just terrible luck...cue the repromanding :(

[ccondardo]

i set up my 10g and as i expected 3 of my glofish died in a matter of 24-36 hours. i went and got some neon tetras as the PETCO guy said they should make it. well within 2 hours they died. i then too kthose back and got 2 sunset platys. hardy fish right? less than 24 hours and 1 of 2 died. went back and got (for my last shot) 3 silver danios. The guy said these might work. If they die im going to step back and do a proper cycle.

last time i started a tank i did a fish cycle and nothing died. my water was tested and everything was fine. my ph is good, the temp is a little low at like 76 but its rising.

im not sure if anyone has ideas, or if it might just be bad fish? of course everyone is goin to yell at me for not doing a proper cycle, but is that the only thing to blame or could it be, as the petco guy said, just bad fish?

 

[DesignsOnYou]

Just a though, you are using dechlorinator, right? And you're matching the temp of the water when you do water changes? It could be ammonia poisoning, due to the parade of fish who presumably lived long enough to start producing some waste, and then decaying dead fish overnight. Those are the only things I can think of.

 

[ccondardo]

i did use a dechlorinater, btw this tank is only a few days old...i started it friday morning. the temp did go down a bit last nite because one of the girls (its my gfs place) shut off the heat and forgot to turn it back on in the living room so its going back up now.

but the platys were gathering around the heater and not being active or barley moving. the remaining one is still barley moving. the danios after being in the tank for about an hour are still very active. most of the fish have entered had some fun, and than just like either sat at the bottom or slowly floated in place...i have faith in these ones.

i dont know what they test for at PETCO, but he said "yea the water is fine" so i cant really point it to anything besides either bad fish or temperature.

 

[ccondardo]

a friend of mine just mentioned to me to check the water level. his dad said if that was too high the filter wouldn't be providing oxygen to the tank. i checked and low and behold, the water was way to high. I lowered it almost an inch so the filter would waterfall and hopefully that helps. We will see. nothing has croaked yet.

 

[brian1973]

thats not exactly true..the water pics up oxygen as it moves through the filter and adds more as it creates turbulance(sp?) at the surface, none of my filters give a waterfall effect and with my canister filters the spray bars are well below the surface and i havent lost any fish.

I tried to avoid this thread as the simple answer is your tank isnt cycled and it is almost a waste of time responding when you already know this. If you dont care enough to cycle the tank why care if the fish live or die, you have a 2 week guarantee so use it.

 

[ccondardo]

i added the fish because the girls wanted them right away.

i was looking for alternatives to the simple "not cycled question" since im pretty sure my water is fine. will a non cycled tank kill the fish that fast? i thought it would take a little longer for the cycle to go into effect

 

[brian1973]

well any dead fish left for a couple hours would start to decay and could quickly contaminate the water quality. Unfortunately without posting water params there really isnt a good answer to give you. There could be any number of other causes but without some water params I am going to have to go with the cycle, my best guess would be shock from going from the LFS water to your tank which just guessing has much different water params. Unless you bought them the same day they arrived at the LFS then I doubt it is "bad fish", fish are usually very stressed by the time they arrive at the store but seem to bounce back or die in a short time after that. Plus if it was one or 2 of the same type then maybe I would agree that it was "bad fish", but you have lost what 6 fish? It has to be something in your tank, unless the LFS is experiencing higher than normal die offs.

 

[MissFishy]

If your fish are dying of ammonia poisoning within 24 hrs the ammonia levels must be through the roof. Sounds more like there is something else in your water. When you set up the tank, did you clean it with soap or anything? Is there anyway an air freshener got sprayed near it? All those fish dying so quickly after being added to the tank is suspicious. However, I don't think continuously going out and buying MORE fish is a humane idea. What message about responsibility for pets does this send to your kids?

Time to teach them responsible pet keeping and completely start over. I suggest rinsing everything in the tank with water and fishlessly cycling. Involve the kids in the testing, that is a fasinating science lesson for them. Then when it's time to actually add fish they can go with you to pick out some hardy ones. For a 10g, how about some white clouds?

 

[Monoxide]

I did wrong with no cycling my tank. Spent hundreds! On tank and nice colored fish and I learned to cycle. I had to deal with my tank cycling with fish in it. Never lost one in the progress (I think there tuff fish, what I had) but yeah don't do it cause you want them.. otherwise you'll hurt your pocket anymore.. They get boring,ugly,dirty,and you'll throw it all away in some months cause its just sitting there. Do some reading and do the right thing.. cycle it or do fish cycle.

 

[ccondardo]

missfishy, sorry but its my gf and her roomate, not my daughters ha ha.

i cleaned the used tank with baking soda and a water paste, that might be the problem but i know i read somewhere online you could do that. some people suggested using even vinager for the hard parts.

like i said this is my last run of fish and if they die then i will do a proper fishless cycle, since ive never done that before id like to experience it for myself.

anyways as an update so far so good, all the fish are still alive im hoping they make it through the night. the temp is back up to 78-80 and they are eating, which was the problem with the last few fish. we will see in the morning. i have a feeling these large zebra danios are going to make it.

as for the past fish i have a feeling that the neon tetras were really stressed out since they only made it like an hour. we will see. i never knew about sunburst platys, im becoming a big fan. i hope to get some after the tank is cycled they are sweet looking.

thanks for all the responses everyone, its very helpful!

