New Member With A Huge Problem. Help Me!

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B Rolls

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Ok this might be a long one. I more or less joined this forum just to ask some experienced fish keepers this question and tell them my problem. I will give some info about the tank after my story.
.......So we recently moved into a new house and I decided to to drain my fish tank and bring it here empty. I figured Ill just restock it when we get settled in a little better. So I brought it to my new home. All I did was just drain the water out of it and took the decor out. Then I set it up in our new house after I found the perfect spot. I didn't really want to do a major cleaning so I wouldn't have to cycle the tank as long. Well up to this point I have had to fill my tank with water that I had to buy from a spring, and it worked. So I was eager to test the well water at our new house hoping to be able to fill it with that water. Well I tested it and the PH was about 6.5. Not bad because I was considering buying tetras. I also tested ammonia, and copper and both read zero. so I decided to use that water to fill it up. After I put the decor back in and the filter and heater, I waited for 2 days, then put a couple of cherry barbs that were on sale in to cycle it. After they seemed fine, I decided to get some of the tetras I wanted. I got 5 neons, 5 red minor sarpae, 2 black skirt tails, and 4 blood fins. I was exited because it was black Friday at this time and I got each fish for a dollar. so I put them in and they seemed fine, for about 2 days. On the 3rd day I woke up and turned the light on to feed them, and was unhappy to see that almost every fish in the tank had signs of fin rot. Most of their fins were really frayed. So I really didn't have a problem with this because I have only been keeping fish for about a 8 months now. So I read up and really didnt see any cures that worked. Some say salt others say melafix I was really stumped. So I decided on the melafix. I was dosing daily and saw no signs of improvement. Only that the disease was now attacking the body.
..........I decided the only thing I could was to start the tank from scratch, and I mean from the very beginning. So I drained it down and used a very mild bleach solution to clean every little thing in the tank. I also boiled the plants and airstone. I waited for the bleach to ware off and then I bought some brand new gravel(black sand) for the tank. I set everything up again, this time I used crystal clean spring water with no impurities. I then had to cycle normally so I waited about a week to put some cycle fish in. I also used stress coat and I also put some aquarium salt in because this time I wanted mollies. So I bought 2 platys and 2 mollies. Well one looked really weak and soon I took him out to not risk an infection, but the other 3 lived fine and are still in the tank now after 4 weeks. After a week I bought a few more platys, a pair of dalmatian mollys(male and female) and also a pair of black mollys(male and female). The fish were doing fine. Living great and happy. 1 molly actually gave birth. I had 2 fish die. a platy and a black molly. I think think they were just weak. Then this is where the problem started. About 4 days ago I bought some tertas. 5 neans, and 3 red minors. Well I awoke yesterday to find the same thing happen as last time. Every single neon appears to have fin rot, and now half of there tails are just gone. I also see that a couple of platys have it also. Now let me remind you that all of the mollies and platys were perfect before I put these new tetras in. They were perfect, no disease, eating fine, always swimming, and since I put in the tetras, they now have signs of fin rot. Now let me give you some facts about the tank. It is a 29g kit from Aquaion. the temperature is at 77, and the PH is at 7.2. ammonia is zero. I did put about 4 tbls of aquarium salt in the beginning when I started with mollys. Before I wrote this page I did remove the 3 red sarpaes because they seemed to be nippy. Stocking before that was as follows; 4 platys, 2 dalmatian mollys, 1 black molly, 1 silver lyre tail molly, 5 neon tertas, and 3 red sarpeas. I didnt yet change the filter cartridge because it says to change every month and I plan on doing that today or tomorrow depending on what you guys say. ........................................................................................So there is my problem. I am beginning to believe that the both sets of neons were infected because I got all the fish from Petco and the tetras were in the same tanks as the first time I got them and had fin rot. Is that possible that it was nothing wrong with my tank and all Petcos fault for selling me infected fish? The only problem is I didn't see any fin rot on the fish when I bought them because I make sure to observe the tank before buying a fish. I really need help with this and have no clue what to do with the tank anymore. Also I should say that I have had so many problems with tropical fish tanks. In 8 months, I had to restock 6 times and I am losing the will to keep this fish tank. Help Me please!
 
Mate, welcome to the forum, and someone will be along to help you shortly (I'm just about to go out myself!), but could you add some paragraph breaks to your post please?

Walls of text like that are very hard to read onscreen for a lot of people :good:
 
okay, hi and welcome. +1 on paragraphs that took some reading!

I just mainly wanted to say don't change the filter sponges - leave them be. The grubbier the better as you will start the cycle from the beginning again.

