Please Will Someone Help Me!

[HEATHENSCENT]

I have had my 20 gallon tank for about 2 months, to start with i just had 10 white cloud minnows and a weather loach, however i decided i needed a bit of colour in the tank. I asked the guy in the pet shop what he recommended for me as i was a beginner, i explained what i had already. He suggested some platties and i should keep the temperature at 23-24c. as all the fish would be happy. I set up my 10 gallon quarantine tank with water from the 20 gallon tank, i left it for a week and went back to get some platties (4 in total). After 2 weeks in quarantine all was well so i transfered them to the 20 gallon tank. All was well to start with, but now after 2 weeks all is not well. One of them died yesterday and the other platties are acting funny. One sits at the bottom, one is gasping for air, the other is swimming around but none of them are eating. The minnow and loach seam totally unaffected. I think it might be my own fault though and now i feel so guilty. I think i have over-fed them (i know, i know). But now i have got myself in this situation what can i do? after finding the dead one i did a huge garvel clean and took out a 1/3 of the water as well as cleaning the filter. I did another small water change today. However my fish seam to be no better. I have cut the food down dramatically, i used to feed them two pinches of food twice a day, but now they get one small pinch once a day. I don't have a test kit for the water unfortunatley. But the water is a bit smelly, although it has always looked very clean. i would appriciate any advice anyone can give.

 

[Christine1014]

The only way to really figure out what's going on is to get a water test kit (most people recommend API master test kit, which costs about $30 U.S.). Let's assume for now that you were overfeeding, which caused an ammonia spike. How did you clean the filter? If you used tap water, or replaced all media at once, chances are you that you accidentally wiped out the biological filter (the good bacteria that have built up), which is what gets rid of the ammonia in the first place... but there's no way to know for sure unless you get your water tested. If you don't have the $$ for a test kit now, you can probably get your local fish store or pet shop to test the water for you for free or at least cheaply. Just be sure to write down the exact numbers they give you and let us know, and we can provide a little more help based on your water stats. If you can't get your water tested today, I'd at least recommend doing 25% water changes daily until you do get a test kit (be sure to use your water conditioner when you do the changes.) Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[Christine1014]

I just went back and re-read your original post & had another thought. If you didn't cycle your quarantine tank, your fish could just now being showing the affects of living in an uncycled tank for two weeks -- and then the sudden change into a tank that's probably already cycled probably caused additional stress. I'm not sure just how much of a newbie you are, but if you're not sure what I mean about cycling, run back to the top of the newbie section, and have a read of some of the pinned topics. The quick version is this - fish waste produces ammonia. Ammonia kills fish. After a period of time, a bacterial will develop that will eat the ammonia. This bacteria is NitrIte. Nitrite also kills fish. After a little more time, a second kind of bacteria called NitrAte will develop, and that eats the nitrite. Nitrate is much less harmful to fish. having this process completed is called cycling a tank. You can do it with fish, if you're willing to compromise the health of your fish, or you can do it by actaully putting straight ammonia into a tank with no fish, and that will jump-start the process. But read about it in the pinned topics section, and let us know if you have questions.

 

[corey01]

iff u accidently wipe out the bacteria in your filter can the bacteria reform inside the filter with fish in the tank?

 

[Jozlyn]

corey01 ~ Yes, but it takes time possibly around 3 -4 weeks if you have fish in the tank, less if there are no fish and you use amonia (see the pinned topic on cycling, it has both with and without fish cycling).

It's also very hard/stressful on fish to cycle a tank with them in it.

Heathenscent I would recommend doing bigger water changes until you can get the water tested or get your own test kit. Either do 25% twice a day, morning and evening or 50% once a day, so long as the water is dechlorinated this size water change will not harm your fish (I do 50% weekly as by the time I've finished vacuuming the gravel to my satisfaction half the tank is empty!), it also helps to warm the water prior to putting it back in the tank, if the tank is cycling adding warmed water will be less stressful on the fish.

Do you have a thermometer in the tank? The temperature on heaters is usually out by a few degrees which if it's on the hot side and too hot, can also kill you fish eventually.

When you get your water tested or if you get your own test kit, can you please post, Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, Gh and Kh results. Any additives you are using, the type and how much. Salt? What do you feed your fish?

Areosoles like deoderant and air freshener and the like are deadly to fish if the get in the water, have you ever used any near your fish?

How do you clean the outside of your tank?

How do you clean your filter?

Fish breathing heavily, sitting at the bottom of the tank and not eating are all signs of an uncycled tank. But they're also symptoms of other problems, Wilder's the best fish medic on here! Is there any redness around the fishes gills, any raised scales, do they look fat/bloated? Some pictures would be a great help with the diaganosis.

Also, platy's are "livebearers" if they survive and if you have females you will end up with fry (baby fish), lots and lots of them! You will need to make plans as to what you will be doing with them too! The male to female ratio for platy's is 3+ females to each male.

Ok, this post is long enough! Good luck!

 

[rdd1952]

As mentioned, you need to test your water for ammonia and nitrite. In a cold water tank, bacteria development is much slower and adding new fish can cause the levels to rise quickly. And as also mentioned, just adding the water from your other tank didn't cycle the q-tank so the platies were exposed to ammonia from the time they were put into it and are just now showing the signs. Test the water and do water changes to get the ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as possible.