The Fish In Our Tank Are Dying

[omgsohannahhere]

hi there i was wondering if anyone can help me.

I have a 26 litre tank. i have kept guppyies for about 6 months now and had about twenty happy guppys and now have eight.
the problems started when one of the fish looked like they were having a prolapse. my frind and i tried to google what was going on and most sites thought it was a Camallanus worm however upon looking at photos of this it was not what the guppy looked like (sorry we didn't take a photo). That fish was the first to die and now many others have, the other fish did not eat their remains which we though was odd.
Before all this happened we had recently added two mollies to the tank and were told they would be fine together. we had also added a air pump as it looked as though the fish were gasping for air. everything seemed fine for about four days and now its like a fish grave yard.
although there are eight adult guppies and two adult mollies there are about 10-15 fry.
The guppyies are also looking off colour and one or two of them are frequently sitting on the bottom of the tank.
the water had been partially changed 3 weeks ago and drops of ammo lock had been added. we are unsure of the PH level but the tank temperature is 24.
we are fairly new to keeping tropical fish and any help would be gratefully appreciated

if you need any information please post however we really don't want more fish to die!

 

[Jenste]

a 26 liter tank with 20 fish...well I figured out your problem.
Overstocked.

this is roughly 7 US gallons, and 5.5 UK gallons - - no where near suitable for 20 of any fish!

You could have MAYBE a trio of male guppies. No room for breeding in your tank.

Mollies should be in a 20+ GALLON tank (75+ liters). Even then all of your current stocking would be tight - and definitely should not have both genders of live bearers with no other tanks to move the fry into.

Unfortunately in your case - over stocking is leading to stress conditions, bad water quality and over all unhappy fish.

What type of filtration system do you have? The fish were likely "gasping" for air due to high levels of ammonia and nitrite.

Fish poo and left over food rotting = ammonia. Ammonia = nitrite. These literally burn the fish's gills and scales. A cycled filter turns nitrite into nitrate, less harmful and can be tolerated to certain levels.

have you ever tested your water? I suggest you buy a test and post your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as soon as possible. Get a liquid tester, not the gimmick paper strips.
Also, start doing water changes. Make sure you condition the water with a dechlorinator before hand. I recommend picking up some stress coat and stress zyme also.

After you do the water change, do another water change. Most likely the fish are suffering from ammonia poisoning caused by over crowded conditions. You need to reduce the amount of ammonia immediately.

Also, as of now hold off on feeding. Feeding will just make more poo which will make more ammonia.

Do not use ammonia lock. Another gimmick. If you want to get rid of ammonia you need to do a water change.

Also, you stated you did a water change 3 weeks ago - - you should be doing weekly changes of 25%. For now start doing 50% multiple times a day!

Do not use chemicals to alter your pH. Varying pHs are much more harmful than a stable one.

 

[Jenste]

this page will help link you to a LOT of helpful links which will help you understand the filtering process - - Cycling a filter is a big step towards a healthy tank.

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