New Fish Owner, Help Me Please!

[alexbryan]

Hi, this is my first post, and these are my first fish!
I bought an Aqua One 28L tropical fish tank, which comes with an under gravel filter and heater. I followed all the instructions, cleaned everything before use, conditioned the water and didn't add any fish until the chemistry levels were right. I've had the tank about 4-5 days now and the fish keep dying, first two neon tetras, then a harlequin, and now a black molly and another tetra. I've checked the chemistry again today and its fine (the same tests show the same results in my mother-in-law's healthy fish tank). The temperature is around 24 C. I don't think it's the fish because my mother-in-law had two black mollies and four neon tetra from the same shop and they're doing fine. What's killing my fish???

 

[Viettxboii]

The fact that your tank is not cycled, go see fishless/fish cycling thread thats pinned in the New to the Hobby section, and basically ammonia levels that are building up are killing your fish basically.
Oh and if your goign to use an undergravel filter id advise that you gravel vac regularly.
Also your stocking for that tank is too high, 28 litres is around 6-7 gallons? so you can only have 1 inch of adult fish per gallon, there fore the molly would be too large, and your harlequins and neons should be 6 of each but cannot fit in a tank of that size.

 

[lilfishie]

28l = 7 US gal = 6 UK gal, this is too small for one of the fish you have let alone all of them, return the fish that are still alive and do a fishless cycle then get something more suited to your tank size

what are the actual stat results?

 

[MHunt]

The problem with trying to do a fishless cycle, is the under gravel filter needs some of the fish crap to build up under the filter plate to cycle this kind of filter. You may have to sit it out with the fish you have and hopefully some will make it.

Keep testing the water and you will see an Ammonia spike, a Nitrite spike and finally the harmless nitrate will begin to build up. Only after the ammonia and nitrite spikes have been and gone is your tank cycled.

 

[chibi]

I suggest getting a hang-on filter. They're much more effective.

 

[-germ-]

Yep, i've got one of these.
Change the filter ASAP, as Chibi said, i've put in a little internal canister that seems to be doing fine, the impeller stopped working due to slime build up from the undergravel extremely quickly and even after cleaning wasn't really good for anything.
You definately SHOULD return the fish, but assuming your stubborn, as i was, then a few things;
You need a product called SeaChem Prime (or similar) which will detoxify your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It also serves as a dechlorinator. Without a similar product i'd expect your fish to be all dead quite soon.
No matter what you do return the molly, its too big for your tank.
You also need to get water changing, i did 20-40% daily and didn't lose a fish. Use dechlorinated tapwater that is at the same temperature as your tank water, if you don't have a gravel vac your going to need one, this'll help clean your tank and make water changes alot easier. They are dirt cheap from your fish shop.
Any Q's just ask but like i say the best thing health wise for you and your fish is to get them returned and go about cycling the tank without fish in.
Are you from manchester perchance?

 

[Bloo]

If you get another filter, the best thing you can do is to get some of the filter media from your mother-in-law and stick it into the new fitler compartment.
That will "clone" your filter and though you won't have a "mature" tank, you'll have one that's instantly cycled.

Unfortunately you're extremely limited in terms of what you can keep in there. Mollies are a definite no-no.

Possibly a couple of rasboras, a pygmy cory or two - or just a betta and a snail. Something like that....
Neons really need a mature tank = over 6 months old and stable.

 

[alexbryan]

Thanks for your replies!! I'm not sure what to do now. My girlfriend bought the tank and fish for my birthday. We talked with the people in the shop and we asked how many fish we could put in. The bloke who has loads of fish himself said about 12-15 smaller fish or less bigger ones. We asked him if the fish we were buying were okay and how many of each we should get and he told us they were all okay. My girlfriend is really sad as the mollie was hers and she really wanted them, she would have bought a bigger tank if she'd realised she would have needed one for the mollies. Should we complain to the fish shop

Cheers Alex

p.s we are from Worcester

 

[-germ-]

I would complain myself, but realistically it won't stop them doing the same thing with the next new fish keeper and the next and so on. If you can get your money back for what you have bought so far and put that toward another tank then i'd go for it.....
The staff at your LFS (local fish shop) are salesmen, they can't afford to turn away custom due to tanks being uncycled and will happily boost any sale even if it means jepordising your fishs health.
I'd return the molly and if you haven't been completely put off consider a new tank at some time of a more suitable size (nice surprise prezzie for the Gf actually!?) move all the fish in with a nice molly for your gf, job done, e-bay the small tank.
Anyhow...
I went through pretty much the same thing as you, in fact maybe worse, for the good of the other fish the molly has to go and you have to get on with cycling your tank...
Have you checked out cycling and what it involves yet???

 

[chibi]

I have a tank relatively the same size. I had 5 pygmy cories and a betta. Worked well for me. How about balloon mollies? They're mollies, but smaller, fatter, and cuter. One or two may work.

 

[Bloo]

How about balloon mollies? They're mollies, but smaller, fatter, and cuter. One or two may work.

No really I'm afraid they won't

Mollies are heavy waste producers and will likely suffer from something like fin rot or dropsy in future (due to poor water conditions).

 

[alexbryan]

Thanks for all the replys!
I've decided to return the fish to the shop, do a fishless cycle and get some of the smaller fish Chibi mentioned.
One thing I'm confused about is the size of the tank. A couple of you calculated it's about 6 US Gallons, but working from the dimensions, everywhere I look says it's more like 9.5-10. This is how I worked it out:

1. The dimensions are 38cm x 33cm x 30cm.
2. Converted into Inches that becomes 15" x 13" x 9".
3. Multiply those together to get Cubic Inches = 2301.
4. Converted into US Gallons that makes 9.96103.

Am I doing something wrong here? The box for the fish tank says the dimensions are as in step 1 above and the capacity is 28L.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

28litres is roughly 7 us gallons, google has a calculator you can use if you like

glad your fishless cycling you're definately doing the right thing.

have a read of the link in my sig 'fish suitable for a 10 gallon tank' which should give you some ideas of what fish you can keep and how many.

 

[Bloo]

Am I doing something wrong here? The box for the fish tank says the dimensions are as in step 1 above and the capacity is 28L.

Allowing for displacement in terms of gravel, decor, equipment and the fact that you're not filling it to the brim - makes the actual capacity of a tank less than pure dimensions.

I still don't quite understand why you're chosing to go through the "pain" and time of a fishless cycle when you can just clone your tank if you have access to your mother in law's

 

[alexbryan]

I still don't quite understand why you're chosing to go through the "pain" and time of a fishless cycle when you can just clone your tank if you have access to your mother in law's

Could you point me towards a decent guide on how to go about doing this? My mother-in-law has a wall pump filter, while I have an under gravel one. What is "filter media" and how do I get it out of hers and into mine?