Dying fish

[strikerx]

AYE CARUMBA!!!!! Everything was fine and dandy in my 10gal tank. I lost my Albino Cory after 3 years so I decided to go to Petsmart (My fav. local store with clean tanks and up until now, healthy fish).

They were out of bottom feeders, but I came home with 3 neon tetras, and a couple other tetras that I can't recal the name of right now. Within a day 2 die. All my other fish, just fine.

So I take them back and get replacements. I add two other tetras and within a day THEY ALL DIE!!! All the new neons and the two other tetras I bought with the second batch.

I go back this time with a water sample because my test strips are all coming out normal. The guy say's I need to add 1 - T of salt and 1 - t of a nitrate reducer (I had the salt but purchased the nitrate stuff).

Next day, I've lost another neon, a tetra from the 1st batch and one of my Koolie Loaches!! He was over a year old.

What's up? Any thoughts??? Please don't ask for ppm's on water chemicals because all I can go with is what color the test strip shows, or what Petsmart tells me. I'm pretty frustrated though and about ready to feed all the fish to my Red Ear Slider and give up! I still have all my origianl 5 fish (except for the dead koolie) and the tank is not overcrowded.

 

[coolwade]

Neon Tetra Disease

It could be Neon Tetra Disease, look that up on Yahoo.

I had a problem like this and it was diagnosed as Neon Tetra Disease, I think it is a parasite.

Wade

 

[strikerx]

I'll look that up, thanks! So far I still have 4 neons alive, one of the two other tetras I bought, and both of the second tetras (got to get names for these guys.

BTW, you name is my last name! Too funny

 

[cdawson]

You probably have way too many nitrates, try doing 50% water changes for a couple days and instead of buying new fish buy yourself a reliable test kit (red sea FW lab is what I use) so you don't have to take it to some guy you can't really trust. I'm willing to bet that the petsmart guy is just trying to make a buck and try and sell you stuff like "nitrate reducer" which is absolute trash. Any of those products are useless and haven't really been proven to work. The only real way to solve problems in an aquarium is through water changes, natural solutions (peat, coral, oyster shells, driftwood, plants), and TLC. Your nitrates are probably through the roof as I'm guessing you never cycled the tank before adding fish originally.
Please get yourself a test kit as no one can really help you here without your water parameters and petsmart is just going to continue to rip you off. The general opinion is that petsmart is a horrible (and I totally agree) place to purchase fish from. Their stock is generally in poor health, dead fish are seldom promptly removed from the tanks and their suggestions for size and temperment are mostly out of this world (pacu - 6", albino channel catfish - 6" actual size 36", oscar - 6", pictus cat - 4" and all these fish are generally not community fish but are listed so by petsmart). Find yourself a decent mom and pop operation and they usually take the time to help you with what you need. good luck, I've been in your situation before. I did the above, when someone else helped me here. These forums are the best way to solve your problems, you're on the right track.

 

[strikerx]

Thanks for the suggestion! No, I haven't changed the water in a while. It's just been so starnge to me to have the tank look so clean all the time since getting rid of the goldfish.

3 more died last night. It's just so weird that (except for the Koolie) it's been all the new fish.

As soon as the coffee kicks in so I can see clearly this morning I'll do a 50% water change. Now you said for a few days.. does that mean litterally change 50% tomorrow, and the next day, etc..

Thanks again! No new fish from Petsmart (normally I've never had bad luck there. It's Walmart I wouldn't even use the fish to the feed my turtle!)

Thanks again!
Connie

 

[cdawson]

Once you get yourself a reliable test kit, and you've been changing 50% of the water for about 7 days the levels may be down to normal . I just went over this with my friends mom, she did the same thing. However, if the nitrate levels aren't down to normal keep up the water changes until they go back down to normal.
Now, the stocking issue. You had way too many fish in that tank to begin with. You shouldn't be using a 1" per gallon rule ( I strongly advise against using that rule), and should be stocking a 10g very lightly. I personally don't think 10g's should be sold at all. They're too small and really inhumane to the animals. They also don't leave too much room for error.
The reason your fish are dying is because your water is toxic, whether it looks clean or not. Just because the water is clear doesn't mean it's safe. Good luck connie.

 

[yashinfan]

I still think 50% water change is too much. I'd go with 20%, I did that when I had ammonia at 2-3 PPM and it was gone within 3 days. A lot of people have some trouble with 50% new water being introduced into the tank.

 

[cdawson]

I've never had any problems changing 50%, it's only a 10g tank. 50% is like 4 1/2 gallons. It's not going to stress the bio-filter, it'll reduce the nitrate levels faster. 100+ ppm of nitrates takes alot longer to dilute than 2-3ppm of ammonia.