6 fish in 3 weeks

[pmcsomething]

So I have a planted 30G tank. I have 2 bags of Eco-Complete for my substrate. I have two small pieces of California granite for my rocks. I have some plants that I am forgetting the name of. They seem to be growing well. Here is a picture of my tank.

Now here is my problem. I started out with the following fish. % Buenos Aries Tetras, 7 Neon Tetras, 5 Gold Bards, 1 CAE and 1 Pleco. This was the setup about 3 weeks ago. The tank itself is about 4 weeks old. I have done 5 water changes over those 4 weeks. Within the 3 weeks, I have lost 1 Neon, 3 Barbs, 1 CAE and I just found my Bristle nose Pleco belly up. That in my opinion is too many fish to lose in 3 weeks. Here are the numbers from my testing.

Nitrate 20ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Hardness 300ppm
Chlorine 0ppm
Alkalinity 300ppm
pH 8.4
Ammonia .25 - .5 ppm. (It is more in between the two.)

So from what I know, the numbers have not changed very much at all, over the course of 4 weeks. How do those numbers look to more experienced people? If they look bad, what can be done to bring the numbers down?

Here is a second theory if the water is not killing them. Survival of the fittest. They did not get enough of the food. That might be the reason why my CAE and Pleco died because they did not eat enough. I do not have an algae problem and that would equate for no food for them. However, I did drop in the Algae tabs for the Pleco and CAE. But the barbs, being the little turds they are, eat everything including the algae tabs. This is just some out loud thinking. I am going to let the people who know more than I do chime in.

So now, I am not going to add any more fish to my tank until I figure out this problem. Maybe a CAE to help with little brown algae on my rocks but not other fish.

Just to finish up, here are the fish that are left.

5 Buenos Aries
2 Gold Barbs
6 Neon Tetras

I also do an every other day dose of excel. But since the fish have died I am going to lay of on the dosing and see if that made a difference or not. If I need to clarify anything, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Pat

 

[exhumed07]

well neons are verry weak fish in my experiances and .5ppm of ammonia could cause it's death over time from stress. the rest of the fish I'm not sure. I'll leave that to the rest of the people. thats the only thing that I know though.

 

[cchase85]

Your ammonia readings should be zero. Having high levels of ammonia in the tank could certainly mean disaster for the inhabitants of the tank.

 

[Seleya]

You will need to do more frequent water changes until your tank cycles. The ammonia is the most likely cause with disease being the second possibility.

Neons are not great fish to start a tank with -- too sensitive.

You are far better off without a CAE as they are poor algae eaters and eventually turn on their tankmates. If you can find TRUE SIAMESE algae eaters, great, but Chinese algae eaters are trouble.

If you decide to have a plec in there again, consider a bristlenose or perhaps a rubberlip and wait until the tank is fully cycled. They can be very sensitive to nitrites especially.

For now, constant monitoring both of the parameters and the fish's behavior, with water changes whenever anything crops up. Keep the ammonia below .25. You may wish to consider an ammonia binder if the fish are really in dire straits but don't choose that over water changes. When the ammonia finally peaks and nitrites show up, salt can help fish through the nitrite portion of the cycle.

Stability made by Seachem is a great aid in helping a tank settle and can be used at any portion of the cycle -- I've had very good luck with it. Biospira is another very good choice but do a big water change before using it, follow the handling instructions and pour it right into your filter, if that's what you choose to do.

 

[MissFishy]

Ditto, the ammonia levels are probably what is killing off your fish. You started out with a HUGE bio load for an uncycled tank. This means you should be doing regular water changes, daily if you have to, to keep the ammonia/nitrite levels at 0.

 

[pmcsomething]

You will need to do more frequent water changes until your tank cycles. The ammonia is the most likely cause with disease being the second possibility.

Neons are not great fish to start a tank with -- too sensitive.

You are far better off without a CAE as they are poor algae eaters and eventually turn on their tankmates. If you can find TRUE SIAMESE algae eaters, great, but Chinese algae eaters are trouble.

If you decide to have a plec in there again, consider a bristlenose or perhaps a rubberlip and wait until the tank is fully cycled. They can be very sensitive to nitrites especially.

For now, constant monitoring both of the parameters and the fish's behavior, with water changes whenever anything crops up. Keep the ammonia below .25. You may wish to consider an ammonia binder if the fish are really in dire straits but don't choose that over water changes. When the ammonia finally peaks and nitrites show up, salt can help fish through the nitrite portion of the cycle.

Stability made by Seachem is a great aid in helping a tank settle and can be used at any portion of the cycle -- I've had very good luck with it. Biospira is another very good choice but do a big water change before using it, follow the handling instructions and pour it right into your filter, if that's what you choose to do.

Thank you all for you reply. I will take everything into consideration. I agree with MissFishy, too many fish which caused an bio load on an uncycled tank.

The CAE and the Bristlenose Pleco are both deceased.

This is the fish list left that has survived. I am going to leave this amount of fish in there for better or worse. I think I might switch out to a different type in early of next year, just let this tank get a nice bacteria level built up.

5 Buenos Aries Tetras
6 Neon Tetras
2 Gold Barbs

13 fish total in a 30 gallon tank should be plenty for now.

I will keep up on the water changes. I think I might invest in a better testing kit for my tank.

 

[di0nysus]

isnt a 8.4 ph really high for this type of tank?

 

[marvin]

dionysus is corect unless you want to put cichlids in there

 

[pearl_aqg]

the pH is a bit high, but if your fish are still doing well then they've adapted to it and it'd likely cause more problems to try to correct it.

Pearl
(Resident fish nerd at AquariumGuys.com)

100$ in prizes! Enter our Festive photo contest by Dec. 14!

 

[fishnewbie]

pmcsomething,
Wow, that was a lot of fish to start a new tank out with. Sorry to hear about the deaths, but once your water stabilizes and your plants grow you are going to have a nice tank! Good luck with the tank and keep us updated!

Justin