Barbs died, please help me!

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bikinibottom

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
May 25, 2019
Messages
8
This week, two of my glofish tiger barbs died suddenly. One died before the other and the other died the next day. Their tank mates were 4 glofish tetras that are still alive and I noticed that when I fed them, the barbs wouldn’t eat as much as the tetras. We got all 6 at the same time, we acclimated them to the water, and the water quality was very good. The size of my tank is 20 gallons by the way. I don’t understand what happened.
 
Hi,
I’m sorry about your fish.
Just a few questions
When you say you acclimated them to your water did you cycle the tank?
How old is the tank?
Do you have a water test kit on hand?
What temp is the water?
Where the fish healthy and then suddenly died?

For right now without knowing anything else it sounds like new tank syndrome. I would do a sixty percent water change and then every day a very small water change maybe like 10-20%
Can you get an API master test kit and check your water chemistry?
Take the measurements before you change your water and then post your results here.
 
Right now, the tank is 3 weeks old and again, it is 20 gallons. Before I got the 2 deceased barbs with the 4 tetras that are still alive, I had 5 fish in it that I put in from my old 10 gallon tank since it got too small for them, and they all died the next day. After, I changed 20% of the water and waited a week. Then, I got the new fish and they were all healthy. Before I let them out of their bags, I put them in the water so that they could get used to it or “acclimated” I should say. Later that week, the barbs suddenly died, but the tetras didn’t. Right now, the temperature is 70 degrees. I do have a water test kit which is the tetra 6 in 1 easy strips. Today, I tested the water and the water hardness is soft, the alkalinity is 0, the pH is acidic, no chlorine, no nitrites, and nitrates are 10.
 
What kind of water are you using? What water additives?
Also what kind of filtration?

How are the Tetras doing after you did the water change?


I’m not sure if we can tag others to this post to offer their input but I just wanted to say King Fisher, V227, Ashenwelt and Goatnad have all helped me tremendously here and taught me a lot. If you want to ask one of them.
 
Last edited:
Test strips aren't reliable at all. Upgrade to the API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

Based on what you got going on and not really knowing your water parameters with a more reliable test kit, I'd say your tank more than likely isn't cycled. If you didn't seed the tank with beneficial bacteria with something from a more established/cycled tank then 3 weeks isn't enough time to cycle generally.

20% water changes isn't going to cut it. My advice is to change out 50% of the water twice a week minimum until you get a reliable test kit. Once your water tests out fine then 50% weekly water changes as a strict routine throughout the life of the tank.
 
@SciFyDi, I am using purified water and the water additive I use is API QuickStart. The filter I use is the Aqueon LED Pro QuietFlow 20. As of right now, the tetras are still doing good. I also have a heater already, but I guess it isn’t effective enough.
 
@KingFisher, When I do get the chance, I’ll definitely buy a more reliable test kit. Also, I added some good bacteria to the tank by getting some of the old substrate from the old tank and mixing it with the new substrate and I also heard that the filter I have has it on the cartridge holster.
 
@SciFyDi, I am using purified water and the water additive I use is API QuickStart. The filter I use is the Aqueon LED Pro QuietFlow 20. As of right now, the tetras are still doing good. I also have a heater already, but I guess it isn’t effective enough.
You'll want at least a 100 watt heater for your tank size.
 
@KingFisher, When I do get the chance, I’ll definitely buy a more reliable test kit. Also, I added some good bacteria to the tank by getting some of the old substrate from the old tank and mixing it with the new substrate and I also heard that the filter I have has it on the cartridge holster.
If you seeded it that's good. It can still take a few weeks for the BB colony to grow to a size that supports a stable system in your tank. I still believe your die off's were from water quality issues and I'd increase the percentage of water you change and frequency. If you do this and you are still having fish die then you know it's something else going on.
 
@ King Fisher Wouldn’t regular tap water be better than purified? Wouldn’t purified have some of the essential minerals taken out?

@BkiniBottom I have the Aqueon 20 on one of my tanks. The blue grid next to your filter cartridge is your bio media grid which will collect the beneficial bacteria. It just needs time to build up. Don’t wash this in regular water. If you have to clean it because it’s gunky make sure you bang it up against the side of a bucket containing old tank water. Never change your water and your filter cartridges at the same time. Otherwise you will lose all your beneficial bacteria. Also there are specialty filter pads you can buy for the other media grid the blue one which is at the outlet of the water spout. Different ones for different issues. Do you happen to have any used filters from your old 10 gallon?
 
@SciFyDi, No, I don’t have any used filters since I threw the old one from my 10 gallon tank away. The 20 gallon tank is my only tank. And I’ll definitely do what you said.
 
@SciFyDi thanks for the advice and no, I don’t have any used filters since I threw out the filter from the old 10 gallon tank.
 
@ King Fisher Wouldn’t regular tap water be better than purified? Wouldn’t purified have some of the essential minerals taken out?

@BkiniBottom I have the Aqueon 20 on one of my tanks. The blue grid next to your filter cartridge is your bio media grid which will collect the beneficial bacteria. It just needs time to build up. Don’t wash this in regular water. If you have to clean it because it’s gunky make sure you bang it up against the side of a bucket containing old tank water. Never change your water and your filter cartridges at the same time. Otherwise you will lose all your beneficial bacteria. Also there are specialty filter pads you can buy for the other media grid the blue one which is at the outlet of the water spout. Different ones for different issues. Do you happen to have any used filters from your old 10 gallon?
Depends on what means they took to purify it.
 
@BkiniBottom I have the Aqueon 20 on one of my tanks. The blue grid next to your filter cartridge is your bio media grid which will collect the beneficial bacteria. It just needs time to build up. Don’t wash this in regular water. If you have to clean it because it’s gunky make sure you bang it up against the side of a bucket containing old tank water. Never change your water and your filter cartridges at the same time. Otherwise you will lose all your beneficial bacteria. Also there are specialty filter pads you can buy for the other media grid the blue one which is at the outlet of the water spout. Different ones for different issues. Do you happen to have any used filters from your old 10 gallon?[/QUOTE]
No, I threw out the old filter from the old 10 gallon tank and thanks for the advice.
 
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