Poor Little Fishies

[FishDying]

Ive had a 10 gallon aquarium for about 2 months...
I had two mollies, 1 dwarf and 1 wonder and two of the little silver ones with black stripes.
well the molly had babies after a month of having my aquarium. My baby fish died before i could do anything (they lived for maybe a day)...I scooped them all out and flushed em...about a week later the two mollies died at the same time, I scooped them out the day after. After about a week after the mollies died I put 14 small plants in there which i got from petsmart and added another blue dwarf and another wonder. I bought a topfin bacteria supplement to prevent fish loss and some stress coat water conditioner and added them as directed at diffrent times...I also bought FLOURISH for my plants and added it as directed so my plants had the right nutrition. They seemed really happy for about a week and a half.I put a amonia thing in there which always registered "safe". and a thermometer, which registered at 60 degrees F. at first and i got scared for my fish so i went and bought a heater which brought the temp up to 70 and its been stable for 4 days. before i got the heater one of the stripped silver dollar looking fish died. and after i got the heater one day later my blue dwarf died..so now I have 1 silver stripped, 2 golden wonders, and 1 blue dwarf. After that I removed my big mountain decoration and rearranged the plants. I was careful to wash my hands and arm. well another day later the other stripped one died. I have gravel vacummed three times within the past week and a half and added 3 gallons at three diffrent times to try to help fight anything that may have been in the water...but even after doing that i still had two fish die on two diffrent days...I notice they dont seem happy and are pretty much just laying on the rocks. (they look sad) and a day later or two days later they die...I noticed this with all of them except the two mollies that died like 2 weeks prior. Even after the mollies died everything seemed fine...After I did my 10% water change that seemed to change their mood for like a day...But even after that I had two die one was a little bitty sucker fish that i got about a week ago. And the day before he died he was just sitting on the rocks and didnt respond to tapping on the glass but would respond when i nudged him with the net... The past few days I have noticed the wonders who are normally at the top of the water are just staying in the corner of the aquarium at the bottom...they are all usually in this one little corner...which isnt normal from observing their behavior...I do not overfeed them.

 

[Skins]

Ive had a 10 gallon aquarium for about 2 months...
I had two mollies, 1 dwarf and 1 wonder and two of the little silver ones with black stripes.
well the molly had babies after a month of having my aquarium. My baby fish died before i could do anything (they lived for maybe a day)...I scooped them all out and flushed em...about a week later the two mollies died at the same time, I scooped them out the day after. After about a week after the mollies died I put 14 small plants in there which i got from petsmart and added another blue dwarf and another wonder. I bought a topfin bacteria supplement to prevent fish loss and some stress coat water conditioner and added them as directed at diffrent times...I also bought FLOURISH for my plants and added it as directed so my plants had the right nutrition. They seemed really happy for about a week and a half.I put a amonia thing in there which always registered "safe". and a thermometer, which registered at 60 degrees F. at first and i got scared for my fish so i went and bought a heater which brought the temp up to 70 and its been stable for 4 days. before i got the heater one of the stripped silver dollar looking fish died. and after i got the heater one day later my blue dwarf died..so now I have 1 silver stripped, 2 golden wonders, and 1 blue dwarf. After that I removed my big mountain decoration and rearranged the plants. I was careful to wash my hands and arm. well another day later the other stripped one died. I have gravel vacummed three times within the past week and a half and added 3 gallons at three diffrent times to try to help fight anything that may have been in the water...but even after doing that i still had two fish die on two diffrent days...I notice they dont seem happy and are pretty much just laying on the rocks. (they look sad) and a day later or two days later they die...I noticed this with all of them except the two mollies that died like 2 weeks prior. Even after the mollies died everything seemed fine...After I did my 10% water change that seemed to change their mood for like a day...But even after that I had two die one was a little bitty sucker fish that i got about a week ago. And the day before he died he was just sitting on the rocks and didnt respond to tapping on the glass but would respond when i nudged him with the net... The past few days I have noticed the wonders who are normally at the top of the water are just staying in the corner of the aquarium at the bottom...they are all usually in this one little corner...which isnt normal from observing their behavior...I do not overfeed them.