The other thing that stands out is you added just a couple of fish to do a fish in cycle but then before the filter has had chance to build any bacteria up you add a heap load more. I think (and someone will correct me if I've got this wrong) you should add fish a lot more slowly. Give the filter chance to cycle or your fish will be sick and die.

I know very little about fin rot - not encountered it yet thankfully but it would sound to me that the desease is coming from the lfs. I read somewhere on here that it can take up to 90 days for illness spread to show up in the fish.

I can only add that I've only been in the hobby for a few months myself (this place has taught me masses in that time!) so I'm hoping someone with more experience will be along
 
Mate, welcome to the forum, and someone will be along to help you shortly (I'm just about to go out myself!), but could you add some paragraph breaks to your post please?

Walls of text like that are very hard to read onscreen for a lot of people :good:
I tried to, sorry about the dots. My computer for some reason wouldn't allow me to space
 
I believe the reason you have had to restock so many times is that your filter has never properly been cycled. You mention changing the filter cartridge monthly and that you have been keeping fish for 8 months, does that mean that you have changed it 8 times? You shouldnt ever need to change the media in your filter unless it is falling apart. Just give it a rinse in your old tank water when you do a water change. On the subject of water changes, what is your water change schedule?

Do you have a testing kit? You have mentioned your Ph and Ammomia but do you test for anything else? Many members of this forum wouldnt recommend neons for anything but mature setups as they never seem to do well.

Im not sure that your problem is as huge as you think and I think it is an easy one to solve, heres what I would do -
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine.
- Enjoy your fish.
 
okay, hi and welcome. +1 on paragraphs that took some reading!

I just mainly wanted to say don't change the filter sponges - leave them be. The grubbier the better as you will start the cycle from the beginning again.

The other thing that stands out is you added just a couple of fish to do a fish in cycle but then before the filter has had chance to build any bacteria up you add a heap load more. I think (and someone will correct me if I've got this wrong) you should add fish a lot more slowly. Give the filter chance to cycle or your fish will be sick and die.

I know very little about fin rot - not encountered it yet thankfully but it would sound to me that the desease is coming from the lfs. I read somewhere on here that it can take up to 90 days for illness spread to show up in the fish.

I can only add that I've only been in the hobby for a few months myself (this place has taught me masses in that time!) so I'm hoping someone with more experience will be along
Thanks. I do realize that the best way to add fish is in low doses. Like about 5 at a time. The problem is a few things. 1 is that the crappy Petco by me has really bad fish. I've gotten ick so many times. I dont want to get a stock of about 10 healthy fish. living good then want to add a couple more, then those 2 give the whole tank a disease. I just figured I would risk a few cheap fish to ensure that I can keep this tank for years to come. I also realize a 5g quarantine tank would be the best way to get around this but I really don't have the space for that tank anywhere. Ive tried to find many places for it but I just cant find one as of yet.
 
I believe the reason you have had to restock so many times is that your filter has never properly been cycled. You mention changing the filter cartridge monthly and that you have been keeping fish for 8 months, does that mean that you have changed it 8 times? You shouldnt ever need to change the media in your filter unless it is falling apart. Just give it a rinse in your old tank water when you do a water change. On the subject of water changes, what is your water change schedule?

Do you have a testing kit? You have mentioned your Ph and Ammomia but do you test for anything else? Many members of this forum wouldnt recommend neons for anything but mature setups as they never seem to do well.

Im not sure that your problem is as huge as you think and I think it is an easy one to solve, heres what I would do -
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine.
- Enjoy your fish.
I realize what your saying. Let me clarify to everyone. I would consider myself an amateur but when iv said I had a tank for 8 months, that means that I bought it 8 months ago. In those 8 months I have been through 6 different restocks. Now all the fish have died of different causes. Mostly they live for about 3-4 weeks. then mysteriously die. I had African cichlids that would die off 1 every week, and I had no clue at all what was doing it. I thought of everything, dropsy, ick, ammonia poisoning, fin rot. The problem is they looked healthy. The only thing I can think of is over feeding. I really don't know an appropriate level of food to give them. I have the time to take care of fish in the correct manor, and would really like to have a very healthy and active tank. I change about 25% of the water monthly. Some of your are going to say to do it every 2 weeks or even weekly, but every time I want to get water for this tank I have to drive 20 miles to the spring water place and fill a few 5g jugs of water, And I hardly think it is necessary, perhaps it is. I've just seen tanks that are so much worse taken care of than mine and the fish don't even seemed to be phased. For me it is a huge problem because ive spent over $500 in a fish tank that only cost me 70 bucks, and I dont think it is entirely my fault. I just want to have a healthy tank for longer than 2 months. Haven't achieved that yet in 8 months. Thats why I need some experienced help
 
I believe the reason you have had to restock so many times is that your filter has never properly been cycled. You mention changing the filter cartridge monthly and that you have been keeping fish for 8 months, does that mean that you have changed it 8 times? You shouldnt ever need to change the media in your filter unless it is falling apart. Just give it a rinse in your old tank water when you do a water change. On the subject of water changes, what is your water change schedule?

