One Of My Tropical Fish Just Died...

[xxxpinkladyxxx]

...and another is looking slightly unwell. We bought a tropical fish tank last Saturday and set it up on the same day. We have three types of fish, 7 guppies, 5 pink fish (don't know what they are called - pink stripe at the top and white on the bottom half) and 6 neon tetras (although it is now 5). I came down this morning and found one of the tetras stuck around the filter and it soon became apparent that it was dead. Anyway, I have just come back from the gym and now one of my guppies looks odd. It has swam up to the surface and is just staying there, not moving its fins or anything but it's gills are still moving. Any ideas what could be wrong? I don't want the rest of my fish to drop dead! I haven't even had them a day!

Oh now, now 2 of my tetras have died!!!! We bought them from a proper pet store (Pets @ Home) so I'm sure there was nothing wrong with them. Please help quick. I don't want any more to die!!!

Just to give you some information, we bought the pink fish and guppies from the same place at the same time. They were introduced to the tank at the same time. However, with the tetras, we bought them quite a few hours later from a different place and then added them. So they joined the tank about 4 hours later than the other fish.

 

[dwarfgourami]

What size is your tank?

How did you prepare it before setting it up. If you just let it stand for a few days and then added that number of fish, unless it's an absolutely enormous tank, the levels of ammonia (produced by your fish) would have shot right up, before a colony of bacteria big enough to handle it had time to develop. When you start up a tank, you either need to add fish very slowly (and hardier fish than guppies and neons), or else add ammonia for a few weeks until the bacteria have had time to develop- and only then add fish. The developing of good bacteria is known as the cycle- there are excellent pinned topics on cycling a tank, so you should start reading those.

What you need to do now is to try to keep the levels of toxic chemicals down to save your present fish. You need to do a 40-50% water change at once, using dechlorinator in the fresh water you put in. Then you need to buy a test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You need to test the water for ammonia and nitrites every day and do a new water change (20-25%) every time they go over 0.5 ppm. In about a months time you will also want to test for nitrates, though they are safe in levels up to 40 ppm.

About Pets@home, I'm afraid their quality varies a lot; have to admit I would never buy any fish from my local one. But I believe there are some good ones around too.

Let us know what size your tank is, and try to find out what your pink fish are.

 

[xxxpinkladyxxx]

What size is your tank?

How did you prepare it before setting it up. If you just let it stand for a few days and then added that number of fish, unless it's an absolutely enormous tank, the levels of ammonia (produced by your fish) would have shot right up, before a colony of bacteria big enough to handle it had time to develop. When you start up a tank, you either need to add fish very slowly (and hardier fish than guppies and neons), or else add ammonia for a few weeks until the bacteria have had time to develop- and only then add fish. The developing of good bacteria is known as the cycle- there are excellent pinned topics on cycling a tank, so you should start reading those.

What you need to do now is to try to keep the levels of toxic chemicals down to save your present fish. You need to do a 40-50% water change at once, using dechlorinator in the fresh water you put in. Then you need to buy a test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You need to test the water for ammonia and nitrites every day and do a new water change (20-25%) every time they go over 0.5 ppm. In about a months time you will also want to test for nitrates, though they are safe in levels up to 40 ppm.

About Pets@home, I'm afraid their quality varies a lot; have to admit I would never buy any fish from my local one. But I believe there are some good ones around too.

Let us know what size your tank is, and try to find out what your pink fish are.

It is 43cms long, 30cm high and 12cms depth. When we got the tank, we put some "Safe Water" in which says "biologically neutralises organic waste produced by fish" and "Removes ammonia & nitrite". Should we put some more in? If so, how should we introduce it? By just putting it directly in or by doing a 40-50% water change like you said?

These are the pink fish that we have, but I have no idea what they are called.

 

[wendywc]

Are those dimensions right? If so, it's a small 4 gallon tank that you have and that's a lot of fish for a tank that size. You need to test you water, especially for ammonia and nitrite. I would do a gravel vac and water change right now.

 

[rusty]

when doing your water change you need to add a dechloirenator to your tap water to make it safe for fish water changes are the best thing that you can do for now to try and keep ammonia under some sort of control i agree with dwarfgourami in that i would never buy fish from my local pets@home either but follow the informatin that dwarfgourami has given and you shouldent go far wrong good luck we all need to start somewhere

 

[steelhealr]

Pink lady...sounds like a small tank and too many fish in an uncycled aquarium. I suggest you don't add any more fish and start reading some articles at the top section in the beginner's area and also in the FAQ area. You risk losing more fish if you don't take a few moments to read up. Good luck. SH