Fish Keep Dying in My Freshwater Tank

[rileyullen]

Hello!
I have a 10 gallon freshwater tank. I purchased it and let it sit for four days before introducing a glow light neon tetra and a powder blue dwarf gourami. The glow light neon tetra died and I bought two of the traditional neon tetras. They died within a few hours of me putting them in the tank. The dwarf gourami is still alive, but barely. He is laying on his side in the tank and still breathing but he won't swim. I took my water to petsmart and was told that it was fine. I have well water. I did not use any conditioner in my tank and haven't since I first set it up. I have had the dwarf gourami for a week today, although I do not think he will make it much further. I had the water at 80 degrees and a petsmart employee mentioned that might be a little too warm for the tetras and gouramis. I added some water that was a bit cooler and so the tank has been fluctuating between about 75-80 degrees for around 24 hours.
What can I do to prevent this from happening again?? How can I save my poor dwarf gourami?? Any help is appreciated!

 

[dudley]

Hi and Welcome to AC!!

It sounds as if you have not properly cycled your aquarium to provide enough good bacteria to sustain your fish. You will need to provide the results of the tests that Petsmart performed or I highly suggest you buy your own test kit such as the API Master test kit. There is a good article on the forum on how to cycle your tank either with fish or without fish. I highly recommend the fish-less cycle method.

Can you return the gourami to the store until your tank is suitable for fish?

Good to hear you have well water as that usually does not require a water conditioner unless you are also using some type of disinfection process.

 

[Lalo J.]

You definitely have level problems because your tank is not yet cycled, the best thing you can do for the gourami is to return it to your LFS, get your own parameter measurement kit and let the tank do the same. You can get liquid bacteria and add it to your tank, well water is probably not working well for tetra neons either, they usually die in that water and the temperature is too high. If I were you, I'd get osmosis or drinking water in the latter case, and I'd start cycling again, adding liquid bacteria. Good luck.

 

[dudley]

Well water can vary from location to location so to say that neon tetras will die is incorrect in my opinion.

 

[Lalo J.]

I'm just saying that none of the tetra neon I've seen in well water have thrived. Why risk? It has no case