Need help

[elanaran]

I got my tank on Christmas day and had it set up that night. It's a 20 gallon tall.

I followed the instructions that came with it, and did everything by the book and 6 days later I went and got two weather loaches.

After a day or two, one of them didn't move that much only every now and then but I didn't think anything of it because I was told they are pretty calm fish especially when they are the only fish in the tank and that other fish would get him active.

About 4 days after getting the two loaches, I went and got a Gourami, a Tiger Barb, a siamese algae eater, and 2 dalmation lyretail molly's.

Everything was fine for the first day, then one of the molly's starting hanging around the bottom and started looking sick.

Also by this point, the weather loach wasn't really eatting and he was always swimming in like figure 8s and rubbing against the rocks. But the next day the molly had died and I took him back to the store and got 2 more. Because I read it's better to have 2 females per male molly. And when I get home from the pet store the other one was still alive but acting the same way, swimming on his back, resting on his side, etc. And I also noticed he had gold colored spots on him. My friend told me to get him out of the tank with the new fish incase it was velvet. And seeing as the fish was almost dead anyway, I did.

I took him back but did not get anymore fish. Well, 2 days later, the other 2 molly's I got had died too. (which happened to be today)

My friend came over and looked at my loach and said that he his sick and doesn't need to be in the tank, he said he noticed sploshing (sp?) and that his whiskers looked dead, and the way there was debree coming off of his skin when he did his figure 8's against the gravel, that something wasn't right.

I feel kind of bad holding him in a plastic bag while he's still alive...is this the right thing to do? And why did all 4 of my mollys die? I'm really wanting to know what I need to do to prevent this in the future, the Molly's were my favorite fish that I got. and it sucks they died so fast.

Does anyone know what happened? or what might have happened?

I'm sorry for the long winded post, and any response is much appreciated.

[carpguy]

The tank needs to cycle. There's a sticky at the top of this area that has lots of details.

The nutshell version is that the fish are producing ammonia as metabolic waste. It'll kill them at fairly low concentrations.

Over the first little bit that you have your tank a bacterial cycle will establish itself (usually takes 4-8 weeks). Beneficial Bacteria will colonize your tank and "eat" the ammonia, converting it to Nitrites, which are still toxic. Other Bacteria will move in and eat the Nitrites, converting them to Nitrates. Nitrates aren't especially toxic but should be kept at reasonably low levels using water changes. You can follow the whole process using test kits.

You can also do a fishless cycle that'll get the whole thing going without fish.

Deaths are unfortunately fairly common during a fishy cycle.

There are ways to make it easier and it gets better after you get over the hump.

But you still have to cycle.

[TKOS]

Also in the future I would do a bit more research on your fish prior to purchasing. Not a slam on you at all but tiger barbs are not great communtiy fish and need to be kept in large groups, those algae eaters get huge (10 inches) and aggressive and you don't need an algae eater in a tank unless you really want one. And those weather loaches get too large for that tank. Mollies, gouramis, small tetras, cory catfish, smaller loaches like khulies, zebras and yoyo's are a good choice.

Yes, read about the cycle process, do water changes for any remaining fish you may have, even daily water changes are probably needed at this point to keep your fish alive. They can survive. Add the loach back if you can.

[elanaran]

I understand about looking up future fish before I get them. I was just going by advice given by friends.

I'm mad at myself for not looking up how to set up a tank properly other then watching a video that came with the tank and listening to the people at my LFS.

I went and took a water sample to the store today, and the PH came up at 6.1. What do I do to raise it? She just recomended some Ph solution stuff. Cannot remember the full name. But I did not have any money on me to get it.

I did a 25% water change today, first since I have gotten the tank. Should I do a 10% change daily or every other day?

I read the stickied 'cycle' thread, and wish I would have done a fishless cycle for a month now, but I didn't know any better. Is there an article or thread that goes through the steps I should do now that I have started with fish?

[Shierkahn]

Hey, most of us have probably done this at some point in time. Don't dwell on it too much. I would go out and get yourself the basic test kits (ammonia,nitrite,nitrate). Test your water every day. And keep up with the water changes on a daily basis(gravel vacuming). Be sure you declor any water you add to the tank. If you have any friends that have established tanks you can get them to give you some of the stuff from there filter media and add that to your tank water, it would help out a great deal. It will give your bacterial bed a kick start.

[TKOS]

Have your tap water tested next time you are in the store. I doubt it is 6.1. If that is the case then start doing water changes and the ph will come up without using those horrid chemicals. They generally contain phosphates and taht leads to major algae probelms, so then they sell you algae remover. Water changes will stabilzie your pH. If you have a etst kit for pH then you will be able to start doing weekly water changes (once the tank is cycled) and see just how much of a change it takes to keep your pH from dropping. Also have them test your tap water hardness (kh and gh). Those numbers will help you determine how much buffer is in your water. Yours is probably low like mine and if I don't do at least 20% water change a week in my 20 gallon tank my pH starts to drop.