New to aquariums..a few fatalaties

[accentchick]

So I will try to make this short and sweet but there are alot of details you may need in order to give proper advice:

I got a new 29g tank on Nov 17th and i filled it and left it for about 24 hrs before putting about 7-8 fish. One otto, 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 fancy guppies, 2 mollies.

Within the first week or so I had alot of deaths. Fish were bought at Walmart and they kept replacing them.

Finally discovered that I made a big mistake and tried to correct it by doing weekly gravel vacuums and 35-45% water changes, started adding aquaplus every time i completed the water change.

I took my water to the pet store on weekly basis to get tested. Got my ammonia under control...now reads 0.0. Last couple of times though my nitrites and nitrates are high. Very pink when tested. For about 3 weeks I thought I had it under control and had no deaths.

Recently my otto died, I noticed one of the nostril looking things on his snout was bleeding and looked like something gouged him...notice he was EXTREMELY skinny (he had been fine till this time). I automatically thought he was hungry so I took him out of the tank and put him in a smaller .5 g tank I had and took the tank water to fill it. Gave him some food..live bearer food is what I use for all of my fish..but overnite he passed

All my other fish seem to be doing great...its now Jan 2, so over a month and a half since I first started with the tank.

I now have the 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 fancy guppies, 3 coral platys, 1 marble molly, 3 black mollies, and 1 baby black molly and 2 baby platys (in the bredding tank in the top corner). All fish have been in the tank for at least a month and doing fine..babys have been there for about 2 wks now. I did have one outbreak (i think of ich) and did a treatment but all is good since then. My gouramis little whisker thingys are starting to grow back.

Any suggestions would be appreciated on what to do to a) get my water perfected and b) what kind of bottom feeder should I get next.

Pet store had told me otto wouldn't need food...but after reading all the forums I believe they were wrong.

Like I said i'm new to this whole fish scenario and I want them all to be happy and healthy so advice is greatly appreciated.

Oh and water temp is 81 degrees as I heard this wards of ich and other diseases...

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

You got trapped into an extremely common mistake in this hobby - you setup a tank and added fish before your tank was ready and you didn't even realize it. It's unfortunate, but it does happen. As you've seemed to figure out, all of your deaths (except maybe the otto) were due to the tank cycling. AMmonia, and then nitrIte, spiked causing your fish to pass. If you read the article in my sig (below) about the nitrogen cycle, this will give you all the details of what occurred in your tank and why it's so bad for your fish.

That said, it appears that you're beyond at least the worst of it now. If you don't already, I'd recommend that you go and purchase a good water test set to have on hand. I prefer the API Freshwater Master Test kit, has pretty much everything you need to test. I'd also continue to keep an eye on your parameters for a few more weeks, until you're 100% sure that your ammonia and your nitrIte levels are at 0 and staying there.

Weekly water changes are a great thing, and I hope that you keep them up. Gets out the excess waste, minimizes the load on your system, and gives your fish some fresh clean water to play in.

Now, for your otto, it could've been a lot of things. It could've been ammonia poisoning that just took a while to get to him. He may have been injured as well. Ottos can be a little more difficult to keep than most fish. They do need to eat, but in general an established tank will provide them most of what they need. Most of us that do keep ottos like to supplement their diets occassionally with blanched vegetables - cucumbers seem to be the favority of my ottos.

Maintaining your temperature at 81 isn't helping you any. The fish, while they'd probably be fine at this temp, would prefer it a few degrees lower. Aim for around 77 and your fish will thank you for it.

Again, welcome to AA! Don't hesitate to ask questions, and please peruse through the articles and other threads here, as there is a wealth of information around this site, and we're not saying things to try to sell you something.

 

[accentchick]

Thank you so much for the info. I have read alot of numerous articles on this forum that have helped alot. Also, I have an ammonia and ph tester thing that suctions to the side of the tank and I replace them every 6 wks. But as an added precautionary I take samples to get tested at the pet store every week. My ammonia has stayed at 0 all week. So I think once I get my nitrites and nitrates under control I'm good to go.

Again, thanks for all the info and I'll keep checking to see if anyone adds further advice.

 

[runninwoof]

post pictures of ur tank!

i would recomend a test kit, buttttttt if your fish look happy and arnt getting sick then you might be ok without 1.

just keep up the water changes! water changes are the cure to everything!

!!!!!the solution to pollution is dolution!!!!!