My Fish Are Dying :(

[Melava87]

I was given a 46l fluval edge tank for Xmas and followed instructions carefully to treat the tank and buy all the necessary equipment - after 3 days I added my first 4 fish: a Dalmatian Molly, honey gourami and 2 male guppies. The guppies I noticed had some damage to their fins and tails and have since died
I know now after reading up that it is better to leave the tank a while to cycle properly but can't do much about this now and a kind friend with an established tank had offered to donate done good filter bacteria tomorrow to help the tank.
What I want to know is if the water quality/cycle was to blame would this cause the damage to the fins or if it possible the fish just can't from a bad batch?

I purchased the fish from pets at home - wont be doing this again and have since been introduced to a reputable breeder who I will buy from in future (aim to add a few more In a few weeks) but in the meantime what can I do?

The Molly and the gourami look very healthy are active and eating well tonight just feel pretty helpless at the moment.

Thanks in advance

Melissa

 

[fluttermoth]

to the forum.
 
Yes, poor water quality can leave fish open to infections, like fin rot.
 
It's great that you have a friend to donate you some filter media; that's the best thing you can do in the situation. Make sure you keep the media damp, and put it all in your filter. Take some of the new media out, if you need space in there.
 
You will also need test kits for ammonia and nitrite. Test every day, and change water if you see either rising too high (try and keep them under 0.5 ppm). Your tank will be cycled, and you can think about more fish, once you've had zero readings, for both ammonia and nitrite, for a week, without needing water changes.

 

[star4]

Hi and welcome . First thing you need to do is a water change. Without knowing your readings of ammonia, its hard to say how much but 10% daily should help until you get your mature media the sooner you can do it the better as it will relieve the fish and remove the harmful ammonia. A test kit will be a big must with a new set up, you will need to monitor your ammonia (needs to be 0) nitrate and nitrite (again ideal 0) . Test your tap water first so you know what that is you may already have nitrates in your tap water, this will help when you test to see how much it has risen by.
 
Hope this helps

 

[Melava87]

Thanks - I am hoping the good bacteria will be enough to save the remaining two.
Do I need to do a water change now?
I will look to buy a test kit tomorrow - are they available at all pet shops and his much do they cost?
Is there anything I should be looking out for? I knew the guppies weren't well as one had half its tail missing and the other had one pelvic fin sticking out stiff from its body sync it was white. My remaining two look very healthy, here's hoping they will be ok.

Melissa

 

[star4]

If you can then yes do a water change now, fresh water will help the remaining fish and you will remove some of the ammonia in the tank. Test kits are available at most fish shops, might be worth a call to a pet shop see if they stock them

 

[KittyKat]

Do I need to do a water change now?
I will look to buy a test kit tomorrow - are they available at all pet shops and his much do they cost?

 
It would probably be for the best to do a water change with dechlorinated water, although tap water can sometimes contain ammonia as well (test your tap water when you get your new liquid test kit).
 
Liquid test kits are available at many pet shops and cost around £30 in person. API Master Test kits are generally best value. They are slightly cheaper online, but I would say you need one urgently. Test strip test kits are not reliable enough.

Is there anything I should be looking out for? I knew the guppies weren't well as one had half its tail missing and the other had one pelvic fin sticking out stiff from its body sync it was white. My remaining two look very healthy, here's hoping they will be ok.

 
You should do some research on the fish that you already have. You will find that Mollies grow too big for your tank and gouramis are less than ideal because of the surface area…

 

[Melava87]

I was obviously ill advised in the pet shop as I was told I could have 7 or 8 fish in this tank and that starting with a gourami and Molly with couple of guppies would be fine. I also hope to get a shrimp.
Will look to pick up a test kit tomorrow and see how that goes.

I was looking to get an angel or Chinese fighting fish but upon research have discovered this not the best idea so hoping up stick to the more placid breeds.

Can anyone advise if a catfish or shark would settle well in the tank?

Hoping to get 5 or 6 fish and a shrimp and snail and know I can't add these in for at least a month.

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

Without being rude or anything but the tank isn't big enough for a shark. Even solitary breeds like the rainbow shark/ red finned shark need 200ltrs +. Gouramis ideally want to be in a trio of 2 females 1 male but again, 46 ltr is well too small. This site is brilliant for advice and the journals/ guides are great for ideas so for extra suggestions try searching through some I them aswell. I think possibly a nice school of tetras would look good in your tank with plants an a piece of wood maybe ?

 

[Melava87]

Yes I understand that. I can only go on the advice iv been given which was obviously a load of rubbish but you expect the "experts" to know these things. I'm not really a big fan of tetras so would probably prefer a few bigger fish as opposed to a higher quantity of smaller fish. It was the red tipped shark I was looking at also. Will need to get doing my homework just hope what I already have lasts ok.
Iv grown rather fond of my new buddies as has my 5 year old daughter
This is my set up at the moment...
Not sure if my pictures are working though?

 

[bretty1984]

Hi,
 
I am new to all of this as well and received my first tank on xmas day. I have no knowledge at all regarding all of this but I am learning as I go along and I have found the people on this site to be very helpful. I am eager to add my fish but I knew I had to let the tank do its thing first of all. Like people have mentioned, get yourself the API Freshwater test kit. A few days ago I bought some ammonia from Homebase and added around 1ml to the water then took a reading 24 hours later. It looks as though I am heading in the right direction at the moment but as it is the first time for me to do this I am sure i will mess something up!
 
I suppose what I am trying to say is, use this site as much as possible. Read the stickied threads which are full of advice. At the start I found the threads to be a bit too full on with information for me as I had no knowledge at all. I am not saying there is anything wrong with the threads, in fact the opposite, it was just a bit of an info overload! I used this link here http/www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Fishless-Cycle to kind of explain things simply. I am eager to add fish to my tank, but in all honesty I am quite enjoying the cycling phase and all the testing.
I hope you sort your tank out soon! 
 
All the best!