I started with a new 20 gallon tank in December. I didn't know anything about cycling - so I filled the tank with water, waited for the temp to get to 78 and bought 4 zebra danios and a beta, a week later I added 3 ballon belly mollies, another week went by and we added 2 placos, 2 neon gourami, and a couple guppies. I had done about a 20% water change everyweek for a month when the water turned green and everything started to die. The guy at the store knoew right away that I had left the light on 24/7. He suggested a 50% water change and treat with "no more alge" once a week for 3 weeks. Well everything except the danios died within the first week. I bought a 10 gallon set up - Filled it with warm water and got the danios out before they met ther demise. (so far so good - for them). I completely clean out the 20 gallon and started over. The tank has been running for 3 months I slowly added fish. started with 4 black tetras - waited 3 weeks & added 4 silver mollies -waited 3 weeks & added 4 red wag platys. I had my water tested everytime I added new fish and it was great. Two weeks ago every fish I had died within five days. I now have 6 black phanton tetras - THE QUESTION -how will I know when it safe to add new fish? It is killing me that I have become a fish killer. These are beautiful creatures and I try to do everything right but to no avail. Please any help you can offer would be great.
Why do my fish keep dying?
- Thread starter debster
- Start date
Do you know the ammonia, nitrites, ph....
This is probaly caused because you didn't do a fishless cycle
You should start all over again.(WITH NO FISH)
This is probaly caused because you didn't do a fishless cycle
You should start all over again.(WITH NO FISH)
Have you read and understand the cycling process yet? In the stickies? It sounds like you failed to "cycle" the tank both times. Those are must reads, then while you set up the tank and start cycling again, do some research on the fish you are selecting. The 20g was overstocked, and if its a common pleco they get well over a foot long!! Not suitable for either size tank. I know it can be frustrating, what are your water conditions as well? (ph, nitrate, nitrite, amonia?) (I don't mean to sound short, I feel for you, I failed to do a fishless cycle the first time, but somehow managed to pull through with only a few deaths :sad )
it's excruciating, but patience is necessary imho....meter your additions over months, not weeks. research and make sure all of your "crewmembers" are compatible. ciao.
I agree, did it actually cycle? Also you are adding a lot of fish. Perhaps overcrowding too, that is a lot of fish for that space. Are you testing the water yourself? Ammonia is undectectable by observation, and if your tank wasnt cycled, though your water maybe fine on Monday, by Wed. it could have dangerous amounts of ammonia.
do you condition the water...to rid of the chlorine? conditioners usually include chemicals that bind to the ammonia, allowing the cycle to continue,but the ammonia wont effect the fish.
You should also consider more water changes ...like 20% daily not weekly. Not forever just to keep it healthy.
If the cycle sticky didnt help you, google searching aquarium nitrogen cycle will pull up other sites that offer different ways to go about cycling.
Most important, list your tank parameters (water quality, temp, feeding practices,etc). No doubt you'll get a more exact, correct answer.
cheers,
Lisa
do you condition the water...to rid of the chlorine? conditioners usually include chemicals that bind to the ammonia, allowing the cycle to continue,but the ammonia wont effect the fish.
You should also consider more water changes ...like 20% daily not weekly. Not forever just to keep it healthy.
If the cycle sticky didnt help you, google searching aquarium nitrogen cycle will pull up other sites that offer different ways to go about cycling.
Most important, list your tank parameters (water quality, temp, feeding practices,etc). No doubt you'll get a more exact, correct answer.
cheers,
Lisa
Deb, don;t trust the LFS to test your water. Hold off on buying fish for a while and buy a master test kit. You can order one online for much cheaper than you can buy it for in the store. Here's a link to a place I do way too much business with and trust to give you the goods as promised, at the cheapest price and deliver around a week. For under $20 US you get all the tests you need. Why do I say not to trust the fish store? Because they exist to sell you fish. They'll tell you everything is fine knowing you''ll be back when the fish die at which time they convince you to buy a product like algae all gone or a medication plus more fish. By testing your own water, you can test daily, know what the problems are, and work to correct it before it gets out of hand. Good luck.
The algae remover is not a good product IMO....Sure it kills the algae, but then the algae starts to rot in the bottom of your tank making your water params go out of whack...
Yes..go and buy a master test kit...they are the most valuable thing you can have...
I have a master kit aswell as seachems "ammonia alert" which you stick onto th inside of your aquarium. It alerts you to any free ammonia in the tank by changing colours, yellow is no ammonia and dark blue/grey is toxic level....I use this as an indicator to my fishless cycling. It last over a year too....
Yes..go and buy a master test kit...they are the most valuable thing you can have...
I have a master kit aswell as seachems "ammonia alert" which you stick onto th inside of your aquarium. It alerts you to any free ammonia in the tank by changing colours, yellow is no ammonia and dark blue/grey is toxic level....I use this as an indicator to my fishless cycling. It last over a year too....
Thanks for all the advice. Since I already have fish in the tank I'm not going to do a fishless cycle. I tested the pH last night and it was at 8.4 
. I did a 20% water change and we will see what today brings.
. I did a 20% water change and we will see what today brings.
The pH isn't a very important parameter to be testing right now--it's the ammonia and nitrite levels that you need to monitor. With a high pH, you likely have a high buffer and the pH should remain stable, but the other wastes will still build up to lethal levels.
Go slower. The addition of large groups of fish, even when spread out, will still result in high levels of ammonia that can be lethal to everything in the tank. Cycling with fish will require monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels and using frequent water changes to dilute the pollutants to tolerable levels.
Go slower. The addition of large groups of fish, even when spread out, will still result in high levels of ammonia that can be lethal to everything in the tank. Cycling with fish will require monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels and using frequent water changes to dilute the pollutants to tolerable levels.
OrionGirl said:
Ammonia is more toxic at higher pH levels and at higher temperatures. When the temperature or pH is lower ammionia ionizes and becomes ammonium, which the fish don't especially mind.
What this means for you is that your pH is high enough that you have no wiggle room. You'll see threads go by where people fishy cycle and have no problems. They likely have a low pH.
You'll need to keep your ammonia levels low with water changes. This is critical.
You can also help keep your ammonia levels low by limiting food for the time being. A little bit every other day is plenty. Protein in = ammonia out.
You might also try using a dechlorinator like Prime or Amquel that will neutralize the ammonia toxicity during the cycle. It will blow the accuracy of some ammonia test kits, but it'll help your fish make it through to the other side. Try getting a salicylate ammonia test if you can (the dechlorinators will cause a Nessler test to read false).
Here's a good link on cycling that explains the pH ammonia relationship.
This isn't so much advice for how to do a fishy cycle so much as for how to minimize the harm while getting through one. During the many (thousands? tens of thousands?) of fishless cycles over the last decade or so not a single fish has been lost.
Thats not a rant at you, just an endorsement for others who might find this later.
HTH