My fish are dying...

[MattyC]

Hey all, new to this forum malarkey so please be gentle! Ok so the short and tall of it is I got my first aquarium (fluval edge 46l) and up until recently all was well, I changed the water (all of it which was probably a bad idea..) but all the fish seemed happy. Had 3 neon tetras, a plec, a betta, a blue ram and a guppy.

Few weeks later I bought some new fish, 3 rainbow fish (the silver black ones) 4 guppies and a loach. I had issues with new guppies in the past (bought 2 and lost them both in a few days) but assumed it was just bad luck. However, a day after introducing the new fish I lost my ram. Since then I've been clearing 2 dead fish a day out and now all that's left is the plec, a loach and 2 tetra.

I've checked the water and it's fine! No ammonia, nitrate or nitrite and ph is good. The betta had lost most of his fins so I was adding treatment (medifin) but was keeping up with water changes so assume that wasn't the cause. I just have no idea what's happened and why all my fish are dead. I really hope someone can help me!!

Thank you in advance!

Matt

 

[NeverFadeAway86]

when you set up your tank how did you cycle it ? such as you just set it up put a filter and put fish in ? or did you dose it with ammonia and check levels etc etc ?

never do 100 percent water changes, as it changes water chemistry dramatically, i never do larger than a 50 % change

also it seems like some of the stocking may have some issues as well, some of your fish need to be in larger schools of atleast 6-8

 

[MattyC]

when you set up your tank how did you cycle it ? such as you just set it up put a filter and put fish in ? or did you dose it with ammonia and check levels etc etc ?

never do 100 percent water changes, as it changes water chemistry dramatically, i never do larger than a 50 % change

also it seems like some of the stocking may have some issues as well, some of your fish need to be in larger schools of atleast 6-8

Hi, thank you for your reply! Ok so o cycled it for a week and added some fish food and let the filter sort it - basically just did what the local fish store said. They treated the water then I added fish slowly. It's just so odd that it's happened so quickly after adding new fish - is it possible they can introduce some parasite/disease that can pretty much clear out the tank??

 

[NeverFadeAway86]

what are you using to test your water ? strips ? or a liquid test ?

when you are setting up a tank, your fish produce waste which gives you ammonia, then it is processed by bacteria inton NitrIte, then processed into NitrAte.

well most people prefer to cycle a tank without fish because it can be dangerous for the fish to survive... basically cycling a tank means A (for ammonia) N (for nitrIte) and NA (for nitrAte)
your tank will produce bacteria that take A and turn it into N... your tank will then produce a 2nd bacteria that takes N and turns it into NA which is not as harmful for fish in low levels, such as 20 ppm or below.

so once you have a reading of ammonia once the ammonia starts going down eventually you will start seeing NitrItes, once the NitrItes are processed by the bacteria it will turn into less harmful NitrAte which should lower your NitrIte levels... once you get Ammonia and NitrIte to 0 within having the present in less than 24 hours you are about done with your cycle and would want to do a water change to bring down your nitrAtes under 20 ppm

but to reduce these levels while having a fish you must do water changes accordingly to get the levels to 0 and 0 for the fishes safety and add a water conditoner such as PRIME with every water change for the ammount listed on the bottle

hope this helps

 

[sumthin fishy]

If you want more in depth info on the cycle, check out the article linked below called cycling. Also, is it correct it is a 46 litre tank? If so that's pretty small for the amount of fish you had. For now, I would recommend doing a 20-30% water change daily with a dechlorinator, and let us know what you are using to test. We all have to start somewhere, we are here to help. Welcome to the forum!

 

[tanker]

My best guess, is that the tank was not fully cycled in the begining. When the extra fish was added, this pushed the ammonia or Nitrite levels to a deadly amount.
I would recheck your Nitrate levels, unless you have lots of plants, I do not think it can be zero.

 

[Brian Feeder of Fish]

My best guess, is that the tank was not fully cycled in the begining. When the extra fish was added, this pushed the ammonia or Nitrite levels to a deadly amount.
I would recheck your Nitrate levels, unless you have lots of plants, I do not think it can be zero.

Sounds like you might have been a bit over stocked by the time you added the new fish, especially if your loach or pleco were larger varieties. How often/how much were your water changes before you did all of it a little while ago? And how long had there been fish in the tank before the new fish? Definitely sounds like it might not have been all cycled. Also, if you are using a liquid test kit, make sure you follow the instructions exactly. I once was trying to test for nitrAte, but I didn't shake the second bottle like it said to, and I got zero as a result.

Good luck,
Brian