you atart again, and do a fishless cycle. Click this link to read about what I mean. Much less work, and you can fully stock your tank at the end of it. Everyone's a winner! But let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Last night, I did an ammonia reading on my mature 620T and its filter, after seeing one of my fish spending an unusual ammount of time at the water surface. The colour of the liquid was not quite crystal clear (0), but not a cream colour either (0.6), somewhere inbetween but sadly my current kit has no gradients in that range. Just to be on the safe side, I syphoned out vitually all the water in this 130l tank, so literally there was ~2cm of water left and then refilled the tank with dechlorinated water of a similar temperature. I'd advise you to do the same.

 

[KittyKat]

I also recommend larger water changes and that you use a double dose of a dechlorinator which "deals" with ammonia, like Prime or Stress Coat, at every water change. It is not uncommon for people to be doing 95% water changes twice per day or more during a fish-in cycle as it is best to keep ammonia and nitrite as close as possible to 0 ppm and never letting them reach 0.25 ppm.

You should be getting a liquid test kit set, important ones are ammonia and nitrite, then nitrate, pH and hardness. Test strips are no good: they are not accurate enough.

If the worst happens, continue with a fish-less cycle using household ammonia (as recommended above), it is the easiest and safest way to go. Whatever you do, do not wash the filter in anything except old aquarium water.

 

[da7thson]

If the worse does happen and you have to start over, just remember that a week is no where near long enough to cycle your filter, mine took about 6 weeks.

When i said what i was doing (fishless cycle) to my LFS, they actually told me this was not a good idea and tried to justify it, sell me some fish and some tank conditioner. Don't listen too then and follow what the guys on here have already said, get your own liquid test kits and have a little patients and it will all come good in the end.

Good luck

Andy

 

[Krystal]

Thanks so much for all your advise. I have just changed nearly all of the water out and the fish were swimming around happily for a few minutes. Now they are back to hanging out at the surface. I'm just going to have to wait to get the tests tomorrow and lots of water changes. thanks for the ink on fishless cycling, very very helpful if things turn bad. And yes I have defiantly learned my lesson about listening to people at the aquarium shop!!!!! Arggggg!!!!

 

[Mowbz]

What have you got going in terms of oxygenation? They could be breathless, are they breathing heavily/fast?

Best way is to increase surface movement (positioning of your filter outlet) or less desirable, to add an airstone of some sort.

 

[KittyKat]

Best way is to increase surface movement (positioning of your filter outlet) or less desirable, to add an airstone of some sort.

+1, if they're hanging out at the surface, try increasing aeration.

 

[Reret]

Best way is to increase surface movement (positioning of your filter outlet) or less desirable, to add an airstone of some sort.

+1, if they're hanging out at the surface, try increasing aeration.

+1 definitely have an airstone

 

[Krystal]

Alrighty! So my fish survived the night! Yayyyy! Today I got an ammonia and Nitrite test, The ammonia is testing at 0 and the nitrites are about 0.25. I did a water change of about 30% after that test to try and get the nitrite levels down, but when I tested again the results were the same. I changed the end piece of my filter to create more surface movement as I can not afford to get a pump and airstone at the moment. So I have 2 little guppys in there now. One is doing well and swimming around, the other is just hiding. They still seem pretty sickly. Anymore advice? Do I just have to wait for the cycle to take it's course? Also, Im not sure I understand why the ammonia levels are 0. Shouldn't they be elevated as I just put the fish in 2 days ago??

 

[KittyKat]

Try to keep ammonia and nitrite as low as possible, be prepared to do larger water changes and never let either rise above 0.25.

Can you test your tap water after dechlorination for ammonia and nitrite? And ask your water board for an analysis of your tap water, as it would be useful to know what your water hardness is.

I recommend you feed a maximum of once every other day for the moment (all they can completely finish in 20 seconds), and if you see *any* ammonia reading or start seeing higher nitrites, then reduce to once every third day. I also recommend that you add some live plants (like Java moss and hornwort), as these will help use up *some* ammonia, making life easier for the fish.

It usually takes 1-7 days for ammonia to appear, and then it goes through the roof. Your nitrite reading may indicate that you have tap water nitrite.