Help!!

[nuerosis19]

I think I am in serious trouble here. I have a 10 gal. tank and recently had the water tested at my local pet store. They told me my water quality was great and I should have no problems. Well not entirely true... My water has been cloudy for over a week. I think it's some form of algae I can't get rid of,but beyond that here is the real problem. I am keeping 8 neon tetras and 2 cory cats. Within the last week I have lost 2 tetras and one cory (which really sucked, I love my corys). The first neon I believe had swim bladder disease, he swam at the top of the tank vertically for a day and when I woke up he was gone. Two days ago I noticed a red growth by the gills of one of my corys. He ate very well and played in the bubble wall, but yesterday he was swimming sideways and seemed very disoreinted (sorry for spelling). The other neon seemed to has a sore on his back by his dorsal and again was swimming well and eating good. I put both in a qt tank to hopefully figure out what the problem was. This morning both fished had died. Is this neon tetra disease or just some sort of bacterial infection I can treat. Please help with any information you may have. Thank you

[NeonJulie]

How long have you had your tank? And how long have you owned the fish?

[nuerosis19]

I have had the tank up and going for almost 3 months now and I put the fish in about a week and a half to two weeks after the initial set up and cycling.

[NeonJulie]

It would probably be really helpful to have those specific tests results (or ones done yourself.) It doesn't sound like red marks by gills would be caused by neon tetra disease, but I'm sure an expert will be along shortly.

Has anything different happened? Water change recently, etc?

[softturtle]

You may have jumped the gun on cycling, but these problems would have shown up earlier I think. Most of the things you said happened to the fish sound like disease, most of witch, are brought on by stress and/or from bad water quality. You said you had the fish for almost 2.5 months now, have there been any recent introductions? What is your mantainence schedule like(water changes / filter cleanings)?

I would get your own test kit and see for yourself, becuase something is going on with your water.

[nuerosis19]

I am going to get my own test kit today, since they did not actually say what the results were, they may have been wrong. I cycled the tank with two guppies that I have since given to my uncle who breeds them. I have had no other deaths or even sick fish. This is the first. I also do 1 to 2 water changes a week depending on my schedule between 25 and 40%. I clean the filter out in water from the aquarium weekly as to not get rid of the beneficial bacteria and I acutally change the filter once a month. I also use the carbon and ammonia bags that my filter can hold. Those get changed about every two weeks. I do have a gravel cleaner that I use once a week. That cleaning gets the 40% change. If any of this is wrong please tell me!

Oh and no new fish to the tank. It seemed to be going to good to be true.

[NeonJulie]

Neurosis, I have to assume you're also dechlorinating the new water before adding it? And I think there may be some schools of thought around here that if you're rinsing off the filters, you can continue to use them much longer than that.

If you haven't added fish that could have brought disease with them, have you added anything? Plants, decor etc.?

Any chance something got into the tank on your hands or arms? (Soaps, lotion, chemicals, bacteria etc.)

Do you have any driftwood items in there? Do you have any idea of what your pH is/supposed to be?

Do you have an air bubbler in there?

To me, it sounds like they are not acting sick as in, from a disease (though it's certainly possible.) It sounds more like a type of contamination. Going to the surface, perhaps for oxygen. Obviously cloudy water as well is a sign of something - how much/how often are you feeding? Any chance you had a shrimp or something else die?

It's very important to have your own test kits... that way you have a good handle on what your water normally looks like in good times, so you can identify when it's changed. For instance, is it possible your municipal water has been treated or changed somehow?

How long have you been seeing symptoms again, and did it follow any thing like your water change?

[Cory Lover]

Hi,

Does your tank get some sun light on it???

Cory Lover

[nuerosis19]

I have an aquaclear 20 gal. filter, an 8" bubble wall. I do have some plastic plants and a hiding place for fish in a cave, but that was all in place for the cycling of the tank. I rinse my hands and arms up to my elbows before putting them in the tank, no soap or lotion. I'm hoping the test kits I get will give me a better understand of whats going on, as well as, give you some insight as to whats might be wrong as well. I believe the pH should be between 5.5 and 6 if I researched correctly.

Oh and I am using aqua safe before putting the water into the tank. I was told to use salt, but I'm to understand that corys arent big fans, so I've been using half the dosage. Is this bad or should I stick with it?

Sunlight is not direct. I have two windows with blings closed as to not feed any chance of algae growing, but that seems to have failed.

Thanks for your insights so far...