Sickly Fish

[Skytsengel]

Hello Everyone,

I just registered this morning and did not immediately see where I might ask this question, so I am asking it here in hopes of a quick answer. I have about a dozen neon tetras and guppies (nice and colorful) in a 125 gallon all natural aquarium (substrate/plants/decorations) and it's a well cycled tank with no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates (my liquid testing kit indicates zero or so near zero I cannot tell levels). I have two pumps in the tank, one for water flow at 850 GPH and the other is a filter for a 110 gallon aquarium with a flow rate of 450 GPH (let me know if this is too much water flow please).

I have been increasing the population of the tank over the last few weeks (no more than a total of 6 tetras/guppies at a time), and I test the water before, 1 day after, and 3 days after adding new fish. So far, no additional fish have caused rising amounts of ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, so all seems well with the tank.

However, with the guppies, I am at about a 35% loss rate (14 total purchased, 9 still alive) and they all die within 2 days of adding them. But up until this morning, it has been only the guppies having issues. This morning my first Tetra was found suctioned to my water pump. The little guy is still alive (I think) as it's breathing and occasionally tries to swim, but it's more like twitching than swimming.

I am hoping someone might have an answer as to what is wrong with my tetra and possibly my tank so I might save this guy and hopefully not lose any more.

 

[SeaAngel]

Did you cycle your tank? Unless it is heavily planted you should have some nitrates. Do you understand the aquarium nitrogen cycle? Sounds like your tank isn’t cycled.

 

[Skytsengel]

The tank should be well cycled. I had ammonia buildup between 3/5 ppm for a short while before the levels started dropping and dissipating completely. It cycled for about 2 weeks before I added a common pleco (which is no longer in the tank due to me not realizing the vast amount of poo these things leave. A LFS took him in.) There are 5 groups of live plants with larger leaves (sorry, I do not remember which I picked, just that they looked nice), and from my understanding, the tank should be fully cycled since there is no longer a buildup of anything and the plants are pulling out the nitrates.

 

[SeaAngel]

The tank should be well cycled. I had ammonia buildup between 3/5 ppm for a short while before the levels started dropping and dissipating completely. It cycled for about 2 weeks before I added a common pleco (which is no longer in the tank due to me not realizing the vast amount of poo these things leave. A LFS took him in.) There are 5 groups of live plants with larger leaves (sorry, I do not remember which I picked, just that they looked nice), and from my understanding, the tank should be fully cycled since there is no longer a buildup of anything and the plants are pulling out the nitrates.

How high did your nitrite and nitrate readings get?

 

[Skytsengel]

I did, I used test strips almost daily since I started the tank (it's been almost 2 months since it started cycling and fish have been in it for about 6 weeks). I just did a full round of testing PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. The ammonia might be around 0.25 ppm at highest but it's pretty near zero. The nitrites and nitrates are virtually non-existent. The PH however is sitting around a 7.5/7.6. I have not paid much attention to that as I just used the local water supply (as I was instructed by the LFS as it's likely what the fish were used to) so I have done nothing to adjust the PH and if I am honest, have no idea what ideal would be for the Neon Tetras/guppies.

Over the use of about 25 test strips (a full bottle of them testing daily from the time the first fish was introduced), I watched as the ammonia went up and dropped, nitrites went up and then dropped, and nitrates went up and then dropped as well. I only had the one pleco in the tank until I saw the nitrate levels building up. I do think it took about a month before the nitrate levels dropped to levels that were virtually zero but not quite six weeks.

Once the test strips ran out, I started testing before, 1 day after, and 3 days after adding new fish. When adding, it was no more than 6 neon tetras/guppies. And each time I test, the water quality always looks good from an ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate perspective.

I am wanting numerous smaller fish vs a few bigger in this tank. Final number will depend on how well the ecosystem maintains the water quality and how crowded it looks, but 4 maybe 5 dozen smaller fish would be nice in the end. I do not want to add more though until I can figure out what is going on.

 

[SeaAngel]

The tank should be well cycled. I had ammonia buildup between 3/5 ppm for a short while before the levels started dropping and dissipating completely. It cycled for about 2 weeks before I added a common pleco (which is no longer in the tank due to me not realizing the vast amount of poo these things leave. A LFS took him in.) There are 5 groups of live plants with larger leaves (sorry, I do not remember which I picked, just that they looked nice), and from my understanding, the tank should be fully cycled since there is no longer a buildup of anything and the plants are pulling out the

I suggest getting a liquid test kit. Strips aren’t very accurate. I use an API Freshwater Master test kit.

 

[Skytsengel]

I suggest getting a liquid test kit. Strips aren’t very accurate. I use an API Freshwater Master test kit.

That is what I have been testing with since the strips ran out. The testing I just did today on all four points were with that test kit.

 

[Skytsengel]

Here is an image of the testing I did while we were having this conversation.

Forgot to mention, left to right follows the guide minus the high-range PH test.

 

[Skytsengel]

So, assuming the water quality is fine, any thoughts on what I aught to do next?

 

[SeaAngel]

Can we see a pic if tanks, specifically plants? The zero nitrates concerns me.

 

[Skytsengel]

Certainly. It's nothing too fancy and there are no fish over 2" in length in here. My orange GloFish Tetra which was having issues yesterday did not make it. It may have been a fungal infection but I am really not sure how I lost it. A purple one however had a white growth on it which I noticed yesterday before running to the LFS which they determined was fungal, so treatment was started yesterday and is going well.

There are 5 groups of plants, not sure which type they are as I did not write it down/remember . But all have had new growth since being introduced (2-4 new leaves each).

 

[SeaAngel]

The tank must not be cycled. There’s not enough plants to remove the nitrates so you should have some. Do you know anyone that can give you some wet, used filter media or substrate to seed the tank? Please read https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

 

[Skytsengel]

I am a little confused as to why it wouldn't be cycled. It went through the ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate cycle, and then all the nitrates seemed to disappear from the tank. Unless you are wanting me to add a lot more fish to it to actually produce ammonia or add some artificially (which I won't do anyway for risk of stressing/killing the fish), I cannot really prove it's cycled. You say it is not cycled and yet I watched all the levels rise and fall since the tank was setup.

Also, up until yesterday, not a single of the 10 GloFish have had any issues, and 6 of them have been fish in the aquarium for over a month (transferred from a 20 gallon). The guppies I started adding so I could have colorful fish swimming at the upper level as well as mid, and they have only died off within 1-2 days of adding them to the aquarium, otherwise up until yesterday, no fish have been lost that have been in the tank more than a few days.

Aside from that, no I do not know anyone else who owns an aquarium.

 

[Skytsengel]

Anyway, I am going to unwatch this thread. I was asking for help to figure out what was wrong with my eldest Tetra and what I might do to save it. It is now gone, you offered no ideas why it might have been sick, and my aquarium water quality is fine. With aquarium water testing to be in really good condition, your comments about a cycled tank were moot to my issue. If levels start to rise in the future, I will address that issue at the time, but the issue for my thread was/has not been addressed which is quite frustrating.

 

[SeaAngel]

The cycling issue was addressing what could be wrong. Sadly, you won’t listen so I will not comment further. I do wish you the best of luck.