Neon Tetras dying

[nastya]

hi,

my family set up a fish tank two days ago. at the aquarium shop we were told we need to cycle our tank with some fish in it, and we bought 5 neon tetras and 3 corydoras catfish that are about 2cm long each.
our tank is 250 litres or 66 US gallons.

i noticed this morning that one of the tetras was acting strange, he was swimming upside and rolling around. when i came home from work i think i found him stuck on the filter. there was also one other neon tetra that disappeared and i cant find him.
an hour later i noticed another fish starting to act the same way, and was breathing really rapidly and coming up to the surface of the water very very often, he died after 10 minutes. there is only 2 tetras left and i am worried they might die too.

i dont really know what to do, or how to help them. i dont have a water test kit and i cant get one until a few days (ordered it online) as i work until 6. could this be an ammonia/nitrite thing??

 

[SaraB]

Usually a cycle takes weeks to do unless you buy a beneficial bacteria to go in. Most fish stores will do free water tests for you if you bring them a sample.

 

[King Fisher]

Based on all the fishes behavior before death it's apparent that it's a water quality issue. Do a couple of back to back large water changes....50%.....then Start doing daily partial water changes of 20-25%. You're gonna have to do this whenever you do a fish in cycle. Once you get your test kit......API freshwater master test kit?.....then you want to keep your ammonia no higher than .25 ppm and nitrites at 0 but never over .25 ppm. If your water tests higher than this then you do water changes until it's back within acceptable ranges.

 

[nastya]

Thanks guys. Will do daily water changes now.

This morning I found another fish stuck on the filter and one of the catfish was eating him so maybe that’s where the other one disappeared to.
Will the last tetra be okay on his own? At the store they said they need to be in groups minimum of 5 but now there’s only one. Will this stress him out?

 

[King Fisher]

I wouldn't add anymore fish until you are cycled. He'll be fine for a month or two without a group.

 

[SaraB]

Maybe you need to put a sponge on that filter if it's sucking up your fish.

 

[King Fisher]

Maybe you need to put a sponge on that filter if it's sucking up your fish.

They are probably just ending up there after they die rather than it being a cause of death.