In need of serious help...

[FirstTimeFishMommy]

All I wanted for christmas this year was a fish tank, so my DH bought me a 20 gallon tank and everything to go along with it (heater, filter, gravel, hood and light). I closely followed everything I read online about doing a fishless cycle for almost 2 weeks! My neighbor (also a fish enthusiast) bought me 2 neon tetras. Against my word he dumped them into my tank - no floating bags or anything. Needless to say they died within 4 hours. The day after christmas the same neighbor bought me 2 blue gouramis and i took a trip to petco to purchase some tank mates. i bought 3 barbs, 2 angelfish and a catfish all recommended by the petco associate. Last night one of my tiger barbs was swimming upside down and doing "headstands" for about 5 min and then just died. One of my angelfish was stuck to the filter, after turning the filter off he swam away and immediately dropped to the tank bottom. He would get up a few times swim around and drop back down. What is going on in my tank?! what have i done to my fish?! i really need some advice.

 

[Helena21]

Your tank isnt cycled properly. The fish you have just added are most likely suffering ammonia posioning which is why they are dying. Is there any fish left in the tank?
You should do a large water change to reduce the ammonia levels asap and you need to get a test kit to measure the parameters in the tank (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate)

 

[FirstTimeFishMommy]

you really think after over 2 weeks the tank isnt cycled? oh my - this is more work than i thought. i still have 2 barbs, 1 angelfish and the catfish. i have tested the water and everything tests fine with the exception of the water hardness, it is slightly "hard". The petco near my house does test water at no charge so i am hoping to take a sample in this evening when my DH returns from work.

 

[Helena21]

oh? the ammonia levels arent high or anything? they should be at 0....
what about the nitrite levels?

 

[Helena21]

how did you do the fishless cycle?

 

[paperdog9]

Ya, you need to cycle the tank more carefully. I agree with Helena21 that you shoulld do the one large one soon, but also, do small water chages, like 10-15 percent a couple times times a week until your readings with your test kit say that the water is fine. Oh, and you can also take water samples to petco to get them tested for free. Hope I helped.

 

[paperdog9]

Oh, I had a problem with water hardness too, and mine problem had to do with our tap water. It was hard even with the water softener. I ended up having to buy gallons of water at the store. If you keep doing water changes with the store-bought water, it will eventually be a lot better. *twirlysmi

 

[paperdog9]

Oh, and I just noticed how quickely people replyed. Thats very surprising to me, but I am pretty new to this forum

 

[Helena21]

My tap water is hard too. It shouldnt affect most fish unless its a ridiculously high level (which i doubt)

 

[paperdog9]

Oh and one more thing, you still have to use declorinator with store-bought water, and I buy a mix of distilled and undistilled (normal) water. Just make sure it has no flouride or flavoring or anything else (obviously)

 

[paperdog9]

Ya, mine isn't rediculusly high either, but it still killed off some of my fish, and it took a while to find the problem. After I started using store bought, everything went uphill from there!! But that is just me, so you might have a different problem, and you can choose whatever way to fix this problem you want, because there are a lot of good opinions out there!

 

[OrangeCones]

There should be no need to use 'store bought' water. Properly conditioned tap water is fine. Unless you are trying to breed the more difficult fish, the fish you have will adapt to your water's hardness. Trying to alter it will just cause the fish stress.

What dechlorinator are you using?

How did you cycle the tank in only 2 weeks. A fishless cycle normally takes 4-8 weeks.

What are the actual numbers for: ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If the store is tesing it for you, have them write down the actual numbers, don't let them tell you its 'fine.'