I Need Help Like Now!

[Fishy friend2]

You should have nitrates, nitrItes is what you shouldn't have. Nitrates indicate that you have beneficial bacteria in the tank, while NitrItes are toxic to the fish

 

[xCowlesy]

I have just tested the water, and nitrate level is apparantly: 20.

Sorry, was reading the label on the bottle wrong.

 

[CezzaXV]

NO2 is nitrite, and it's good that you don't have that. However, NO3 is nitrate and you want that as it indicates you have beneficial bacteria in your filter. The fact that you don't have any nitrate and you don't know what your ammonia levels are is somewhat alarming to me right now. I'd highly recommend you getting hold of an ammonia test kit or taking a water sample in to your LFS as I think you might have a nasty shock.

I hope I'm wrong, but a high level of ammonia would certainly cause a mass die-off like this.

 

[xCowlesy]

NO2 is nitrite, and it's good that you don't have that. However, NO3 is nitrate and you want that as it indicates you have beneficial bacteria in your filter. The fact that you don't have any nitrate and you don't know what your ammonia levels are is somewhat alarming to me right now. I'd highly recommend you getting hold of an ammonia test kit or taking a water sample in to your LFS as I think you might have a nasty shock.

I hope I'm wrong, but a high level of ammonia would certainly cause a mass die-off like this.

I understand that i need to know my ammonia levels in my tank, but it may sound like im being 'cheap' but i cant afford it right now, i cant even afford to go to the store as i have to drive to get there anyway. Im not trying to sound nasty or cheap or anything but i'm aware that i definatley need to check my ammonia levels but it is extremely annoying that ive spent so much money on this tank recently and got nowhere.
Ive never had this problem before.

 

[CezzaXV]

Probably a good idea to assume for the moment then you do have massive amounts of ammonia then and do massive daily water changes. You said you started changing the water less since you started losing fish, but if you lose fish and decide to change your water change frequency, it needs to be more, not less. If there's a chance that something in the water killed your fish, you'd want to change it, right?

I'd say it was best to assume you're in a fish-in cycle and treat it as such, which means monitoring your levels and doing massive daily water changes, as 0 nitrate just isn't right and is the most obvious cause of the fish deaths from what you've described. When you have the money, invest in a liquid test kit, but for the moment you're going to have to assume you have ammonia in your water and act accordingly.

 

[xCowlesy]

my tank is all back to normal now, after the few fish which have died,

there wasnt any ammonia in my tank if anyone was wondering, i got it tested at my local fish shop, so i have no idea what had gone off!
Anyways, treated for swim bladder now and they are back to their normal selves