New Tank! Help!

[Dancloutier]

Hello there,

Started my new tank about a month and a half ago. It is my second tank, the first had no problems whatsoever.

The tank is a 55 Gallon freshwater tank. Every fish I have put into the tank have died within 24 hours. The odd thing is, is my little Beta's, about 6 of them have all survived
for over a month now. Everything else dies.
It seems like the fish are gasping and breathing heavily. They sort of swam near the top of the tank with exception of my new cave fish, they did not. I have two air stones in there
and a good sized filter. All of the tests, PH, nitrate etc test ok. The water looks clear but from the side is a tad foggy.

So odd that the Betas are the only ones that can survive. Any help would be great! Thanks.

 

[sadguppy]

Did you cycle the tank first? What are your ammonia and nitrite readings? How often do you change water and how much, and which dechlorinator do you use?

 

[Salam]

Gasping for ear sounds like too much nitrite in the water.

 

[ZoddyZod]

it the bettas survived and none else has, plus the fish are seen gasping at the surface, those sound like indicators of lack of oxygen.

Firstly - as above, did you cycle the tank and what are your readings for ammonia and nitrite (lets rule the basics out first)

Secondly - how much does your filter disturb your waters surface? If the surface is very still (no ripples) then very little oxygen transfer is occuring, hence the gasping (although that could be related to ammonia poisoning) but as the bettas have survived (they can breathe from the air using a specially adapted gland called the labyrinthe) that is why I'm thinking your issue is lack of o2. Airstones offer nowhere near the oxygenation of the water as good surface distrubance from filters or powerheads.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Dancloutier.
You are likely in the middle of a fish-in cycle but are not taking the needed steps to be successful. To do a fish-in cycle you must either do daily 50%+ water changes or test your water for ammonia and nitrites and do the water changes needed to maintain both chemicals at less than 0.25 ppm. If you are not testing daily and are not doing water changes daily, you will lose fish every time they are introduced, until the cycle completes. The betta splendens are able to utilize atmospheric oxygen and can survive incredibly bad water conditions, that is why they are surviving. The situation is not good for them either but at least they may survive a while under those conditions. Either get the test kit or do the huge water changes starting today. Otherwise the bettas will also succumb eventually. I have a link in my signature area to a fish-in cycle thread that may help you understand what is going on.