New tank Madness!

[smatts]

Okay so I got my first 10 gal set up about 3 weeks ago, ran it for 2 weeks with nothing in it. Then last friday I added 6 zebra danios, I think 2 female (they are much bigger) and 4 males.

Well since last friday 2 fish are dead, the first one just seem to have breathing problems, and died. And the second one I had to put down, he had a white growth on his bottom lip, then his nose look like it fell off (it was wierd). So he constantly had his mouth open.

Now I'm left with 2 males and 2 female danios. The females are ALWAYS chasing the males around (poor guys).

But anyways I was gonna post on here asking what the White Thread Like growth was starting on the sides of my tank. Is that bacteria or algae, and if so what kind?

So that was my question but before I posted I decided to do my first water change since I got my fish. Well I did a 15-20% change
Then I looke din the bucket going, hmmm thats a lot of **** for 6 fish in a week. ( I only vacuumed like 1/4 the tank) I didnt want to destory all the bacteria. I prolly shouldnt have vacuumed any at all... oh well

Then I notice the lil black ****s are zipping around in my pail. I was like wtf are those fish or what!

I guess one of my fat fish laid eggs Which is funny because over the last few days I was watching my fish and noticed they were hanging out at the bottom of the tank a lot "seemingly" looking for food, little did I know there WAS FOOD down there for them, lol.

Oh well my tank is only ay 76f, and I'm surprised these danios bred at all, I'm only feeding them flake food and well I thought to get them to breed, you need to raise the temp to 80 and give them lots of live food?

Either way I'm doing a fishy cycle so I think the ammonia or nitrite may kill whats left of any living babies.

I can't even see any when I look in the tank, they must be burrie way under the gravel, which is small I might add.

What do baby fish eat btw? Do they not have to eat till they are bigger?

So anyways, what is that white thread like stuff that is starting to grow in my tank? And if anyone has any comments on my situation lol let me hear what you have to say!

 

[OrionGirl]

Test results?

Danios don't require any special treatment to breed. The eggs are often eaten before they can hatch, but not always. The juveniles live off of their egg sac for a few days, thenbegin eating regular foods. They will eat anything they can get into their mouth--flake food will usually soften or break up enough that they can take it.

For cleaning the tank--you should vaccum the entire substrate. You will not remove the beneficial bacteria--they are attached to the gravel, not floating around down there. Removing as much solid waste as possible will reduce the spikes and improve the fishes odds of surviving the cycle. Frequent water changes, keeping the ammonia level below 1, will help all of the fish out tremendously. Adding a few plants will help as well, and provide cover for the babies, and also introduce some beneficial micro fauna for them to feed on. Hornwort is a low light plant that will do well floating as well as planted.

 

[Hound]

White stringy stuff should be algae.

Just a personal choice I would think 2 or 3 fish would be best to cycle a 10g tank with. Take your time and change water regularly.