What's going on here

[Duncan]

On the 19th May, I bought our tank for my eldest son, we stocked up the tank with water from the tap.  On Thursday 23rd of May we bought 10 Neon Tetras but were given 12    everything was fine.

On Saturday the 25th of May we bought 6 Black Widow Tetras and a pair of Dwarf Gouramies from a different location.  Late afternoon we saw 1 Neon Tetra struggling like it had a swim bladder problem, so we disposed of the poor wee thing.  Late evening we found a 2nd Neon Tetra dead.

On the 26th we found a 3rd and a 4th dead Neon Tetra.  Today the 27th May we've been watching our fish throughout the day,  we have seen the Neons being aggressive to one another from time to time but, other than that nothing strange been happening.  I went to make the supper and whislt waiting for supper to cook, I checked the fishtank, lo and behold 1 dead Neon Tetra

What do you think could be happening here? :hmm:

Duncan

 

[Macquatic]

Duncan. Your tank is cycling. That means your filter is not coping with the pollution all your fish are puting out. you have added too many fish before the filter has matured. If you have a test kit, check and see what the readings are. At the moment give a 50% water change with dechlorinated water and don't feed the fish! Mac.

 

[Macquatic]

If you have a test kit post the results Mac.

 

[adeyc]

When you cycle a tank it allows "good bacteria" go grow and these little fellows in turn break down the fish waste and any uneaten food. As Macquatic says your tank is still cycling so cant handle the waste and the fish are being poisoned. test the water straight from the tap so you know what levels you are getting from the source. as well as the tank water.

 

[Duncan]

thanks Mac,

I'll get a test kit tomorrow, and let you know the test results. The neons came from a crowded tank, would that make a difference.

It's been many years ago since I had fish, think I'm loosing me memory, I'll get my water sitting overnight for a water change.

Duncan

 

[adeyc]

Duncan
Coming from a crowded tank shouldn't make a difference, I think they'd be glad of a little extra fin room.
You'll soon rember stuff you thought you'd forgoten. But in the mean time we're always here.

 

[Duncan]

thanks adeyc,

I take it a water change every other day for a couple of weeks should do it. Do the same with the feeding or feed just once a day yeah

Duncan

 

[Great Lakes]

Duncan, please let me know what works for you in terms of saving your neons. My wife loves them, but we quit buying them because it always ended in tragedy. I have tried to keep them in everything from a dedicated small tank, to a 90 gallon community tank. I can take a count in the evening, shut out the lights, turn the lights on in the morning, and two are gone. It was so infuriating, every plant and every fish seem to do OK, except the neons. So I will be watching this one with interest.

 

[adeyc]

Yep every other day or so should do give it a 50% initialy then cut it down gradualy. Feed every other day but maybe a couple of small feedings than one normal as it will cut down on uneaten food in the tank. There is a starter you can get to help/speed up the cycling proccess but I'm not sure what it's called( I think Rose mentioned it before). If you could get hold of some water or gravel from an already established tank that would help as well. Just makesure it doesn't go into any water containg chlorine.

 

[Macquatic]

Duncan, you also had a thread about ammonia in your water supply. I think the two problems are related. Make sure that when you do water changes that you are using a product that will neutralise chloramine and ammonia. As I said already I use Ammonia Detox by Kent as I've tried just about them all. Good luck Mac.

 

[Duncan]

no fatalities today so far  

these are test results from a kit I bought today, the kit is: Aqua-Quick-Test by eSHa.

Water temp. 26'
pH 7.6
KH 3
GH >7
Nitrate NO2   1
Nitrate NO3   50

What I did last night was measure out about 32 pints of water into a tub and left it next to a radiator over night to get warmth into the water, to save any drastic changes in water temperature.  As it happens the water was 23', so I refilled the tank slowly.  I've given the fish a small feed.

I'll pick up an ammonia test kit tomorrow.  For the past year and a half, we believed that we were on private water, found out just lately that we're on the mains     my way of thinking to the fish tank was that 20 years ago you could set up a tank and a week later you could start putting your fish in, now I've found out that my technique is old fashioned  

I'll wait and see how things go now.

Duncan

 

[Macquatic]

Instead of leaving the water on a radiator just boil up the kettle & mix with cold in a bucket to the right temp. Leaving the water overnight will only get rid of chlorine. If you use a conditioner you can change the water immediately. I'm not sure about how you've recorded your readings but it looks like nitriteNO2 is 1ppm which is a bit dodgy but at least your filter is starting to work. TIPcut the eSHa strips in half longways, you'll get twice as many tests. Mac.

 

[Rose]

Your nitrates are way way way to high for fish to be comfortable in. You want to keep those around 10 ppm. The nitrites and ammonina you want to keep at 0. Get some Amquel for the ammonia and NovAqua for the chlorines and stuff. Rose

 

[Duncan]

thanks Mac,
the Nitrite NO2 was taken off the side of the canister, I'm not sure how that coverts to the ppm, I'll test again in the morning, I'm slightly colour blind and reading them colours is a wee bit awkward Got my wife to look at the colours

Duncan

 

[Duncan]

I took a test this morning at 07.42 :what: and here are the results

Water temp. 25'
pH 7.6
KH 4.5
GH >7
Nitrite NO2 0.5
Nitrate NO3 50

I'll do another test later in the evening, around yesterday's time of 17.39, I'll aim for around that time (depends what time I get back from me shopping).

I was reading the acceptable values by eSHa and that gives a figure of between 25-100 mg/l of Nitrate NO3 for an aquarium, but to aim for less to cut back on algae growth. The guidelines are for an average aquarium.

Again I've had no fatalities so far, I'm intending doing another water change tomorrow night, picking up some spare containers to make it easier.

Duncan