Do you have a testing kit? You have mentioned your Ph and Ammomia but do you test for anything else? Many members of this forum wouldnt recommend neons for anything but mature setups as they never seem to do well.

Im not sure that your problem is as huge as you think and I think it is an easy one to solve, heres what I would do -
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine.
- Enjoy your fish.
I realize what your saying. Let me clarify to everyone. I would consider myself an amateur but when iv said I had a tank for 8 months, that means that I bought it 8 months ago. In those 8 months I have been through 6 different restocks. Now all the fish have died of different causes. Mostly they live for about 3-4 weeks. then mysteriously die. I had African cichlids that would die off 1 every week, and I had no clue at all what was doing it. I thought of everything, dropsy, ick, ammonia poisoning, fin rot. The problem is they looked healthy. The only thing I can think of is over feeding. I really don't know an appropriate level of food to give them.

With all due respect, I dont think that level of fish loss could be down to over feeding alone. You didnt really answer my question/s though, did you change the filter during that time? Do you have a testing kit? What are your test results? How often do you do water changes and how big? What do you add to the water? How do you clean your filter media?

Just answers to some of the above could really help people diagnose your problems.
 
I believe the reason you have had to restock so many times is that your filter has never properly been cycled. You mention changing the filter cartridge monthly and that you have been keeping fish for 8 months, does that mean that you have changed it 8 times? You shouldnt ever need to change the media in your filter unless it is falling apart. Just give it a rinse in your old tank water when you do a water change. On the subject of water changes, what is your water change schedule?

Do you have a testing kit? You have mentioned your Ph and Ammomia but do you test for anything else? Many members of this forum wouldnt recommend neons for anything but mature setups as they never seem to do well.

Im not sure that your problem is as huge as you think and I think it is an easy one to solve, heres what I would do -
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine.
- Enjoy your fish.
I realize what your saying. Let me clarify to everyone. I would consider myself an amateur but when iv said I had a tank for 8 months, that means that I bought it 8 months ago. In those 8 months I have been through 6 different restocks. Now all the fish have died of different causes. Mostly they live for about 3-4 weeks. then mysteriously die. I had African cichlids that would die off 1 every week, and I had no clue at all what was doing it. I thought of everything, dropsy, ick, ammonia poisoning, fin rot. The problem is they looked healthy. The only thing I can think of is over feeding. I really don't know an appropriate level of food to give them.

With all due respect, I dont think that level of fish loss could be down to over feeding alone. You didnt really answer my question/s though, did you change the filter during that time? Do you have a testing kit? What are your test results? How often do you do water changes and how big? What do you add to the water? How do you clean your filter media?

Just answers to some of the above could really help people diagnose your problems.
I just edited my last post. Maybe that will help. I did tell the results of my test in the main story, near the bottom
 
From what I can see, you have water quality issues and never gave your tank a chance to cycle. 6 times restocking for 8 months!! That means that in your tank fish last average 5 and a half weeks!
You did say ammonia is at 0, but to me testing the water once in a blue moon, especially after doing a spring clean of your tank, moving houses, etc, is not good enough.

Some fish are hardier than others in bad water conditions and that's why your platies and mollies didn't seem to be affected. I haven't kept neons but from what I know they die like flies when the water conditions are bad. When the fish are weak, they may bring disease to a tank, without having it prior to that.

Another very important thing to consider is that fins will rot if there is ammonia issues with the water and this happens overnight. This is not a disease and can be solved by water changes and properly cycling the tank, keeping ammonia/nitrites close to 0 with water changes once or twice daily. If this is not handled correctly, and you leave your fish breathing the toxic ammonia,then instead start adding some medication for god knows what disease,on which it says not to do water changes, then your fish get worse and start dying because they couldn't take the chemicals from the medication on top of the ammonia, since they weren't suffering from infection, but were being poisoned.
 
I believe the reason you have had to restock so many times is that your filter has never properly been cycled. You mention changing the filter cartridge monthly and that you have been keeping fish for 8 months, does that mean that you have changed it 8 times? You shouldnt ever need to change the media in your filter unless it is falling apart. Just give it a rinse in your old tank water when you do a water change. On the subject of water changes, what is your water change schedule?

Do you have a testing kit? You have mentioned your Ph and Ammomia but do you test for anything else? Many members of this forum wouldnt recommend neons for anything but mature setups as they never seem to do well.

