New Guppies Dying On Daily Basis....need Advice Please

[greenbhoy]

I have a wall mounted panoramic fish tank. 1.7m long , 46cm height and 11cm depth. Capacity 35litres. I bought this 4 weeks ago and introduced 8 neon tetras and 6 blue metalicas. All was fine for first 2 weeks when I then introduced various new guppies (16) .

I was very worried at first as there was a lot of chasing going on particularly from the blue metalicas, however this seemed to settle down. Now, unfortunately I am losing 1-2 of the new fish every day. Therefore I am in dire need of some good advice. I am a complete novice at this.

Some info: Two water filters placed at either end of tank, submerged in the tank.
One water heater/therometer, sitting at 24degrees celcius.
Feed then 2 times a day with Aquarian tropical fish food

Use Tetra Aqua Easy Balance 2 times per week as per instructions

Use Tetra AquaSafe weekly as per instructions

Current readings
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
GH 6d
KH 6d
PH 7.2 -7.6

I phoned the fish shop where I bought the new ones from and he informed me that his fish were of a good quality and it may be something to do with the bacteria Level?

As mentioned previously it is only the new fish that are dying, and help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Corleone]

How did you cycle the tank?

What are your ammonia levels? 0 nitrate is very unusual excpet in a heavily planted and lightly stocked tank. It looks like the tank is uncycled, which means you likely have dangerous ammonia levels. The fish that were in there through the accumulation will be stressed and in danger, but the new fish will likely be experiencing shock at the sudden ammonia levels and die more quickly.

What kind of test kit are you using? Is it the 5-in-one test strips? If so, get a drop kit. It'll cost you more to start, but that's twice as much for several hundred tests, as opposed to 25 strips per bottle, and you really need an ammonia test. The drops are also easier to read and more reliable

No experience with EasyBalance, but I've read the bottle. Anything that suggests it can reduce your water changes to one every six months is probably snake oil - water changes should be weekly, and are cheaper than EasyBalance even if it does work. If you have ammonia in the water, they should be immediately and frequently. Aquasafe is a dechlorinator, and should be used in whatever in the new water in a water change, not directly in the tank.

 

[Davo86]

Hi, Was the tank initially cycled?

your biggest problem is space, considering 35 litres is only just under 10USG, this equates to a rough stocking guide of 10inches worth of fish.
Also what are blue metalicas? do you have a pic, I have never heard of them before?

 

[shelaghfishface]

been there done this and got the t-shirt, your tank isnt cycled, see if you ca return the remianing fish and read the pinned topic on fishless cycling ...
http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/113...ination/page/0/

 

[greenbhoy]

Hi
Thanks for the prompt replies. Looks like I haven't cycled the tank properly although I followed all the instructiond given by the shop who sold me the tank / original fish.

Where would I get amonia and how do I test it?

Blue metalicas, my wife bought these and has probably got the name wrong. Busy fish with blue metalic tail, very aggressive when new fish were introduced.

Am i overstocking?

Will purchase a drop kit tomorrow.

Feel terrible if I've missed something which has caused my fish to die.

 

[Corleone]

Pet stores give notoriously bad advice. Once in a while you'll get 5 or 10 year out of date information on cycling that will at least keep most of your fish alive, but fishless cycling is almost unheard of among them.

Most fish stores or major pet chains will carry a test kit like the API Master Kit, which will have everything you really need. Call around if the one you went to doesn't have them, and failing that, they can be ordered online from many sites.

 

[Davo86]

If you can get your hands on some bactinettes or even some mature media from a mature aquarium that would help enormously,

Also wiith a tank that size your max stocking would be around 12inches worth of fish IMO

if you can post a pic of the metalic blue fish we can id them for you

 

[orange shark]

adding 16 guppies means your tank is 3 times overstocked, plus the neons and "metallic blues" I would say your tank is over times overstocked

 

[greenbhoy]

Image of blue guppy.

Ordered api kit already

Will not overstock from now on.

Will see if i can get some bactinettes from somewhere.

Lessons learned and great help on this forum

Thanks again to you all

 

[orange shark]

pleasure, and good luck!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the blue metallics are just a guppy colour morph, not another species.

you need to return about two thirds of your fish to the shop, if you leave it as it is it's a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, you'll be constantly battling poor water quality and fish deaths.

if you stick with fish the size of guppies and neon's you can have around 10 fish in the tank.

have a read of the link in my sig 'whats cycling' which should explain some more and what you can do now to stop the deaths.

and yeah, stop using easy-balance, it's a waste of money.

 

[greenbhoy]

Okay, would I be better returning all my fish for the time being and performing a fishless cycle?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes undoubtedly that would be the best bet, take them all backl and start from scratch and get it right.

often we get people who are unwilling to return their new pets, so i don't shove it down people's throats that this is the best thing to do, but it is the safest option all round.

 

[greenbhoy]

Advice taken and will say a wee cheerio to them all today

Off to Palma for a short break on Wednesday, so I'll start with the cycle process when I return next week.

Thanks again

 

[Miss Wiggle]

makes sense, have fun in Palma

Remember if you have any problems with the cycle then post back and we'll help you out all we can.