New To The Hobby & Not Doing To Well... Help Please!

[sapna2944]

Hi

I am very new to the hobby and thought I was doing everything right... purchased a 26 litre tank.. threw in the water gravel and ornaments.. added the de chlorinator, etc.. started the filter let it run for almost 2 weeks and then went to buy my first few fish.

I had my eye on Honey Gouramies and asked the fish shop if they would be "hardy" enough for me as first fish in the tank to which he replied "yes sure".. bagged the fish and I asked him if there is anything else I will need and he told me about the water tester kits.. he said i could hold off 1 week before purchasing it but i decided to get it over with and took everything home.

Within 24 hours 1 small Gourami was dead and now 4 days later the other 2 are pretty much motionless... they are basically at the top of the tank "floating upright" if that makes sense? Looking carefully I can see that their scales are a little bit flakey? I don't even know if thats the right term and one of them has like this redish rash/spot type thing on it though not very noticable.. there is no ammonia.. the pH i think is too high at 7.8 but another forum i joined said it was ok?? The temp is 27 degrees so thats fine.. i don't know what i am doing wrong??

Any idea's? I would like to "revive" my fish.. please help!

 

[helterskelter]

Have you been testing your ammonia levels regularly?
If so can u state what u have had over the last 2 weeks?

Also have you been testing you nitrites and nitrates.

as nitrites are toxic to fish and are a brake down from ammonia, then nitrites are broken down to nitrates which is much less toxic and can only be removed with regular water changes.

So firstly i would do a good water change of 30% every other day for the next week remembering to use dechlorinated water.

 

[sapna2944]

Yes!! I have been testing it and it has literally been 0 for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which is concerning more than anything!!!

Reading up I have been expexting the readings to be high considering i have only had the fish in the tank for 5 days in total... though they are not eating at all??

Do you think the water change will help them?

Why are they not swimming or eating???

 

[helterskelter]

the ammonia should of after 4-5 days gone sky high 3-4 mg/l this indercates that things are starting to work as the good bacteria needed feeds off the ammonia, if you have not had this then something is very wrong.

What are the readings for nitrites and nitrates

 

[sapna2944]

The last i tested yesterday was 0 for all three?

After reading up on the fish they apparently need ph of max 7.6

could this be the issue

 

[helterskelter]

No pH is fine.

Do you should have some nitrates when the cycle is complete.
Something is not right, what test kits are u using, they dips or chemical drops?

water changes will help though.

 

[sapna2944]

I am using the chemical drops..!

I will test again tomorrow night and post the results, after I do that I do the water change.

Hopefully I have some sort of result to report back... I think this was not meant to be for me and the tropicals... i should stick to my goldfish i have at work.. so easy and they get excited when they see me so i know they are alive!!!

Thank you.. I will let you know how I go tomorrow!

 

[helterskelter]

Believe it or not but goldfish are harder to keep.

Once the tank has setteled down it will be fine you just need to give it some more time.
Dont add any more fish though for now, but in a couple of weeks get a 4-5 small fish like danio's and if they fine then your be ok to getting the nicer fish

 

[Schmill]

What is the make of water test kit?

 

[JustKia]

Probably a silly comment but first is your test kit definitely "in date" (ie it hasn't expired or anything).
Second, re-read the test instructions and make sure you are following the complete procedure - it's easy to mis a step if you are new to this (like me).
My ammonia test has to be 14 drops of bottle 1, shake, pause, 7 drops of bottle 2, shake, wait 20 mins for accurate reading.
My nitrIte test is 7 drops of bottle 1 & 2 with a shake and wait inbetween, then wait 10 mins for accurate reading.
My nitrAte test is 14 drops of bottle 1, shake, pause, 7 drops of bottle 2 & 1 scoop of the powder, shake hard, pause, 7 drops of bottle 3, shake and can be read straight away.
So it's really easy when just starting to use the kit to get confused on numbers of drops etc. If you haven't added each chemical you won't get a reaction and you might find your test sample stays clear - looking like a zero reading

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes i diagnose a dodgy test kit

the tank wasn't fishlessly cycled, fish died with clssic signs of ammonia poisoning soon after adding them to the tank, if it looks like ammonia, smells like ammonia and taste like ammonia..... then it's ammonia whatever the test kit says!!

have a read of the link in my sig 'whats cycling' which will help you out loads, it's designed for people in exactly your situation.

can you please let us know what the make of test kit you are using is?

 

[OldMan47]

You should be aware that the nitrate test often comes with remarks about shaking vigorously for 30 seconds at one point and a full minute at another. Those times are the absolute minimum to get a good nitrate reading. If you double the times, you are more likely to get accurate readings. If you didn't notice the times, that would explain why your readings have not come up.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, this sounds like a -completely- uncycled aquarium with a non-functioning test kit to me. A death trap for fish. Going from OM47s post, I suppose there is a small chance that its somehow a cycled aquarium with the nitrate test run incorrectly, but with only 2 weeks of no concious cycling attempted, I'll bet we've just got a "non-start" situation here.

I agree with the others that we need to get very specific about the test kit situation before we can get closer to a real diagnosis.

~~waterdrop~~