I need some help. Have recently bought a 30l biorb aquarium & set it up as per instructions. Left it for a week, had the water tested & bought 3 cherry barbs. They have been fine until saturday when we did the 30 per cent water change. On sunday they died. Have had the water tested again at a local store & it is fine. They do not know what may have caused this to happen. Could it be the plastic of the bucket that I used to carry the water? Has this happened to anyone else maybe?
Help my cherry barbs have died
- Thread starter Juliegee
- Start date
It isn't enough for them to test your water and say, "Its fine". They need to tell you the exact ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate numbers. In a week your tank would not have produced very much good bacteria and therefore hasn't cycled properly. Was the bucket new and never used for anything else? There are several "Stickys" on the Newbie forum you can read for more information. Here is another site on cycling: Fishless Aquarium Cycle
At only 30 liters (roughly 7.5 gallons), it will be very difficult to keep the water quality high enough for a shoal of cherry barbs. That sized aquarium would work for a single betta, I'm not sure what else it could be used for.
Running an empty tank for a week does nothing except ensure the tank does not leak and the other equipment is working propperly. If nothing was done to establish the biological filter first (the nitrogen cycle), then the fish could have suffered from ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning. That they died so soon after the water change you did could have been caused by a sudden change in temperature, or chlorine poisioning if you did not use a dechlorinator (presuming your water source has chlorine).
Was the plastic bucket used anything other than water for the fish aquarium? If it had been used with any chemicals, cleaning supplies, etc., it could have poisoned the fish.
Running an empty tank for a week does nothing except ensure the tank does not leak and the other equipment is working propperly. If nothing was done to establish the biological filter first (the nitrogen cycle), then the fish could have suffered from ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning. That they died so soon after the water change you did could have been caused by a sudden change in temperature, or chlorine poisioning if you did not use a dechlorinator (presuming your water source has chlorine).
Was the plastic bucket used anything other than water for the fish aquarium? If it had been used with any chemicals, cleaning supplies, etc., it could have poisoned the fish.
The ammonia & Nitrate were both Nil & the ph7.4 after the first week. (There is some ceramic media in the bottom & I had to put some sachets of chemicals at differing intervals - this was all provided with the tank)
Today the ammonia & nitrate were still both Nil & the ph7.2-7.4
The bucket was new & purchased especially for the task but I did not rinse it out first, maybe I should have done?
I filled the bucket from the cold tap & then boiled the kettle to add a small amount of hot water to make the temperature the same as the water I took out.
I have not been told about chlorine? Is it ok to use tap water?
I have not been told about the chlorine possibilty
Today the ammonia & nitrate were still both Nil & the ph7.2-7.4
The bucket was new & purchased especially for the task but I did not rinse it out first, maybe I should have done?
I filled the bucket from the cold tap & then boiled the kettle to add a small amount of hot water to make the temperature the same as the water I took out.
I have not been told about chlorine? Is it ok to use tap water?
I have not been told about the chlorine possibilty
The pH is what it is and is not terribly important as the kind of fish you are dealing with will acclimate. You want the ammonia and NitrIte level to be zero, as the tank cycles your NitrAte level should begin to show and that means the good bacteria are dealing with the ammonia and nitrite. You will be changing water to keep your Nitrates about 20ppm