Im not sure that your problem is as huge as you think and I think it is an easy one to solve, heres what I would do -
- Return the fish that you currently have.
- Drain, clean and refill your tank.
- Read the beginners section of this forum, paying close attention to the fish less cycling.
- Buy some household Ammonia and fully cycle your tank.
- Restock your tank from a new LFS avoiding tetras until your tank matures.
- Maintain good water change, cleaning and testing routine.
- Enjoy your fish.
I realize what your saying. Let me clarify to everyone. I would consider myself an amateur but when iv said I had a tank for 8 months, that means that I bought it 8 months ago. In those 8 months I have been through 6 different restocks. Now all the fish have died of different causes. Mostly they live for about 3-4 weeks. then mysteriously die. I had African cichlids that would die off 1 every week, and I had no clue at all what was doing it. I thought of everything, dropsy, ick, ammonia poisoning, fin rot. The problem is they looked healthy. The only thing I can think of is over feeding. I really don't know an appropriate level of food to give them.

With all due respect, I dont think that level of fish loss could be down to over feeding alone. You didnt really answer my question/s though, did you change the filter during that time? Do you have a testing kit? What are your test results? How often do you do water changes and how big? What do you add to the water? How do you clean your filter media?

Just answers to some of the above could really help people diagnose your problems.
I have had so many fish. My very first batch of fish, I followed the directions of the aquaeon filter, which said to replace the filter cartridge every month. which I did. How can they tell me that right on the box and people say to never change the filter. If I never change the cartridge, how does it even do its job. It has this thing called a "bio holster" which does as it says, holds the beneficial bacteria. That never needs to be replaced, but it says the filter cartridge does need replacing. In the event of the cichlids i never did a filter change in 2 months of having them and they still started to die after about a month of healthy living.
 
From what I can see, you have water quality issues and never gave your tank a chance to cycle. 6 times restocking for 8 months!! That means that in your tank fish last average 5 and a half weeks!
You did say ammonia is at 0, but to me testing the water once in a blue moon, especially after doing a spring clean of your tank, moving houses, etc, is not good enough.

Some fish are hardier than others in bad water conditions and that's why your platies and mollies didn't seem to be affected. I haven't kept neons but from what I know they die like flies when the water conditions are bad. When the fish are weak, they may bring disease to a tank, without having it prior to that.

Another very important thing to consider is that fins will rot if there is ammonia issues with the water and this happens overnight. This is not a disease and can be solved by water changes and properly cycling the tank, keeping ammonia/nitrites close to 0 with water changes once or twice daily. If this is not handled correctly, and you leave your fish breathing the toxic ammonia,then instead start adding some medication for god knows what disease,on which it says not to do water changes, then your fish get worse and start dying because they couldn't take the chemicals from the medication on top of the ammonia, since they weren't suffering from infection, but were being poisoned.
Yes I would say that is about right. They seem to last about a month before dying off. I know that it is either 2 things. Something I am doing wrong, or the fish I am getting are full of disease when I buy them. I just would like to know what everyone thinks I should do. As of now, 4 out of 5 neons are missing some of there tail fin. 2 of the platys seem to have a small piece missing from their tail, almost like it was bit off. The mollies seem unaffected for now. I just thought that fin rot was not contagious.
 
And just to add, overfeeding the fish is a good point. It may cause ammonia spikes without you even knowing it, unless you test twice a day at least.
 
Eveything you say just points to poor water quality as being the cause, although you may have been unlucky with having bad batches among those fish. So you kept fish before the house move? Were you able to keep fish alive for some time in the previous house? Or did the problems start when you started to use the well water in the new house? What do you use to test your water with?

Also, trying to read through that block of text (what a nightmare), I'm not convinced that your filter is cycled. Can you list everything that you add to your water please?

And changing the water once a month is just not good enough. Another reason to suspect poor water quality.
 
Yes I would say that is about right. They seem to last about a month before dying off. I know that it is either 2 things. Something I am doing wrong, or the fish I an getting are full of disease when I buy them. I just would like to know what everyone thinks I should do. As of now, 4 out of 5 neons are missing some of there tail fin. 2 of the platys seem to have a small piece missing from their tail, almost like it was bit off. The mollies seem unaffected for now. I just thought that fin rot was not contagious.

Do you have a good liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates at least? If yes, test your water.Post the results here for more help.

Fin rot is the visual damage that you see. Whether this is caused by ammonia poisoning, fungus or bacteria, is a completely different story and you should be careful what medication, if any needed, you put in your tank, as it may additionally affect the little beneficial bacteria that you have established so far, that is processing the ammonia and nitrites.
As someone else suggested, don't be changing the filter media at all until it falls apart. And even then, just add a new piece in the filter, until you are sure you can take the old one out.
 

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