Mass Zebra Danio Genocide :(

[DropkickDragout]

So about two weeks ago I set up my US 10 gallon tank with gravel, external filter bubble stone, fake plants, lights and heater. Being completely new to the hobby I had no idea about cycling and the pet store conveniently didn't tell me anything about it, but i guess why would they. at any rate I added 10 glofish which are genetically altered zebra Danios. They were fine but while reading up on what could make water cloudy i discovered cycling....and my heart dropped. I knew I was in for a strong uphill battle. I immediately went out and bought some nutrafin cycle accelerated cycler (I know it was not the best way to go about it but i had no choice at this point, the fish were already in the tank)...Anyway I kept a constant eye on the ammonia in the tank as that was the only indicator i could test for (i spent all my money on fish and aquarium stuff and only had enough left for one test kit) the ammonia was around 1.0 ppm so i did a semi water change and used ammolock to neutralize the ammonia still present. I then kept close watch on the tanks ammonia every day and it seemed to be improving, last night i checked it at 0 ppm and i was overjoyed....today i woke up and 6 of my glofish were dead. I have NO idea what to do to save the last 4. the only problem i can think of is that maybe there was a nitrite spike and i didnt notice it because i cant afford a test kit but now i'm really upset. any advice greatly appreciated as i want to try to save the last 4.

 

[aly_starh]

Welcome to TFF,

It has happend to most of us, LFS are not to be believed.
Any type of Danios should not be added to 10g, that size of a tank is slightly small, especially with an un cycled tank, deaths will occur.

As you know, at present your tank is not cycled, i would not be surprised if the rest of the fish die, with the high ammonnia reading, the ones that did pass must have had ammonia poisening. Dont add anymore amo-lock etc into the tank. (IMO, they are gimmaks, ways for LFS to make money)

I would take daily water readings,
0.25ppm= 25% water change a day till acceptable
0.50ppm= 50% water change a day till acceptable
1ppm= 2/3 40% water changes a day till acceptable
etc,

Hope that helps, anymore help then just ask,

 

[KittyKat]

Keep doing 20% water changes every day for the next four or so weeks and keep feeding to a minimum (very little pinch of food once per day). You should also try to seek out some cycled media, (preferably live) plants (for example java fern, java moss, water lettuce), any decor from a cycled tank or even sponge squeezings if you can.

You are probably right as to the cause. What was the ammonia reading in the morning? It could also have been that you removed *all* of the ammonia, which would have stopped your cycle in its tracks.

At least you did one thing right, schooling fish should always be kept in groups I am sure we will be able to help you get through this.

 

[DropkickDragout]

0ppm is the fist scale on my test kit followed by .25 the reading i just took was waaaaaaaaaay lower than .25 but wasn't quite pure yellow so it must have been higher than 0ppm maybe around .1. that would be my guess. anyway i have zero access to cycled media so that's a problem. i originally thought to myself maybe the tank is cycled now after all, the ammonia is down between 0 and .1 but i guess without nitrite and nitrate test kits there's no way for me to be sure. and plus, if it was i dont think id lose 5 fish in one night, even if they had been damaged during cycling.....sigh.

 

[aly_starh]

I would reccomend a 10-25% water change. Also, are you using a water dechlorinater?
In the order of most importance, test kits are; 1.)Ammonnia 2.)NitrIte 3.)NitrAte

I dont have a nitrIte test kit, my 2 tanks are cycled, i would also say that liquid test kits are better than normal paper ones, so thats an investment you could make.



Edit: i was right first, i got the two last test kits mixed up

 

[DropkickDragout]

I have a liquid ammo test kit, and yes I always use dechlorinator....i just cant figure out what killed 6 fish in like 10 hours. also i just now changed about 30% of the water.

 

[aly_starh]

Brilliant, you seem to know what you are doing, thats great. The thing that most likely killed the fish was Ammonia Poisening. (ammonia Spike).

If you cycle tanks with fish, daily water changes are a must.

This is a great link- Click

 

[Water]

Put the fish in a bucket or bowl and do regular water changes in that. Leave the tank alone to finish the process that has already started.

 

[aly_starh]

^ No offence meant, but thats not a way to cycle a tank.

 

[Trollfest]

Put the fish in a bucket or bowl and do regular water changes in that. Leave the tank alone to finish the process that has already started.

Erm I'm quite new to this myself but I don't know if that is really a good idea with tropical fish is it?

 

[DropkickDragout]

might be worth mentioning that before i did the water change I took a sample of water to have it tested at PetCo...not the best place in the world but free.

 

[DropkickDragout]

ok, now a 7th one is hovering down at the bottom and hardly moving, even after changing 30% of the water something is definitely wrong.

 

[OldMan47]

At 2 weeks you are probably facing some nitrite build up. This is a bit radical for some people but I would say you need a very large water change. I drain a tank so far my fish have trouble swimming and then refill with dechlorinated water. The very large water change will remove almost all of the nitrites that are killing your fish. After that water change you can start looking around for a liquid type test kit so that you can maintain your tank at less than 0.25 ppm of nitrites. Unlike what Betta_246 said, I do not consider a nitrate test kit very important but someone in the middle of a cycle definitely needs a nitrite test that they can trust. A nitrate test kit can be ignored completely if you are willing to do at least a 30% weekly water change as routine maintenance. As regards the water change interrupting a cycle, it just does not happen. I have had to do those big water changes for a few days in a row when I had failed to get a good filter clone and the cycle always finished up just fine.

 

[DropkickDragout]

I just got home from PetCo, they tested my water and found almost no ammonia and no nitrites....what in the heck? I watched her do it so i know shes not lying. So i must be still early in the ammo stage...but if that's the case why on earth did all those fish suddenly die?

 

[OldMan47]

If she used a test strip, as they often do, the results are questionable at best and often downright misleading. Do the water change using a decent dechlorinator. Watch the fish instead of the chart colors, the fish will likely perk right up. Do not hold back on the water change but don't forget that a dry heater is a burned out heater and a dry filter is a ruined impeller on the filter. Unplug both as the water level drops and wait to start the filter and heater until the water level will support it.