 

[brian1973]

I am going to step to the dark side for a moment and be the devils advocate here but the fact is if your getting the fish from petsmart then you have 2 weeks, the fact is regardless of the right or humane thing to do you could go thru the cycle with fish and never spend a dime, since when one dies you bag it and get a replacement or a refund. I AM NOT ADVOCATING THIS, but in reality you wouldnt be the first to do it, but being it's the GF's then she may be a bit more understanding of the cycle process once she see the fish dying.

I would do a water change as well since you did have fish die in the tank and that can raise the ammonia quickly. I had a dead fish sit for about 8hrs in a tank and the nitrates went from 5ppm to over 160ppm in that time frame.

 

[ccondardo]

thanks for the answer brian. thats my theory. its going to cost me more to do the ammonia and everything so i could just keep killing them (as bad as that is) and get through it. there in lies the moral issue...4 bucks or my humanity? ohhhh the pain. We will see. like i said im sad and sick of killing these fish so if these dont make it, ammonia it is.

 

[jo3olous]

i still do not understand why you get danios for a 10G tank. Danios shouldn't be in anything less than a 20G for the sake of how active they are.

I'm pretty sure you should be getting free fish for the ones that die in 24 hrs, most stores give you new fish if a fish dies within 18days. And did you say your doing the fish in cycle because your GF cant wait for a fishless cycle? That's laughable because if YOURE doing all the tank setup, why in the world is she bossing you around and forcing you to go about the process incorrectly?

Oh and to answer the other question, filling the tank to the top does not decrease the water flow the filter gives off, you just don't hear the splish splash because there is little/no waterfall. Water is still being pushed into the tank from the filter

 

[mistercoffee]

i still do not understand why you get danios for a 10G tank. Danios shouldn't be in anything less than a 20G for the sake of how active they are.

I'm pretty sure you should be getting free fish for the ones that die in 24 hrs, most stores give you new fish if a fish dies within 18days. And did you say your doing the fish in cycle because your GF cant wait for a fishless cycle? That's laughable because if YOURE doing all the tank setup, why in the world is she bossing you around and forcing you to go about the process incorrectly?

Oh and to answer the other question, filling the tank to the top does not decrease the water flow the filter gives off, you just don't hear the splish splash because there is little/no waterfall. Water is still being pushed into the tank from the filter

ooo *DRUMMER*

 

[ccondardo]

 

[jo3olous]

that costs money too

 

[Redwood_Rider]

I wouldn't let these guys get you down, we've all made mistakes as beginners. I'm glad to hear you drained the tank and started over. You can either do a fish or fishless cycle which it seems you have already read about on here. Get yourself a water quality test kit, they usually run about 15 bucks but are well worth it. You will need one that measures Nitrite, Ammonia and Nitrate. Read about the cycling process online and test your tank frequently during the first few weeks.

Also, do your research, it sounds like the Petco sales dude was anxious to sell some fish that day by telling you your water was ok (which there is NO way it could have been CLOSE to okay already) and selling you Neon Tetras for a new tank, they are notorious for being finicky and are for well established tanks only.

Basically my best advice is to read as much as you can and research good, hardy fish online and THEN try to find them at your local store. Also, try to find a more reputable local store besides Petco. Chances are the people in the fish department there don't know a whole heck of a lot.

GOOD LUCK! AND HAVE FUN!!! *BOUNCINGS

 

[MissFishy]

All I can say is that I'm horrified at Brian's response. Who are you to take life in your hands and decide who gets to die a painful burning death in an ammonia filled cesspool?! Buy a bottle of $3 ammonia and save yourself the trouble and teach someone else responsible petkeeping in the process. I'm done with this thread, have some morals people.

 

[sombunya]

If you had an API test kit you wouldn't be in the dark about your water params. You've probably spent more on fish than the cost of this kit.

I've done a fish-in cycle in my 20 gallon tank. It took a while but the ammonia never got over .5 ppm and all the fish made it fine. I did a 50% water changes everyday. A 50% water change on a 10 gallon tank is as easy as it gets. Use a good de-chlorinator.

 

[brian1973]

All I can say is that I'm horrified at Brian's response. Who are you to take life in your hands and decide who gets to die a painful burning death in an ammonia filled cesspool?! Buy a bottle of $3 ammonia and save yourself the trouble and teach someone else responsible petkeeping in the process. I'm done with this thread, have some morals people.

well if you notice I STATED i do not advocate that but it is the truth, I would be willing to bet 90% of the fish purchased do die within a few months time because most people are uninformed or just buying then to satisfy their children that just have to have an aquarium. There are no laws that cover the care of fish as they are considered disposable pets, so that technically gives them the right to do what ever they want with them, just because our ethical or morals disagree doesnt change that fact. The original design of glofish was to test for pollutants in water, so technically he was using them as they were meant.