Fish dont like me

[Kay]

Back last year I had a ten gallon tank with four fish (two were mollies) and they all died in one day, I didnt understand enough about fish to figure out why they died. Then my husband bought me an Oscar but before he got back from Korea the fish jumped out of the tank and flopped under my dresser.

I took a break from fish for a while but here at my new place we can only have aquarium pets. My friend gave me a 45 gallon tank and my husband and I got it up and running and let it sit over a weekend before we put fish in it. We got two angelfish, and a cambodian catfish shark. Then we added a 4 inch silverdollar and a redtail shark which came from the same person who gave us the tank. After that we added two gourami's (ones a midget) and a chinese algae eater.

A week after they were all put in together the catfish shark died, along with both angelfish, one dying each day. I took my water in to get it tested and they said my Ph and Amonia levels were really high even though the test strips I had said they were low :| (so no more test strips for me). I went to the petstore and got the right drops and figured everything was fine.

After spending enough time looking at my tank I realised that two of my fish had finrott so I went to the store and bought stuff from the store to "cure" it. I also ended up buying two more angelfish, a small silverdollar and a blue gill (Neolamprologus similis is what ur site says).

The fish were fine for a while, the larger silverdollar even grew back its back tail which had the most damage. Then the smaller of the newer angelfish died today.

I'm about to give up on fish all together... or maybe buy a bunch of silverdollars since the one that was givin to me had lived in a tank for a long time with no filter, heater or food. :|

I dont really know what I'm doing wrong, but if you have any tips on keeping my fish alive I'd love to hear them.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

It sounds like your tank is cycling. If you aren't doing partial water changes, you need to start. Take out 25-50% of the water and replace with dechlorinated water of about the same temperature. This will take out the ammonia and other stuff building up from fish waste. While you're cycling, you should do this at least twice a week, or if you get another test kit you should do it whenever the ammonia reads more than 1 or 2. If your friend or fish store can give you some used filter media or gravel or something thats currently in a fish tank, that will have some of the good bacteria on it and it'll make the cycle go a lot faster. Once the ammonia and nitrites are both staying at zero, your tank will be cycled. Until then, don't add any more fish because they will make more waste and add the the ammonia. Once the tank is cycled, you should do a partial water change at least every 2 weeks.

Don't worry about the pH, the fish will be fine in whatever as long as it stays steady.

 

[Kay]

Before I put the stuff in to cure the finrott I had changed 20% of the water twice after having it a week. I followed the distructions for the cure stuff and put in so much and waited 48 hours, then put another so much in the tank and then replaced 25% of the water after that. That was last monday and I've replaced 20% of the water 3 time since then cus the water was still green from the cure stuff. Its now back to normal coloring but i've added two new fake plants and a new bubbler since last monday.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you can keep doing 3 20% changes per week for a few weeks, that will probably be enough to keep the ammonia levels low enough for the fish. You've got, what, 5 fish in there right now? If you leave the stocking alone, and don't add any more fish for the next few weeks or a month, then the tank should be fully cycled. Get the store to test your water for you after that, and if the ammonia and nitrites are both 0, you'll know it's cycled. Add fish slowly after that, so that the good bacteria can catch up and it won't make the tank go into another cycle.

PS- there are stickies about cycling at the top of the Freshwater Beginners forum that might help you out, if you didn't understand any of what I just said.

 

[Kay]

Thanks!! I have eight fish :| lol I guess I added them to fast. I'll leave them alone now, lol and take the water in again and have them test everything again.

 

[Kay]

Ug I went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 4 and my similis dude was at the bottom of the tank stiff as a board. He was doing fine earlier and ate 3 peaces of food.... Sigh. I just hope the rest of my fishies can survive until Friday when I go get test kits and figure out what is really wrong with the tank.

 

[JAWS69]

What was in this tank before you got it? It sounds like a chemical problem Either that or I would pick a new store to buy fish from. The water changes should have worked. I really think its the store, or something chemical in the tank.

Angel fish are hard to keep anyway, so dont feel bad about that.

 

[Kay]

Well the last angelfish is looking alright, its the only one we've bought that actually LOOKs completely healthy... And we got it from Petco along with another one that died a bit ago... As for what was in the tank before I got it.. I dont know... I washed it out with water a couple times before I put stuff in there. Had I known I could have used bleach I would have.

Now my powder blue gourami is sitting in the top left corner... Usually the two gouramis are chasing each other around the tank. The gouramis have been eating fine and looking happy up until the last couple of hours I hope they're alright. I really like them.

One more day and I will have test kits. I do have pH test stuff and that's at 6.8

 

[Kay]

One of my poor little Neon Tetra's mysteriously disappeared. :|