Hello and welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your losses.
Can you please provide us with some more info:
water parameters(ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,pH)?
current tank water temp?
do you dechlorinate your tap water when you perform water changes?
When you perform water changes do you match your tap water temp with your tank water temp?
What filter are you using?
There could well be a fix to your issue in the answer to one or more of these questions.

Keep us all posted, Keith

 

[guppy love]

I would do a large water change immediately.

 

[Skins]

I would do a large water change immediately.

+1, you also need to find out what the cause is.

Keith.

 

[FishDying]

Well i only have 3 fish left and the PH and Nitrate tester is like 25 bucks...I already spent $300...The ammonia however is registering safe..
I always make sure the chlorine is out and the water temp is the same when i put new water in. The water is at 70 degrees F. I am using the basic 10 gallon filter that comes with the ones at walmart. I have rinsed the filter out with hot water. The fish are not eating...I put food right in front of them (flakes) and theyre not eating...I noticed also that my wonders tail fins are more narrow than they normally are.

 

[fluttermoth]

...I have rinsed the filter out with hot water...

That's the source of your problem, I think. The filter doesn't just remove 'bits', like fish poo, from the water; it should contain bacteria that help break down the poisonous fish waste. If you're cleaning your filter with tap water, you'll be killing the bacteria and the ammonia and other toxins will be building up in the water and that will be what's killing the fish.

You'll need to do lots of water changes (50% a day) until your filter grows a good lot of bacteria. If you know someone else with a tank, see if they'll let you have a piece of sponge to start you off. This is a -fish-in cycle' and there's more help in the Beginners resource center here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[FishDying]

...I have rinsed the filter out with hot water...

That's the source of your problem, I think. The filter doesn't just remove 'bits', like fish poo, from the water; it should contain bacteria that help break down the poisonous fish waste. If you're cleaning your filter with tap water, you'll be killing the bacteria and the ammonia and other toxins will be building up in the water and that will be what's killing the fish.

You'll need to do lots of water changes (50% a day) until your filter grows a good lot of bacteria. If you know someone else with a tank, see if they'll let you have a piece of sponge to start you off. This is a -fish-in cycle' and there's more help in the Beginners resource center here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

I have a bacteria supplement, would that be sufficient...I also had 3 fish die prior to ever rinsing it...which is why i thought maybe rinsing it would help...I did a 50% water change today and used a gravel vac and instead of just sucking the top of the gravel i pushed it all the way to the bottom...and i noticed i was sucking up alot of black dirt/sand looking stuff...and after I got done vaccumin it the water I had tooken out was filthy..

 

[fluttermoth]

The general opinion is that the bacterial supplements are of no use; the bacteria need flowing water and oxygen to survive, so there'll only be dead ones in the bottle

The first 3 fish will have died before the filter had a chance to grow any bacteria.

You need to keep monitoring the water and doing plenty of water changes. As long as the new water is warm and dechlorinated, you can't do too many water changes; more than one in a day isn't a problem. You certainly need to get the rest of the gravel cleaned by the sounds of it!

 

[mark4785]

You should always clean your filters in dechlorinated tap water or the aquarium water you are taking out. Copper and heavy metals in non-dechlorinated tap water will kill of the nitrifying bacteria responsible for neutalising ammonia and nitrite. If the ammonia/nitrite levels spike fish will develop skin problems and breathing difficulties.

I agree with the poster above that you will need to do quite a few water changes ranging from 60-80%, possibly twice a day. This will likely not remove enough ammonia/nitrite to make the environment safe but for practical reasons you need some water left over for the fish. If you can remove the fish, however, I'd strongly advice doing 1 daily 90-100% W/C.

Adding aquarium tonic salt may help soothe any skin irritability caused by fluctuating ammonia and nitrite, but don't use this if you have high nitrate as the salt will become toxic.

With regards to bacterial supplements; they should only really be used to support a pre-existing filter with a colony of bacteria as they are not reliable enough otherwise.