Lost All But One Of My Fish!

[Yoshi]

New to the hobby and managed to sucessfully cycle my tank and have had 13 fish (see below) happily for six months with my only death being a very old angel fish given to me by someone else. All going fine until bought 6 neon tetras from my local Seapets shop and put them in my tank last Friday. Since then lost 12 out of 13! My marmalade molly is still holding out and looking well. Never noticed anything wrong with the first few deaths but lost two yesterday which were covered in whitespot (didn't notice it on others?). It would appear that the neons are to blame and indeed Seapets were extremely helpful - checked my water which was fine and gave me a credit note for £30 & a free bottle of anti whitespot! Treated tonight after taking the active carbon out of my filter and next treatment is in 4 days. Can I put the active carbon back in after? Am I treating for the right thing do you think? is there anything else I should do?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Believe me.... I know how it feels......

 

[shelaghfishface]

did u have the manual with the biorb to add that many fish would have really taken at least 18-20months ,how did u cycle the tank??
the filters on them takes ages ( around 28 days) to deal with 1 new addition,unlessof course u have used a upgraded filter?

 

[Sarette]

I'm so sorry for your loss RIP Little fishies.

Was it the Ipswich branch you got them from?

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the biorb as it sounds overstocked,.

Angel fish need 25 gallons tanks.
What are your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
You are better treating another week once the spots have gone.

Seen your stocking I would rehome the angel fish the tanks way to small.

 

[Yoshi]

How many gallons is the biorb as it sounds overstocked,.

Angel fish need 25 gallons tanks.
What are your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
You are better treating another week once the spots have gone.

Seen your stocking I would rehome the angel fish the tanks way to small.

I lost the angel fish a little while ago. I agreed to have it because someone was getting rid of their tank and it needed urgently rehoming & it had previously spent its whole life in a smaller tank than mine so I thought it would be OK normal & I had a lot less fish at the time. Sadly he died - appeared to go blind?? I have a 60 litre bi-orb which is about 13 gallons I think?! I got the bi-orb from the same shop as the neons and asked their advice on how many neons I could add into - sounds like they gave me bad advice aswell then? However the water readings are all OK with nice clear water which suggests the tank was coping with the additions? Readings are as follows:

PH 8.0 (always been quite high with no effect to fish)
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

For my suffolk friend. The fish were from the Ipswich branch of Seapets. If you want an alternative I would try the fish farm in Kesgrave - not as exciting a shop (behind someones house), but always excellent advice for beginners, good selection and very helpful - just normal fishkeepers who have extended their hobby. The danger with the bigger shops is that the advisors have never kept fish! I have also heard that the fish specialist in ipswich town centre is good.

I will treat the water again on Monday - molly still alive & well. When do you think I should begin adding back fish and at what rate?

 

[electric yellow]

In my opinion the ph is to high. Reguardless of if it affects the fish or not. The ph should be the same or as close to as what they were kept in in the shop. I would say the combo of a high ph and you rnitrate being at 10 may be causeing problems you arent directly seeing.

 

[Sarette]

Thanks for that Yoshi. I've been into Viking Aquatics in Ipswich town centre twice, is that the specialist one you mention? They seem ok, but the shop is so packed with things, and I did notice a couple of dead fish as well. It's nice to mooch around though

My water has a high PH also, I've added bogwood in the hopes it might come down a little.

I'm pleased the molly is still ok, fingers crossed it stays strong. x

 

[oakes]

I would say your neons were living on the edge at a pH of 8 and it took only a slight case of whitespot to knock them off. A pH of 8 will not bother your molly, and a nitrate reading of 10 is fine. You will need to lower your pH if you want to keep tetras, and you should do this slowly for your molly's sake. Actually livebearers and tetras are not a great mix. What is the pH of your tap water? If it is 8 you may want to consider an alternative to tetras, otherwise it is something in your tank such as the substrate that is raising your pH, unless you have added water conditioners such as buffers?

Do a partial water change a few days after your final med treatment. Wait at least another week before adding any fish and only if your test readings are fine, your molly is still healthy and you have your pH issue sorted. Best to add only a couple of fish at a time, bear in mind the drop in fish numbers and the meds may have lowered your filter bacteria which will need slowly building up again. Feed sparingly. Use the guys at the LFS for testing etc they seem willing to help, sorry to ramble on, typing at 100 mph lol, good luck!

 

[Yoshi]

I would say your neons were living on the edge at a pH of 8 and it took only a slight case of whitespot to knock them off. A pH of 8 will not bother your molly, and a nitrate reading of 10 is fine. You will need to lower your pH if you want to keep tetras, and you should do this slowly for your molly's sake. Actually livebearers and tetras are not a great mix. What is the pH of your tap water? If it is 8 you may want to consider an alternative to tetras, otherwise it is something in your tank such as the substrate that is raising your pH, unless you have added water conditioners such as buffers?

Do a partial water change a few days after your final med treatment. Wait at least another week before adding any fish and only if your test readings are fine, your molly is still healthy and you have your pH issue sorted. Best to add only a couple of fish at a time, bear in mind the drop in fish numbers and the meds may have lowered your filter bacteria which will need slowly building up again. Feed sparingly. Use the guys at the LFS for testing etc they seem willing to help, sorry to ramble on, typing at 100 mph lol, good luck!

Your right about the neons - I only found out afterwards in a new book I have bought that they need a much lower ph - unfortunately they never offered that advice in the shop when I bought them! My tap water is 7.6 so its fairly high. I have used PH down to reduce the PH from 8.4 to 8 over recent months - it is a continual battle and probably the fact I have a bi-orb doesn't help.. I have also added bogwood to help with the PH and 8 is as good as I've managed to get it in six months so far but will carry on.

Seeing as I have to start again can anyone recommend a good mix with my molly - should i just stick to mollys and guppies?

Also confused about the bi-orb filters - the biological filter is in the ceramic media and the chemical filter forms the changeable filter containing active carbon. Which bit takes 28 days to cope with fish changes? I presume not the chemical filter as they recommend changing that every three weeks (alhough after advice on here i just take out the sponge and rinse it in tank water every three weeks instead) - probably need a new filter soon?

 

[oakes]

If your tap water is pH 7.6 then you need not give up on keeping tetras, but you need to determine what raises it to 8.4 in your tank.

 

[Fishgurl1996]

I know how it feels......

 

[OldMan47]

Year old post. By now the problem has been solved.