Neon Tetra Dying

[Heira]

I put 2 neon tetra in a new 10 g tank and within 2 hours they look like they are dying. I don't know what went wrong, I have a filter, a heater set to 78 degrees, and I had my water tested at Petco today. I introduced them slowly,letting them acclimate to the water. They seemed OK at first so I fed them and now they are dying. Help.

 

[AquaPit]

Hi Heira! First of all, welcome to the forum!

Okay, now.. what does Petco say about the water? How do they do the testing? I think you have not cycled your tank.. Read this http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first

Basically, they are stuffs in the water that are harmful and toxic to the fishes and you need to 'Cycle' your tank to help reduce this harmful toxics..

Hope to hear from you soon and people in this forum will be glad to answer your queries!

 

[Heira]

Petco just used a strip to test the hardness, nitrate levels, ammonia...etc. All they said was that my water is fine...maybe slightly hard but not a dangerous level. I haven't cycled my tank, when I told them I was new to this they just said start with 2 fish and they would start the cycle. They didn't say I had to do anything else. Is that what went wrong?

 

[AshleyNZ]

Strip tests are very inaccurate, and apparently you can test the same water and get different readings. When they say "Fine" it may be because there's nothing wrong with the water; as you didn't have fish in it so no nitrite or nitrate were present (Depending on tap water) I would recommend investing in a test kit, liquid test kit, because it is the most accurate way to check water parameters.  
 
Also, a fishless cycle would be better and safer for the health of the fish (Just my opinion) and you wouldnt have to risk losing any
 
Neon tetra do best when in groups of 6+
 
Hope this helps you.

 

[Heira]

Is the only way to cycle a tank to put ammonia in? Petco said that the process would take care of itself just by introducing a couple fish...did I mess up by feeding them so soon?

 

[LyraGuppi]

What are the symptoms?

 

[AshleyNZ]

Using ammonia to cycle is the best way to go 

 

[kiwi210]

Did they give you the exact levels of the water? There's a good chance that they didn't adjust well to your tank because it is not cycled. If you want to cycle your tank with fish, use the fish you plan to stock your tank with but just be aware that there is a risk it will die during the cycling process(any fish has the risk of dying during this process.) Most people will recommend using hearty fish that can really withstand the presence of ammonia and nitrites. I do not recommend this because if the fish survives, then you're stuck with it and you may not be able to stock you tank with what you actually want; however, I do not recommend using an extremely sensitive fish either. Feed your fish at a minimum! Overfeeding will cause more waste which causes more ammonias! When you cycle your tank with fish, you want to keep waste production at a minimum so it doesn't spike the ammonia levels and expose your fish to more toxins. The point of cycling is to get rid of ammonias and nitrites, not create them! 

 

[Ninjouzata]

to TFF!
 
I'd recommend returning the fish you have back to the LFS and doing a proper fishless cycle, following the article that was linked earlier.
You'll need some ammonia (I got mine at Ace Hardware) & a liquid test kit.
 
If you decide to continue with the fish-in cycle, you'll still want a liquid test kit so you can test each day.
 
Some would say 10g is too small for neon tetras as well, am not sure if that is something you'd like to know or not.
They may be on the small side but they're pretty active

 

[kiwi210]

How long does it take to cycle a tank the fish-less way? I cycled mine with fish and all mine took about 4 days. Even my saltwater took maybe 6 days at most(I used live rock, not fish though.) 

 

[Ninjouzata]

How long does it take to cycle a tank the fish-less way? I cycled mine with fish and all mine took about 4 days. Even my saltwater took maybe 6 days at most(I used live rock, not fish though.) 

Fishless I think is 3-6 weeks, fish-in is even longer.
I imagine you used lots of mature media? Or had a large tank and few fish?

 

[Heira]

Since my 2 tetra died and there was leftover food flakes that sunk to the bottom, should I remove all the water and start fresh...or has the process begun and I can still work with this water (and just do 10% changes? Also, I originally wanted platy, is that a more hardy fish?

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'm sorry they died! 

 
I'd clean out the flakes as it takes time for them to break down into ammonia, and you're not sure exactly how much ammonia will come from them.
 
Then do a fish-less cycle following that article
 
I'm not sure if platys are more hardy as I havn't kept them, but they're best off in a 15g+ tank IIRC.
 
Whilst cycling you should have plenty of time to decide on stocking. I'd start another thread for it though.

 

[kiwi210]

 

How long does it take to cycle a tank the fish-less way? I cycled mine with fish and all mine took about 4 days. Even my saltwater took maybe 6 days at most(I used live rock, not fish though.) 

Fishless I think is 3-6 weeks, fish-in is even longer.
I imagine you used lots of mature media? Or had a large tank and few fish?

 

Nope, just experience. My recent 30 gallon freshwater cycled in 4 days with a pair of yellow-lab cichlids. My recent 10 gallon saltwater cycled in about a week with just live rock. I didn't add any chemicals other than Prime water conditioner. Not sure why it takes so long for others. In fact, my 30 gallon has been established for over 2 years and those same yellow-labs are still alive! I never have any water problems with my tanks. 

 

[Gruntle]

Not to step on any toes, but I seriously doubt you can cycle a tank in 4 days, unless you had established media from an existing tank.