New fish questions

[Daniellie]

so I went through everything properly and done a fishless cycle. I used a test kit and all the numbers are ok. However four of my fish have died less than 4 days of having them. I asked at my local pet shop and he said it’s normal for fish to die as they sometimes don’t survive the transfer from shop to tank. 3 were guppies that died and one was a golden loach. Is the shop keeper correct or should I be doing something wrong?
I have my heater set up and it currently operates at 27degrees c

 

[Byron]

It may be normal for fish from that store to die, but it is not normal in general. Problems with the fish (genetics, injury) are possible, or something in the transfer. Could you explain what you did?

Another thing occurs to me, and that is how you prepared the tank after the cycling process. Did you do massive water changes, what were test readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? What is the GH and pH?

What is the tank size (dimensions and volume help)? Any additives/substances going in the water?

 

[Essjay]

How did you do the fishless cycle? Did you add ammonia or just let the tank run?

 

[Daniellie]

How did you do the fishless cycle? Did you add ammonia or just let the tank run?

I just let the tank run

 

[Daniellie]

It may be normal for fish from that store to die, but it is not normal in general. Problems with the fish (genetics, injury) are possible, or something in the transfer. Could you explain what you did?

Another thing occurs to me, and that is how you prepared the tank after the cycling process. Did you do massive water changes, what were test readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? What is the GH and pH?

What is the tank size (dimensions and volume help)? Any additives/substances going in the water?

There was no massive water changes. Ammonia nitrate and nitrite were all reading 0. The PH is 6.5.

The tank size is 6 litres. Only additive was the tap safe I put in as I set up the tank

 

[Essjay]

Ah, that's not fishless cycling unfortunately. Fishless cycling is where ammonia is added to the tank to grow two colonies of bacteria which remove ammonia (made by the fish, uneaten fish food, fish poo etc), and then nitrite made from the ammonia.

6 litres (1.6 gallons) is far too small for fish I'm afraid. There are no fish that can live in a tank this size.

Are any of the fish you bought still alive, and if there are, what are they? Realistically you need to get a bigger tank as soon as possible, the size will depend on what fish you still have, or want to keep.


Please do not listen to anything the shop says. So many shop workers haven't a clue and will make up any rubbish to make a sale. On this forum, we are not trying to sell anything, and between us have a huge amount of experience.

 

[Daniellie]

Oops 60litres sorry. I missed the zero Yeah I still have 6 guppies and 1 Molly alive

 

[Essjay]

That's different

There is another possibility.
Do you know how hard your water is? Guppies and mollies are hard water fish, and if you have soft water they won't cope well and will become sick more easily. Your pH does suggest soft water.
You should be able to find how hard your water is somewhere on your water provider's website. You need a number and the unit rather than some vague words.
Very few shops ever mention the need to buy fish which come from water similar to your tap water.

However, I'm afraid 60 litres is too small for mollies, though it's fine for the much smaller guppies - provided your hardness is OK for them.
The golden loach is not suitable for 60 litres either. It is a large fish (adult size) which, as it ages, develops the nasty habit of sucking the slime coat from other fish. I would not get another one.

 

[Daniellie]

Ahh. I love in Scotland so most likely have soft water. Could they be dying due to that then?

 

[Essjay]

Most of Scotland does have very soft water.

It may not be the reason they died so quickly but it is not good water for livebearers I'm afraid. Ideally you should look at fish from south America or parts of Asia.

Is there any way you could take them back to the shop and swap them for soft water fish?

 

[Daniellie]

Most of Scotland does have very soft water.

It may not be the reason they died so quickly but it is not good water for livebearers I'm afraid. Ideally you should look at fish from south America or parts of Asia.

Is there any way you could take them back to the shop and swap them for soft water fish?

I doubt it. Is there any way I can “harden” the water

 

[Byron]

I doubt it. Is there any way I can “harden” the water

Yes, but then you are narrowing down your options for fish. Soft water species will be healthier in your source water.

It really does make life much easier for the aquarist if you stay with fish suited to your source water. Weekly partial water changes of 60%+ are easy when you can just run tap water and use a conditioner to dechlorinate, as opposed to having to prepare the fresh water in some container to get the parameters right.

And with small tanks, as this 60 liter (15 gallon) tank is, you will have many more options with soft water species as there are many that are "nano" in size.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Any chance of a picture of the fish and tank?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

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Guppies regularly have bacterial and protozoan infections on them at the shop and can die from that.

If there was any cleaning products or chemicals in the tank, it would poison the fish.

How did the fish die, where they gasping at the surface, dashing about, doing barrel rolls, anything that didn't seem like a fish just casually swimming around?

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What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

 

[Essjay]

@Daniellie I know that most of Scotland has very soft water but can you check with your water company's website to confirm this, please. If you are with Scottish Water, look at this document and tell us what number is in the German degrees column for your area.
If you are with a different company, tell us the name and we'll see if we can find the hardness.

 

[Daniellie]

1.79 is my reading