Fish acting weird

Definetly get a gravel vac. It should not cost more the ten dollars or so. Have you tested your water for ammonia and nitrites? Sounds like your ammonia is too high.

freshwater said:

I was reading the fish cycling sticky and i am using the fish cycle method. some of you said to make sure to change the water every few days and so i did a 40% water change after 4 days. now the fish are acting all weird (tiger barbs) and they keep going behind the plant and near the heater. i had 6 and now i have 5.. the last one i found dead behind the plant and it looks like that's where all of them like to go before they die. =( what can i do to save them?

ps - should i get a gravel vac for a 10g tank? and how much do they go for?

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Firstly if you are going to do a fishy cycle you have too many fish in there. Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If not I suggest you do. Did you add dechlorinator to the change water or was it straight from the tap? And yes you should do water changes every few days to keep ammonia and nitrite down, and in your case if it is only 4 days ammonia.

my suggestion is to not own fish

freshwater said:

ok so now.... all my fish are gone. i got my water tested for ammonia and nitrites and my nitrite levels were really high so i am gonna wait 2 weeks without any fish in the tank now so it can cycle. but here's the thing now... my betta fish which are in a different tank (small betta tank) and they're all dying too. it seems that whenever i do a water change, they die. the betta fish are clearly dying of ick cuz they have severe fuzzy white things on them. any idea why this might be happeneing? the betta fish shouldn't be getting ick from the water changes. i'm using tap water with the drops to dechlorinate. 1 betta already died this morning and the second one has ick all over it and is about to die. ANY SUGGESTIONS???? :help: :sad:

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Before getting any more fish, I think you need to take a step back and examine how you're maintaining your tank so you can get your water quality improved. Do you regularly test your water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH? Is your water conditioner able to remove chloromines as well as chlorine? How big is the tank, and how often do you do water changes? How big are the water changes? What other creatures are in the tank with the Betta? What's the condition of your filter media?

If you let the 10G sit for two weeks, it will not continue to cycle and definitely will not be any safer to add fish to in two weeks. Read the cycle sticky. Again. Before you tell me you had high nitrites and only need to continue through to the nitrate part of the cycle, consider that the whole cycle begins with ammonia. No fish, no shrimp from the deli, etc = no source of ammonia = nothing for the bacteria to convert to nitrite or nitrate, ergo the bacteria will die off.

Bettas are hardy fish, but even hardy fish need care. The best ich treatment, ime, is very inexpensive and very low-maintenance. Raise the temp of the tank to 86 degrees and add salt. The exact measurement of salt varies from website to website, but I agree with the ich treatment posted on this site. Keep the temp elevated and add salt to any water changes for two weeks.

Not a good idea to cycle a 10 gallon with fish! It's best to do a fishless cycle. There are plenty of articles about fishless cycling on the web. Type "fishless cycle" in google and you'll be sure to get some info on it.

Here are some:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php
http://www.pcpages.com/fish/fishless.html

This way, you won't lose fish since the tank will have already been established when you add fish.

Sorry about your loss. Don't be discouraged. You'll be more experienced with time.

Do water changes twice a day. 75% or more.