my aquarium has issues!

[ShadowFishy]

Hello i am new here and am new to having an aquarium.

Story-

Me and my brother purchased a 20 gallon top fin aquarium about 3 months ago. We let it sit for a month and then purchased 4 fish from a local petsmart. 1-black molly=male 3-Long tailed tetras-????. they were in the tank alone for about 6 weeks then we cleaned the tank and made the mistake of taking out 80% of the water -.-. We put them back in and they were totally fine 2 days later we went to go purchase 4 more fish 1-black molly=female 2-orange curved tail mollys=1male-1female and 1-dalmation molly=female. These fish we chosen by us but the fish lady gave us the genders she thought would be best for our tank. They have been in there for about a week or so and a couple days ago we realized that one of our orange curved tail mollys (the male) was missing half his tail! We thought one of our fish might be attacking another but then found out it was tail rot. This morning we wake up to the horror of one our new fish dead! The dalmation molly was at the top of the tank with its eyeballs missing. We have no clue what killed the fish! so any help would be greatly apreciated on any of these matters even the tail rot!
PLEASE HELP US!!!

 

[LyndaB]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry it's under such a stressful time.

Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle? If not, please read up on it. This is crucial information to have for the health and well-being of your fish. Sadly, many lfs (local fish stores) do not know or do not share the information with their customers.

You will need a reliable test kit to monitor ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. I recommend the API master kit. Costs about $23 and gives you hundreds of tests.

Right now, your fish are in a toxic environment, It's important to get the readings (your lfs can help) and do many water changes while your tank cycles.

Fish will consume other fish in order to keep the bacteria in their environment manageable. Your fish, being in toxic water, are building up aggression and will most likely strike out at the other fish. If you can, return all fish to your lfs and we will help you through a fishless tank cycle.

 

[ShadowFishy]

Well I obviously cant return the fish back to the store cause of recite problems the only ones i am able to return are the dead ones :/ go figure but if ou could help me with a non fishless tank that would be great! and this device you speak of ya im broke so sorry.

 

[LyndaB]

Your only recourse if you have to keep the fish is to do water changes daily until your tank cycles. That said, you'll have no idea when that is because you don't have a test kit. Fishkeeping is not an expensive hobby, but just as you need gas and oil to properly run your car, there are items you really need to have, like a quality test kit and dechlorinator, to properly run your tank.

I'm sorry, I'm not understanding "recite problems". You mean recent problems?

 

[ShadowFishy]

Under stood i suppose ill do that.

Recite=the paper you recieve after purchase.

you cant return items without a recite

 

[LyndaB]

Oh, receipt..... sorry for not understanding the first time.

 

[jcolon]

You will need a reliable test kit to monitor ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. I recommend the API master kit. Costs about $23 and gives you hundreds of tests.

Right now, your fish are in a toxic environment, It's important to get the readings (your lfs can help) and do many water changes while your tank cycles.

+1 with LyndaB ... sounds like when you cleaned your aquarium, you killed of any Beneficial Bacteria that formed. Did you replace the filter cartridge/ media and rinse the tank with tap water? If so that's the source of your issues ... the filter media is where a large number of beneficial bacteria live. Always use tank water to rinse the filter media. Tap water will usually contain chlorine that kills the bacteria. And no need to change any filter media until it is literally falling apart ... and then you use the old media to seed it's replacement. In this hobby ... established filter media is like gold.

I'd say your tank is now cycling so frequent water changes is a must. Get yourself the API test master kit and the goal is to keep ammonia below 0.25ppm

 

[ShadowFishy]

its ok my spelling skills are not the greatest^^ i suppose i better find a way to get that device and some medicine for the tail rot. the fish seems totally fine other than not eating or swimming right. Poor fish w named him Gladiator cause of his long tail fin that looked like a sword and lit up neon blue and everything guess thats gone now lol.

 

[ShadowFishy]

+1 with LyndaB ... sounds like when you cleaned your aquarium, you killed of any Beneficial Bacteria that formed. Did you replace the filter cartridge/ media and rinse the tank with tap water? If so that's the source of your issues ... the filter media is where a large number of beneficial bacteria live. Always use tank water to rinse the filter media. Tap water will usually contain chlorine that kills the bacteria. And no need to change any filter media until it is literally falling apart ... and then you use the old media to seed it's replacement. In this hobby ... established filter media is like gold.

I'd say your tank is now cycling so frequent water changes is a must. Get yourself the API test master kit and the goal is to keep ammonia below 0.25ppm

Um yes we replaced the filter cartridge and did rinse the tank with tap water but then we washed it out with pure clean water so i guess it wasnt enough :/ and we have crappy little PH strips and it does show that the tank is very acidic

 

[ShadowFishy]

Well i do have to go for now but i will give you updates on how it goes see ya

 

[LyndaB]

Yes, please keep us updated so that we can help.

For fin rot, keeping the water as clean as possible may allow for full regrowth of the lost finnage.

 

[jcolon]

Um yes we replaced the filter cartridge and did rinse the tank with tap water but then we washed it out with pure clean water so i guess it wasnt enough :/ and we have crappy little PH strips and it does show that the tank is very acidic

It happens ... you didn't know about not changing the filter and not using tap for rinsing. I did the same thing years ago with my son's little goldfish tank ... it died a week later. Moving forward ... not only will you save yourself some heartache ... but also $$$$ by not having to replace the filter cartridges every month like the boxes say.

Yes ... test strips are junk ... get rid of them. The API test master is a bit pricey .. BUT so worth it! And it will give you more tests that the strips in the long run. Also ... members also recommend seachem prime for your dechlorinator / conditioner during water changes. It's highly concentrated so a $10 bottle could last several upon several water changes. It also locks ammonia and nitrite for up to 24+ hrs into less toxic forms, giving your fish some breathing room ... but still allowing the bacteria to consume it as nutrients.

Good luck!

 

[ShadowFishy]

Thanks! i have 1 question. with the tail rot happening and it may happen to other fish. how often do i need to replace the water and how much of the water do i need to replace???



ps here is a picture of the tank i currently have and this was taken like 2 minutes ago

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[ShadowFishy]

Thanks! a new post will be up later apperently a moderator has to check it first..